In the heart of Bergen, at the edge of a harbour that has bustled with ships for a thousand years, stands one of the oldest and best-preserved fortresses in all

Discover Betliar Manor in eastern Slovakia, a rare aristocratic house surviving with its sumptuous interiors, great library, exotic collections, and famous landscape park almost completely intact.

On the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, just beneath the great suspension bridge that now links two continents, stands a palace of gleaming white marble that seems to rise straight

Beyt’ül Hikmet (House of Wisdom) sounds like a dream. No trace is left of this ancient library, which was destroyed in the 13th century. So we are not entirely sure

On the banks of the Rhine at Wiesbaden, facing the broad river and the vineyards of Rheinhessen beyond, stands one of the most elegant baroque palaces in Germany. Biebrich Palace

On a rocky hill above the town of Blankenburg, at the northern edge of the Harz mountains, stands a great white palace that once linked a small German court with

In the gentle countryside of Oxfordshire, at the end of a great park landscaped around a shining lake, rises one of the most monumental houses in all of England. Blenheim

If you asked Slovaks to name their most beautiful castle, a great many would answer without hesitation: Bojnice. Rising above a leafy park in the country’s west, all pale walls,

Most people, asked to name a battle that created a nation, would reach for something dramatic and well known. Almost nobody would say Bouvines. And yet on a hot Sunday

No castle on earth carries a heavier freight of legend than this one. Perched on a rocky bluff above a mountain pass in Transylvania, its pale walls and red roofs