With a city population of 240,000 and a metropolitan area that is home to 1.7 million people, Porto is Portugal’s second city. Its ancient name, Portus Cale, may even be
October 2020: Northern Portugal (Part 2): The Douro Valley
Our second full day in northern Portugal was dedicated to another day trip. The Douro Valley is one of the world’s oldest winegrowing regions and is a UNESCO World Heritage
October 2020: Northern Portugal (Part 1): Arrival & Day Trip to Braga
Arrival Less than a week after getting back from Greece, it was nice to be off again, making hay while the sun was shining in this year of travel washout.
Featured Flight BA633 (ATH-LHR)
FLIGHT DATA for BA633 Date: 09 Oct 2020 Aircraft: Boeing 787-8 ‘Dreamliner’ (G-STBH) From: Athens (ATH) To: London Heathrow (LHR) Scheduled departure: 1955 (EEST) Actual departure: 1947 Scheduled arrival: 2145
October 2020: Athens (Part 6): City Centre Roundup
Thursday On returning to the city from Aegina on Thursday, we had time to fit in a visit to the National Museum of Contemporary Art, also known as EMST. This
October 2020: Athens (Part 5): Excursion to Aegina
Thursday Aegina is another island in the Saronic Gulf, bigger than Hydra and considerably closer to Athens. It is named after the mother of a former king of the island.
October 2020: Athens (Part 4): From Hill to Meeting Place
Wednesday This was another ‘city day’, and just as Monday had begun with an ascent to the Acropolis, so this morning brought another climb. Our objective this time was the
October 2020: Athens (Part 3): Day trip to Hydra
Tuesday We knew that our intention was to take two side trips from Athens to nearby islands, and decided that in order to maximise city-country contrast, we should take the
October 2020: Athens (Part 2): Acropolis & Museum
Monday The transition from weekend to new week brought a move from ‘settling in’ to serious sightseeing. Top of the list were the city’s most popular attractions: the Acropolis and
October 2020: Athens (Part 1): Settling In
Saturday With our original plans for 2020 in tatters and multiple replacements having suffered a similar fate, Bruce and I tried one more time by arranging to spend a week
September 2020: Biggar & Lanark
Biggar The small South Lanarkshire town of Biggar (population 2,300) is less than 30 miles from Edinburgh city centre. That’s just a one-hour bus ride, half of which is spent
September 2020: Two Galleries and a Georgian House
That’s what I managed to clock up over just two days in September, albeit two days that were separated by a weekend. Scottish National Gallery (Friday 11-Sep) The Scottish National
July-October 2020: Edinburgh Lockdown Easing (Phase 3)
As we have already seen, Phase 3 of lockdown easing brought the reopening of indoor hospitality from 15 July, which facilitated various day trips, quickly leading to a North of
September 2020: London
Our base Our London base for this visit was relatively unusual: the Holiday Inn Express, Limehouse. It certainly didn’t represent IHG at its finest: the neighbourhood was slightly dodgy, it
September 2020: Potsdam
Situated less than 30km southwest of Zoo Station in Berlin and lying on the River Havel, Potsdam (population ~180,000) is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg.
September 2020: Berlin (Part 2)
Tempelhof Airport Tempelhof was Berlin’s first major airport, operating between 1923 (making it a similar vintage to Croydon Airport) and 2008. The former airport’s main claim to fame is the
September 2020: Berlin (Part 1)
Ku’damm / Zoo area May as well start with where we were based! We were delighted to spend our four-night stay at the brand-new Hampton by Hilton Berlin City West,
September 2020: Return to the Skies
You might well think that my successful North of England jaunt would have satsfied my travel addiction for a few weeks to come, but you’d be wrong. With a successful