With Easter as the most festive holiday on the Orthodox Church’s calendar, Christmas is not as widely celebrated in Greece as in the rest of the Christian world. The people of Athens, however, do take pride in some of the celebratory trappings, including their Christmas tree in Syntagma Square, some colourful local traditions, a rich table full of great sweet treats and attention given to Saint Nicolas (patron saint of sailors) and Saint Basil, also known as Santa Klaus.

Forget ritzy restaurants and fine gourmet dining. If you want to taste the real essence of a place, you need to hit the streets and see what’s cooking. These eats are more than just for locals and budget travellers, they’re also a sure-fire way to get straight to the heart of a country and its people. Just look for the busiest pushcart, stall or street hawker you can find and say hello to the tastiest and cheapest, although not necessarily healthiest, grub of your trip.

The port city of Marmaris, set in southwest Turkey, is one of many of the country’s summer hotspots. Although little remains of the quiet fishing village that survived until a building boom in the 1980s, further down the Datça Peninsula is a place that has little to do with the hubbub of the resort city,…

Exploring Uzbekistan is like leafing through the pages of an Eastern fairytale. During your journey you come across ancient fortresses, emirs’ palaces, tall minarets, noisy bazaars, fragrant cuisine and myriads of legends. The ancient cities of Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara are popular must-see destinations for travellers coming to Uzbekistan, however, beyond some of the more…