Exploring cultures and communities – the slow way

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hidden europe magazine

hidden europe 25

Here is an extended table of contents for hidden europe 25 with brief summaries and excerpts of every article published in this issue of the magazine. Of course you can read the full version of all articles in the print edition of hidden europe 25, which is still available for sale. It was published in March 2009. So much of what features in hidden europe is timeless - as relevant and thought provoking today as it was on the day it was published.

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Departments in Oostende on the Belgian coast (photo © bidden europe).
editorial

Welcome to the twenty-fifth issue of hidden europe magazine. We travel from Belgium to Belarus, from Latvia to Spain and from Iceland to Turkey. And we launch our manifesto for slow travel - an agenda for restoring some sanity and even a little ...
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Coastal tram at De Haan in Belgium, about halfway along its seventy kilometre route (photo © hidden europe).
feature

Belgium's coastal tram (De Kusttram) is the longest tram route in the world. Running the entire length of the Belgian coast, the tram blends surrealism, fantasy and the utterly mundane. Join us for moules et frites, and lots of gnomes too, as we ...
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The memorial stone and bell commemorating the losses of the Chernobyl catastrophe in Vetka — erected in front of the newly built Orthodox church (photo © Nigel Roberts).
feature

Vetka is a small town in the southeast corner of Belarus. This community and the surrounding landscape of lakes and forests were terribly affected by the nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl in 1986. Nigel Roberts, a first-time contributor to hidden ...
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routes

In western Europe, long distance car rallies of the inter-war years came to symbolise glitz and glamour. Just think of the Monte Carlo rally. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union the car rally became an important tool in the building of socialism. We ...
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Image © Ilker Canikligil / dreamstime.com
perspective

Slow travel is about making conscious choices, and not letting the anticipation of arrival undermine the pleasure of the journey. By choosing to travel slowly, we reshape our relationship with place and with the communities through which we pass on ...
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Goðafoss — the 'waterfall of the Gods' in northern Iceland (photo © Bluesunphoto / dreamstime.com).
words

Yes, you can go to Iceland in search of glaciers and geysers, but you can also travel north, just as William Morris did, in search of heroes and gods. These are landscapes full of eddic myth and powerful sagas. Iceland is a country that has kept ...
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Saint-Exupéry railway station at Lyon airport, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava (photo © luSh / istockphoto.com).
railscan

What do the English railway stations at Denton, Reddish South, Pilning and Teesside Airport have in common? The answer is that they have virtually no trains. Ghost trains, ghost stations and more as we review Britain's weakest ...
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Gül Baba's tomb in the Rózsadomb district of Budapest (photo in the public domain).
hidden histories

Gül Baba presides over Budapest with the serenity and repose of one who rests in Allah. We forsake the streets of Castle Hill in Buda, forever full of tourists, and go in search of hidden ...
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Palm trees and waterfall at Elche, Spain (photo © Martin Garnham / dreamstime.com).
outpost

Early Arab settlers in the Spanish Levante created at Elche a remarkable region of palm groves. Curiously, a cultural landscape that was so Arabic in inspiration now serves mainly Christian interests. We take the slow train south from Alicante and ...
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An early experiment in surrealism, this extraordinary 'palace' graces a garden in the French village of Hauterives. It was built by the local postman (photo © Milosk50 / dreamstime.com).
sights

A new book called 'Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravanganzas' inspires us to explore Europe's architecture of deceit. We find buildings conceived with no purpose at all, and others where exterior design deludes as to the real purpose of the ...
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snippet

Scourie Lodge in northwest Scotland may claim to have the most northerly palm trees in the world, but we think they are wrong. We travel north up the Norwegian coast in search of palm trees that seemingly defy ...
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snippet

Way up north near the Barents Sea, Norway borders onto Russia. The Norwegian port of Kirkenes depends heavily on good links with its Russian hinterland. But all is not well in this Arctic ...
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snippet

A remote coastal area of northern Latvia is at the heart of a modest revival of Liv culture. The Liv community of Latvia have their own language and way of life and are one the Baltic region's most distinctive cultural ...
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