Europe
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs: #4 Mountain Peace
Valbona, Albania, 2016. As we approached Valbona along the winding road which hugged the banks of the fast flowing river, the mountain scenery becoming more and more dramatic, we knew we were arriving somewhere special. This remote village, feeling a long way from anywhere, nestles in breathtaking beauty in the shadow of the wonderfully named Accursed Mountains. Michaela wanted to capture both the beauty and the remoteness in one shot. This is that shot.
- Europe, Independent travel, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Switzerland, Transport, Travel Blog, Walking
From St Moritz To Zermatt On The Glacier Express
The White Turf course and its attendant marquees stand silent now, dormant until the next race meeting in a week’s time, while the rest of the town blinks its eyes as the morning sun bounces off the white snow and dazzles those emerging from their slumbers. It’s sunglasses at dawn here. It’s not just the brightness which makes the eyes water in St Moritz, it’s the prices too – make no mistake, this is one seriously expensive town. A couple of nights here would buy a three-week trip to some parts of the world. It feels considerably colder this morning as we stride along the platform towards the waiting Glacier…
- Europe, History, Independent travel, Italy, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Switzerland, Transport, Travel Blog
From Style On The Streets To Horses On Ice: Milan, St Moritz & The Bernina Express
Elegant, stylish, classy: words we would all associate with Milan and accolades which this city effortlessly lives up to, with its lofty majestic buildings and wide open piazzas. By day these imposing, ornate structures tower over the streets in proud glory; at night, tastefully illuminated by well placed floodlighting, the grand buildings assume another yet more alluring pose in what is effectively an architectural catwalk. Emerging from the metro and out into the square at Duomo station is to soak in one of THE great cathedral views as the shaped facade of this magnificent building soars above the piazza like some giant ice sculpture. The famed Duomo is in good…
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A Short One This Time….To The Snow
Yes, yes. We know we’ve only been back from Panama for a week but it’s time to be hitting the travel trail again, though only for a short one week break this time. What’s more, just to cap the fact that we’re really feeling the cold English weather after the heat and humidity of Jamaica and Panama, we’re heading off somewhere much colder, up into the Alps where there is plenty of snow. Anyone who is kind or mad enough to read and remember stuff we write in these posts might know that I absolutely love train travel. I was born and bred in a railway town (it’s a city…
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Concluding Rome & Heading Home
The sun continues to shine from cloudless skies – as we enter the second half of October and near the end of this short Italian sojourn, temperatures of up to 29 degrees surprise and delight us. We had hoped for sunshine but this warmth has been a big bonus, so perfect for exploring the two wonderful cities of Bologna and Rome. Tucked into the tight streets between the Trevi fountain and Piazza Navona, The Pantheon is a remarkable and beautiful building, boasting the widest masonry dome in Europe which in turn houses the oculus through which sunlight cascades in spectacular shafts. The whole place is fabulous. The walls are adorned…
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Stories And Histories: More Days In Rome
On our previous travels we have visited the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz in Krakow and walked through the chilling and horrific histories at Auschwitz and Birkenau, wandered through the former ghettoes of Venice, Thessaloniki and others, visited Jewish museums in several cities as well as Ann Frank’s House in Amsterdam, learning again and again of the bigoted persecution of people of that faith. Even so, there is a different element to Rome’s equivalent, the former ghetto now known as Communita Ebraico, knowing that creation of this particular ghetto took place under the watchful eye and direct personal instruction of the Pope, who ensured that, as with all other ghettoes, the…
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From Bologna To The Eternal City
Our last post left us going through an unassuming unmarked doorway in amongst the restaurants of Bologna’s Quadrilatero district and entering a parlour full of evocative old photographs. Many show the famous faces of previous visitors to this strange little room: here Mohammad Ali’s autographed golden boxing glove, there Richard Nixon, then Tony Bennett, even a laughing Marilyn Monroe. This is Bologna’s oldest inn, the Osteria del Sole, where the wine has flowed since 1465 and been quaffed not only by the glitterati but also by the learned intellectuals from the university, students and professors alike. Yet the joy of “del Sole” is as much about its custom as its…
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Piazzas, Porticos & Pasta: Notes From Bologna
Bologna’s famous porticos are immediately evident even as we make our way from the railway station to our apartment close to the heart of the city – not surprising given just how far they extend through the city streets. Originally constructed from wood to provide additional display areas for shopkeepers, these attractive extensions now take on a variety of forms: sweeping brickwork arches, concrete and steel squares, segmented tunnels. Handily providing protection from both the summer sun and the winter rain, these porticos stretch improbably for nearly 25 miles around Bologna’s streets, giving it something of a unique look. Well certainly unusual even if not unique. Bologna enjoys a reputation…
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Beer, Tapas & Champions League: Southern Spain, Buoyant Germans & A Dash Of English
Michaela drops me off at the airport and we kiss goodbye: it’s going to feel a little odd being apart for a few days having been welded together on our travels for so many months. Adrian climbs out the back of the car looking more than half asleep, but then it’s so early that it can’t reasonably expect to be called morning yet. We’re booked on a red eye flight that’ll be in the air before the birds are; Adrian came down last night as we live much nearer to Gatwick than he does. “At least with me here you can’t go to the wrong bloody airport” he grunts. We’re…
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Leaving The UK Again
It may be just a little bit harder than usual to leave the UK this autumn. Rampant inflation, soaring energy bills, a clueless and incompetent Government who have set about destroying both the economy and the nation’s reputation in one go, rail, bus and mail strikes….these are all things which will really make us wish we’d stayed at home. For those unfamiliar with the sarcasm of British humour, welcome. So it’s with absolutely nothing approaching a heavy heart that our plans for autumn and winter travel are coming together. This Monday, 3rd October, I’m off to Spain for a few days – but not with Michaela who is spending a…
