Once a year every town and city in Catalonia celebrates its Grand Festival. Many places keep up traditional customs of ancient origin. In Barcelona, especially in the Gracia area in August you can wonder at the agility and strength of the castellers as they build their spectacular human towers.
Teams of men and women stand on each others’ shoulders in an effort to build the highest human tower. Each tower, which can be up to seven stores high, is topped by a small boy called the “anxaneta”. On plaza Rius i Taulets in the Gracia area, in front of the city hall, you can watch these castellers
Submitted by Lola55 in 22 Nov 2008 |
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We were watching a doco on archaeology when Bury St Edmunds popped up. Sounded interesting with its history dating back to Roman times and before. It also looked beautiful. Tim looked up, "Suffolk is it?" We'd been thinking about taking a look at the "folks" for a while, that is Suffolk and Norfolk. We'd done a fair amount of exploring out west – Devon, Dorset etc – since arriving in England but had missed the eastern counties. Perhaps because the geography wasn't so dramatic but the time had come.
I got out our trusty touring guide and opened to Suffolk. "We could head for Cambri
Submitted by Robyn in 22 Aug 2008 |
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The trip to Italy with my 15 year old daughter was planned as a way of building her Italian language skills - and for me a chance to restock the cellar. We’d pick up a car at Florence and travel south as far as Naples.
That was the plan anyway, until my daughter studied the map and pointed to an area on the ‘heel’ of Italy. “Can we go there?”
I looked at where she was pointing. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and a good distance from the wineries of Chianti.
“Matera,” she said. “Mel Gibson filmed Passion of Christ there. It’s a cool place.”
A little research showed t
Submitted by Drew Channing in 11 Aug 2008 |
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I've learnt that the trick to happy traveling is to adapt to changes quickly. Years ago I'd booked a trip to Canada only to find that a snow blizzard had closed my destination airport indefinitely. The airline was happy to change my booking and I went to Hawaii instead which turned out to be a great holiday.
Nothing quite so drastic happened during our time in Greece recently but after two days in Athens enduring temperatures hovering around 40c (over 100 Fahrenheit!) and air pollution doing strange things to my throat it was time for action. We were spending more time than usual in the l
Submitted by NK - Nevada in 06 Aug 2008 |
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Bernard is a tall Frenchman who would seem right at home in the finance houses of Paris with his YSL shirts, handmade boots and spotless moleskins. In fact he's the genial farmer who is letting us camp on the side of his field near Apt in Vaucluse to watch the Tour de France. There aren't a lot of places to park a 7.5 metre motor home and we were lucky to find a picturesque spot overlooking Bernard's vineyards and sunflowers. There are eight other motor homes parked nose to tail along this stretch which is one of the few open areas around.
With an Australian rider tipped to win the ra
Submitted by Jeff Dixon in 05 Aug 2008 |
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We returned to Western Australian for three weeks during the Christmas break and stepped off the plane into the glorious warmth of Perth. My brother took us back to his place where we showered and changed and then announced it was time for the beach. What better way to throw off the effects of 25 hours in transit? The beach with its attendant rituals of beach cricket followed by a long swim in the ocean is nearly a religion with my family - Sundays were not for dressing up and going to church, rather for dressing down and heading for the beach.
With our two year posting to England hal
Submitted by Robyn in 18 Feb 2008 |
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"Vicenza? Where's Vicenza?" That's what I asked the man on the train as I was heading back to London with my eurail pass about to expire. I was on my way up from Pistoia, a little town just north of Florence where I had spent the weekend and fallen in love. After traveling around Europe all summer I finally made my way down to Italy, not knowing what to expect. But one thing was certain, the Italians I had met during the course of my travels had touched me in a way nobody else had, except for perhaps the Spanish.
Coming from America and fresh out of college I was a babe in the woods, in s
Submitted by Bobby in 25 Dec 2007 |
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After a very agreeable few days walking the highlands around Fort William and staying at the lovely Inn at Ardgour (see accommodation review - Fort William) a few of us were in no mood to rush back, such is the charm of this part of Scotland. We waved off the group as the ferry delivered us across Loch Linnhe and once again checked our map for Fortingall, a little settlement near Aberfeldy which would require a small detour on our way south. So enthused were we about the Inn at Ardgour that one of the other guests suggested we might enjoy the Fortingall Hotel, which apparently had similar c
Submitted by Highland Wanderer in 20 Nov 2007 |
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It was time for another of our irregular forays into the British countryside; always enjoyable and often surprising. It's a fascinating island about the size of a small state back in Australia but everywhere you look there are layers and layers of history. In the time we've been here we'd stayed in buildings that have served as hotels continuously for hundreds of years. Our favourite pub near where we live is over 400 years old, a fact which the locals find totally unremarkable. In Australia anything over 200 years old has a fence put around it and they charge you to look at it!
This
Submitted by Robyn in 22 Oct 2007 |
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We left Marseille in the morning and drove the Riviera enjoying stunning views along the way. So too, it seemed, did everyone else. Lots of trouble trying to find a bed for the night, even though it was only 5.00 pm. One hotel in St Tropez offered us a room with a small balcony for 320 Euro. It was facing a busy road so we declined. Cannes was impossible unless you had very deep pockets.
At the inspired suggestion of my travel partner we turned off the coast road and headed inland and soon came to a town called Grasse. Why we'd never heard of this place surprises me as it's quite bea
Submitted by Melbourne2007 in 09 Oct 2007 |
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