Travelling
When Turkey opens its borders again to tourists, I will go on a city trip to Istanbul again. And I’ll probably revisit the lovely Hotel Niles Istanbul. What can I say? I love Istanbul, and I love the Turkish people. While I don’t agree with …
It took several weeks of umm-ing and ahh-ing to finally steer away from our usual accommodation budget and to book the Pera Palace Hotel. As much as holidays sometimes means to stretch out on huge comfy beds with the whitest, softest linen and sleeping in …
When you are looking just for a good nights sleep, when you have transportation to catch early in the morning, and you’re not interested in nightlife or sunset-watching, where do you prefer to stay? Enter the ultra budget F1 Hotel Blagnac. We had an early …
Bukhara is perhaps the place with the widest choice of charming small hotels in Uzbekistan, and perhaps Central Asia. So, on my trip to Samarkand and Bukhara, it made sense to push out the boat a bit and book a characterful traditional small hotel. I …
Samarkand is a large city and it is harder to find charming accommodation close to the major sights. The Antica Samarkand is a welcome exception. Samarkand hotels are typically large, business-orientated and geared towards tour groups. But if you are looking for somewhere individual on …
On my recent flying visit to the Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, my first contact with the locals was in this guesthouse I had just booked quickly in order to crash somewhere upon arrival. I had already booked some fancier hotels in Bukhara …
“What on earth are you doing in Algeciras?” you might ask. This port city is mostly known as a passing through place en route to Morocco and the Spanish Enclaves, but not as a tourist sight on its own. What makes it a great place …
On our recent honeymoon driving round some of lesser known Andalucia, we thought we book ourselves a special treat. We checked into a real palace in Baeza. This town in Northeastern Andalucia forms an impressive coherent architectural ensemble of Renaissance buildings unique to Spain. It …
Back from Spain for two, weeks, a new job to settle into, house a mess and two bored cats – not the best circumstances for writing a long post. However, there is always a little time to write about Hotel Alcoba del Agua, one of …
On our spontaneous trip to Greece and Albania in autumn 2018, we were lucky to book late and still stay in consistently good hotels. The Arcadion Hotel Corfu Town is one of my favourited from this trip. We usually look for somewhere mid-range and non-generic, …
For a first-time trip to Albania, we wanted to stay somewhere… safe? Read on… here is my Hotel Gjirokastra review – it was one of my favourite hotels on my trip! No no no, forget your prejudices against Albania. I had my work cut out …
I don’t know much of France, but I’ve visited enough cities to say that Toulouse must be one of the great underrated cities of France. It has a pretty centre, beautiful architecture, nice restaurants, classy shopping – who would not want to go there? It …
Last October, I went to Athens to catch a bit of sun. We spent three days in Athens and three days on Aegina Island. In Athens, we stayed at the Marble House Hotel. We could not have wished for a better hotel: quiet, friendly, individual, and …
The Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok is one of the oldest hotels and one of the quirkiest places to stay in this thriving and expanding city. Set deeply back in the 1950’s, lacking the ultramodern comforts that have become standards in city hotels, and applying a …
