Cities
UK to Poland via France: hitch-hiking Europe
You could stay in a hotel in Egypt for a week. Or you can spread the same amount of money over a month and a half for a trip of an alternative kind: hitchhiking Europe. Here’s one way to do it, which included 30 drivers, volunteer work and new friends
cities, money, backpacking, jazz, hospitality club, perpignan, budget
Crisis: no Brussels burn
The Belgian capital wriggles and writhes out of an era of financial crisis - Brussels is versatile and can adapt itself. You can spot this when you go second hand shopping or over to the aid of the homeless in the ´Les Petits Riens´ boutique, despite the obligatory belt tightening here and there. Where the economic dilemma doesn´t appear to have embroiled a younger, cosmopolitan elite, non-EU immigrants haven´t escaped as luckily. Special edition from five cafebabel reporters who travelled to Brussels for the 'EU crisis on the ground' editorial mission
In the middle of our street
You have to know how to choose them, have fun in them, and leave them. Having a neighbourhood is a bit like having a second skin. It typically has your local, your loyal neighbours and shops. But neighbourhoods have their own skins too. Take the Gazi quarter in Athens which shed its industrial skin to become the latest craze, as happened to Kreuzberg in Berlin, or the renewed district of Jozsefvaros in Budapest. We take a little stroll around some European streets
The 'M' word: breaking the Bulgarian complex
In January 2009, Sofia’s then-mayor and current PM banned anti-government protests after citizen disillusion with the country’s corruption; Bulgaria is officially the poorest EU state, according to Transparency International. One year on, the remnants of a ‘protest culture’ lie in the urban, cultural and mediatic fragmentation of a society rooted in tradition, the past - and the mafia, to an extent
cities, protest, urban space, communism, radio, mafia, journalism
What crisis? Scouring for entrepreneurs in Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s GDP growth slowed, but nowhere close to the levels noted west of Sofia. The new coalition government has inherited nearly empty treasury coffers from the previous 'corrupt' administration. In the European Year of Innovation 2009, funding for start-ups was cut. Yet stories of determination prevail. Part three in a five part 'EU crisis on the ground' city series
cities, money, labour, financial crisis, start-up company, crisis on the ground, bulgaria
Keeping Turin's Fiat factory in the family: post-industrial Italy
Turin is emerging from the 110-year reign of the Fiat monarchy, and it’s discovering a cultural soul it never knew it had. A very Italian look at globalisation
cities, financial crisis, car industry, economic crisis, turin, italy, europe on the ground
M**Bun, Eataly, GROM: the organic flavour in Turin
Eating well can save the environment, economy, and local heritage, according to the Slow Food Movement, an international non-profit culinary educational organisation which was founded in 1989 by the Italian writer Carlo Petrini. Its appetising premise is to combat the acculturating effects of corporate America & co. through the affirmation of local, fresh, organic food. Its phrased in its manifesto as ‘the right to pleasure’, and in Turin, it’s a right that’s being energetically exercised
cities, slow food, economic crisis, turin, start-up company, business, italy
Kinda green: five myths about sustainable development in Bulgaria
Ah, the Bulgarians. They're relatively apathetic. Most companies are interested in either doing only the legally required minimum for the environment or in using their ‘green’ activities as marketing tools. But counterintuitive though it may seem, the financial crisis actually promotes sustainability
cities, energy, copenhagen, communism, environment, central and eastern europe, ecology
Guide to the reggae underbelly of Milan
Maybe it all started on 27 June 1980, when Robert Nesta Marley arrived at Linate airport for the first of the only two concerts that took place in Italy in his career. 100, 000 people attended from the early afternoon on the grass of the San Siro stadium, which hosted a non-sporting event for the first time. Since then, the 'good vibes' of reggae have not stopped resonating through the clubs, streets and headphones of the devoted
European bloggers describe their Berlin walls
Monday is 9 November, the day when the Berlin wall was brought down. To reflect on this iconic modern historical event for the eurogeneration, citizen journalists from five cafebabel.com local teams - Sofia, Budapest, Turin, Strasbourg and Istanbul - simultaneously blogged one day about the walls they see in their cities
cities, istanbul, germany, communism, event, architecture, budapest
Sweden straddle EU
Sweden's somewhere up there. But at the moment Europe's northern lights are somewhere kind of everywhere: take the eternal sandy or shock blonde ex-pat stereotype, the Swedish pirate political party which snatched a seat in the brand new European parliament in June, and the fact that the country is running the EU until the end of the year! Their political focus is on the crisis and the environment. Skål captain!
- Why Swedes go next door to Denmark to buy alcohol
- Sweden's Cecilia Malmström: 'I'm a politician. It’s not my task to impose an identity on people'
- Swedish Pirate Party MEP Christian Engström: ‘Europe is stronger than the US’
- Swedish women, the ideal woman?
- Study in Sweden: an American on Swedish and alcohol for the cold
Cologne hits the high waters
'Köln' (pronounced 'Keuhln') stands discreet but turbulent in its touristic and economic crossroads in Europe. From one side, 60, 000 students argue about the European university harmonisation process called 'Bologna'. On the other side, the local extreme-right Pro Köln party provokes islam- and religious freedom defenders. Add to that the biggest national gay pride gathering activists of the homosexual struggle. Five EU journalists take the temperature of a city which gave its name to the famous Eau de Cologne perfume - read the final stop of our twelve-city writing mission, 'EUdebate on the ground' (video and photo gallery below)
Israeli national trail: take a bible, talk to your God and don’t walk on water
The free month-and-a-half trek crosses Israel from tip to toe, via valleys and mountains, winding in the cities, deserts and woods. A bit of context to help you plan carefully and prepare for a tough physical effort, plus some tips
Berlin wall: version Vilnius 2009
Nostalgic? Nearly two decades after ‘die Wende’, as the Germans call it, the Lithuanian capital has become the EU capital of culture. In 2009 though, it is still fighting its old demons. Russian symbols have been erased without mercy. A cold soviet wind blows through the Baltic republic with regards to energy. Belarusian students find exile in a special university four hours from Minsk. The domestic brain drain is ongoing. Three journalists plus one photographer and one videomaker (see below) hunt the clash of cultures in our monthly cities stop: 'EU Debate on the ground'
by
by
by
