It must be tough being a duke. There’s the grand country house to call home, no end of properties to rent out to the peasantry, stunning artworks to hang from the walls, acres of land to farm and gardens to landscape. Chatsworth, the spectacular Derbyshire estate of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, has all…
Author: Stephen
A day out in Concarneau, Brittany
Sardines are the food of the gods. And Brittany is one of the best places to eat them. In the fishing port and seaside town of Concarneau, I lunched on a plate of them accompanied by a glass of fine Breton cider. Lunch really couldn’t get better than that. It was spring and we were sitting…
Japan: From Kyoto to London
The long journey home is invariably the worst part of any holiday. But this particular one promised to be more arduous than most, in part because we really didn’t want to leave Japan. With a planned morning departure from Narita Airport – situated well to the east of Tokyo – there was no way we’d…
Japan: A day of temples in Kyoto
Kyoto is a city bursting with history, glorious temples and gardens of exquisite beauty. The challenge for visitors is to narrow down this embarrassment of riches, to select the handful of attractions to visit during a short visit. We’d already visited some of Arashiyama’s great draws but with just one day left in the city it was…
Japan: Kyoto with a bad back
What a way to spend a birthday. I woke in our Kyoto hotel with dreadful back pain, aching legs and dodgy guts. Poor Graham – his big day and I was going to be no fun at all. I somehow managed to get to breakfast, ate lightly and swallowed ibuprofen. Outside it looked gloomy and rain…
Japan: A visit to James Bond’s castle at Himeji
I’m a huge James Bond fan so I couldn’t go all the way to Japan without paying homage to a castle that 007 himself visited back in the 1960s. The film was You Only Live Twice, Bond was Sean Connery and Himeji Castle was a ninja training school that he visited with the boss of…
Japan: A beautiful garden in Kyoto’s Arashiyama district
Could we ever escape the overwhelming crowds of Kyoto? Would the attractions on the edge of the city, in Arashiyama, be less busy? Not really as it turned out because, let’s face it, it’s a district that boasts some of the city’s most picture-perfect destinations. However, we did find peace and quiet in Okochi Sanso,…
Japan: The train to Kyoto
Our stay in Takayama was over and it was time to head to Kyoto, the historic heart of Japan and the climax of our fortnight-long trip. Takayama had made for an interesting diversion, offered a taste of a smaller Japanese city, but three days was enough. Indeed, people we’d met there were surprised we’d stopped for so…
Japan: A traditional folk village
It was our last day in the Gifu city of Takayama, and we decided to go traditional. Or rather to spend a few hours in a tourist attraction that recreates the past. The Hida Folk Village is some way out of town, hidden by trees and a bit of a trek away from our hotel through the…
Japan: The mountains, an onsen and a dramatic waterfall
Japan is a nation of contrasts, as a visit to one of the country’s traditional, steamy onsens illustrates. These are the famous public baths fed by sulphurous hot springs where getting naked is mandatory, something the locals go for with the type of enthusiasm I’d normally associate with outgoing, uninhibited Scandinavians. It’s not the sort…
Japan: A tour of historic Takayama
At first sight Takayama looks much like any other Japanese town or city, with lots of post-war development that lacks any real charm or character. Perhaps understandably, the priority after the devastation of the Second World War was putting roofs over heads rather than architectural quality. Perhaps too, the Japanese prefer practicality and resilience rather than…
Japan: The bullet train and a stop in Takayama
Tokyo is an insane city. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. It’s fascinating, noisy and chaotic, futuristic, colourful and creative, but I didn’t warm to it as much as I thought I would. As we departed the Hilton Hotel in the heat and made our way on the courtesy bus to Shinjuku station on…
Exploring Tokyo’s gardens
Tokyo may be one of the biggest cities in the world, full of gleaming towers and urban sprawl, but it also has many glorious gardens. And the best Japanese gardens are, without doubt, among the best gardens to be found anywhere in the world. They’re designed to reflect the natural landscape and the spirituality of…
Touring historic Tokyo
Japan is notorious for its earthquakes and I’d wondered several times, with varying degrees of apprehension, what would happen if one struck during our stay – especially at night while we slept high up in a hotel tower block. We finally experienced one during a visit to a historic site in Tokyo. Or rather everyone but me…
A shrine and the bright lights of Shibuya in Tokyo
We’d always known that Japan was going to be a cultural and linguistic challenge for a pair of Englishmen. And while we’d end up bemused by much in Tokyo during our first full day of exploring the city, at least we could go to breakfast in our Hilton Hotel confident that we’d conquered the punishing jet…