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…
Tag: Gardens
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…
The gardens of Norfolk
2020 has been a year of lockdowns and social distancing, confinement to base and almost no travel. Our garden and allotment has been a lifesaver for us, allowing us to get out and appreciate nature and fresh air. And during our staycation in East Anglia, we visited a collection of magnificent gardens that gave us…
The Alhambra, Granada
The guidebooks tell us that the Alhambra in Granada is one of those sights that just has to be seen at least once. But is it worth the aggravation, worth putting up with the crowds? Is it worth the hype? During our week in Andalusia we had the chance to find out. A mix of…
Cordoba: A palace, patios and tapas
Visiting Cordoba is like visiting an old friend. It’s a recognisably Andalusian city with its cobbled alleys and white-washed terraces highlighted in reds and ochres. Like Seville and Jerez, Cordoba has an historic heart with obvious Roman foundations and a street plan that reflects the medinas of Arab cities. There’s an atmospheric Jewish district of…
Cordoba’s Mezquita, an architectural masterpiece
The magnificent Mezquita in Cordoba is without doubt one of the world’s great buildings, once a mosque and now a cathedral. It’s also somewhere to shelter from the city’s oven-like heat, for even at the end of September the thermometer was recording late 30s centigrade. I really struggle with the heat and spent much of…
Art and history in Nantes
Tomatoes of all shapes and sizes bulging and bursting with flavour, heads of broccoli larger than any I’ve seen and oysters from all points along the French coast. This can’t be a British supermarket… In fact it’s the Marche de Talensac, one of Nantes’ oldest and biggest markets on a typical Saturday morning. Browsing the…
Exploring Jodhpur’s mighty Mehrangarh Fort
Set on a massive volcanic outcrop 400ft above the city of Jodhpur, Mehrangarh Fort is unmissable. It’s one of India’s greatest monuments, an imposing complex of palaces and fortifications that would’ve impressed and intimidated the friends and enemies of the ruling family. It was built in the 15th century by Rao Jodha, the then ruler…
The temples and gardens of New Delhi
Delhi assaults the senses. It’s polluted, noisy, smelly and can look as rough as fuck but just when you think you can’t take it anymore, there are glorious gardens and majestic temples that restore one’s faith in the city. Many are in the districts to the south of the historic centre, in New Delhi, Mehrauli…
Melbourne’s gardens and memorials
The Melbourne we’d been exploring was all concrete and steel, roads and traffic, but the city has its fair share of parks and gardens too. So on yet another boiling day we visited the Botanic Gardens and an impressive war memorial. The green spaces extend from the banks of the Yarra River in the heart…
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 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…
Copenhagen’s crown jewels
There’s much to see and do in Copenhagen, but somehow we managed to go overboard on the royal attractions during our long weekend. Take our last day in town. We chose to spend much of it enjoying the treasures of Rosenborg Palace, including the state’s Crown Jewels, before tearing ourselves away for something rather more egalitarian at the Botanical Gardens. With…
A stop at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Canada
With a red-eye flight from Toronto to look forward to at the end of our Canadian trip, we needed somewhere to spend a few hours on the way from Niagara-on-the Lake to the airport. The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington were the obvious choice for a green-fingered pair. After checking out of our plush hotel,…
A visit to La Oratava in Tenerife
We went all the way to Tenerife for winter sun and relaxation only to find a depressing layer of cloud that refused to budge from the volcanic mountains around Puerto de la Cruz. So while the Hotel Botanico pool may have looked inviting, it was a bit too cold to sit out, read and swim –…