Porto is an ancient city of artists, artisans and winemakers where the coffee is strong, locals drag on cigarettes while talking urgently into mobile phones, and camera-clad tourists argue over their street maps. Last week I did what I always
Venice: the power of myth
Venice, celestial city of gold and splendour, Queen of the Adriatic, hides a dark secret. The story of her birth on 25 March in the year 421, as a Christian city favoured by Saint Mark, a free city-state immaculately conceived
Montserrat
Pinnacle of spiritual aspirations and battle ground of cultural identity: Montserrat is a story of religion, politics, war, arts and letters – the lifeblood of Catalunya. Long before powerful men felt entitled to own mountains, perhaps 5,000 years ago, hunters
Barcelona: My Rambla
Salsa, souvenirs, saints, statue artists, or escalope de seitan: La Rambla has them all at different times and locations. It also has theatres, museums, markets, and lots of places for changing your money – so you can keep pick-pockets supplied.
A Birthday Card for Gaudi
He lay in the road where an unseeing tram had knocked him down. He wasn’t looking where he was going, his mind intent elsewhere, this old tramp in carpet slippers shuffling towards the church. People stepped around him until a