Explore the World, One City at a Time
Personal destination guides shaped by years of travel, firsthand experiences, and the places I’ve enjoyed getting to know.
WELCOME TO SIGHTS OF THE CITY
A Few Words from Me
Hi, I'm Stefan. I love to travel and experience the world. Somewhere along the way, I ended up with tens of thousands of photographs and rather a lot of memories. What was I going to do with them? Leaving everything on a hard drive seemed a shame, so I built a website. That's really how Sights of the City began.
I grew up in Bavaria, with family holidays in Italy, weekends in Austria and longer road trips that sometimes took us as far as Greece and Turkey. I was also spectacularly prone to car sickness, which was not the most convenient quality for an aspiring traveler. Fortunately, my curiosity survived. California eventually became home, and my travels have taken me to more than 90 countries across six continents.
I'm not an expert, and these destination profiles aren't editorial masterpieces. They're my thoughts, photographs and memories, with my five cents thrown in where they might help. I work in tourism, but this website is personal. My hope is that something here gives you an idea, makes you smile or helps you feel comfortable exploring somewhere yourself.
A LITTLE GUIDANCE
What You'll Find in My Guides
Start with the main destination page for an overview, personal highlights and suggested itineraries. From there, follow the links to explore individual topics in more detail. You can read the guide from the beginning or jump straight to whatever interests you.
Practical Info
When to visit, how to get around and useful tips to help you plan your stay.
See & Do
Historic sights, museums, attractions and experiences to consider for your visit.
Areas & Parks
Neighborhoods to explore, green spaces to enjoy and guidance on where to stay.
Food & Drink
Traditional specialties, local markets and food experiences from my travels.
Festivals & Events
Seasonal celebrations and events, with tips for planning a visit around them.
Journeys
Day trips and onward travel ideas for exploring beyond the city.
FEATURED DESTINATIONS
Where Would You Like to Go?
Some places have been part of my life for decades; others I know from a shorter visit. These guides reflect the time I've spent in each one, with the sights, neighborhoods, meals and small discoveries that have stayed with me.
I enjoy the famous landmarks, but I'm just as interested in what happens between them: a walk through an unfamiliar neighborhood, a local market or a good reason to stop for lunch. Those moments often help a place feel less like a name on a map and more like somewhere you'd like to return to.
Choose a city that catches your eye and use the guide as a starting point. You'll find my photographs, personal favorites and practical suggestions, with ideas for different interests and time available. Where I include something I haven't personally tried, I'll make that clear. Take what appeals to you, skip what doesn't, and build a visit that feels like your own.
FEATURED HIGHLIGHTS
A Closer Look
Some experiences deserve a little more room than a paragraph in a city guide. These Destination Focus stories are where I share a closer look at a festival, a bike ride or another part of a place that caught my attention. Sometimes one experience becomes a good reason to plan the whole trip.
Start with Munich's Oktoberfest or a ride around Munich and the Bavarian lakes. I share what I enjoyed, what to expect and practical thoughts that might make it easier to try for yourself. The aim is to help you picture the experience and decide whether it's your kind of day.
More stories, including Christmas markets, will follow as I work through my photographs and notes. Apparently, taking the photographs was the quick part. Until then, the Explore buttons lead to the stories that are ready, and the Coming Soon cards show where there's more to come.
FEATURED JOURNEYS
Enjoy the Journey
Sometimes the part of a trip I remember most happens between the places I set out to visit: watching the scenery change from a train window, following a river by bicycle or taking a detour that turns out to be worth the extra time. Getting there can be a pleasure in its own right, especially when the schedule leaves room to enjoy it.
This section will bring together journeys that connect places. I'll share the routes I've traveled, the stops that stayed with me and practical thoughts about making the most of the time along the way. Think of them as ideas to adapt to your own interests and pace, with room to stay longer somewhere that surprises you.
I'm still putting these journeys together, so the cards below are placeholders for now. The first stories will appear here once they're ready. In the meantime, the destination guides include day trips and ideas for exploring beyond the city.
New Journey
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OVER TO YOU
Enjoy Exploring
I hope these pages help you find somewhere you'd like to explore and feel a little more comfortable making the trip. Leave room for a detour, a conversation or a longer lunch. You don't need to come home having seen everything to have had a wonderful time.
I also hope our visits benefit the people who live in these places. Choosing a local restaurant, shop, place to stay or guide can help tourism spending support local businesses, jobs and livelihoods. Be curious, considerate and mindful that our holiday destination is someone else's home.
Take the ideas that suit you and make your own discoveries. If you return with a few good stories and some photographs that deserve more than a life on a hard drive, I'll be very happy. Enjoy exploring!
The Angel of Independence monument in Mexico City, with its golden winged statue framed by modern buildings and trees.