04/07 Culture Shock
As part of a month's celebration of educational travel at HostelBookers, we've picked out five cities that we're sure will get your cultural juices flowing.
All of the world's big cities (and many of its small ones…) have plenty to offer in terms of art, music and history. But we've deliberately not included the really obvious choices: we all know that you can't move in Paris or Madrid without tripping over some famous work of art or other… Instead, we've gone for a range of destinations that put on something special at this time of year:
How, you may well ask, could we have left out Rome, Florence and Venice? Well, from late April, the Council of Naples throws opens the doors of the city's monuments to the public for free as part of its Maggio dei Monumenti (May of Monuments Season). Naples… For free. That's how.
San Francisco is a place that ripples with cultural energy, laying claim to the fullest complement of art, theater and dance. But the month of April sees the city's scene really come into its own when the 8th Annual Jazz Festival gets into its swing, and the highly prestigious Cinema Festival begins.
Befitting its status as perhaps Eastern Europe's preeminent cultural destination, Prague boasts an array of galleries and museums tucked away down its narrow, winding streets. But from mid-May, an air of elegance and sophistication sweeps through the city with the start of the Prague Spring Music festival.
Culture pulses in the veins of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, a hot-blooded city of dance and theater. In mid-April, however, the city (and as many as a million visitors) turns its attention to literature with the start of its annual book fair, a major event in the South American arts calendar.
Few cities mix high art and brash culture like Barcelona. And there's no better time to visit than on the 23 April, the day of its patron saint San Jordi. The city explodes into life and love: Young men give their lovers roses, and the girls return the favor with a stroll down Las Ramblas to buy them a book.
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