Top 5 Southern Italy While everything south of Rome is generally considered southern Italy, exactly where ‘the south’ starts depends on who you ask. The wife of a Calabrian once told me her husband ‘wasn’t southern’. Well of course not, there’s still all of Sicily further south than Calabria, right? Yet to a Florentine, Rome […]
Top 5 Provence Salade Niçoise, le grande aioli, tapenade, ratatouille and the famous bouillabaisse of Marseille, Provence has much to offer food lovers. Add great weather, delicious pale rosé, colourful markets, beautiful scenery and fascinating ancient sites and you have all the makings of a splendid holiday. Here are five of the things I love […]
One of France’s most remote and intriguing regions, Brittany (Bretagne in French), is the rugged north-western tip of France jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. Prehistoric standing stones attest to its ancient past, while its local dialect, Breton (closely related to Cornish and Welsh), and its very name are a reminder that it was an outpost […]
Counties Kerry and Cork, in the very south of Ireland, are routinely listed as the most beautiful parts of a country famous for magnificent scenery. There’s great produce too, from delicious raw milk cheeses to great fruit and veg and some special craft beers. The highlight of this region is the five southern peninsulas: beautiful […]
The Canton of Bern is a beautifully diverse region of lakes, snow-covered craggy peaks (including the famous Eiger and Jungfrau), winding Alpine passes and lush valleys (such as the Emmenthal). It’s home to the nation’s capital, the historic city of Bern, and a wonderful place to discover traditional food and drinks in charming villages, some […]
The Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500km driving route along half of Ireland’s coastline; it’s far too much to tackle in one go, so is divided into more manageable sections like the southwest ‘Cliff Coast’. Sure, you’ll see the famous Cliffs of Moher with thousands of day-trippers, but Ireland’s Cliff Coast has so much more […]
One of the less visited areas of France, Jura is a diverse landscape of plains, vineyard-clad hills and the rugged Jura Mountains, which it shares with neighbouring Switzerland. There’s some spectacular scenery and delicious food, but most exciting of all is the unique vin jaune (‘yellow wine’) that has made this region famous among oenophiles […]
Top 5 Barossa (regional guide) Australian wine areas don’t get much more iconic than the Barossa. Without getting into too much detail, the Barossa ‘wine zone’ is divided into two official ‘wine regions’: the cooler, higher Eden Valley in the east and the warmer Barossa Valley in the west; plus a small stretch further west […]
Forget man-made boundaries, the mighty Murray River is a natural boundary that connects Australia’s three south-eastern states. From its source in the NSW Snowy Mountains it forms much of the border with Victoria before flowing into the sea at Goolwa in South Australia. Each state has its own Murray Region, but here’s five of the […]
Adelaideans, do you know how blessed you are? Just 20 minutes from your city centre, you start climbing into one of the most beautiful parts of Australia. I love the Adelaide Hills, especially when they’re bursting with spring blossoms or glowing with autumn leaves. A drive through the Hills is a joy in itself – […]
