The Mixdorf maze

Summary

Full marks to the Ragower Mühle, a mill in the beautiful Schlaube valley near Berlin, for having created what we think is the first maze in Europe explicitly designed with wheelchair users in mind. Would only that the access route through the Brandenburg forests to reach the maze near Mixdorf were not so formidably rutted and bumpy.

hidden europe 31 / Snippet / By hidden europe

In the broader scheme of European hydrology, the River Schlaube is no more than a diminutive dribble. This little tributary of the River Oder makes no great mark on the Brandenburg landscape. Its valley is no more than a gentle impression in the flatlands that lie between Berlin and the Polish border. Yet this subtle valley is a place of rare beauty, easily reached by taking the minor railway that links Berlin with the villages of Mixdorf and Müllrose. The two hour journey is slow travel at its best, with the train dawdling through forests, hugging lakeshores and from time to time pausing at little wayside halts that seemingly have no villages anywhere in their vicinity.

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Editorial hidden europe 31
Editorial

By hidden europe

In this issue of hidden europe we take the pulse of rural life in the Faroe Islands, join a cattle drove along the canadas in Spain, visit a small community in the Basque country and explore Trieste, that most curiously un-Italian of Italian cities. We also recall the legacy of Georgian-born architect Berthold Lubetkin, take the boat to an island in the Gulf of Bothnia and cross from France into Italy on the trail of Alan Sillitoe.

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Paths of history: transhumance in Spain
Feature

By Diego Vivanco

Southern Europe is criss-crossed by old drove routes that served the pastoral economies of yesteryear. In Spain, these routes are called canadas. They are still used by herders who practice transhumance, spending summer in the hills with their cattle and returning each autumn to the coastal lowlands. Guest contributor Diego Vivanco joined Lionel Martorell and a herd of Avilena cattle on a five day trek down to the Ebro delta.

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A place apart: Trieste
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

Trieste is wonderful, every bit as intriguing as the most fanciful places ever created by the Austrian novelist Joseph Roth. The Adriatic city is Austria's orphan, a one time entrepôt for the Habsburg Empire, that had to find a new role after the collapse of the K&K world. Today Trieste is the place where Italy rubs shoulders with Slavic world, but still a place that has a hint of Mitteleuropa.

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Hope in every snowdrift: life in the Faroe Islands
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

Many visitors to the Faroe Islands arrive on cruise ships and see little beyond the capital Tórshavn and its immediate vicinity. But to really understand the Faroes, the visitor must head for smaller communities on islands that rely on occasional ferries and helicopter services for links to the wider world. The very idea of 'remoteness' is a key factor shaping Faroese identity. We climb aboard a boat and hear a tale of men and women who had faith in the Faroes.

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Of apes and men: the Dudley story
Feature

By Nicky Gardner

Many people visit zoos to see apes, wild cats and okapi. But some visitors to Dudley Zoo in the English Midlands are drawn by quite another reason. Dudley Zoo boasts a fine collection of Constructivist buildings designed by Berthold Lubetkin and his Tecton group of architects. The Lubetkin legacy in Dudley and elsewhere in England deserves to be far better known and much more valued.

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Erronkari's claim to fame
People

By Karlos Zurutuza

The memory of Julián Gayarre, the accomplished nineteenth-century tenor, is perpetuated in his home village in the Pyrenees by a larynx preserved in formaldehyde. Karlos Zurutuza, who is a regular contributor to hidden europe, took the bus to Erronkari to unpick the tale of a local lad whose voice was revered in Europe's great opera houses.

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A Finnish outpost: Valsörarna
Message in a bottle

By Silvia Stock

By Erik Schaffer

Valsörarna is a sea of mauve heather, a landscape laced with juniper and full of ripe and juicy blueberries. This tiny Finnish outpost in the Gulf of Bothnia is one of the Kvarken islands. Erik Schaffer and Silvia Stock report on a summer visit to Valsörarna.

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The road to Latte
Borderpost

By Nicky Gardner

Border regions in Europe are always fascinating. Travel east from the French town of Menton and in no time you reach the Italian frontier. The first place of any size on the Italian side of the border is Latte di Ventimglia. We follow the road to Latte, looking at how the Italian village has been framed in the Menton imagination. In a time of cholera, Latte housed a large border internment camp. Now it is a favoured spot for discount shopping.

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Slow England
Books

By Nicky Gardner

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Railscan

By Nicky Gardner

In the early days of train travel, landed gentry and the well-to-do made arrangements with local rail companies to convey their horses and carriages on board the trains. Europe's car trains are the modern day incarnation of the same arrangement, a chance to take the car along when heading off on a long train journey. We take a look at some of Europe's car trains, including Europe's premier car train network operated by DB Autozug.

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Timing

By Nicky Gardner

The compensation culture encourages delayed passengers to seek redress for the inconvenience they have suffered. Air carriers and rail companies have a neat little way of reacting to the new generation of passengers well aware of their rights. They pad out their schedules, adding in a few extra minutes here and there, so enhancing the chance of an on-time arrival and massaging their punctuality statistics.

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Ferryscan

By Nicky Gardner

Ferries in European waters are usually ultra-reliable, but from time to time there is the odd mishap. Cruise ships and cargo ships are more prone to misadventure than regular ferries but no ship is immune. We take a look at a few journeys by ship that did not quite go to plan.

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Sillitoe in Menton
Snippet

By hidden europe

Alan Sillitoe's first publications, written during the brief spell that he lived in Menton in France, were travel essays. Sillitoe died in April, having achieved a formidable reputation as a novelist. We take a look at the lesser known side of Sillitoe's writing, namely his travel prose.

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The Mixdorf maze
Snippet

By hidden europe

Full marks to the Ragower Mühle, a mill in the beautiful Schlaube valley near Berlin, for having created what we think is the first maze in Europe explicitly designed with wheelchair users in mind. Would only that the access route through the Brandenburg forests to reach the maze near Mixdorf were not so formidably rutted and bumpy.

Read on
Top brass
Snippet

By hidden europe

The brass band is alive and well in the Faroe Islands and is just one aspect of the varied musical life of the remote North Atlantic archipelago. hidden europe presents a pot pourri of musical notes from the Faroes.

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Urban matchmaking
Snippet

By hidden europe

Two towns, neither of them well known beyond their local regions. Herten in Germany and Dudley in England. Both are so very similar, that they seem to be places made for each other. Indulge us, while we engage in a little matchmaking.

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Preview hidden europe 32
Preview

By hidden europe

A look ahead at hidden europe 32 which will be published on 19 November 2010.

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hidden europe 31

The Mixdorf maze

Summary

Editorial

Feature

Feature

Feature

Feature

People

Message in a bottle

Borderpost

Books

Railscan

Timing

Ferryscan

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Snippet

Preview

Conflicts of interest: Mining and World Heritage

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Lost at sea: a Frisian tale