Lille and Lens The Euro 2016 football venue is the small industrial town of Lens, centre of the swirling carnage of the First World War, which was happening here exactly 100 years ago. Today the pre-eminent attraction is the new Louvre-Lens gallery, opened in 2012 as an offshoot of the great Paris museum to display some… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Spice Island Zanzibar traps tourism’s wind of change
You don’t go on safari on the island of Zanzibar. But there is Capt. Morgan. Is it his real name? He is coy on the subject. But any confusion with the famous pirate of the Caribbean ends with his scrupulously honest assessment of our chances of seeing wildlife when we are out on his dhow…. Continue reading →
Basel, ancient and modern Swiss city on the Rhine
Basel, where Liverpool played Sevilla in the Europa League final on May 18th, is entry-level Switzerland, very close to the border with Germany and France. It straddles the River Rhine, at the top of the country. It’s within a comfortable train journey from the UK – about six hours from London Its heart is small, picturesque… Continue reading →
Shakespeare: his Way with the countryside, from Stratford to London
William Shakespeare, the bard of Avon, was born in the Warwickshire market town of Stratford in 1564, and died there 400 years ago, in 1616. Shakespeare’s Way, 235 km or 146 miles long, inaugurated in 2006, runs from his birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire to Shakespeare’s Globe (close to where the original Globe Theatre stood), alongside… Continue reading →
Mallorca’s prime time moments in location shots for Night Manager
The Guardian has blown the Night Manager’s filming locations cover. This elegant BBC production based on the John le Carre novel flitted from sumptuous Alpine setting to smart hotel verandah, from a real Istanbul to a make believe Egypt displaced to somewhere else in North Africa. The location of one pivotal scene, where the Tom… Continue reading →
Six things you must do in Nashville
This is my piece on Nashville, published in the Mail on Sunday. —– Music City was chosen by Lonely Planet and Rough Guides as one of their top ten cities to visit in 2016. As well as round the clock performance, there are legendary concert halls, recording studios and museums celebrating the titans. And a full-size… Continue reading →