Naples is the gateway to southern Italy but my first experience of it was overwhelmingly negative, for it had been like stepping into the third world. Years later, with Graham in tow, I still found it challenging but warmed slowly to its charms. That first visit to Naples back in the early noughties was nothing more…
Tag: History
Visiting the Desert Castles of Jordan
On our two-week visit to Jordan, we took a tour of the Desert Castles that lie to the east of the capital, Amman. And poor Graham coped remarkably well bearing in mind he had a stomach bug. The weather was bleak as we hit the highway out of the city, fresh from a night in the…
Istanbul: A long weekend in Sultanahmet
Sultanahmet is the historic heart of Istanbul, the most famous of Turkey’s cities. It may not be the capital but it’s the only city that sits astride Europe and Asia. Just a few months after we visited Istanbul, it was gripped by the worst riots in years. But it seems that historic Sultanahmet escaped the…
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…
A return to the Cutty Sark, London
The Cutty Sark is one of the most famous ships in the world. I first visited her as a boy on an outing to London and although I’d lived not far from her over the years, it wasn’t until the ship had undergone a multi-million pound restoration that I returned. The famous tea cutter has been…
The Vasa – Stockholm’s star attraction
I remember as a kid watching the Tudor warship Mary Rose being rescued from the depths of the Solent on TV, and several years later visiting Portsmouth to see her skeletal remains. Hers was a remarkable story of survival beneath the seabed, but she’s not a patch on the Vasa. On show in her own…