Preview hidden europe 43

Summary

A look ahead at hidden europe 43 which will be published on 11 July 2014.

hidden europe 42 / Preview / By hidden europe

The next issue of the magazine will be published on Friday 11 July 2014 — which we note is the Feast of St Benedict who happens to be one of the patron saints of Europe. In hidden europe 43 we shall visit the small Bosnian town of Visegrad where the Mehmed Pasa Sokolović Bridge stood centre stage in Ivo Andric’s 1945 novel The Bridge on the Drina.

Russia’s Black Sea Riviera has been in the spotlight of late, but there’s another Riviera that has always been popular with Russians, namely the Côte d’Azur. So we’ll take a look at Russia’s love affair with the French Riviera. And for devotees of border curiosities, we’ll make time and space for the Austrian village of Jungholz.

Editorial hidden europe 42
Editorial

By hidden europe

Welcome to hidden europe 42. More than half a century after his death, Robert Schuman still makes good reading. His work in the early 1950s to create “a gathering of European nations” was rooted in ideals for a Europe that wanted to look to the future rather than the past. The ideals which Schuman valued were freedom, equality, solidarity and peace.

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Double act: the Danish island of Ærø
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

The Danish island of Ærø is no more than a fleck in the Baltic. Yet this beautiful island is a good place to understand Danish history. If you are ever in any doubt as to how much the sea has inflected the Danish experience, make time for Marstal, the largest community on the island of Ærø. Then head on over to Ærøskøbing, the island capital, to appreciate the comforts of small town life.

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Zvoncari: Rijeka Carnival and the bell ringers of Kastav
Feature

By Rudolf Abraham

Shrovetide is carnival time across much of Europe. A few days of madness in the run-up to Lent subvert the normal order of urban and rural life. Guest contributor Rudolf Abraham reports from Rijeka on a little piece of cultural street theatre that has horned, toothed and exotic creatures dancing on the streets of the Croatian port city.

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Where God grew stones: a Mani odyssey
Feature

By Duncan JD Smith

Patrick Leigh Fermor's 1958 book on the Mani region of southern Greece helped put Mani on the map. Today it pulls the tourist crowds, yet it still retains a raw appeal. Guest contributor Duncan JD Smith dives deep into Mani to explore the otherworldly landscapes of this arid peninsula.

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Bright banquets in the Elysian Vale: musings on Weimar
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

Can a town have too much history? That certainly seems the case with the small city of Weimar in the German State of Thuringia. The town packs a few surprises and there is even a little counterculture to offset Schiller and Goethe. We unpack the details that you don't find in the tourist brochures in this special feature on a town that is still very much 'east' Germany - and all the better for that.

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Second chance for the Northern Sea Route
Hidden histories

By Nicky Gardner

Global warming means thinning Arctic ice, which is a tragedy for imperilled polar wildlife. But, for the merchant shipping industry, receding Arctic ice opens up new opportunities for exploiting the Northern Sea Route. The route from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait is being transformed into an operational seaway.

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Exploring New Scotland
Europe beyond Europe

By Nicky Gardner

In the eastern highveld, where South Africa nudges up to Swaziland, place names on maps reveal the predictable mix of isiZulu and Afrikaans influences. But there is another layer to the toponyms of the region, one that reveals a legacy of Scottish settlement in the region. We unpack the history of New Scotland which, with its capital Roburnia (named after Robert Burns), was founded 150 years ago this year.

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Meaningful partnerships for eastern Europe
Perspective

By Nicky Gardner

The worrying developments in Ukraine highlight the challenges experienced by countries eligible for support under the European Union's Eastern Partnerships (EaP) programme. Tugged in one direction by Brussels and in the other by Moscow, it is no surprise that loyalties in the region are being sorely tested.

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Into the hills: a Bohemian diversion
Railscan

By Nicky Gardner

Of course one can speed across Europe on sleek, fast trains. But slow trains, the kind that dawdle along branch lines, are so much more interesting. We ride a rural rail route in northern Bohemia, where fading railway stations reveal a Habsburg history. Join us on the slow train to Dolni Poustevna.

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By the razor’s edge: western Poland
Borderpost

By Nicky Gardner

The Polish village of Siekierki on the east bank of the River Odra is a good spot to reflect on European borders. We visit the Western Territories, the area ceded by Germany to Poland at the end of the Second World War.

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Choreographing opinion
Words

By Nicky Gardner

Did Prince Grigor Potemkin really try to fool Catherine the Great into thinking that life in Russia's Black Sea region was rosier than it really was? We think the idea of Potemkin villages is probably a myth, and that Prince Potemkin was guilty of doing no more than what PR agencies do every day - nudging opinion towards a favourable interpretion of reality. It's a fact of modern life, as common in Stockholm and Strasbourg as it is in Sochi.

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Tales from the A39
Routes

By Nicky Gardner

Forget the Maserati centenary celebrations this year. 2014 marks the centenary of the Mendip Motor. Chewton Mendip was never destined to become a Detroit. But one hundred years ago this month this small Somerset village saw the launch of the Mendip Motor. We travel down the A39 to uncover this story of car production in the Mendip Hills of England.

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A question of numbers
Snippet

By hidden europe

'Grey gold' is the term used by Ærø councillor Carl Heide to describe the talented and still-very-active migrants whom he feels can help sustain community life on the Danish island of Ærø. For an island where deaths greatly outnumber births, and where young adults often move away, the challenge of maintaining a viable community is uppermost on the local agenda.

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Dollars and cents
Snippet

By hidden europe

Three of the 406 municipalities that comprise the Netherlands use a currency other than the euro. Yes, there really are three municipalities where you buy Dutch pancakes with US dollars.

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Rail timetable reborn
Snippet

By hidden europe

The renaissance of the European Rail Timetable (ERT) is good news for rail travellers across the continent. The decision last year by Thomas Cook to scrap the title was a bitter blow. But, thanks to a new company set up by the team that compiled the timetable in Thomas Cook days, the ERT is back.

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The idea of ‘good’ borders
Snippet

By hidden europe

The Curzon Line, which for so long marked the approximate western border of the Soviet Union is named after Lord Curzon. His Lordship has strong ideas on borders, seeing them very much as zones of demarcation. But ideas have changed since Curzon's day. Across much of Europe, they have become invitations for communities on either side to collaborate.

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Preview hidden europe 43
Preview

By hidden europe

A look ahead at hidden europe 43 which will be published on 11 July 2014.

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