Little pleasures in autumn
Cool carrier: “Rockstar” bag with leather handle, for use as a handbag or a vanity case.
Wrap up warm: This double-breasted bouclé coat by Odeon wards off the winter chill.
Fall colours: oversized scarf with a trendy geometric patchwork pattern by Cinque.
Sleek style: leather sneakers by New Balance to put some bounce into fall.
Cycling season is here again! But traditional European destinations are now facing competition – from Africa!
Cape Town, the African biking capital, has routes that are open year-round both within the city limits and in the nearby mountains and on the coast. The big bicycle festival Lifecycle Week takes place March 2 to 11.
Whatever you pedal – a city bike in magical Marrakech, a gravel bike in the vast Agafay Desert or a mountainbike in the wild Atlas Mountains – Morocco is a fantastic country to explore under your own steam.
Ride along little-used tracks to the fantastic rock formations, lemurs, baobab trees and snow-white beaches of Madagascar: The East African island is increasingly popular with cyclists.
Culture clash
Where have all the flowers gone? In spring, these big flowers and horticultural shows make for blossoming landscapes.
Fields of flowers
Keukenhof flower park in the Netherlands delights visitors with 4.5 million tulips and 2.5 million daffodils, hyacinths and other bulbs each year. Keukenhof is spectacular, vast and open March 21 to May 19.
Garden extravaganza
A mysterious “time garden”, a “Silk road garden” and a “peach blossom land” are just three of many poetic concepts being realized at the international horticultural exposition in Beijing (April 29 to October 7)
Blooming Britain
The legendary Royal Chelsea Flower Show in London (May 21 to 25) will be as glamorous an event as ever.
Two Scotmen walk into a bar … no, ragging the natives is taboo at the International Comedy festival in Glasgow, Europe’s biggest (this year, March 14-31), which welcomes a host of charming stand-up comics.