Sometimes, mystery novels are the better travel guides. Delphi is beautiful; and everybody knows about its temples and ruins. The landscape around and behind this tourist Delphi is mostly forgotten. This book takes you to God Apollo's Parnassus Mountain where Pan is still playing his flutes. If you want to look at Delphi from the other side, Mary Stewart is showing it all in a well written story.
If you are interested in art, then Athens should be the place to go to next. The art scene in Athens is booming. New cultural spaces open almost daily. Studios and apartments are turned into galleries. For artists, living in Athens is cheaper than elsewhere. Artist have moved their studios from London and Berlin to Athens. And art is seen in Athens, not only bought.
Have you ever considered visiting an extraordinary Buddha statue somewhere? How about the one that stands tall in Lapland, Sweden. The statue is maybe not the most ancient work of art, but its geographical location is out of the ordinary, and out of the way. To get there, you will need one of Buddha's great virtues: Patience.
One of the events that should be on everyone's bucket list happens every year at the beginning of May in Hamburg. Over 1.5 million people come to Hamburg for the festival commemorating the birthday of itsharbor on 7 May 1189. There is a document proving it, and it is a fake. Never mind, bring out the fireworks.
On the countrified outskirts of Leipzig in Germany, a double-headed imperial Austrian eagle spreads its wings on a memorial to an Austrian hero of 1813. Built in 1913 by the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa, it was blissfully forgotten by German imperials, republicans, communists, and republicans again. When the monument started causing costs, no one felt responsible to pay them.
