Tenerife Dreaming – Masca Gorge and Back.
What do you do when you get a 5-day weekend in early December? For those of us in Salamanca, the answer was obvious: plan a brilliant escape to the Canaries. Read more
Posts from the ‘EUROPE’ Category
Dec 23
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Dec 2
Adeus, meu amor – Lisbon, Portugal.
I could never claim to be a morning person, but somehow my last day in Lisbon began shortly before 8am with some soft rays of sunshine peeking through the shutters. Outside, a blue sky beckoned and the scene resounded with a silence I had not experienced since arriving in the city. It was Monday morning on a public holiday and the streets were practically deserted. Read more
Nov 29
X Marks the Spot – Sintra to Belém, Portugal.
Early on a Sunday morning, a red van pulled up to our hostel for the beginning of a 7-hour adventure. The weather was finally beginning to clear up and we had booked ourselves on the “X-Day Trip”, run by an alternative tour company with the best name I’d seen in a long time. Headed by Bruno, a graphic designer turned tour operator, We Hate Tourism Tours was hatched when he noticed that young visitors were leaving Lisbon without having seen many of its best parts. Read more
Nov 21
No Rain on This Parade – Lisbon, Portugal.
As the train crossed the border from Spain to Portugal, we began to get the sense that we had passed over into the unknown. Not only was the language different, but the scenery was turning increasing shades of green and our train began to rock from side to side. Read more
Nov 10
At the Walls of Ávila, Spain.
The Spanish call it the “City of Song and Saints”. Situated in the wilds of Castilla y León, and within easy reach of Madrid, the historic town of Ávila is a prime destination for a weekend day trip. Recently a friend of mine described it as a miniature version of Carcassonne – that legendary walled city in the south of France – and within 30 seconds I was sold. Read more
Oct 26
Tales from the Golden City – Salamanca, Spain.
It’s 10am on a chilly Saturday morning and I am standing in the middle of Plaza Mayor, at the heart of Salamanca’s historic centre. Under a cloudless sky the morning light falls gently onto the carved stone facades and wrought iron balconies. Composed, elegant and lavishly decorated, it is the ultimate Plaza Mayor, easily besting the more famous one in Madrid. Read more
Aug 21
Honey-coloured sunsets – Bath, England.
The end of my whirlwind tour around Western Europe was a signal that my life was about to take a very different course. After 4½ years of study, I was going to leave England for good. Read more
In Search of William Wallace – Stirling, Scotland.
After two days of exploring Edinburgh, I was ready to seek some form of relief from the tourist hordes. So we jumped aboard a train bound for Stirling, a small historic city just 50-55 minutes away. Read more
Aug 11
A View from the Top – Edinburgh, Scotland.
After the tranquility of Oban and the Western Isles, Edinburgh seemed like a world away in comparison. Scotland’s pulsating capital is often regarded as one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, so it comes as no surprise that it is such a major tourist draw. Read more
Mulling it over – The Road to Iona, Scotland.
It is a damp Sunday morning and we are down at the pier, amongst a crowd of weekend day-trippers from as far afield as America and New Zealand. We are boarding the 9:50 ferry out of Oban, on what is the first leg of a 2-hour journey to the fabled island of Iona. Read more
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