24 Hours in Dublin. A full day exploring Dublin ended in a busy bar on a summer Saturday drinking yet another glass of Guinness, the final location on the thoroughly entertaining Dublin Literary Pub Crawl. It was the gloriously Art Deco, Davy Byrnes bar, a regular haunt...
Shetland in Midsummer, diary for week four (part one) (I’m splitting this final diary week into two parts rather than trying to pack it all into one post!) From out of the creel Ewen pulled out a magnificent lobster, vividly blue and glistening with sea water which...
5 Beautiful Mosques Seen Through My Eyes. I have been extremely lucky to have traveled the world and visited these beautiful mosques. Mostly through trade, Islam spread to the far corners of the world and it has brought me great joy to visit historic mosques from...
Killiecrankie “I went above the pass where I met with another water very deep, it was about eighteen foot over betwixt two rocks, I resolved to jump it, so I laid down my gun and hat and jumped and lost one of my shoes in...
Suomenlinna Camera in hand, I stepped onto the ferry for a day out exploring the island fortress of Suomenlinna. I’d woken to a clear blue sky, this would be a fine day to head out of the city for some non-urban adventure! Suomenlinna is a...
Turku Castle Turku Castle (Turun Linna) has seen its fair share of battles and sieges, a sturdy fortification dating from the 14th Century at a time when Finland was part of Sweden. It has played castle, grain store and prison over the centuries, suffering from...
Copenhagen to Finland, via Stockholm A fascinating bridge links Denmark and Sweden across the Øresund Sound, it vanishes under the water as a tunnel only to reappear on a spit of land half way across to sweep over the final half to Sweden. The Øresund Bridge turns into...
Elsinore Castle “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I’d been in Copenhagen a few days, aimlessly exploring the city, entirely enjoying myself but also aware that I may be missing things. I decided to be...
8 Things to Do in Copenhagen on a Budget My heart leapt as I walked through Copenhagen from the railway station to my booked accommodation, this is one beautiful city with a wonderful vibe. It was a saturday afternoon and Strøget, the main shopping street, was packed...
Borobudur Borobudur is one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world; this huge stone temple was constructed three hundred years before Angkor Wat in Cambodia and stands enigmatic under the shadow of smoking volcanoes in central Java. The construction began in AD 750, and...
Bruges in the Rain, Belgium. Board the Eurostar at St Pancras, London and in less than four hours you can be wandering the picture-perfect streets of Bruges. It’s a simple platform change at Brussels: a smooth, roomy Belgian train will transport you for the last hour across the...
The Poppies at the Tower of London Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red 888,246 ceramic poppies, one for every British military fatality in World War I. When you first see the sea of red blooms you are overwhelmed by the vivid beauty, the extraordinary sight....
Malaysia’s capital city is often overlooked by travellers, a convenient transit hub for South East Asia. This is a mistake though, there is so much to see and experience in this vibrant city. I’ve been to KL a few times now, each time discovering something new....
Penang Hill The funicular rail car fills with tourists, all taking the easy ride up Penang Hill: for the views and tourist attractions at the top. We stand at the front, the steep rails snake up in front of us, thick cables quiver to pull...
George Town, Penang My heart races as the ferry crosses the narrow channel from peninsula Malaysia to the island of Penang; I have dreamed of returning to this multicultural jewel for six years. The ferry deposits us on the fringes of George Town, Penang’s capital,...
The plains of Bagan are arguably Burma’s most iconic view, a vista of thousands of Buddhist temples peppered across the landscape. Over three thousand brick stupas pierce the sky, constructed between the 11th and 13th centuries, once part of a great city that was at...
