Tag Archives for " UNESCO World Heritage Site "

Known for its sunny package holidays, the subtropical island of Tenerife hides its unusual things to do in plain sight. Unusual Things to do in Tenerife With two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and food, landscape and culture aplenty, Tenerife offers so much more than simply lying on the beach. And hardly […]

Let’s face it, the Dead Sea has a depressing name. It also fizzes the synapses by sounding too much like Red Sea.
Red Sea, Dead Sea. Red Sea. Dead Sea.

Venice has a tempestuous love affair with the world. Millions of adoring fans visit La Serenissima each year, lured by the sirens of the Adriatic. Perhaps I’ve spent too much time squashed on the London Underground, but…

Usually, I manage to find something beautiful, something that moves me wherever I go. But last night, in Petra, that didn’t happen.

Despite the stillness of the water, there’s no sound of silence. Insects skim across the reeds with a soft buzz and woodpeckers…

Visiting Namibia, the World’s Oldest Desert, and Climbing Dune 45 Fifty-five million years. It’s a long time, no matter how you look at it. For 55 million years, particles of sand, in shades of blood red, caramelised orange and an exhausted, jaded rust have sifted one over the other in this part of the world. […]

Kakadu. The sound is soft yet distinctive, like a bird call that rolls and unfolds across the willows and the reeds, the waters, the low and smoky air, to reach me on the scrunched and scorched soil. On the earth that is itself Kakadu.

The word…

Flying over Botswana and the Okavango Delta When it comes to deltas, the Okavango is the best. And if that’s too cryptic an introduction then let’s catch up with some more delta facts. At 15 000 square kilometres, the Okavango Delta is one of the largest deltas in the world, protected by both the government […]

As you’d expect from a UNESCO World Heritage City, Toledo Spain has plenty of things to do. It’s only an hour or so from Madrid so attracts plenty of day trippers. But there’s a better way to see the city and explore its unique sights: stay there. Here’s how to make it happen and what […]

  The Tablas de Daimiel: A Surprising Discovery in Spain’s La Mancha Spain, Spain, you’re all the same. Full of sunshine, sand and sky-high white complexes that spill lobsters into places so crowded with plastic, it’s hard to see the beach. Or, well, you’re not, really. Nope, not even a teensy little bit. Seven years […]

Unusual Things to Do in Graz Graz. It’s not the most inspiring of names, now is it? Short, squat, and sounding more than a little like the French word for fat, it lacks the flourish that sweeps Barcelona and Vienna into the linguistic catwalk of European city names. But names can be deceiving. For Austria’s second largest city […]

  Road Trip Galicia, Spain: The Salty Northern Sea Coast Of course, every coast is salty. But northwest Spain’s Galician coastline seems the saltiest of all: its landscape licked into shape by the churning, whirling waves, its cuisine at one with the sea and its architecture, history and general attitude shaped by the way that […]

The Loire Valley in France is famous the world over for its wine, its chateaux and its countryside. Yet, the cities of the Loire offer more culture than you can shake a stick at. Here’s a thought-provoking look at what to do in the Loire. What to do in the Loire, France A red diamond […]

If you’re looking for the best things to do in Riga, you’ll find them here. Things to do in Riga The KGB Headquarters in RigaBeautiful Riga’s Medieval Town CentreOrgan Recital at Riga’s Dome CathedralArt Nouveau in RigaNativity of Christ CathedralEat OutSkyline Bar The KGB Headquarters in Riga Visit the KGB museum: The Corner House between Brīvības Street and […]

Austria’s Lakes I don’t know why I’d never thought of this before. I’d admired lakes from afar, softly framed by frozen snow. I’d seen them blur past windows and windscreens and snapped them from cobbled lanes and cloistered churches. But until this summer’s sojourn through Austria by bicycle, I’d never thought of them as the best […]

The Stories the Stones Tell in Menorca No, not the Rolling Stones. The still stones. The ones that, by all accounts, should be gathering moss as they stand and wait in one place (and since we’re delving into history today, did you know that the whole “rolling stone” phrase didn’t start with Bob Dylan but […]

I’ve rounded up the best things to do in Jordan for you, all tried and tested by me. Yes, I know I usually wax lyrical, bringing you poetry, interviews, dreams and more but I also know you’re busy. So here’s a shortcut to all that lyrical stuff, all nicely packaged up. Go live, love, travel […]

Things to do in Amman: Unmissable Sights and Flavours in the Oldest City in the World Scroll on down for a handy list of things to do in Amman, Jordan in bite-size form. But first, a short story about the city… The Things We Remember the Most Everywhere has them, I suppose. The naughty but […]

  The Ggantija Temples in Gozo: UNESCO World Heritage Site in Malta A visit to the Ggantija Temples Gozo reveals a culture older than the ancient Egyptians with some fantastic names to boot.  One of the best things about the characters in the Maltese language is that the words make every glance at the map feel […]

  Birgufest: The Candle Festival of Malta The Candle Festival of Malta has an official name: Birgufest but it’s the light of thousands of flickering candles that people remember the most. Here’s what it’s like to walk through the streets of Birgu, Vittoria, during the candle festival. And how you can do it yourself.  I […]

Finding the Right Halong Bay Cruise Halong Bay showcases the dual nature of travel today: the absolute thrill of finding an icon (in this case, the hazy outline of those towering limestone peaks) and the dismay that everybody and his dog found it first and that the overwhelming tourist machinery will crush the magic spell. […]

Philae Temple, Aswan For over two thousand years people have stood where I’m standing now. And yet they haven’t. The Puzzle of the Philae Temple in Aswan For although these honeyed flagstones brought Philae Temple to life back in the Greco-Roman days (around 370 BC,) come the time of flared trousers, big hair and D-I-S-C-O, […]

The Cour des Loges Hotel Review As hotels go, the Cour des Loges didn’t need a “something extra” to help it stand out. The open courtyard with renaissance-style arches made a suitably resplendent first impression. So, too, did the cryptic entrance corridor from the cobbled corners of old town Vieux Lyon, the rooftop garden, velvet […]

“Are you ready?” asks Christopher, a guide from the nearby village of Wieliczka. He’s cloaked in a long charcoal jacket and blowing on his hands to keep warm. For a giant-sized man, he uses a soft voice. “Because once we start, I will not be able to talk to you. And you will not be able to turn back.”

Dust rose from the ground as the horse thundered past and the sun began its ablutions. It painted pinks and pomegranates, amber, pistachio, charcoal and soft apricot rust across the walls of Petra before calling it a day and turning in for an early night…

In the scorching cauldron of Andalucia, the Sierra Nevada mountains rise up to tickle the skies and gather enough snow to cover the peaks for most of the year. Beneath them…

Everything’s still, save for a breeze so slight it’s invisible until it reaches the window and makes the curtains sigh. I hear railway sounds from another century, a whistle and muted metal clanging, before the landscape of northern Spain picks itself up and learns to glide by.

I’m not used to seeing hedgerows at right angles and beaches with vertical shorelines…

Speeding along the tarmac road, I wonder how long it’s been since I last took a normal breath. The road drops…

Everyone talks in whispers, the omnipresent classical music giving the atmosphere of a reverential mass, or perhaps a mix between a library, an art gallery and heartbreak hotel.