History
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Fort Kochi, Town Of Rich Cultural Heritage
Our journey through Kerala is set to take us to ancient coastal cities, up into the misty mountains, through tea plantations, into the backwaters then down to red cliffs, a seaside holiday resort and even a specialist ayurvedic retreat. But we start here at Fort Kochi, which soon shows itself to be an utterly absorbing, multi faceted city with so many elements to its character and so many different aspects that it’s difficult to know where to start. So we’ll start with its rather unique geographical setting. Fort Kochi, its neighbouring towns and cities and even the giant sprawling Cochin city sit on what you might term a broken coastline,…
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From North Goa To South: Chilling In Benaulim
It feels a bit like we’re cheating. Public transport – trains, buses, ferries – and the occasional rental car, are our normal ways of making it from A to B, getting into the local spirit by travelling the way they do, rather than what we’re doing here, finding a driver to take us all the way to our next destination. Trouble is, here in India, public transport can be very time consuming with its regular delays and slow progress, plus also the cost of car and driver for long journeys is ridiculously low, which makes it just too easy to say yes. To our spirit of adventure though it still…
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To The Beach: Arrival In The Wrong Part Of Goa
Well. It just goes to show, even grounded and experienced travellers like us can mess up, although we’re mystified as to how we of all people made this error. In trying to work out the best places to stay in Goa to get a decent coastal fix but steer clear of the overblown party towns, we spent ages poring over the merits and demerits of just about everywhere until we settled on two locations in South Goa, missing out North Goa and its party scene completely. It’s not until we leave Goa International Airport that it dawns on us that something is amiss, when the hotel driver (we’d pre-arranged collection)…
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To The Lake City Of Udaipur
Suddenly I feel like I’m on television, on a travel documentary or similar, at that point when the presenter turns either to the camera or to their co-presenter and makes a poignant comment indicating just how special is the moment, and then looks wistfully out at the scene before them. It really is like that, just as awe inspiring, just as exotic. We’ve just arrived in Udaipur, late afternoon, and we’re standing on the balcony of our haveli gazing at the scene before us: classic India, maybe even classic Asia. The lake – Lake Pichola – is flat calm, the amazing City Palace sits away to our left, temples and…
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Walking Jodhpur And Meeting The Lentil Man
Jodhpur plays out its days in a decidedly lower key. Such things are relative of course – you probably wouldn’t describe Jodhpur as “low key” in many countries of the world – but compared to other Indian cities it is precisely that, especially among the narrow twisting streets of its old town. Under the watchful eye of the gigantic Mehrangarh fort looking down from the hills above, Jodhpur is probably the most tourist friendly Indian city we have seen so far. Throughout the old town any number of dark staircases lead up four or five storeys to rooftop restaurants affording fabulous views of the fort which is imposing during daylight…
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Exploring The Sights Of Jaipur
The city wall of Jaipur, visible from all around the city, is not your normal city wall by any means. Rather than the remaining sections being deep within a congested sprawl the likes of which one might see in many cities, this is an undulating major construction which circles the city some distance from its outer limits, following the contours of the land even where the inclines become steep and the peaks become seemingly inaccessible. It is in its way rather reminiscent of a scaled down version of the Great Wall Of China. Our three days in Jaipur are spent exploring many of its notable sights. Rather than trot out…
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Capability Overdrive And Delhi By Default
Monday December 1st. It’s one of those very English days where the sky is heavy, rain falls in intermittent bucketloads and it never really seems to get properly light. The tube from St Pancras to Heathrow is ridiculously rammed, full of wheelie cases, backpacks and sweaty bodies in overcoats. I am a sardine in a tin, Michaela is trapped in a corner, overheating visibly. We make it to Terminal 2 early for our 21:05 flight. 21:05 quickly becomes 21:20, then 21:45, then 22:00, 22:40 and eventually “CANCELLED” appears on the app and “GATE CLOSED” on the screens. Everyone crowds around the desk, haranguing the poor airline staff as if they…
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Our Week In Pictures
Saw this in Ljubljana, it gelled with us.. “We travel not in order to escape life, but in order that life may not escape us”. Monday morning, woke in a village named Vopovjle near Ljubljana airport, flew to Belgrade where our connecting flight was delayed and left us stuck in the terminal for five hours before we flew on to Sarajevo. Hard to comprehend that the bustling city of Sarajevo was ravaged by warfare, genocide and war crime atrocities a little over 30 years ago. The scars are visible but so is the conciliation in a city where mosques sit beside Christian churches and a line in the street depicts…
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Nuraghe, Mountain Towns & Murals: Crossing Sardinia.
The nuraghe of Sardinia have been the subject of considerable debate over the years, with some disagreement over their original functions and purposes. According to what appears to be the current school of thought, and definitely the thrust of websites and guide books, the reason for the confusion is that the nuraghe were multi purpose and therefore inconsistent in design from one to the next. What is certain is that they are unique to Sardinia, that traces of over 10,000 have been identified, 7,000 of which are still standing in one form or another. Grain stores, fortresses, family homes, lookout posts, communal meeting places…all have been theories, each with strong…
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Discovering A Real Gem: Bosa, Sardinia
Even the description “one of Italy’s most beautiful villages” doesn’t do justice to our first sight of this exquisite little town of just over 8,000 inhabitants, simply one of those places which brings out a wow or two at first sight. Bosa sits just a mile in from the sea on the banks of the Temo River, the only riverside town in all of Sardinia on the island’s only navigable river. Two ancient bridges span the Temo, colourful houses catch the sunshine, wooded hills surround the town, coastal cliffs are visible from the centre of town. It’s insanely attractive. Perched high above this beautiful scene at the best vantage point…
