Over the last few years, we’ve been very lucky to be able to pack in a huge amount of travel – as well as actually move abroad, relocating from Manchester to Istria, in northern Croatia. We’ve spent the last couple of years renovating a stone house and exploring our new environment. But, one place has […]
Sometimes, you see somewhere online and you just have to go. No matter what. This happened recently when I discovered the website for the Hotel Grand Wiesler, in Graz, in the Styria region of southern Austria. When we lived in Manchester, the thought of seeing a hotel online, in another country, and planning a spontaneous […]
Our second accommodation on our weekend stopover in Padova was an apartment, slap bang in the historical centre, called Officine Cavour. Directions to the car park were great – but we struggled a little bit initially to find the actual apartment. It’s located in a small square called Piazza Camillo – perhaps the easiest way […]
We often drive around the outskirts of Padova (Padua) when we travel back to Istria from Italy. We’ve always found it – even with Google Maps – quite a perplexing city to get out of. It’s not a big city, but the outskirts are a bit on the confusing side, so we generally use the […]
One of the best things about living on the continent now, is that we can completely dispense with flights. I think there are few things, travel-wise, more stressful, than the whole airport experience, of checking in, security, hanging around, queueing – and then at the end of it, you’re squashed into a cramped seat, generally […]
Not too long ago, when we still lived in Didsbury, we often thought about having time away in London, but never got round to it, because, well – London was just too far away from Manchester. The traffic would be awful. We’d end up sitting on the M6 or the M25. It was over-priced and […]
The first time I visited Venice was on a school trip, back in 1977. We’d been on a ski trip and spent a day on the way back to the airport, in the city. It was January. It was cold. And, the city was flooded. St Mark’s Square was like a pool – I remember […]
So, after a spending a night in two different hotels – yes, seriously, the story is here – we left Carcassonne and headed south, this time to the Cote d’Azur. A road trip along this glitzy coastline seemed just too tempting, especially as we had booked a night in Nice. The countryside, travelling south, is […]
Our Christmas travels took us all over England, as we visited family and friends. It was a very different Christmas holiday this year, as we were constantly on the go, moving from one place to another. Eventually that takes its toll and so we decided to call time, and be settled, and be somewhere for […]
Having lived in Didsbury for a very long time, we know a lot about Eleven Didsbury Park and its sister hotel, Didsbury House. We’ve stayed at Didsbury House previously and have attended weddings there, and it really, really does have the wow factor. On this trip, we were also attending a wedding in Didsbury and […]
We decided that after crossing the Channel, a long drive to Manchester, on a Thursday evening, might just be too big an ask and so decided to stay for the night on the south east coast. I’d read an article about Folkestone and how the arts scene is flourishing and more independent shops and restaurants […]
Troyes is a town in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. Its medieval old town features narrow, cobbled streets lined with colorful, half-timbered houses, mostly dating from the 16th century. The town is home to several Gothic churches with striking stained-glass windows. These include the Troyes Cathedral, the Église Sainte-Madeleine and the Basilique Saint-Urbain. […]