Monaco: A Country You Can Walk Across in an Hour, Built Almost Entirely on Gambling
Monaco, at just over 2 square kilometres, is the second-smallest country in the world after Vatican City, and its modern wealth traces…
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Andorra: A Country Still Ruled by a Bishop and a French President
Andorra remains one of the last co-principalities in the world, a nation whose head of state is jointly held by two co-princes,…
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The Dominican Republic: A Nation That Shares an Island With Its Own Complicated History
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, the only Caribbean island divided between two independent nations, a border shaped…
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Bermuda: An Island Chain That Isn’t Actually in the Caribbean
Despite its strong cultural and touristic association with the Caribbean, Bermuda sits far to the north, roughly 1,050 kilometres off the coast…
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Trinidad and Tobago: Two Islands, One Nation, Neither Quite Like the Other
Trinidad and Tobago, despite forming a single nation since 1962, are geologically and culturally quite distinct, Trinidad, the larger and far more…
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Abu Dhabi: A Capital Built on Oil Wealth, Deliberately Spent on Culture
Abu Dhabi, unlike neighbouring Dubai, sits atop the vast majority of the United Arab Emirates’ actual oil reserves, wealth that has funded…
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Dubai: A Fishing and Pearling Port That Chose to Build the Future
Dubai’s economy, as recently as the early 20th century, rested substantially on pearl diving and fishing, a modest trading port along the…
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Hagia Sophia: A Building That Has Been a Church, a Mosque, a Museum, and a Mosque Again
Hagia Sophia was completed in 537 CE under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, and for nearly a thousand years afterward, it held…
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Marmaris: A Harbour Town Shaped by an Empire’s Naval Ambition
Marmaris owes much of its early strategic development to Suleiman the Magnificent, who used its naturally sheltered, deep-water bay as a staging…
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Bodrum: A Resort Town Built Beside One of the Seven Wonders
Bodrum sits on the site of ancient Halicarnassus, once home to the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, a tomb built in the 4th century…
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Antalya: A Turkish Riviera City Built on Roman Foundations
Antalya was founded around 150 BCE by Attalus II, king of Pergamon, who reportedly ordered his men to find “heaven on earth”…
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Thessaloniki: A City Older Than Its Own More Famous Rival
Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BCE by Cassander, a general of Alexander the Great, who named the city after his wife, Alexander’s…
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