Global Travel Writers: Articles

Europe is not designed for Speed

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:37:00 -0500

"Europe is not designed for speed�, said the Romanian philosopher Andrei Pleşu.

Pleşu may well have had the Danube-Main-Rhine rivers in mind. When a cruise ship gets stranded in the Bavarian city of W�rzburg after swollen river levels prevent it from passing under the city�s low stone bridges, the result becomes an exercise in "What if...?"

The crew handle the situation with a good deal of aplomb, as passengers are bussed to some of the places on the ship's scheduled itinerary. But eventually the long wait becomes a muse on the very nature of rivers and their role in �The New Europe�.

Arnie's town

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:52:00 -0400

The Austrian city of Graz, birthplace of California�s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is not known for its modesty. Some even claim that the city�s new Helmut List Concert Hall is THE �building of the 21^st Century�. But this, the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003, is a surprisingly sophisticated city with many hidden layers.

Cycling the Danube

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 04:58:00 -0500

The visitor to Austria finds an unrivalled eye-feast along the shores of the Danube. The constant stream of cyclists along the Donauradweg (the Danube Bicycle Path, running 300 km from Passau to Vienna), sometimes reminds you of "peak hour" in a major city. You can rent good bikes with top Shimano gears at over 160 railway stations throughout the country, and drop the bike off later at any other station. The one thing that will slow the cyclist down is the super-abundance of old churches, castles and wineries to see and experience .