In the fall of 1971 a group of young locals climb through the fences overtaking an abandoned military site and proclaimed it the Free Town of Christiania in protest against the acute housing shortage in Copenhagen. Christiania is in that sense a product of the sixties revolutionary youth and squatter movement. The government was somewhat baffled about the whole situation, but in 1973 Christiania was labeled a ‘social experiment’. During the years Christiania has been an arena of contest between supporters and opponents, but somehow it has managed to survive for more than 30 years, in no small part because of a wide support from the public.

Christiania 

Photo by Morteno

Written by Ulla Sauerberg, editor of the book The CPH Guide

For two years I worked as a tourist guide showing visitors all the splendors that Copenhagen has to offer. The blockbuster of the tour was never The Little Mermaid or New Harbour, but Christiania: A place (in)famous for being a social experiment of alternative lifestyle but especially for its main attraction, Pusher Street, due to the hundreds of stalls openly selling hash.

Photo by Morteno

Nowadays Pusher Street no longer exists. The hash stands were torn down in January 2004, and Pusher Street has been sarcastically renamed Copper Street because of the many raids and the number of police men present. That’s not to say that you can’t buy cannabis, the market has just become much less open.

Although the character of its main street has completely changed, Christiania is still well worth a visit because it is - and always has been - so much more than Pusher Street.

Photo by Ulla Sauerberg

In Christiania you’ll find everything from the minimal wooden shack to circus wagons built together and even a house built like a UFO. Unsurprisingly you can buy several books on Christiania’s alternative architecture, its “shabby chic” interior design and plenty of information on its long and colorful history.

Photo by Ulla Sauerberg

When going to Christiania, just remember that it isn’t Disneyland. It wasn’t built to satisfy tourists. This is a place where people actually live and work. On my guided tours I’ve experienced visitors complaining that the locals are unfriendly and unaccommodating. But it’s important to understand that sometimes the locals get slightly annoyed with tourists invading their private space or taking their pictures as if they were animals in a zoo.

Photo by Ulla Sauerberg

Please don’t take photographs in Christiania, at least not around the main streets or of the people without at least having the common decency to ask for permission. As one Christianite put it, it’s not so terribly fun coming out of the communal showers only to find 15 tourists taking pictures through the windows …

Is it safe? That’s a question I’ve been asked a lot. Yes, in my humble opinion. At least I’ve never experienced any unpleasantness as long as you respect the given boundaries. If anything, people are just stoned and thereby pretty harmless.

Photo by Morteno

It is important to stress that Christiania has always been highly controversial. To the supporters the community is a symbol of social latitude, creativity, openness and an alternative way of life. To the opponents Christiania mocks the rules of society (and many are perhaps displeased with the fact that it sits on such a prime piece of Copenhagen real estate?).

Photo by Ulla Sauerberg

In the spring 2004 the Danish Parliament passed a bill stating that Christiania should be “normalized”, which among other things means that many of the odd self-built houses on the embankments are to be torn down. The negotiations between Christiania and the state have been going on for more than four years now, and nobody knows exactly what the future will bring and how many houses are to be cleared.

Photo by Morteno

One thing is for sure though: If you want to experience Christiania before it becomes too ‘normalized’, then take a day off to explore the area.

There is an official guided tour every Sat-Sun at 3pm, daily in the summer period, that leave from the main entrance. The tour costs 30 DKK (approx.4 EUR) and is mostly concentrated around down-town Christiania.

www.christiania.org 

Extract from the book The CPH Guide edited by Ulla Sauerberg and published by Nyt Nordisk Forlag. 

Photo by Sylvain Ageorges  

Fatima finds her home in Paris too small, compared to her mansion in Aleppo, Syria. Her patrons, however, adore the little cottage in the 15th arrondissement, because of its tiny patio where summer meals are so delightful. For Fatima is a fine cook.

A mother of seven who settled in France twenty-seven years ago, Fatima has opened a restaurant right outside the back door of her home.

Inas, one of her daughters, is head serving person; Momo, a son, supervises the kitchen staff. This is perfect for Fatima, who is ready to slow down and simply help out with the cooking when it strikes her fancy.

Her husband, who died young, was a chef, at the Iraqi embassy in Paris. “Our parents were born in Acre, a Palestinian town which is now part of Israel, and we grew up in Aleppo,” Inas points out, explaining the background on the 'Syrio-Palestinian cuisine' offered on the menu at Om’Zaki.

Photo by Sylvain Ageorges

Momo would say the recipes closely resemble Lebanese fare, though a spice or two might change. In any case, Momo’s dishes are tasty and colorful, and when you’re lucky enough to dine on the patio – you must be sure to reserve a table, because there are only 25 seats there – under the wisteria and grapes twining up the trellis, the baked kebbé, a delight made of spiced ground lamb with bulgur and pine nuts, served with a minty-cucumber-yogurt sauce, and the mouhalabieh, a dessert flan flavored with orange flower water and pistachios – the experience is practically sublime.

