National Geographic Traveller (UK)

Nicola Williams Having spent over half my life in France, I’ve eaten more camembert than I care to mention, which is why my trip through this cheese’s homeland, Normandy, around green pastures, half-timbered villages and fruit orchards, was such a treat. NORMANDY P.46 Jessica Vincent Behind its tough industrial ex terior, creativity — be it 19th-century mills repurposed as breweries, or bakers mixing up age-old pie recipes — thrives in Dundee. It was great to meet the chefs and producers putting the city on the culinary map. DUNDEE P.52 Emma Thomson Aboriginal Australia is a place where stories are dynamic creations stored in memory. But it also has a culture we tend to romanticise, and I wanted to record the nuances of reality. I sat around campfires, met with elders…

Editorial Director: Maria Pieri Editor: Pat Riddell Managing Editor: Amelia Duggan Senior Editor: Sarah Barrell Commissioning Editors: Lorna Parkes, Georgia Stephens Assistant Editor: Angela Locatelli Executive Editor: Glen Mutel Associate Editor: Nicola Trup Content Strategist: Berkok Yüksel Deputy Digital Editor: Karlina Valeiko Art Director: Becky Redman Art Editors: Lauren Atkinson-Smith (maternity leave), Lauren Gamp Senior Designers: Kelly McKenna, Dean Reynolds Designers: Jo Dovey, Rosie Klein Picture Editor: Olly Puglisi Branded Content Manager: Flora Neighbour Project Editors: Jo Fletcher-Cross, Zane Henry, Megan Hughes, Farida Zeynalova Project Assistant: Sacha Scoging Editorial Assistant: Matthew Figg Intern: Oliver Jakes Head of Sub Editors: Olivia McLearon Senior Sub Editor: Hannah Doherty Sub Editors: Chris Horton, Ben Murray, Simone Noakes Operations Manager: Seamus McDermott Digital Marketing Assistant: Mélissa Otshudy Head of Events: Sabera Sattar Events Manager:…

ISSUE 111, APRIL 2023 There are many ways to experience the Greek islands. As a wide-eyed twentysomething, I boarded one of the ships that slowly ferry travellers around the Aegean Sea. Having departed the Athens port of Piraeus on the cheapest ticket I could buy, the five-hour journey to Santorini offered views of endless sea and sky before eventually revealing what I’d been waiting for. The moment the crescent-shaped caldera came into sight from the top deck of the ferry is one that has stayed with me to this day. Yet Greece remains something of an enigma. From bustling beach resorts to remote mountain idylls, it ’s impossible to sum up the charms of its thousands of islands in a neat sentence. They remain distinct and unique, their individual histories…

WHAT’S NEW • FOOD • ON THE TRAIL • WHERE TO STAY • FAMILY • INSIDE GUIDE • STAY AT HOME • BOOKS When I met Francesco, he was harvesting prickly pears in his backyard. These cactuses are omnipresent around the island, their red fruits a fixture of typical Sicilian meals. It took me a while to understand what Francesco meant when, speaking in dialect, he complained about not having had time to scuzzulare. While these plants naturally fruit during summer, they can also grow rich, autumnal fruits locally known as scuzzulati. An ancient practice, sculazzare involves cutting off a plant’s first flowering and younger grow ths in late spring, forcing it into a more abundant second flowering in the autumn — often resulting in higher-quality fruits. FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI •…

The Gerewol festival can be summed up as an all-male beauty pageant. It sees the Wodaabe people, who lead a semi-nomadic w life in North Africa’s Sahel region, gather for a week of courtship, most famously in Niger, but also in Chad and Nigeria, too. The men dress up and dance for hours in front of women, who each make their choice between them. I was amazed at the effort that went into the men’s outfits, which take months to make. This shot was taken in the morning, after a whole night of festivities, right before this woman decided. Who would she pick — and why? MAUDE BARDET • PHOTOGRAPHER maudebardet.com @puuuuuuuuce…

Highly strollable, reassuringly low-rise and reliably efficient: Copenhagen is built with people at its heart. And this architectural experience is being celebrated this year, with the city designated the UNESCO/UIA World Capital of Architecture for 2023. The initiative, launched in 2020 by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA), aims to highlight the role of architecture, city planning and culture in shaping urban identity and sustainable development. In other words, it’s about reminding us how good, thoughtful design makes for a better life. The city has been a crucible for ambitious urban planning and architecture since the 1930s, when Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen changed the landscape with buildings and furniture that merged functionality with aesthetic simplicity. This was followed a few decades later by the disruptive brilliance…