Notes on…
The Turquoise Coast
Legend has it that Mark Antony considered Turkey’s Turquoise Coast so beautiful that, in about 32 bc, he gave it…
An earthquake with a Baroque legacy in Sicily
Syracuse is a handsome place, steeped in a rich historical broth. At the tip sits Ortygia, an island offshoot, which…
A walk through Fez is the closest thing to visiting ancient Rome
Fez is one of the seven medieval wonders of the world. An intact Islamic city defined by its circuit of…
How to walk along canals in Venice without feeling like a tourist
I arrived in Venice believing it would reek of sewage. It didn’t. The walk into the centre went through cobbled…
The long ordeal of Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art
I was working on the final edit of my book — a fictionalised account of the year Charles Rennie Mackintosh…
On the Yeats trail in Galway
The Go Galway bus from Dublin sounds an unlikely pleasure, but it is both comfortable and punctual. There is free…
The sheer joy of hunting
This time three years ago, I hadn’t jumped a single thing for almost ten years. This season, I am happily…
A museum of dirty postcards and Britain’s coolest bulldog: visit the strange side of the Isle of Wight
Every day the Isle of Wight becomes England’s smallest county: when-ever the tide comes in, the island steals the crown…
If you want a real safari, head to Botswana
As a boy camping with my father on safaris deep in the African bush, there were no tents involved; we…
The Northern Lights
Getting here took a long time. First a flight to Seattle, then a connection to Fairbanks, followed by a coach…
The birth of a barrel of cider
The fabulous October weather is now just a memory but it made for a golden, old-fashioned apple day down in…
A cure for Christmas stress in Sweden
We’ve all been there, I’m sure. You work your pan off to get everything done in time. You count down…
A miracle: French hotels actually like dogs
The first time I checked in to a French hotel with a golden retriever — his name was Gregory, predecessor…
Malta's military marvels
Fate occasionally leads travellers to places they had never planned to visit. Into this category, for me, fell Malta. I…
The Schumacher effect: ski helmets and the grim power of celebrity
For a melancholy example of the power of celebrity, head to the Alps. Since Michael Schumacher’s accident last December in…
Why Gibraltar needs its hunt back
The British overseas territory of Gibraltar, or, as some would have it, the wart on the bottom of the Iberian…
Why I'll never want to escape Portmeirion
My husband and I stay for a week most summers in Portmeirion, the strangest and loveliest ‘village’ in the world.…
Chasing the shadows of slavery in Barbados
Driving up the west coast, from Bridge-town to Speightstown, you soon see why people around here call this the Platinum…
Napoleon's birthplace feels more Italian than French
Napoleon’s birthplace, Casa Buona-parte, in Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital, is pretty grand. It has high ceilings, generous, silk-lined rooms and a…
The lost horses of London
The days when horses and humans lived cheek by jowl in the capital are unarguably over. Brewers’ drays have disappeared,…
Artists’ houses
I’m not sure what took me to Salvador Dalí’s house in Port Lligat, but it sure as hell wasn’t admiration.…
Drunkenness, theft, fighting and smuggling: the indiscreet charm of Deal
However the sand got into Sandwich, it did Deal a big favour. As the Cinque Port’s harbour silted up from…
The perfectionist builder I always wanted
I have a friend who is perhaps best described by that old-fashioned phrase ‘ladies’ man’. He’s not a cad or…
Sicily – notes from a large island
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Sicily is anything like the Isle of Wight: it’s 70 times the size,…
The quest for the perfect malt
It was poker night. Five yuppies crammed round a table in a room at the back of a south London…
