Peter Neville-Hadley

1 month ago | 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.

2 months ago | 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.

Dec 21, 2024 | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

Among the drawn-out conflicts rarely out of the news is one in which entrenched, often nationalist campaigners from assorted countries, demanding the return of antiquities they claim as their own, lob shells of rhetoric at the equally dug-in Western museums that now house them.

Nov 1, 2024 | scmp.com | Peter Neville-Hadley

The visit to Longzhou begins unpromisingly. Why, the policeman at a checkpoint on the edge of the city wants to know, am I going to a little-known town two hours’ drive southwest of the Guangxi provincial capital of Nanning. “Lüyou,” I say. Tourism. “Mei you shenme hao wan,” he objects. There’s nothing interesting there. He flicks nervously through the pages of my passport. “There’s the old French consulate,” suggests the minibus driver, who has come over to see about the delay.