No matter how many tourists you have to plow through, or how many times you’ve already been to pay homage, the Pantheon sits in the top tier of Rome’s startlingly beautiful, historically rich, architecturally astonishing must-see attractions. Built almost 2000 years ago, the Pantheon was originally commissioned by Marcus Agrippa in the reign of Augustus […]
Edinburgh is arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the UK. The Scottish capital is a wonderfully evocative metropolis, the old town and new town are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the city has much in store for the intrepid visitor. As you wander along Princes Street, Edinburgh Castle towers over the city grandly, […]
Brazil seems to be hogging the limelight lately, with the FIFA World Cup this summer and the Olympics in 2016. While we love it as a destination, there is plenty more in this area of the world to be excited about. Our Latin American enthusiasts here at Trufflepig feel we shouldn’t neglect the rest of […]
The Galata Tower is situated in an area of Istanbul worth meandering on foot. Once you get out of the city’s exasperatingly crazy traffic and perambulate, it is a flaneur’s delight. This beautiful tower sits on the Golden Horn of Istanbul, across the Galata Bridge from the old town of Sultanahmet, in the area of […]
When you have free time in Spain, you don’t wonder what you’re going to do. You wonder what you’re going to eat. The fact that any free time will be spent sitting and eating and drinking somewhere with friends is a foregone conclusion. It’s what is done. This weekend at lunch, for example, when we […]
When trying to describe what Tikal is like, it is always easiest to mention that it’s the area where the Ewoks live in “Return of the Jedi”. This ancient place in the deepest jungles of northern Guatemala is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, but this seems less illustrious than its setting in the Star Wars films. […]
I love fire. I love to watch things burn, especially large, highly flammable things. Effigy is one of my all-time favourite English words, and the burning of effigies is one of my favourite pastimes. And I love processions. So after dinner last night, I drove down the hill to the town of Pitigliano, in the […]
The Winter Olympics are over. What’s the next international competition that the world is willing to wake up to watch at all hours of the night? The FIFA World Cup, of course. Rio’s final samba school has finished the Carnival parade route, and now just 83 days remain (fifa.com has a countdown, naturally) until nationalistic […]
Shoreditch used to be an area best avoided; indeed, the ‘ditch’ in question was probably a boggy suburb of London’s City back in Saxon times, known as ‘Sewer-ditch’. Gentrification and its proximity to the financial City of London changed this area into a hub of artistic creativity and art in the 90s, and this former […]
Let’s be honest, Cambodia is only known for a few things, like the temples of Angkor Wat, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The country has a magnificent past and a brutal recent history. A lesser-known fact is that Cambodia also has some brilliant not-so-old architecture, and the capital city of Phnom Penh is the […]
Having just returned from a research trip in Venice, our expert in all things Italian, Rudston Steward, has plenty to say about this watery wonder. He’s pared it all down to 12 key reasons why Venice should top your travel hit list. 1) A palatial past—Venetians don’t think of themselves as Italians, but as a […]
When you visit a country for the first time, especially one that is completely foreign to any past experience, you tend to focus on a specific detail. You find comfort in this detail, and make a point to learn as much as you can about it. Using this method, you can comfortably learn more about […]
As winter finally unclenches its fist from around our collective throats, and the temperature deigns to rise above negative double digits, I know exactly what you’re thinking: “where shall we go next Christmas?” Actually, that’s probably the last thing on your mind as you dream of warm sunshine and footwear other than snow boots, but […]
The sheer size of the Louvre—bigger than an airport and more labyrinthine—can be overwhelming; but even more daunting than that is the sheer academic weight of all those masterpieces staring down at you; centuries and centuries of art in room upon room of scholarship. All those dates to learn, those artistic genres to distinguish, those […]
It’s hard to swing a bottle of Brunello in Tuscany without hitting a villa. Some are new, some old. Some private, some open to the public. Most of them are nice to gorgeous, so picking a favourite is like choosing between a Ferrari and a Lamborghini. As far as old, private, and gorgeous villas go, […]
This is the moment when you’ve run out of patience. You know it. We know it. All the other drivers on the salt-crusted road know it. It’s mid-February and there are minimal daylight hours at the end of the tunnel, especially under this particularly heavy avalanche of snow. We’re all just trying too hard to […]