Welcome to the new Guardian Travel blog network

Today we are launching the Guardian Travel Network, a partnership with bloggers in cities around the world to help expand and diversify our content and bring a local perspective on the places you want to visitIf you know a great travel blog, tell us by adding a commentThe best people to get under the skin of place are those who live there, which is why we commissioned local journalists, bloggers and other experts to write our comprehensive online city guides recently. Only a local knows how to play the tables (and drink for a buck) in Vegas, or where find the best pizza in Brookyln.The city guides series has been such a success ? becoming one of the most popular features on the Travel website ? that we decided to invite some of the writers and bloggers who helped us put the 11 individual guides together to expand our coverage, with the launch today of the Guardian Travel Network.This reciprocal partnership involves Guardian Travel publishing fun and quirky pieces from our network of bloggers, with links back to the original blog, so you can get an on-the-spot view of, say, how the celebrations in Berlin to mark the 35th anniversary of the recording of David Bowie's seminal Low album are shaping up, or where to brunch when in Rome. In return, the bloggers will publish some of our content on their own sites.And it means we get to choose the very best and most informative pieces to enrich our site. More than any other newspaper the Guardian promotes diversity of content and open journalism, and what better way to embrace that ethos than to join forces with guest writers from a wide variety of cities and backgrounds.We kick off with four excellent blogs that show you a side to their cities you would never find in a guidebook or on a mainstream travel website:The contributions from Istanbul Eats to our city guides were so good they had the travel desk salivating. He's uncovered a genuine hidden gem in the shape of Osman's Truck ? one of the few remaining "shanty cafes" in Istanbul, located in the back of a truck and with views of the Golden Horn.Amsterdam Magazine checks out the lively De Oude Pijp neighbourhood, the city's "Latin Quarter", which is off the tourist radar but a hip hangout for locals, with the city's largest "concentration of restaurants, cafes and bars, catering to just about every class and taste".The name Invisible Paris tells you what this blogger is all about, and here he finds a deserted "urban theme park" on the outskirts of the city combined with a walk along the canal.The quirky Spitalfields Life blog showcases some brilliant art and photography from in and around the trendy London neighbourhood (check out Patricia Niven's Surma Centre Portraits of Bangladeshi men who came to Britain in the 1950s and 60s). James Pearson-Howes's Top Deck series of photographs captures London's East End from a bus. Riding on the top of a bus is something millions of Londoners do every day, but viewed as snapshots of time they take on a fascinating new life of their own.The post also illustrates the type of blog we want to showcase on the network ? idiosyncratic, amusing and informative with a strong local angle. Spitalfields is only a couple of miles up the road from Guardian Towers but we would probably not have come across this great little photo-story without the Spitalfields Life blog.Which is where you come in ? We want to expand the network by inviting the best travel bloggers from around the world to work with us, so if you know one (or maybe you are one?), please let us know by adding a comment to this piece or by tweeting me at @gavinmcowan.Travel websitesGavin McOwanguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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