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Category: City Walks and Culture

Walking a city teaches you things no tour ever will. City Walks & Culture is where Wakahi heads off the trail and into the streets — exploring places on foot for their art, history, and everyday life. From street art in Thessaloniki to a Banksy exhibition in Montpellier and an artist’s studio in Tokyo, these are stories about what you notice when you cover a city the slow way: one step at a time.

Yokohama: Tokyo’s Quieter Neighbour by the Sea

Ornately decorated Kanteibyo Temple lit up at night in Yokohama Chinatown, red columns and gold carvings

Yokohama: Tokyo’s Quieter Neighbour by the Sea | Wakahi TL;DR: Just south of Tokyo, Yokohama is the capital’s calmer neighbour by the sea — Japan’s largest Chinatown, a wide harbour front, the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel, and lantern-lit night streets. A walk through a port city that offers everything Tokyo does with more room to […]

I Never Liked Temples. Tokyo Changed That

Wooden torii gate and shrine forecourt framed by tall trees under a clear sky in Tokyo

I Never Liked Temples. Tokyo Changed That. | Wakahi TL;DR: A lifelong reluctant visitor of temples — nine trips to India, one temple; group tours in Tamil Nadu, Dharamshala and Bangkok that left him cold — finds an unexpected sense of peace in the shrines and temples of Tokyo, and returns home to Auckland changed. […]

Athens: A City I Loved for 49 Years Until I Went Back

Acropolis seen from Areopagus Hill, Athens, backlit against a hazy summer sky

In 1976 I cycled through Athens and fell in love. In 2025 I came back — though not by bicycle this time. The Acropolis is still there. The crowds, the commerce, and the taxi drivers have changed almost everything else — but walk far enough from the monuments and the city still surprises you.

Thessaloniki’s Ancient Monuments: A Walk Among Ruins

The Arch of Galerius (Kamara), an ancient Roman monument standing over a city street in Thessaloniki, Greece

In Thessaloniki, 1,700-year-old Roman monuments and Byzantine churches stand in the middle of the living city — the Arch of Galerius over the traffic, a palace beneath the apartment blocks. A walk among the ruins, and why preserving them matters.

Thessaloniki Street Art

Street art mural reading ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ above a building entrance, Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki Street Art: A City of Walls on Foot | Wakahi TL;DR: Over 11 days and roughly 250 km on foot, Thessaloniki revealed itself as a city of walls — from a lightbulb-headed figure covering a whole building to tags on the rubbish bins. This is what its street art is really like: the murals worth […]