The Reality of Fez: the city that never let the car in — what a medieval city sounds like when nothing has an engine
Fes el-Bali is widely cited by convention as the largest car-free urban area in the world. The medina's lanes are simply too…
Author
Oliver Hartley
Oliver Hartley writes for PenguFly. This page collects every article by this author: trip reports, routes, practical travel tips and cheap flight ideas.
The Reality of Porto: The City That Sold Its Name
Porto gave its name to one of the world's most famous products, and the product promptly moved out. The city's namesake wine…
The Reality of Istanbul: The City That Was Three Capitals
Some cities are preserved by geographical isolation; others survive because they were simply spared by history. Istanbul is the absolute opposite: a…
The Reality of Cusco: The Capital the Conquerors Overwrote
Cusco is a city judged twice, with the final verdict delivered by geology. It was the capital of the Inca Empire until…
The Reality of Kanazawa: The City the War Never Reached
Nearly every major Japanese city was firebombed in 1945; their historic districts are, by necessity, largely post-war rebuilds. Kanazawa lacked the strategic…
The Reality of Matera: The City Italy Emptied by Law
The Sassi—the two sprawling districts of cave dwellings cut directly into the limestone ravine—are widely considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited…
The Reality of Hoi An: The Port the River Switched Off
For four centuries, this was Faifo—one of Southeast Asia's great trading ports. Japanese, Chinese, Dutch, and Portuguese merchants maintained busy quarters here,…
The Reality of Antigua Guatemala: The Capital the Earthquakes Took
For over two centuries, this city—then known as Santiago de los Caballeros—served as the formidable seat of Spanish imperial power for a…
The Reality of Bukhara: Two Thousand Years of Bazaar
Samarkand is the conqueror's showcase—Timur's capital, built strictly to awe. Bukhara is something else entirely: a merchant city that simply kept trading…
The Reality of Valparaíso: The Port the Panama Canal Forgot
In the age of sail and steam around Cape Horn, Valparaíso was one of the great ports of the Pacific. Heavily settled…
The Reality of Granada: The Last Emirate of Europe
In January 1492, the keys to the city of Granada were handed over on a hill outside the walls, bringing the final…
The Reality of Mexico City: The Megacity Built on a Lake
Stand in the centre of the Zócalo and the immediate assumption is that you are standing in a grand colonial square. In…