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…
Tag: City breaks
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…
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…
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…
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…
Exploring Singapore’s Chinatown
I’ve been to good museums and bad, but among the best have been the ones that reveal what life was like for the poorest of the poor back when the Georgian and Victorian rich were living the high life. There’s the excellent Tenement Museum in New York, for example, which offers a compelling account of how poor…
Singapore’s glorious gardens and luxury hotels
We could never be accused of taking it easy. On just one sweaty Singapore day we visited the Botanic Gardens, tucked into a fine afternoon tea at the legendary Raffles Hotel and spent an evening gambling at one of the city’s most extravagant new destinations, the Marina Bay Sands. It was another hot and humid day so it was a…
Singapore’s National Museum and Fort Canning Park
There’s variety in Singapore’s weather. One minute it’s hot and sunny, the next there are downpours and crashes of thunder. On the day we were planning to visit the Botanic Gardens, it chucked it down and the buildings we’d got used to seeing from our bedroom window were lost in the murk. So we opted for the National…
Exploring Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore
There’s something ridiculous about going for a walk in a hilly Singapore nature reserve when the weather is so hot and humid. But we were never going to find out much about the country jumping from one air-conditioned building to another. So visiting the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve stayed on our list of things to do. However, our planned trip to…
Singapore’s stunning Gardens by the Bay
Singapore has spent a fortune making itself a city in a garden rather than a city with gardens. And one of the stars of the transformation is the amazing Gardens by the Bay. It’s the city-state’s answer to the Eden Project in Cornwall, but on an even grander scale, and it was top of my list…
First class to Singapore and Little India
As upgrades go, it couldn’t be better. Arriving at Heathrow for our business class flights to Singapore, we were told by the check-in assistant that we were going to be enjoying the 13-hour flight in First instead. I could hardly believe our luck! With better food, better champagne and a better bed, it was going to…