Antwerp is a feast for the eyes if, like me, you’re a fan of great architecture. And its bars and restaurants are pretty good too. The Belgian city lies on the River Scheldt, remains a bustling port and has long been at the heart of the diamond trade. It’s a great place to spend a…
Utrecht and a visit to de Haar Castle
Utrecht is the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands, and a joy to visit. It’s full of life, is blessed with a wide range of beautiful buildings and isn’t inundated with [drunk British] tourists. The ancient and atmospheric city centre is built around a network of canals, reminiscent of Amsterdam but without the masses of people…
The industrial relics of the Ruhr
The Ruhr was Germany’s economic powerhouse for years but with heavy industry in decline, the big question has been what to do with all those old coal mines and steel and iron works. While many have been cleared, several sites have been saved as a reminder of the region’s importance to the nation. Intriguingly, nature…
Oaxaca – creativity and colour
Oaxaca must rank as one of the most colourful cities on earth, offering rewards with every step. Its buildings are painted a multitude of glorious shades and it has some of the best street art in Mexico. Famous for its Day of the Dead celebrations at the beginning of November, in the weeks leading up…
Uxmal and the cenotes of the Yucatán
Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula boasts some of the finest remains of the Maya, a Mesoamerican civilisaton who mastered architecture and astronomy and dominated Central America before the Spanish conquest. Uxmal, south of the city of Mérida, was our destination on a day that also included a visit to a derelict hacienda and two swimmable sinkholes known…
Mexico City – that sinking feeling
There aren’t many cities in the world I’ve struggled to like but Mexico’s capital is one. Perhaps it’s my age? These days I find it harder to cope with chaos, noise and millions upon millions of people all being in the same place at the same time. It’s one reason I went off London. Mexico…
Mérida – colonial capital of the Yucatán
It’s hot in Mérida. And very humid. Mould clings to the stucco on its colourful buildings, mosquitoes bite and I cross the road to find a spot of shade whenever I can. After the relative cool of Mexico city, it comes as a bit of a shock. The capital of the Yucatán Peninsula, it was…
The mystical city of Teotihuacán in Mexico
The ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacán has striking pyramids and grand avenues, yet little or nothing is known of the civilisation responsible for its construction. But whoever they were, you can’t fault the scale of their ambition. The city contains the third largest pyramid ever built – the mighty Pyramid of the Sun – and…
Exploring the Iguazú Falls in Argentina
Picture the scene. You’ve travelled half way round the world to see one of the planet’s greatest natural wonders, only to be told that it’s closed. Imagine the crushing disappointment… So it was for us in Argentina after arriving from Buenos Aires at the Selvaje Lodge Hotel in the jungle half an hour’s drive from…
The city of Salta and its Inca children
Salta in the north west of Argentina is a jumping off point for adventures in the Andes, but there’s more to the city than tour operators competing for tourist pesos and coaches heading west. True, we used it as a base for a trip to the Salinas Grandes salt flats but we also found interesting…
A week in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina
I expected many things of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s sprawling capital, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so grand. It’s a city of epic public buildings, grand mansions, wide boulevards and generous public squares. Perhaps I’d been put off the scent by all the economic traumas, dictatorships, persecutions and politically-motivated murders that Argentina has…
To the Salinas Grandes, high up in the Andes
The twisting roads of the European Alps in winter offer memorable views of snow-capped peaks and soaring pines. Come summer, cattle graze on verdant meadows filled with colourful wildflowers. But thousands of miles away in the Andes of north-west Argentina the mountains couldn’t be more different in the middle of a Southern Hemisphere spring. This…
History and waterfalls in Quebec City
If Montreal is the brazen youth of the French-Canadian province of Quebec, the capital Quebec City is the maiden aunt. Staid, proper and well turned out, it’s also packed with history and great architecture. At times it’s got the look and feel of an ancient French village. But this is also where the indigenous people…
A spring break in Montreal
Quebec’s largest and most energetic city has a charming old town, great bars and restaurants, but also a touch of the chaotic about it. It’s not a city that’s easy to fall in love with. Much like Toronto, it feels like it’s been thrown together with little thought to the whole. A motorway ploughs through…
A stay on the north Norfolk coast
Norfolk’s coastline veers from the placid to the chaotic depending on the weather. And we witnessed both during our stay in the pretty town of Wells Next The Sea. The county has a coastline of crumbling cliffs, endless sandy beaches, salt-flats and marshes. Birdwatchers love its many nature reserves, sunbathers its sandier spots. Out to…