Tenerife conjured up many images in my head before I visited. A beautifully landscaped botanical garden, swarming with penguins and sheep was not one of them. As Europe’s biggest carnival (that I’d never heard of) approached, the Parque García Sanabria was full of local primary school children dressed up in animal costumes to celebrate outside….
Author: Claire
A taste of Madrid at Mercado San Miguel
I love just wandering around a city and chancing across things. Places that aren’t in the guide book or one off events that I happen to be in the right place at the right time to see. With only a morning to see a little bit of Madrid on the way home, we headed for…
Chasing the sun
Winter in northern Europe is a struggle sometimes. We don’t often get snow where I am (this week has been an exception), and often January is wall-to-wall grey skies. So I’ve made it a goal to always try and get away for a few days in February. Doesn’t have to be hot, sun and blue…
A taste of Jordan (something I didn’t post in 2012)
Sometimes I don’t feel like writing about a place at the time. Sometimes it seems like there is so much out there about a particular location that I’m not sure what I have to add. But I still like to look back at photos of these places, so here are a few from 2012. All…
Christmas in New York looks a little like this
New York puts on quite a show for the holiday season. A few festive highlights – Merry Christmas!
A handful of New York tips
New York was overwhelming. Four and a half days and I still feel I barely scratched the surface. It’s not my favourite city, even in the States (San Francisco wins hands down for me). But I did have an interesting time and enjoyed my visit. You can never hope to get to more than a…
Next stop, NYC!
Photo source: Flickr creative commons It’s a long time since I’ve been to the States – over 10 years in fact. Somehow it’s never been top of my list, although I loved San Francisco. New York has always intrigued me; I love the buzz of big cities, but would it be too full-on? In a…
Half-time report: Brazil with Michael Palin
I’ve been looking forward to this show since I first heard plans for it back in 2010. I couldn’t wait to see Palin’s take on my favourite country in the world (so far). I’m also a huge fan of Palin’s early travel series (Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Full Circle and…
São João in Salvador, Brazil
Arriving in Salvador in early June, the streets were already laced with strings of flags fluttering above the Pelourinho for São João. While the main festival is celebrated over the weekend of 21st-24th June, already the anticipation was building. Even the bus station was covered in festive red, white, blue, green and yellow. São João…
Itacare
There’s something about being in the right place at the right time. Somewhere you may have visited before maybe, that’s different second time around. Or somewhere that you didn’t expect much from, but gives you exactly what you need at that point in time. I don’t remember really why we decided to come to Itacare…