The patio is between the dining room and a red brick studio where one of Momo’s brother’s lives. Fatima’s house is right on the other side, and the restaurant kitchen closes up the other side. Fatima’s right – we wish she had a bigger patio!

Om'Zaki; 76 rue de la Procession; 15. arr.

Open from noon to 3 pm and 7:30-11 pm; closed Saturday at noon and Sunday (summer hours); closed Saturday at noon, Sunday, and Monday night (winter); outdoor dining when the weather permits.

Extract from the new French-English guidebook 'Paris Terrasses – Outdoor Dining in Paris', written by Simon Roger and published by Parigramme.
 

Photo by Sandrine Alouf

The air is discreetly laden with a haze of incense and tobacco smoke: welcome to a kingdom ruled by that stubborn vice. Though it is politically incorrect, the place is a favourite with many a dignitary from the Constitutional Council or Ministry of Culture, located nearby.

Beneath the 17th-century colonnaded mall at Palais-Royal, Rakel Van Kote, an Israeli woman of Afghan extraction, stocks snuffboxes, pipes, manicure kits, canes, umbrellas, and curiosities, all of them antique.

Photo by Sandrine Alouf

Her clientele, made up largely of collectors, includes Karl Lagerfeld and the great-grandson of Gustave Eiffel. The objects of their desire are arranged in stacks, sometimes precariously balanced one on top of the other, or overlapping in a charming puzzle of parts and pieces.

True, the shop is pocket-sized, but it is located in one of Paris's most strollable neighbourhoods. The renown of the proprietress is such that she often lends collectibles for use as movie props. For example, in the film Molière, Romain Duris puffs on a cigarette-holder straight from this boutique.

A L'Oriental; Arcades du Palais-Royal, 19-22, galerie de Chartres, 1. arr. Metro: Palais-Royal-Musée-du-Louvre
Open Monday - Saturday, 11 am-7 pm. Sundays by appointment

Extract from the French-English guide PARIS DECO, written by Edith Pauly and published at Parigramme.  

What do you do when your country is bankrupt and is in desperate need of foreign currency? Well, you rent out the buildings that house your foreign embassies. At least this is what North Korea has done with parts of its Berlin embassy, which has been turned into a hostel.

The Cityhostel Berlin opened on July 1. 2008 and has around 100 rooms covering two floors in the former embassy building.

The embassy was built in the 1970s on Glinka Strasse in the old East Berlin and consisted of two buildings. After the Cold War, staff numbers at the embassy were cut and now one of the buildings has been rented out and turned into the Cityhostel Berlin. The other building on the site still houses the North Korean embassy .

We hope that the money North Korea recieves from renting out its embassies will be spend on improving the miserable living conditions in North Korea, but we fear that the money will be converted into sustaining Kim Jong-Il’s repressive regime and the 'Dear Leader’s reputed exorbitant private consumption.

The history of the building and Cityhostel Berlin's location right next to the North Korean embassy will probably be attractive to many. Communist kitsch is a big thing in Berlin where the Ostalgie vibe has been going on for several years and in May 2007 the city got its first DDR design-hostel.

Author David Rich Momondo

Go further: Experience a night in the old East Berlin together with Erich Honecker and other former communist leaders at Ostel.

Find more hotels in Berlin here.

The Euro 2008 is well over and what could be a better treat for worn-out footballers and hung-over football fans (plus the rest of us) who need to regenerate body and soul than a wellness and spa-stay at the amazing Rogner-Bad Blumau hotel.

The hotel - that looks like a mixture between a hobbit-village and an old Arabic citadel - is nestled in the gently rolling hills of the Styrian hot springs region in South East Austria.

Rogner-Bad Blamau’s strong colors and asymmetrical shapes are drawn by the world famous Austrian architect and artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser who has designed every detail in the hotel.

The hotel is the pride of small village Bad Blamau, and not only is it amazing to look at, it is also the right place to be if you want to relax and recover.

Among other it offers different beauty treatments and medical services and it has its own holistic center called 'Findedich' (find yourself). Here you can get in contact with your inner self through different alternative treatments such as sound-therapy and Shiatsu massage.

There are different indoor and outdoor pools with water from two hot springs which according to Rogner-Bad Blumau brings vitality, heat and energy to the hotel! And of course the hotel's restaurant serves organic food.

Rogner-Bad Blumau is only a 40 minutes drive away from the airport in Graz and 90 minutes away from Vienna.

Author David Rich Momondo 

Find more hotels in Austria here.