Walking
Look beyond the package tours (and there are plenty of them), and Sorrento really has something to offer the modern traveller. You just need to know where to find it… Grand (hotel) tourism Once the leaping off point for every 19th-century traveller’s Grand Tour, Sorrento was as glamorous a destination as any along the Amalfi…
Capri is a mere half-hour’s ferry or hydrofoil ride away from Naples. The island is synonymous with stars, style, and impossible glamour but, away from the Piazzetta, it’s also a place of stunning natural beauty and calm. Charles Dickens once wrote ‘In no place on earth are there so many opportunities for delicious peace and…
Portugal’s second city offers endless possibilities. Here for a weekend break? Check out my top ten things to do in Porto. 1. Hostel or hotel? Budget usually dictates whether you choose a hotel or a hostel, but if you’d never considered ‘roughing it’, you might think about it in Porto. Some of the hostels here…
In 2012 I visited Bologna as part of the Blogville Project. The idea, developed by the Tourist Board, was to give bloggers a base from which to explore Emilia Romagna. I visited the Ducati Museum, made pasta with the Casa Artusi mariette in Forlimpopoli. I even took part in the world-famous Mille Miglia vintage car race. My…
The Faroes – a group of 18 islands located in the Norwegian Atlantic – are halfway between Scotland and Iceland. I’d heard of them, of course; I’m a Radio 4 listener, fan of the arcane Shipping Forecast
The Mille Miglia is one of the most famous classic car races in the world. As a participant in the Blogville project in Bologna, I got to hang out in the VIP area. It was an opportunity to get close to the sort of cars that I’d recently drooled over in Modena’s Ferrari museum. Some…
Ravello’s Palazzo Avino is one of the finest hotels I’ve ever stayed at, and the service some of the best I’ve experienced; let’s just say that it involved a full camera disc, with at least three more days of photo-shooting, and it was all sorted out beautifully by the concierge. Then there’s the Michelin-starred restaurant,…