Poland: Lonely Planet declares Krakow square world’s finest
Lonely Planet travel guides have rated Krakow’s Main Market Square as the most beautiful in the world.
Krakow’s historic Rynek Glowny managed to beat off competition from Venice’s celebrated Piazza San Marco (2nd place) and the Jamaa el Fna in Marrakesh (3rd) in the top ten ranking.
The French wing of Lonely Planet noted that the Krakow site had “miraculously” survived the ravages of the Second World War, and that street performers and flower-sellers all do their bit in creating the magic of the square. ...
The News
Island: The Postman Wants You to Shovel
This is the busiest season of the year for postal workers with the delivery of letters, parcels, and greeting cards around Iceland, like in other countries.
Because of the heavy snow in recent weeks, delivering mail can be a particularly difficult—dangerous, even.
Íslandspóstur, the Icelandic postal service, asks people to shovel their pathways, and break the icicles hanging overhead to ease the postman’s job. ...
Iceland Review
Italy: Friends star advises Italy on drug addiction fight
American actor Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the hit US comedy series Friends, gave a speech about his own experiences with drug addiction and advised government delegates on rehab systems during a visit to Rome.
On Wednesday, Perry addressed an audience of 14 delegations from Mediterranean countries and university students at the National School of Administration, as part of an international experimental course on rehab. ...
The Local
Latin America: Concerned with stagnant tourism, Caribbean to promote the region as a single destination
The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) will next month celebrate its 25th anniversary amidst a call for the region to be promoted as a single destination. CTO Chairman, Beverly Nicholson Doty, in a Christmas message, said that her wish for the sector in 2014 was that Caribbean countries commit themselves to promoting the region as one destination. ...
Merco Press
France: Step into the void in new stunning Alps skywalk
Anyone who suffers from vertigo might want to look away now. A new attraction is set to open high up in the French Alps on Saturday that will give those with a head for heights a chance to ’step into the void'. These images and video give a glimpse of what to expect. ...
The Local
Bhutan: No problem is insurmountable”: His Majesty
The host of challenges facing the country today, HM said had to be confronted as a nation
National Day: In his address to the nation on the National Day, His Majesty yesterday drew attention to some apparent deficiencies the country had to be wary of on its path to progress.
Aspirations to address these limitations in the manner the country conducted its business and affairs His Majesty the King said was one of his in earnestness and that of the people. ...
Kuensel Online
Czech Republic: Two years on, a powerful but ambiguous legacy
Václav Havel continues to inspire deep affection among Czechs, but some see him in less glowing terms
As a cold winter‘s afternoon gave way to evening, Filip Chráska, a student from Prague, knelt down and added a small red candle to the scores already laid out in heart shapes on the pavement of Wenceslas Square.
Inside one of the hearts, the letters VH had been marked out, also by candles, in tribute to Václav Havel, who died two years ago today aged 75.
A playwright, dissident, leader of the 1989 Velvet Revolution and ultimately president, in the post-communism era Havel was, among Czechs, unmatched in global recognition. ...
Prague Post
