Flat surfaces are hard to come by on La Gomera. This pint-sized volcanic isle, the second smallest of the Canary Islands, is shaped like a lemon squeezer, with mountainous spurs radiating out from the centre and deep valleys plunging towards the coast. To get anywhere on the island you usually

Kilometre zero. In Spain, all roads lead to this one point, the axis around which this fractious kingdom of independent-minded regions turns. The spot is marked by a paving stone inlaid with gold on the south side of the Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s busy central square. In many ways

As something of a compulsive travel planner, it’s not often that I turn up in a city with no idea of what to do when I get there. But Cartagena was the exception to the rule, a place I knew very little about before I arrived. Situated about 20

One of the many misconceptions informing the current debate around migration and the Syrian refugee crisis is the idea that the presence of Islam in western Europe is a new phenomenon. Even a cursory glance at the history books shows that Islam has been an important part of our culture

La Palma, one of the lesser known Canary Islands, seems at first glance as if it must be a piece of the Caribbean that’s come loose, a wayward isle that has somehow drifted east across the Atlantic Ocean. There is barely a flat surface to be found on this