Phil Thomas

“Right, you’re all my prisoners now.” As welcomes go, this is a little hair-raising. Entering the Tower of London on any occasion is to come face-to-face with a who’s who of English history and the snakes and ladders of the dynastic politics recreated in countless books and TV series. London's most iconic landmark, as I'd never seen before © Phil Thomas, Someone Else's Country Even those with a cursory knowledge of history will know entering the Tower as a prisoner rarely ended well. ...

Genoa has a marketing problem. Florence has Michelangelo. Venice has gondolas. Bologna persuades you that eating your own body weight in mortadella is a cultural experience (they’re right). Genoa, meanwhile, is somewhere many travellers see through a train window or via shuttle bus. A necessary evil on their way to Portofino or Cinque Terre. Don't call it a hidden geml (c) Phil Thomas, Someone Else's Country This is a mistake. No, I’m not about to call it a hidden gem but done right, Genoa...

I lived six months in Hamburg during the 2000s and then went over a decade before returning (note to self, October 2020 wasn’t peak time to see any city at its best, especially when it coincided with a 10pm curfew!) As a port city, the original Hanseatic city is in a constant process of renewal and reinvention and has a rhythm unlike anywhere else in Germany. It’s a city many have a fleeting knowledge of – Beatles, Reeperbahn, Christmas markets – but not one many know well. Because of...