Due to the “rock star” popularity of Pope Francis, the Vatican is becoming increasingly popular for tourists and pilgrims alike. Vatican City is expecting 50 million visitors over the course of the year in honor of the Jubilee which started in December 2015. Here are my insider tips to avoid the crowds and queues and […]
So the mayhem of Valentine’s Day is over but why does romance only have to take place one month a year? Surely romance should happen all year round, especially as travelling can be one of the greatest joys to experience together. Eclectic cities like Paris and Rome are synonymous with love and romance and the […]
Where is this place you may ask? And not an easy question to answer! On the map we are in Italy but to the locals we are in Tyrol which is an Austrian region. The official language is German but a dialect is the most spoken. So, we are international? Or maybe lost in this […]
The chance to take a trip to London is, for many children, a dream come true. By day, blustery rides on red open-top buses, the chance to see guards stood like tin soldiers outside Buckingham Palace and hearing Big Ben chime are all part of the mythical appeal of the city. But unknown to most, […]
If you’re a regular reader you’ll have seen me posting about 4K photography a few times over the last few months. If you’re new here, here’s a very quick summary – 4K photography is when you shoot in HD video, and the quality is such that you can pick out a single frame and yet […]
I have never been a particularly good runner but it’s something I enjoy doing and I’ve run a handful of marathons over the years (nothing particularly fast so don’t be too impressed!). This year, though, is a little different. I have set myself a running challenge that will really test me: to run at least […]
At the weekend I visited our local National Trust property, Sizergh Castle, to seek out some 4K photography opportunities with my trusty Panasonic LUMIX GX8 camera. (If you want to win one of these cameras for yourself, incidentally – worth over £1,000 – make sure you head over to this post.) Sizergh Castle lies out the outskirts […]
A drone has to be one of the ultimate gadgets nowadays so you can imagine my delight when I got to trial the DJI Phantom 3 Advanced drone recently. DJI, if you haven’t heard of them already, are comfortably the market leaders when it comes to drones, controlling around 70% of the global market, and […]
A year ago, I told you about four museums you might not know in Paris, I would love today to talk to you about three other museums I did not mention back then. As you may know, we have 173 museums or so in Paris though unfortunately the Pinacothèque closed two weeks ago. So it gives me plenty of […]
There has been much buzz in the culinary world of late about the emergence of the fine food scene in Andalusia, particularly in Malaga. With eight Michelin stars awarded to restaurants in Malaga province and a total of fifteen across Andalusia, the region is challenging the long standing prominence of the Basque Country and Catalonia. […]
For a long time Spain’s hotel industry has offered mid level properties weighted down in tradition, regulation and poor design with many properties offering only the minimum requirements for 5 star hotels. But over the last few years things have been changing for the better. Hotels are incorporating great design with in demand amenities while […]
A spectacular city, in a daringly dramatic location, romantic Ronda is a must for anyone who loves beauty, history, culture, romance, delicious food and a taste of Spain’s Andalucian lifestyle. Perched on a plateau above a deep ravine, this captivating place is named Ronda because it is “surrounded” by the mountains of the Serrania de […]
There’s something so romantic about a grand train journey. It harks back to a bygone era before the fast pace of modern life took hold and when travel was just as much about the ‘getting there’ as the destination. But this golden age of gentlemanly luxury is alive and well within the Belmond collection. In […]
Scotland is blessed with a fantastic larder of some of the best natural produce in the world and is synonymous the world over with quality produce. Soft fruit and vegetables are locally grown in many parts of Scotland and with the country famous for good quality meat and excellent seafood, you do not have to […]
Provence in southern France is famous for its landscapes and climate. The urban areas – Nice, Cannes, Marseilles, Avignon and Saint Tropez – attract visitors from around the world but in this piece we will look more closely at a small rural area, and for a specific season: the Luberon region at the time before […]
Picture the scene: you’re on holiday, enjoying a drink after a hard day’s work of sunbathing and sightseeing. The champagne bottle has just been popped open, the atmosphere is lively, but something is still missing: the perfect view . There’s no better way to enjoy a well-earned drink than by sitting on a terrace overlooking […]
