What to eat in Baden: Authentic Black Forest Cherry Cake - Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte @ Cafe Schmidt, Freiburg

Amongst the most well-known of German culinary products all around the globe is the Black Forest cherry cake, the heavenly desert made of layers of fresh cream, chocolate cakes and plenty of sour cherries soaked in traditional Black Forest Kirschwasser, a clear colourless doubled-distilled cherry brandy produced in the Black Forest region in southern Baden, Germany.

The secret of a truly remarkable and delicious Black Forest cherry cake lies in the clever use of authentic Kirschwasser. Too little of it would not bring out the delicate taste of fresh cream and dark chocolate; while too much of it would drown out the fruity flavour of the sour cherries and overshadow the light texture of fresh cream and chocolates.   

What to eat in Baden: Hausbrauerei Feierling, Freiburg

Germany is famous for its beer, but not all beers are brewed the same. And each town or even village in Germany has its own beer(s), with an individual flavour and one-of-a-kind taste unique to the place. The beer produced in one particular village in northern Germany will taste completely different to the beer brewed in a mountain village somewhere in the Alps. 

For beer lovers, any trip to Freiburg, the university town in southern Baden, is incomplete with a visit to the private brewery known affectionately by locals as Feierling. This place serves arguably one of the best home brewed beers in southern Germany, and is a popular meeting place for residents of the university town as well as incoming visitors. Me and my classmates used to hold our weekly Stammtisch gathering at this place, and whenever friends came to visit, Feierling is always an integral part of the city tour programme around Freiburg and the environs. 

The main attraction of Feierling is the in-house brewery with two giant brass beer vats in the centre of the building, which also houses a restaurant. During my student days in Freiburg, this place is the regular meeting point of fellow students after seminars, and its outdoor beer garden, under the chestnut trees with gravel ground, provides the ideal set-up for some mind-provoking post-seminar intellectual discussions - an experience which makes life in a German university town so special compared to other university towns in other European countries.  

Strasbourg Revisited: the European Metropole on the Rhine

During the 1990s, I used to visit Strasbourg on a frequent basis, as the city is about 2 hours by train from Freiburg, where I used to live. Beside being a pretty city with an impressive cathedral, picturesque old town with scenic medieval timber framed houses, Strasbourg also offers good shopping opportunities, with many French supermarkets, French departmental stores stocked with French clothing labels available only in France proper, and high-end haute-couture boutiques which make my knees go weak and my bank accounts empty during its summer sales and winter sales periods. Sometimes I even went to Strasbourg with an empty suitcase, only to return with it filled to the brim with French delicatessen and fashion booty from the latest sales in town.

Along the Waterfront of Izmir: From Konak Square to Alsancak

If you ask me which are my favourite cities with more than 1 million inhabitants in Turkey, the answer is Izmir and Antep. Antep makes the shortlist because of its cultural ambience, its cafes, the friendliness of its inhabitants, and its wealth of medieval architectures. Izmir because of its location on the sea and its liberal lifestyle philosophy. And the advantage of Izmir over all other coastal mega cities in Turkey such as Istanbul, Antalya, Adana or Samsun to the north is, the city of Izmir, in spite of its three million inhabitants, still has a very laid-back and relaxed pace of life, unlike the stressful and hectic Istanbul, the over-touristic Antalya, or the industrial and gloomy-looking Adana.  

The most famous landmark of Izmir is the Konak Square with its clock tower. This place is also one of the most important transport nexus in Izmir, with a ferry terminal that connects districts such as Bostanli and Karsiyaka on the northern gulf of Izmir with Konak; a metro station with trains to Basmane train station and Bornov; and a bus depot from where buses to the regional districts of Narliedere, Guzelbahce, and Urla depart. 

Alacahoyuk: the Hittite Ruins off the Beaten Track

Alacahoyuk is, after the Hittite capital of Hattusa-Bogazkale, the second most important Hittite site currently under excavation in Turkey. It was already in existence in pre-Hittite times, probably as early as 4000BC.

Alacahoyuk was once the most important city during the pre-Hittite times, before the arrivals of the Hittites and the rise of the Hittie capital of Hattusa. After the demise of the Hittite Empire, the settlement of Alacahoyuk also went to into decline, and the site was only re-discovered in 1839.

Vanilla Lounge, Antalya: Trendy Fusion Cuisine and the Best Risotto in Turkey

A few years ago, it was probably easier for the English national football team to win the FIFA Football World Cup than for ordinary tourists to find a restaurant in Antalya that served western food which are up to international standards. I have always wondered why, for a country with more than 31 million foreign tourists every year, it has been virtually impossible to find restaurants which conjure up some kind of decent international cuisines in major tourist cities such as Antalya or Istanbul. In fact Antalya is probably the only major holiday city in the world without any palatable French, Italian, Thai, Indian or Japanese restaurants, even if you are willing to spend a fortune for your dinner.

And it seems this lack of variety in terms of foreign cuisines is endemic to 99% of towns and cities in Turkey. Even in Ankara, the capital of Turkey and home to a large number of foreign diplomats, one struggles to find a good restaurant with authentic Asian or European food. But why is there such a dearth of foreign restaurants in Turkey? Does it have anything to do with the general Turkish populace's apathy or outright reluctance to try out anything which is non-Turkish?

Fortunately, in the last 2-3 years, there has been an increasing number of Turkish restaurateurs who are willing to jump into uncharted territories by investing huge sums of money to open up chic restaurants that serve international cuisines at prime locations in some of Turkey's top tourist destinations. One of them is the Vanilla Lounge in the old town of Antalya, situated in a beautifully restored old Ottoman mansion, right across the street from the main building of the elegant boutique hotel Alp Pasa. 

Worms: Home of the Nibelungenlied and the Oldest City in Germany?

I remember very well that, during my first semester as a freshman undergraduate at the university, the topic of my very first lecture in Early Modern European History was about the 'Diet of Worms'. At first the name 'Worms' sounds really funny, for it reminds one of the crawling non-arthropod invertebrate creatures, instead of an important imperial Holy Roman Empire city and a strategic stronghold of a place on the bank of the River Rhine. But this city actually witnessed some of the most decisive moments in the history of modern Europe, and is in contention with Trier and Cologne to vie for the title of the oldest city in Germany.   

The city of Worms is best known in Germany for the following few things: the place where the 1521 Diet of Worms, at which Martin Luther was summoned to appear before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to recant or to defend his 95 These, took place; as the backdrop of the medieval epic saga Das Nibelungenlied; and the city where some of the most famous Romanesque architectures from the early Middle Ages can be seen.

Trier: the Border Town with a Long Roman Past

Life is really a strange thing. I had spent more than a decade living and working in Germany, spoke the language, know its people, culinary traditions and customs very well, but I had visited far fewer places in Germany than I had in countries such as Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Although there are many places in Germany which are worth a visit, it just does not seem to arouse my interest enough to induce me to book that flight or train ticket online and get my suitcase ready. While many overseas visitors spent quite a bit of time and money to visit those places which I could have easily travelled to on any weekend, I simply ignored them unless I was there on a subsidised trip.

That was the case with Trier, the Roman city on the Moselle and arguably one of the oldest cities in Germany. The city is famous for its UNESCO inscribed Roman monuments, its wines and scenic boat tour up the valleys of the Moselle all the way up to the border with Luxembourg, and is known throughout the world as the birthplace of Karl Marx.