After this glorious summer of inspiration, we are all aspiring Olympians now. But, seriously, what can the ordinary, semi-fit person do about his or her own personal fitness legacy that doesn’t involve weeks in the gym, and heavy investment in specialist equipment? I found the answer, at a safe, flat place place I know well,… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Cesme Peninsula, a place apart from mainstream, mass tourism Turkey
The Cesme Peninsula is one of the Turkish Aegean coast’s most stylish locations. This is the spit of land where the Silk Road from China used to end. For British tourists familiar with the mass tourism model of the big resorts, the small villages and towns here, with abundant small-scale accommodation, are an unexpected, and… Continue reading →
How I fell for the oldest trick in the pickpocket’s book
“Never give a sucker an even break.” That’s the rule they work to at the entrance gate to Ephesus in Turkey, and why should they make an exception for me? WC Fields was simply expressing a far older truth in the musical Poppy in 1923. I’m sure purses were regularly lifted in Roman times here,… Continue reading →
Pembrokeshire, county of castles, coves and film star sands.
The eye was piercing. The gaze was imperious. The message an unspoken “Do you know who’s in control around here?” Eventually, of course, the human in boots, inching forward as quietly as he could along the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, prevailed over the haughty feathered hunter perched on a fence post. I was no more than… Continue reading →
Back in the masterpiece city: Rome revisited
Rome is a masterpiece packed with wonders, ranging from some of the world’s finest art to the most exquisite cappuchino. The writer, an eternal fan, has just been back to top up his list of things to do in one of his favourite places. Site seeker Rome’s great sites, St Peter’s, the Piazza Navona,… Continue reading →
Riding the Golden Road – way out west (in Wales)
(This article was first published here in April, 2014.) The Golden Road. What adventures spring to mind? Riding a great, gilded highway as it strikes east across the steppes of Central Asia? Bumping along an ancient trading route down through the sands of Arabia? No need to venture so far. We have a Golden Road… Continue reading →