Within about thirty minutes I declare I don’t like Florence; too many tour groups clogging the streets, and the restaurants seem grabby; mediocre-looking places charging way too much for uninspiring food. […]
Tables, chairs and parasols line narrow streets and fill small piazzas, their occupants enjoying fat-crusted pizzas whose slices reluctantly pull apart in a cat’s cradle of melted cheese, and plates of pasta topped with rich sauce and drizzled in aromatic olive oil. […]
The first time we encountered a couvert was in Porto when it a waiter brought a tray of small dishes to our table. We weren’t sure if they were a complimentary amuse-bouche or we’d have to pay. […]
There’s a diversity to Portugal’s countryside that surprises us on a regular basis. Where the Algarve’s resort scene doesn’t appeal, the range of walking that exists in the region is a different matter. […]
A short route recommended by the folk at our hotel, the 15th century Knipoch, took us along a grassy path lined by bushy confers and moss-covered drystane dykes to an open hillock surrounded by crispy bracken and a tartan coloured vista which took in slender Loch Feochan, Mull, Islay, and a rolling landscape which had me wishing I was wearing my kilt. […]
Tales of magic, mystery and sacrifice surround Val des Nymphes. As I stand astride the rock, I imagine throats being cut and blood spilling down into the undergrowth […]
Travelling around rural parts of Europe we regularly spot roadside fruit and veg stalls, a good way of seeing what are the seasonal ‘in things’ in any destination. […]
If we were in any doubt as to the importance of the cloud analogy to the restaurant, ‘snacks in the cloud’ dispelled it, providing six contrasting bites, two of which were placed on white clouds atop tall spikes […]
“Bom dia,” the woman smiles at us. She leans on the granite window frame of a traditional farm labourer’s cottage, watching inquisitively as we stroll through the tiny hamlet. “Little does she know we might be harbingers of a mini invasion,” Andy ponders. […]
The season has changed. This hit home on Friday in the supermarket where there was a distinctly different vibe. People were dressed in full on summer uniform. There were telling empty places on the shelves where boxes of Sagres beer and sacks of BBQ briquettes should be. […]
Meeting up with a friend from Manchester for an afternoon and evening in Lisbon recently, the realisation dawned that in the last two years Lisbon had also shrivelled in size. […]
A factor often connected with satisfaction levels is picking up/dropping off rental cars. The experience, good or bad, doesn’t impact on how we view a destination, but it can leave a lasting impression. […]
…the bridges and houses of Regua give way to layer upon layer of slopes braided in vines as the river narrows and the banks draw closer, embracing us in their unbridled beauty. […]
Lounging beside a lagoon on Portugal’s north west coast, Aveiro is often referred to as the Venice of Portugal. Quite a few places with canals are referred to ‘the Venice of… ‘. It’s a description which dangles a pretty picture on the end of a fishing hook. […]
The obsession with choco frito is said to have started in the days when cuttlefish had no commercial value. So the fishermen who sailed the waters south of the Tagus, from the Sado Estuary down to Sines, tended to keep chocos for themselves […]
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