Despite the car’s mechanical and ergonomic ineptitude, driving a Trabi is actually loads of fun, and behind me in a red Trabant cabriolet I spy smiles as wide as a Socialist boulevard. There’s definitely something lovable about the Trabi’s imperfections in an increasingly homogenous automotive world.
Trabants, the iconic East German cars, were made of Duraplast — a material similar to cardboard. Photo / Carol Piper
Explore Rome in a Fiat Bambina
On a bright Roman morning, I’m combining an essential trio of Italian icons. Fuelled by super-strong espresso, I’m driving a compact red Fiat 500 past the storied walls of the Colosseum. Guided in a colourful convoy by passionate motoring fan, Alvise Di Giulio, we’re all listening to his instructions over a handy inter-car walkie-talkie system.
“Follow me!” “Left!” “Right!” “Park Here!”
From the outside, my improbably small Fiat 500 looks more like a car you wear than a car you drive, but once behind the wheel, it really is an Italian design classic. My head’s not sticking out the sunroof, there’s (almost) enough legroom, and the rudimentary five-speed manual gearbox is surprisingly smooth.
Uniquely dubbed a Bambina in New Zealand, 1960s-vintage Fiat 500s are known as Cinquecentos in Italy. Stopped at a petrol station after a meandering drive up and down the leafy mansion-clad slopes of Aventine Hill, the affection Romans have forretro cars is obvious. A Lancia driver offers a quick thumbs-up, while an entire school bus of students fire up their phones to capture our leisurely convoy. Across the communications system comes more of Alvise’s entertaining mobile commentary.
The Fiat 500 is so small that it was nicknamed the "Bambina" in New Zealand. Photo / Carol Piper
Learning about Sicily’s anti-Mafia Addiopizzo movement
With Godfather fridge magnets, Marlon Brando bobbleheads and Don Corleone-inspired street art, there’s plenty of tacky Mafia merchandise in the markets of the Sicilian capital of Palermo. For a more insightful understanding of the Cosa Nostra’s legacy on Italy’s largest island, we’re joining a walking tour with Addiopizzo Travel.
Named after the grassroots Addiopizzo movement where an increasing number of brave local businesses – including market traders, shopkeepers and bar owners – are now saying “addio” (goodbye) to paying “pizzo” (protection money) to the Mafia, our tour with Palermo guide Chiara Sciortino begins in the centuries-old Il Capo market. Between mid-morning snacks of Palermo’s famous tripe sandwiches and panelle (deep-fried chickpea fritters), Chiara points out market stalls proudly displaying the Addiopizzo logo, always incorporating the movement’s consumer pledge grounded in unity and independence.
“Pago chi non paga” (”I pay those who don’t pay”)
After launching in Palermo in 2004, Addiopizzo spread to the eastern Sicilian city of Catania in 2006, and now over 1000 pizzerias, shops and bars refuse to pay Mafia protection money. In recent decades, more than 80% of small businesses traditionally paid the coercive levies, but Chiara confirms the Mafia has now given up trying to extract taxes from Addiopizzo-aligned enterprises.
Two Belfast thoroughfares dominated the sectarian conflict known as “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland, and almost 30 years after the cautious resolution of 1998’s Good Friday Agreement, walking tours with Belfast Political Tours visit both the Republican Catholic neighbourhood of Falls Rd, and the Loyalist Protestant stronghold of Shankill Rd. Our morning tour includes meeting representatives of both communities, and we begin along Falls Rd in the shadow of the infamous Divis Tower housing estate, guided by a former member of the IRA (Irish Republican Army).
Murals remembering hunger striker and IRA member Bobby Sands sit next to more recent street art in support of Gaza and Palestine, and our journey through a red-brick residential neighbourhood is soundtracked by commentary informed by recent history. After passing through gates that are still locked at night to separate the two adjacent communities, we continue with a Protestant guide, also a former political prisoner, past the 15m-high Peace Wall.
Along Shankill Rd, murals, bunting and banners feature Union Jacks, Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III, and we learn about the history of Northern Ireland from an Ulster Loyalist perspective. Across three hours, it’s been a captivating if sometimes confronting insight into societal fault lines still very evident in Belfast.
Belfast’s Peace Walls, built to separate Catholic and Protestant communities, are still locked at night. Photo / Carol Piper
Exploring Paris by vintage sidecar
Apparently, Paris is a great city for walking. We’re about to overturn that theory by embarking on a twilight journey by motorcycle and vintage sidecar around the City of Lights.
Decked out in a stylish vintage riding jacket and riding a gleaming Royal Enfield, Txango Tours’ motorcycle guide Fidel Fabian meets us on the banks of the Seine a few hundred metres southwest of the Eiffel Tower. Like a Berlin Trabi experience or a spin around Rome in a Fiat 500, exploring the streets of Paris – Carol in the sidecar and me riding pillion on the back of the bike – means we’re soon the centre of attention, cruising past corner cafes and stopping at pedestrian crossings beside idling Renaults and Citroens. And just like those cities, Fabien’s on-the-go commentary is also packed with history and local insight.
Parisian highlights include the elegant streets of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, stopping outside the Shakespeare & Company bookshop in the Latin Quarter, and a final thrilling surge along the Seine past the Musee d’Orsay’s impressive collection of Impressionist art.
In today’s ephemeral world of streaming and Spotify, vinyl LPs are increasingly vital to display the art and design around recorded music, and London black taxi experiences with Brit Music Tours seek out locations where famous album covers were photographed around the city. Richard Williams, our driver/guide on a spring Saturday morning, is both an experienced London cabbie and a very well-informed music fan. Of course, there’s the obligatory stop at Abbey Road, just a short walk from the Maida Vale townhouse Sir Paul McCartney’s owned since 1966, but also album cover locations from Oasis, the Rolling Stones, Madness and The Clash. Around Soho we take in David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust location – of course, the local pub is now dubbed The Starman – and it’s a short walk to Saville Row where the Beatles played a rooftop gig – their final public performance – above their Apple Corp HQ in 1969. Nearby, Mason’s Yard is where John Lennon first met Yoko Ono at her 1966 art installation. A street art rendition of Yoko now enlivens the entrance to the mews’ courtyard.
