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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. This beautiful island is synonymous with stars, style and impossible glamour but, away from the central 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 […]
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 […]
Balsamic, Bottura and beautiful cars… In The Italians, Luigi Barzini offered a consummate portrait of the national character of his compatriots. He cheekily suggested that the art of appearing rich was perfected in places like Modena. The tiny principality boasted ‘immense princely palaces, castles, vast churches, and stately opera houses’ wildly disproportionate to its size. It […]
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 (Westerly, veering northerly or northwesterly later, 7 to severe gale 9, increasing storm 10 for a time. Squally […]
What a difference 24 hours can make. Yesterday the residents of Blogville were very excited. The Mille Miglia – one of the most famous classic car races in the world – was coming through Bologna. And the region’s Tourism Office had invited us to join them in the VIP area. It was a fantastic opportunity […]
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 was sorted out beautifully. Then there’s the Michelin-starred restaurant, Rossellini’s, with its fabulous wine […]
