This will hurt me...

Cagliari, Italy Cagliari is the capital of the Italian island of Sardinia, and its Sardinian name Casteddu, literally means the castle. Obviously, it has a castle then! I love castles, we only have tacky poured concrete castles in Australia, and they don’t stand up too well to the authentic ones. Again, Cagliari seems to be a walking city, with the old part of the city lies on top of a hill, offering a view of the Gulf of Cagliari (also known as Angels Gulf). I love my harbours of course (as appears to be bearing out in this series on the blog), so this will be a must.

In Paris: After the Liberation , Antony Beevor (with the aid of fellow historian – who also happens to be his wife – Artemis Cooper) begins with a brief recount of the invasion of France, the collapse of the French defence and subsequent German occupation. However, his main concern lays with the post-war period in the French capital. This period saw the trials of collaborationist leaders, de Gaulle's reestablishment of the republic and his rapid resignation in 1946, widespread panic at the prospect of a Communist or right-wing coup and the arrival of Marshall Plan aid, which aided the French in the face of economic collapse. As usual, Beevor constructs an engaging account at both the macro and micro level, capturing the desperation and exhilaration of those years through a blend of history, personal accounts, interviews, significant events and gossip. In particular, the authors illuminate the chronicle of the blind Stalinism of France's "progressive" intelligentsia. A...