Peter Neville-Hadley

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

Turn from bustling Marktgraben into pedestrianised Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, lined with medieval mansions in pastel colours and hung with elaborate signs advertising ancient businesses, and your eye will be caught by a patch of brilliance in the distance, which brightens further as you approach the heart of Innsbruck’s Altstadt, or Old Town.

2 months ago | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

Few European cities have a history as culturally rich as Weimar, once home to Goethe, a giant of world literaturePublished: 4:00pm, 17 Apr 2025It is difficult not to fall in love with the young Sibylle von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, as painted by Europe’s premier portraitist at the time of her wedding, in 1526.

Mar 25, 2025 | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

As ever more European cities complain that tourist numbers have grown to the point of making ordinary life impossible, it’s long past time to abandon checklist tourism, “must sees”, and the look-at-me locations infinitely repeated on Instagram. Even the most popular cities have corners of interest that see few visitors, and museums and other places of historical relevance in which you may find yourself perusing the displays alone, which, these days, is true luxury.

Feb 10, 2025 | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

In 1845, theologian John William Burgon wrote one of the most quoted lines in English poetry: “Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time.”Petra, his only poem, was written in homage to the well-hidden labyrinth of rock-cut tombs, temples and monuments that was the capital of the 3rd century BC-1st century AD Nabataean kingdom, and whose remains lie in modern-day Jordan.

Dec 26, 2024 | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

In Austria, the arrival of the New Year is always celebrated to the sounds of Strauss, and in particular the great swirling tune that has become the country’s unofficial national anthem – Johann Strauss II’s An der schönen blauen Donau, or The Blue Danube waltz. Every New Year’s Eve, all six tiers of the haughty Vienna State Opera’s glittering auditorium are packed for a performance of the only light operetta the company condescends to perform, the same Strauss’ Die Fledermaus.