Travelling
After two nights in Kusadasi, and some mightily sweaty sightseeing at Ephesus, it was time to move south. We hired a car out of Izmir Airport for ten days and set off on our drive through Aegean Turkey to Antalya. We would then return inland …
Although Amman is the capital of Jordan, and most visitors arrive at its international airport, most go straight to Petra and Wadi Rum. If you have a little time, Amman is a great Middle Eastern city to stroll, eat great meals, and do a bit …
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 …
In peaceful times, a trip up the Mount of Olives is part of every itinerary of Jerusalem. The views over the Old City and the Temple Mount are stunning . Wonderful vistas aside, the Mount of Olives is also one of the sites where Jesus …
When I planned my little winter sun trip to Jordan, I didn’t plan on visiting Wadi Rum. My priorities were on Petra, catching some sun in Aqaba and viewing the Desert Castles east of Amman. So I simply ran out of time. However, after seeing …
Apologies for staying unusually quiet these last few weeks! After producing a few new blog posts over the quiet period of the holidays, work was unusually busy, and then I went on my much-awaited winter sun holiday. Or so I thought… Do you wonder what …
We leave home in a downpour, me pulling my flimsy travelling coat around me as I pull my little case to the train station. A train and a flight later, we are greeted by golden evening light in Istanbul and fly into the sunset to …
The Atlanta Hotel is a special case. So, after writing my ode about that one, I felt serving up a huge extra portion about the equally special restaurant in the same post would be a bit too much. Especially since I appear to have eaten …
Shopping in Turkey is a dream – if you know where to look. Here are my tips on what to buy in Turkey. Four years ago, I spent two days in Istanbul and came home laden with spices and home wares, so with the festive …
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 …
I had the opportunity to fulfill a big dream, thanks to an unexpected week off work and the end of the Uzbek visa rule in March. And I had to act fast before this gift of extra time was to be booked up. Quickly I …
My impromptu Silk Road trip to Samarkand and Bukhara lasted six days, including two long flights, and time was a bit of an issue. What to do if you have limited time, want to see everything, but don’t want to spend a ton of money …
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 …
Uzbekistan has been a rather difficult country to travel in the past. Most of us would need to apply for a visa, customs rules were extremely strict, immigration was difficult. And once there, you had to change currency at an unfavourable official rate in a …