When in Valencia, a fabulous place to visit is the City of Arts and Sciences or Cuidad de las Artes y las Ciencias. One day, I had arranged to meet my friend, Mark, and as I walked along the dry Turia riverbed, suddenly, I saw these huge buildings looming up in front of me. If …
After leaving Bangkok on 18th December last year, I spent 10 days on the shores of Hikkaduwa on the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. Since first visiting Sri Lanka in 1993, this place has always been a favourite destination of mine. I just love the culture and the people and it’s one of the most …
I can’t believe how time flies sometimes, especially when you’re having fun, but here we were, our last day in Rome, it had come round so quickly, but we had seen a lot in the short time we had been there. On our last day, we decided to take the metro to Circo Massimo, not …
Today we’re taking the metro to Flaminio and starting off our day at Piazza del Popolo, a circular square with three fountains. On the north side is a gate called the Porto del Popolo, once the beginning of Via Flaminia, an important ancient Roman road which led to the north of Italy. Piazza del Popolo …
We arrived back in Rome and decided we would go out for dinner in the city. Usually, we just ate near the hotel, but this evening we decided we were going to take the metro and find a restaurant near the Trevi Fountain. We came out of the metro station onto Piazza Barberini, with its …
We left Rome on the Friday morning, after buying train tickets from the most unhelpful, unfriendly person. I really think she is in the wrong job to be serving customers. A smile is all it takes! Undeterred, we had a while to wait, so we had coffee and watched people hurrying through the station from …
From the Colosseum, the Roman Forum is seconds away, so I walked towards the entrance only to be met by a really long queue. The ticket for the Colosseum includes the Roman Forum, but by this time it was late morning and the crowds had started to arrive. I noticed a pathway to my left …
Only the second day in Rome and it felt like we’d done so much already. Today we’re off to the Colosseum, a huge oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city. Emperor Vespasian started the massive feat in 72 AD, but it was Titus who completed the job in 80 AD with Domitian making modifications …
We found ourselves in Piazza Navona, a lovely little square full of life with street artists, selling their paintings, imposing churches and palaces, and inviting cafes and restaurants all around. It didn’t take us long to choose a restaurant with a ring-side view of everything that was going on. Piazza Navona is an oval-shaped square …
Our guide left us outside St Peter’s Basilica and before going inside, we stopped to gaze over St Peter’s Square, designed by Gian Lorenz Bernini. Striking in its own right, the square is surrounded by Tuscan colonnades with 140 statues of various saints on top. The structure was built in two arcs on either side …
Well, what an absolute blast my first day in Rome turned out to be, my parents and I visited The Vatican City, an independent state within Rome which hardly needs any introduction. After a quick metro ride, we arrived around 9.30 a.m only to be accosted by a ticket tout asking if we wanted to …
A few years ago, I spent a fabulous day tramping around Dovedale in the Peak District of England. Along the 3 km route, we passed caves known as the Dove Holes, used the stepping stones to cross the river and meandered along the path until we reached Milldale, a village of beautiful stone cottages with …