Although I generally believe in enjoying my holidays, this extended travel is rather a different beast, and I wanted to experiment with just how achievable it can be. After Barcelona I found my bank account somewhat worse for wear so I decided to set myself a challenge to spend only 10€ a day for the next … Continue reading The 10€ Challenge
FOOD Barcelona is a gastronomically wonderful city, but it is expensive. The main tourist strip is aligned around Passeig de Gracia - which also happens to be where the cities luxury stores are, so, you know. If you are happy to stay in the tourist centre and are keen for convenient, trendy bars, I highly … Continue reading Eating Barcelona
GENERAL DRIVEL The holiday is over and the journey begins. I am well and truly museumed out. In 27 days, I managed to visit/see (mostly with Dad, plus a few extras): 7 churches and cathedrals 14 palaces and historical buildings 6 art museums 17 historical museums The Louvre (which is really a bit of all … Continue reading Museumed Out
In other words: Lyon OVERVIEW This was the place where I realised I'd made a terrible baggage mistake. It's not easy carrying a heavy square suitcase up three flights of narrow, time-worn stone steps. The decision was resolved to seek out a suitcase-backpack hybrid when we arrived in Paris - but more on that later. … Continue reading Screw the museums let’s have a long lunch.
ATTRACTIONS This was a big day of again cramming a lot into a short amount of time before we headed out of Italy and into France. I had my sites set on the Archaeological museum - little did I know trying to get in there in itself would be a confusing endeavour, and none of … Continue reading Turin – Part 2
OVERVIEW For some reason I had in my mind this was a smaller town with nothing to its name but a musty old Shroud. That's what you get for not reading up. It's not. It's a fairly large city with a long history originating from Roman times, and no less than 18km of shopping arcades. … Continue reading Turin – Part 1
OVERVIEW Unfortunately, out of all the places we had visited so far, Florence had the seediest feel - immediately evident on arriving from the main station. As we were walking to our hotel, we heard some screaming and shouting, then two girls running - it seemed like they had been robbed? It's also possible they … Continue reading Florence
Overview Venice is an expensive city to visit, both in terms of accommodation and food (compared to the rest of Italy), but if you wander away from the main tourist tracks and you'll find delightful little cafes with various panini at a pretty reasonable price. The tourist paths are marked with signs and are really … Continue reading Venice – Part 2
OVERVIEW Venice is at once both larger and smaller than I expected. But while it's certainly a beautiful city, and the old palaces lining the grand canal (most have now been converted to galleries, institutions and other state buildings) are enormous, it's somewhat worn and weary. Ca Rezzonico has been converted into an 18th century … Continue reading Venice – Part 1
OVERVIEW I'm not sure if Verona is actually called the city of marble by anyone else, but I can't think of it any other way. Everywhere you look there is marble - marble columns and monuments, marble facades, marble streets, statues, sidewalks, even public benches! The most common is red (local) or white marble, but … Continue reading Verona – The City of Marble
Eating Our Identities 