Ahead of our Australian holiday I started reading A Commonwealth of Thieves, the excellent Thomas Keneally book that describes the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts in New South Wales in 1788 and its consequences. On our second day in Sydney we visited two places that played a key role in the early years…
Exploring The Rocks in Sydney
It’s difficult to picture what Sydney would’ve been like when convicts first arrived in 1788 but remnants of the city they helped to create can still be seen in the district called The Rocks. It was the first stop on our exploration of the capital of New South Wales, and the first stop on our…
A wintry day in Helsinki
Spending a day in the Finnish capital Helsinki could be considered a strange way to start a Christmas holiday in Australia. But there was logic to it as we’d secured business class flights on Qatar Airways for half the price of ones out of London, representing a massive saving on the cost of our three-week…
Jerez and its sherry
Jerez is a city built on the riches of sherry. And the word ‘sherry’ is itself a corruption of Jerez. This delicious fortified wine was our main reason for visiting and throughout our short stay we’d taken the chance to enjoy a tipple. Back in Britain it may be regarded as the drink of grannies…
Jerez: A palacio, archaeology and Flamenco
Sunday in Jerez means religion for many locals but for us it meant visits to the Count of the Andes’ palace, a flea market and a museum. But only after breakfast in Plaza Plateros, where we watched those religious types promenading past on their way to one or other of the city’s many historic churches….
Jerez and its Alcazar
Jerez and Seville are two of Andalucia’s great cities, and they have much in common. Both were born out of civilisations that were at times pagan, Islamic and Christian. That history is written over the streets and the architecture, and reflected in the way locals live their lives. It’s a fascinating muddle. Jerez in November…
A week in Malta
After months of stress and aggravation at work we needed an easy week away to relax and recuperate but October’s an iffy month in the Med, and low season can mean storms and rain. But we were lucky. We had nothing but warm sunshine during our week in Malta, the small but perfectly formed island…
Valletta: A city in transition
I look forward to returning to Valletta one day. And perhaps then it will be finished… Because our trip coincided with a huge building and restoration programme, being carried out in preparation for the city’s role as European Capital of Culture in 2018. Quite a few of its popular tourist destinations, such as St John’s…
Malta: The ancient splendour of Mdina
The glorious fortified city of Mdina in the heart of Malta is a must-see and full of atmosphere. Once the island’s capital, it’s been shaped over the centuries by Phonecians, Romans and Arabs. But we nearly didn’t make it there at all. Our mistake was to rely on the country’s public transport. Despite Mdina being…
Valletta’s Notte Bianca festival
A mounting sense of dread gripped me as we approached the gates of Valletta on our first night in Malta. It looked as if the entire population of the small Mediterranean island was making its way from the bus station and taxi ranks just outside the city gates into the pint-sized capital. We were carried…
New York’s fascinating Tenement Museum
Our visit to the Chinatown Heritage Centre in Singapore, a museum that revealed much about the lives of the poorest of immigrants to the city state, prompted memories of my favourite museum in New York City. The Tenement Museum in the bustling and traditionally working class Lower East Side explores the experiences of German, Irish and…
A date at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg
Our final day in Luxembourg was a bank holiday back in Britain but the city that had been our home for the weekend was going back to work as we packed for the flight back to London. However, before leaving we’d got a tour of the Grand Ducal Palace lined up. After checking out of…
A visit to the abbey town of Echternach
Plans to visit the picturesque castle that stands on a bluff overlooking the village of Vianden in rural Luxembourg were scuppered by that old favourite of a British weekend, railway engineering works. So we found ourselves in the city’s central station trying to work out what to do with our Sunday. I didn’t want to…
Exploring Luxembourg old town
Small but perfectly formed, Luxembourg is one of the Low Countries, a founding member of the EU and our choice for a hot and sunny August bank holiday weekend. Its capital, Luxembourg City, is equally modest but turned out to be a real charmer, easily walkable and attractive. Our first day in town was spent…
Italy: A day out in the Tuscan city of Siena
Famous for its architecture and the terrifying horse race the Palio on the broad Piazza del Campo, Siena heaves with visitors doing the grand tour of Tuscany. I was as keen to visit the city as a recent James Bond movie location as for its history. It’s in the otherwise disappointing Quantum of Solace that Bond, in…