Because of where we now live - northern Istria, near the Slovenian and Italian borders - we get to travel a lot more than we ever used to. We rarely fly now, as our location means many places,...
Travel…
We love to travel. And while we’ve been travelling, because we tend to veer off the tourist trails, we realised that we were discovering so many hidden gems, having amazing experiences and picking up tips and avoiding near-disasters, that we thought it would be a nice idea to have somewhere, where this could be shared. In March 2017 we finally realised our dream to relocate to the sunshine and are now living in Istria, in northern Croatia, enabling us to explore Europe much more easily. And especially now that Croatia is part of the Schengen Zone. Of course, we remain very linked to the UK – our families are there, our We Are Life Design clients are there, and our friends are there, so we continue to keep our close links to the areas in UK in which we have lived. And we still return to on a regular basis.
What we blog about is a good mix of wherever we go. So whether that’s somewhere not too far from where we live in Istria, a UK destination or a bit further afield, it’ll be here. If you love quirky places and things maybe a bit different from the norm, hopefully you’ll like what you find here. You can also pop over to Twitter, for the brief version!
And, we’re not being paid to mention hotels etc, & none of the blogs are sponsored – although, if one day, I could make a living out of travelling to gorgeous places…
recent travel blogs
piran : slovenia
Until very recently, we hadn't actually realised that our closest beach/seaside town, was actually in Slovenia, not Istria. Not by many kilometres, but enough to be our closest. In just over half an...
Mövenpick Hotel Zagreb
Hotel Mövenpick, Zagreb, is located in a business area nestled near the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bundek Park, the city centre and the international airport, Zagreb Franjo Tuđman Airport. It's in...
strasbourg : the capital of christmas
Strasbourg, frequently named “European capital”, is a city in eastern France in Alsace on the left bank of the Rhine, playing a major role as a business, commercial, and cultural centre. Besides its...
casa 1800 : granada : andalusia
Casa 1800 are hotels I've had an eye on for some time. With one in Seville and in one Granada, I figured that some way we'd find a way to visit one of them, at least, but I also assumed that price...
vineria cozzi : citta alta : bergamo : lombardy
We love Bergamo in Northern Italy. It's often overlooked as a gateway to its more showy neighbour, Milan, as lots of flights land here with easy transport links to the bigger city. But, you are...
los coracoles : frigiliana : andalusia : november 14
On a drive from the white washed hill top town of Frigiliana, down to Torrox on the coast, we noticed some strange shaped buildings looming up on a hill ahead of us - and were totally bemused, as we...
padre pio : san giovanni rotondo : foggia : italy
Having driven around much of Italy, I think we can safely say that this guy – Padre Pio – is very definitely a superstar saint. You can hardly escape him – statues, images, grafitti, even a whole TV...
riad mimouna : essaouira : morocco
This is riad is quite simply, stunning. Located right on the sea walls, and converted from a very grand 19th century residence, you just could not have a better place to stay in Essaouira. The...
hotel valemare : tropea : calabria
Tropea is an absolute jewel on the Calabrian coast and we couldn’t recommend highly enough, a stay in this beautiful town. However, if you are looking for accommodation, we couldn’t recommend highly...
villa mercede : frascati : lazio : italy
Villa Mercede is a bit different to many of the hotels we choose to stay in on our travels. Personal choice, but we prefer quirky, boutique style (although not those with silly prices), old,...
hotel rocca della sena : tropea : calabria : italy
When we were in Italy, last year, we had an awful experience with a hotel in the beautiful Calabrian town of Tropea. We’d booked into Hotel Valemare for four nights, but it was so terrible, we left...
ortigia : syracuse : sicily
On our travels through Italy last year, we made the decision to explore the eastern coast of Sicily and having done some online research, decided that Ortigia (in the region of Syracuse), sounded...
favignana : aegadian islands : sicily
Trapani (or Birgi Airport, located about 19 km south of the city) is accessible by Ryanair from the UK. Once in Trapani, the Egadi Islands – Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo – to the west, are as...
tropea : calabria : italy
On our travels in Italy last year, we were so lucky to find some real off-the-beaten-track places. We’d hired a car and had no real plan, apart from having a couple of weeks to get from Rome to...
semana santa : seville : andalusia : spain
Easter may be well over now, and it’s a couple of weeks since we returned, but memories of Seville are still burning very, very brightly. We were lucky enough to be there during Semana Santa (Holy...
ronda : andalucia : spain
Staying in southern Spain, with a hire car, meant that we could get out and about and really explore the region of Andalucia. One of our trips was across to the west and the amazing city of Seville....
castellabate : campania : italy
In my book, a “cool” place to stay doesn’t need to be hip and trendy and cutting edge. It just needs to be somewhere that isn’t bog-standard. And this place we stumbled upon – quite literally – in...
angel of the north : gateshead : england
We're big fans of Anthony Gormley's sculptures and whenever back in Formby, visiting relatives, we take a trip over to Crosby Beach and walk amongst the Iron Men statues, when the tide is out. So,...