Salamanca: a taste of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque
27th July 2020Of all the places that I visited on my September 2018 road trip in Northern Spain, I was most enamoured by the Autonomous Community of Castile and León, as it’s called. It’s the largest autonomous community but not over-populated or teeming with tourists. The region is home to eight World Heritage Sites, and UNESCO has recognised the Cortes of León of 1188 as the cradle of worldwide parliamentarism, pre-dating the Magna Carta. Unsurprisingly, I was drawn back to this region to savour more of its history and culture. Salamanca, the old city of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,…
An Evening At The Theatre
A little bit of theatre over the years. All but two performances were in London. What a treat these were – some truly memorable performances. A very young Daniel Radcliffe in Equus, in between filming Harry Potter movies. Daniel Craig…
Beyond Barça: A Bridge, A Medieval Wall; and Finding Dalí
Girona and Figueres, two smaller cities north of Barcelona, were my next destinations in June 2019. Off the beaten track, they offered respite away from the tourist cacophony in Barcelona, plus some gems of their own. Like most of Spain’s…
Geneva: for the love of tennis, and chocolate
I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Geneva in September 2019, to go to the 3rd Laver Cup, a team-based tennis tournament that pits Team Europe against Team World. Prague hosted the inaugural event in 2017, and I…
La Sagrada Família, Barcelona
Almost 10 years after my first trip to Barcelona, I finally managed to visit this Temple. Still a work-in-progress, it’s scheduled to be completed in 2026. Took my breath away. Photos cannot capture the detail, splendour, size and visual impact,…
Riviera of the Adriatic
After Jordan, Dalmatia in Croatia was next on my list in 2017. Central and Eastern Europe – with its complicated geopolitics – had long been an enigma to me but fascinating, nonetheless. My only venture into Eastern Europe thus far…
Once Upon a Khmer Empire
Cambodia in November 2014. A country ravaged by the three-year genocidal terror in the second half of the 1970s, evidence of which is plain to see in Phnom Penh, also captured in the movie The Killing Fields. In contrast, the…
In Dublin’s Fair City …
September 2016. Alluring, captivating Dublin.
Surprising Jordan
For many years, I resisted travelling to the Middle East: too much sand, too hot, no shopping, not modern, and more recently, not safe. Even after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which famously featured Petra’s splendid Treasury facade, I…
So Much More To Jordan …
Fortresses dating back to the Crusades, the ancient Roman city of Jerash, the ancient city of Petra, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, Mount Nebo, the Baptism Site, its many nature reserves and biodiversity. So much more.
A Taste of Moor (and more): Granada and Sevilla
Knowing that Spain had a few centuries of Moorish rule, I wanted to visit that part of the country. So in October 2013, I headed south to Granada and Sevilla. I decided to live a little dangerously – no Spanish…