Europe
-
Not A Good Time To Head To Paris?
Well here we are at that exciting time, the last day at home before we set off on our next adventure, the day when the backpacks get packed, the fridge gets emptied and the itching of the feet reaches fever point. Except this time there’s a succession of items which have us scouring the news stories and checking and re-checking websites for the latest updates. Our first point of call on this next adventure is Paris, and it can’t have passed many people by that this may not be quite the best time ever to visit that enchanting city. But first, there’s industrial action on the railways in the UK.…
-
Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #14. Sometimes The Simple Things
Versailles, France, 2015. And here we end this short series of some of Michaela’s favourite photographs, with a shot of beautiful and stunning simplicity. Leaving the glorious palace to explore the sumptuous gardens, the rain started to fall with extraordinarily bad timing, just as we stepped away from the sanctuary of the grand building. And yet the rain brought a gift: clear, dainty raindrops clinging to leaves and flower heads throughout the gardens, nowhere more perfect than on this delicious pink rose.
-
Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #10: Quiet Streets
Marrakech, Morocco, 2015 and Bratislava, Slovakia, 2014. Sometimes in the busiest and most manic of cities, it’s possible to turn a corner and suddenly find yourself in a little enclave of peace. It’s hard to accentuate this in a photograph – unless you’re lucky enough for one single person to wander into the quiet alley at just the right moment. That single figure somehow conveys peace more eloquently than a wholly empty street can….
-
Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #9: Snowy Scene
Konnu, Estonia, 2015. During a city break in the Estonian capital Tallinn, we enjoyed a trip out of town for a snow-shoe hike in the forests around the small town of Konnu. This was the site where the legendary “forest brothers” departed the cities and survived in the frozen wastes for years while resisting the advances of the Soviet Red Army. Michaela was enthralled by the long shadows cast by the winter trees and sought to capture the effect in one shot: this is one of those shots.
-
Next: A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
We’ve been back in England for a month now, easily long enough for the feet to get substantially itchy and for the wanderlust to grow. Both Michaela and I are more than ready for our next adventure, bursting at the seams to get cracking again, and the other day I swear I heard our backpacks squealing “lemme out, lemme out” from inside the wardrobe. It’s been great to catch up with family and friends, wonderful to see my beautiful granddaughters, for Michaela to have “Mum time”, great to see Cornwall again and, of course, good to have a few English ales, but it’s travelling that sets us free and as…
-
Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #8: The Sky On Fire
Jarun Lake, Zagreb, Croatia. 2015. Towards the southern end of Croatia’s capital city lies a large and relaxing green space, where the nation’s sporting heroes are commemorated with murals, photographs and plaques around the beautiful parkland. As the winter afternoon neared its end, so the setting sun began to bring a fiery orange to the sky. This photo opportunity, as the blazing sunset bounced its reflections off the silent lake, was too good to resist.
-
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…
-
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…
