There was a long time when we looked the other way. You didn’t go there. Northern Ireland was toxic, a place of self-destructive conflict. It was a terrible family argument, spilling, metaphorically, out into the street. Even passers-by were in mortal danger. Those days are over, and it’s hard to believe they will ever return…. Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Tour de Yorkshire – will the Wolds open the greatest cycle race
Did the Tour de France organizers choose Yorkshire for the first two stages of 2014 race because the county’s wide open spaces reminded them of home? I would like to think so. There is room in the huge, high landscape of the Yorkshire Wolds for some serious, long-distance cycling, with a hill or two thrown… Continue reading →
Weather set seasonal for Nuremberg Christmas market
I checked the weather for the first four days of the Nuremberg Christmas market. It could hardly be more seasonal, with snow followed by frost and the sort of nipping cold that is so appropriate for what many consider to be the model for all Christmas markets. It’s the weather to make you want to… Continue reading →
Slovenia’s electric tourist ambition – first destination to offer zero-carbon driving holidays
Which European country is the most environmentally friendly place to holiday with a car? Which one offers easiest access to electric or very low mileage models and helps you put together a zero carbon itinerary? Until recently I would have opted for what seem to be the obvious choices – Holland, Denmark or Germany. All… Continue reading →
Japan – land of the rousing welcome
Not long into my trip to Japan, I gave up trying to slip quietly and unnoticed into a public place, because I knew the staff would not permit it. No sooner would I cross the threshold of a restaurant, for example, than a chorus of greetings arose, to be carried on into the deepest depths… Continue reading →
Catch the taste of sustainable fish in a top London hotel
There are many good things to say about the fish restaurant Catch, at Hyatt’s new Andaz Liverpool Street hotel. You could list the presentation, the service, the quality of cooking and the ambience, all of them important reasons for choosing to dine there. And yet these are things you could say about many other places in… Continue reading →