France is well known for its artistic heritage, whether it is the Ice Age cave paintings of south west France or the vast collections of much more recent traditions in some of the finest art galleries and museums of Paris. Of these more recent Western art traditions, it is said that the French Impressionists, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to name just a few, are the most popular worldwide. Anyone visiting Normandy this summer is in for a treat, in fact if Impressionist art is your passion and you are not visiting Normandy then I urge you to reconsider. The various administrations and museums of Normandy have been organising what promises to be one of the most spectacular festivals ever staged to celebrate the lives and works of Impressionists artists in Normandy. The festival, Normandie Impressionniste 2010, offers a programme of over 150 events from April through to November, throughout Normandy. Most people have heard of Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. And each year many thousands of people from all over the world visit this typical rural Normandy village. As beautiful as Monet’s garden and the village are. there really is so much more to ...

Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s bestselling book in the Shadow of the Wind is as much an ode to his hometown of Barcelona as the mystique of literature, but how much remains of his gloomy, post-war Barcelona for today’s visitor? The central Carrer Santa Anna, where the main character Daniel Sempere and his father lived, is still a bustling commercial hub. Sadly, there is no sign of Sr. Sempere’s second-hand bookshop, but their local church could only be the lovely, tucked-away Esglèsia de Santa Ana. Nearby, the Portal de L’ Ángel (Puerta del Ängel) is where Daniel first spied the sinister Julián Carax observing him from a distance. These days it’s the city’s number one shopping strip, and doesn’t hold much mystery unless you are harbour a theory they that they have invented a way to clone Zara shops. Running parallel to Carrer Santa Anna at Carrer Canuda 6 you’ll find the Ateneu (Ateneo), Barcelona’s literary institution and, as described by Daniel, still “one of the many places in Barcelona where the nineteenth century has not been served an eviction notice.” Next door, is the nearest thing the city has to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, the Llibreria Canuda (Carrer Canuda, 4). Scores of encyclopaedias, ...