"A voyage of self-discovery, a pilgrimage of the soul. It is in the exploration of foreign lands that we truly come to know ourselves, for it is there that our senses are awakened, our passions ignited, and our spirits set free."

So said Lord Byron when describing the Grand Tour - and who are we to argue?

On the one hand, holidays are a chance to switch off - to find a beach, a plaza, a balcony and sip something cold. But on the other, they’re about experiencing a culture, seeing sights, learning things - edification.

Byron knew this dichotomy well. His Grand Tour was spent penning verse, drinking wine and sampling all varieties of Venetian culture.

But sightseeing, so key to the ‘edification’ part of holidaying, can get a bad rep.

We’ve all been drawn into tourist traps, frustrated in long queues, and stuck with that dull feeling that while we may be looking at things, we’re not really learning anything.

We at Wise think it’s time that sightseeing got its act together - but sadly we’re more transparency gurus than tour guides. We needed help.

Which is why we teamed up with the world’s pre-eminent history podcast, The Rest is History, to give sightseeing a refresh - yes, we’ve lined up Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook as your own personal sightseeing guides.

With Tom, we spend twenty-fours in Amsterdam, seeing the city’s history through some of its best - and least - known buildings.

And with Dominic, we go to Paris. But not just any Paris: the Paris of 1968, when revolution was in the air and Gaullist certainties began to shake.