The Yearly Onion Market in Bern

Always on the fourth Monday in November, the city center of Bern is awash with onions. The yearly onion market has a long tradition, going back to the feast of St. Martin, when the cities of Southern Germany all had large markets, pageants, and communal dinners to mark summer passing into autumn. 



Neuchatel: The Anachronistic City in Switzerland

Neuchatel is a beautiful little town in Switzerland situated on Lake Neuchatel. It managed to become an anachronistic holdover from the middle ages into the 19th century and thereby almost brought Switzerland and Prussia to declare war on each other. Today, it has a university and is a center for tourists visiting the beautiful countryside and the Jura Mountains. 



There is Music in The Ceilings of Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle was once a Royal residence of the Scottish kings. But being situated near the border to England, it was a castle of strategic importance before that. When the Scots started to convert it into a residence, the builders included a curious code into the ceiling of the king’s bedchamber. The code was recently cracked to reveal the music hidden within. 



Lugano, The Largest Italian Speaking Town in Switzerland

Lugano is the warm spot of Switzerland, situated in the southern Republic and Canton of Ticino on Lake Lugano. The local climate is warm enough that palms and other southern plants thrive, and nestled in between in the lake and the mountains, it offers breathtaking views wherever you go. 



Temperamental Tempest on The Way to Nicosia

An outing turned adventure on Sicily. Sicily is the island at the southern tip of the boot of Italy. It is a mysterious island full of old superstitions, religions, and a language completely alien to Italian. The old gods still walk in its hills; they are (mostly) Greek gods as they colonized the island before the Romans had learnt to build boats.