Italy may change but some things remain resolutely the same. The food is great, the architecture is awe-inspiring and the locals can’t resist a shiny puffer jacket. On our first evening in Verona, nursing a beer in a touristy but quiet bar in the Piazza Bra, there were plenty of puffer jackets on display. Veronese and…
Tag: Castles and houses
The Cairngorms: A visit to Craigievar Castle
If nothing else, my first visit to Scotland in years confirmed that the weather can never be relied upon. One day we were hot and bothered in the sun on top of a mountain, the next waking to drenching rain. At least we had Craigievar to visit during the couple of days we were spending…
Scotland in the spring: To Cawdor Castle
It’s surprising what gets classified as a tourist attraction in some parts of the world. How about a shop? That’s where we found ourselves on a wet morning on our last full day in the Scottish Cairngorms, guided by the local tourist board’s ever-optimistic marketing blurb. It was billed as the Scottish Heather Centre but…
Scotland in the spring: Rain at Brodie Castle
The number one challenge of holidaying in the UK is the weather but the Cairngorms in Scotland had been good to us on our first visit. Would we be lucky a second time? Stepping off our dinky British Airways Embraer 170 at Aberdeen, to the soundtrack of helicopters heading for the oil rigs, the drizzle was…
A short break in the historic French city of Angers
Give me a good history book and a glass of wine and I’ll be a happy man. She-Wolves by Helen Castor turned out to be a particularly good read, the story of three of England’s great medieval queens and their various battles to make a mark in a male-dominated world. But it also introduced me…
Exploring Nizwa Fort, Oman’s majestic historic site
A few decades ago the town of Nizwa was off-limits, a focus of rebellion and violence. But now it’s a popular day trip for visitors to Oman, and its main attraction is a 17th century fort. So it had to be on the itinerary of our trip to the country despite my lack of driving…
Macau – Portugese heritage and fancy casinos
The Macau we discovered on our first night in the city is modern, glitzy and built for tourists, lined with hotels and casinos. Known as the Cotai Strip, it’s in stark contrast to the historic, atmospheric old town. That old town has elegant, colourful Portugese influences from colonial times, while its streets are crowded with…
A few days in Naples, Italy
Naples is the gateway to southern Italy but my first experience of it back at the turn of the millennium had been pretty negative. It was dirty, the roads were appalling, the driving worse and there was an undercurrent of menace to the place. In some respects, it felt more like a Third World city…
Visiting the Desert Castles of Jordan
On our two-week visit to Jordan, we took a tour of the Desert Castles that lie on the arid plains to the east of the capital, Amman. The weather was bleak as we hit the highway out of the city, fresh from a night in the swanky Marriott hotel. There, I’d settled into the bar and…
A visit to the Château de Keriolet, Brittany
In the southern depths of Brittany is the French seaside town of Concarneau, a long-established fishing port famous for its delicious sardines. Its historic, walled old town, the ville close, is full of character and its beaches are hugely popular in the height of summer. Not that we were able to enjoy them, thanks to…
Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, in winter
We’re a pair of old romantics. We visit cities in the middle of winter in the hope of finding snow that’s knee-deep on the ground, of discovering cosy bars with roaring fires and great beer. It’s why we went to Ljubljana, the modest capital of Slovenia. The old Communist bloc country was indeed dressed in…