My plan, upon finding myself in London with a day off, was to indulge my inner Downton Abbey fan with a trip to Highclere Castle. The Jacobethan “country home” that housed the fictitious Grantham clan was, however, closed until spring so I decided to trudge from my friend’s flat in Barnes along the Thames footpath to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew instead.
As devoted anglophile, I hoped to find the sort of quintessential Englishness …
From sticky toffee pudding and gastro pubs, to farmers markets and heritage meat farms, our editor Cindy-Lou Dale rekindles our national love-affair with Cumbria, seeking out purveyors of fine food and taste-testing her way across the Lake District.
If you’re an inquisitive cook you’ll no doubt like exploring new tastes which is why you need to begin your Cumbrian Food Trail at the Cartmel Village Shop – an artisan handmade pudding company and home of …
If you know better, you avoid London’s Victoria and Albert Museum like the plague when it rains, especially if that rain happens to be falling on a Sunday afternoon when most of the world finds itself at the start of Spring Break. You especially avoid the V&A if a new exhibit has just opened up, all the more so if it’s an exhibit that’s going to be popular with artist-types and design students who are …
People from all over the world tend to seek out vacations where they can bask in the sun and enjoy a climate that’s much hotter than then they are used to on a daily basis. But how about you double your pleasure by visiting your chosen destination when they celebrate carnival? Carnival around the world is one of the biggest street parties at any given destination. People flood the city streets in colorful costumes that …
If you come away from Venice thinking, “It’s too crowded and it smells,” you’re doing it wrong. Sure, the labyrinthine city’s glory days are long gone, and many of the palazzos along the Grand Canal have been converted to restaurants or left to rot, their first floors already reclaimed by the sea, but the city is more than just a shadow of its former self. There’s a reason, after all, that the tourists still flock …
The Northern Lights are one of Iceland’s top tourist attractions, and for good reason. They’ve fascinated peoples from around the world for thousands of years, from the Inuit of Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea to the Laplanders of northern Scandinavia. In Iceland, Viking lore maintained that the dancing Aurora Borealis were the souls of the dead and even though more scientific explanations have since come to light, the Northern Lights are no less fascinating.…
Northern France is a bit of a secret place for foodies. Its gourmet reputation is well known, but only amongst those who live there. Saint Omer for instance, just 30 minutes inland from the French port of Calais, has a great little bistro in the old town – Chez Tante Fauvette, just a few steps from the Notre Dame.
I heard about it through a local friend who slipped me the name and address on …
I was lucky enough to take my first trip to Venice at 14 but that early exposure to world travel came with an early exposure to budget travel accommodations as well. We stayed on a campground on the mainland and had to leave the lagoon before sunset to make sure we didn’t miss the last transfer of the night.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, forced to tour the romantic northern Italian city …
Fairy tale-like Chester is considered one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. The old town’s collection of quirky stores housed in Rows (a fully-functioning medieval version of a shopping mall) is reminiscent of sepia toned Grimm’s tale.
What is truly striking about Chester is its dramatic architecture. It has a Victorian movie-set air to it with cobbled streets and narrow alleyways, grand old black and white Tudor buildings which stand shoulder-to-shoulder with slightly skewed half-timbered Victorian …
Whilst eating my way around the square mile of Soho I got to meet some of its food heroes – the people who create the greatest food in the capital. Like a gin-infused meat pie at The London Gin Club, La Bodega Negra’s modern-day twist on tacos, the Spanish ham at Enrique Tomas, Basque Country ‘aperitifs’ at Pix Bar, Dim Sum tea pairing at Opium – and the ultimate in Italian hot chocolate at Said.…
Iceland’s most scenic and popular route is the so called “Golden Circle” of approximately 300 kilometers of breathtaking views, often traversed in a circular pattern out and back from Reykjavik.
Within the Golden Circle lie some of the country’s top attractions, including Þingvellir National Park, the spectacular Gullfoss waterfalls and Geysir in the heart of an active geothermal valley.
One of the best parts of the Golden Circle is Iceland’s well-developed and easy to follow …
Moonlight Paddleboard Yoga, Greece
The Skiathos Princess: Participants can awaken their senses by performing YOGAqua (Yoga on Stand up Paddle Boards) on the glistening, moonlit waters of Skiathos with stars sparkling overhead – a truly idyllic and unforgettable atmosphere. Days with a full moon are revered in the Ashtanga yoga tradition due to the understanding that the moon affects tidal rhythms. As humans are made up of seventy percent water, the moon is said to …
When most people think about going on a cruise, the first thing that comes to mind is the dreamy vacation onboard a luxury ship surrounded by the sea. Spending evenings watching the cabaret shows, having a posh dinner and walking on the deck under the moon and stars. There are also various onboard activities and entertainment areas such as theatre shows and comedy night that lure people to take a cruise. All of this and …
The narrow window for visiting the Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse (in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands) is limited to eight weeks a year—between March and May. So flower-lovers, gardeners and photographers from all over the world convene at the Gardens at that time, coinciding with the season when the flowers are in full bloom.
Riverboats plan “Tulip Cruise” itineraries during this period. And if you are lucky enough to be on one …
