Toronto residents are a lucky bunch for a number of reasons but up there near the top are the beaches. There are plenty to choose from – not least a district called The Beaches – but we opted to visit the Toronto Islands, which lurk just offshore in Lake Ontario and offer plenty of cycle…
Tag: Gay travel
Toronto: A museum, a distillery and a market
There was no mistaking that we were staying slap bang in the middle of Toronto’s Entertainment district. Throughout our first night we were woken by police sirens and Friday night drunks shouting their way home from the bars and clubs. I somehow managed to get some sleep despite the racket but a disturbed night and…
The memorials of Berlin
From the top of the Panoramapunkt viewing platform at Potsdamer Platz, it’s easy to see the grey slabs of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial on Ebertstrasse far below. The memorial was something I’d put on my ‘to see’ list for our 2016 visit because it was still being put together when we were last in the German capital…
Berlin: Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain
In the district of Prenzlauer Berg, in what was once Communist East Berlin, is the undistinguished open space of Mauerpark. You get the feeling that it’s a bit of a disappointment on six days of the week but it comes into its own on a Sunday, when it hosts a famous flea market. It gave…
Berlin: Palaces and Pride
In 2004 we went on our first holiday together, to Berlin. It was January, bitingly cold and snow fell periodically on a city that looked grey from morning to night. But I fell in love with it. We finally got round to returning to the German capital in July 2016, when we found a very different…
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 week on the beach in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria represents tourism on steroids to some but the sunshine, the sandy beaches and the great nightlife have drawn me to the island three times over the years for a lazy winter break, away from the drabness of a British winter. Having been based in a giant and distinctly average hotel in Playa del…
A week in Mykonos
We spent a glorious week in May on the Greek island of Mykonos, enjoying the quiet of low season before the holidaymakers arrived in droves. But there was no avoiding the vast cruise ships and their armies of passengers. Most days the ships appeared in the harbour of Mykonos Town, dumping wave after wave of…