South Africa On safari in Madikwe Game Reserve "I'm sure she's there somewhere," said Kaizer ruefully as the jeep bounced down the dusty road, heading south away from the river. "I think maybe we'll see her later."
Italy Milan for the fashion unconscious My first fashion faux pas in Milan was going outside without a coat on. It may have been a sizzling 25°C in the early April sun, but I felt pretty silly in
Belgium Ghent: Festive in Flanders It was a crisp and ruddy-cheeked Friday afternoon, the last weekend before Christmas, and Ghent was glowing with that cosy chocolate box cheer that British cities are never quite able to replicate. It
UK Capital Ring Walk: Crystal Palace to Wimbledon Park The Capital Ring Walk is a 78-mile long circular route around London that passes through many of the capital’s lesser known neighbourhoods, divided into 15 smaller sections. This post follows on from
Georgia Kakheti: God & Grapes Although it might not be the first place that springs to mind when you're out shopping for a full-bodied red, there is compelling evidence that Georgia is the birthplace of wine. People have
Georgia Gori & Mtskheta: Saints and sinners Imagine travelling to the little Austrian town of Braunau, which sits by the river Inn on the German border, and arriving in the main square to find people smiling and posing for photos
Georgia Kazbegi & The Georgian Military Highway Our driver raised his head solemnly, looking up towards the monastery perched on a hill, and made the sign of the cross over his heart three times. As we hurtled along the road
Georgia Tbilisi: The city on the edge of Europe Where does Europe end and Asia begin? If you look at a map, the idea that Europe and Asia are separate continents doesn’t really make sense. It’s always been a hazily
Cuba Trinidad: Colonial past, capitalist future? Arriving in Trinidad was like walking into a postcard. The Unesco-listed casco histórico, centred around the elegant Plaza Mayor, was a photographer’s dream, all pastel facades, cobbled streets, iron caged windows and
Cuba Viñales: Cuba's tobacco country Each day in the Valle de Viñales, at around two in the afternoon, the sky would start to bruise and darken. Fat thunderheads reared up above the mogotes, the lumpy limestone mountains that
Cuba Havana: The Americans are coming Havana is often described as a city stuck in a timewarp, and perhaps that was true once. For me, however, the label didn’t quite fit; the Cuban capital was more like one
Netherlands Keukenhof: Tulip mania In March 1637, an episode in Dutch history that has come to be known as ‘tulip mania’ reached its feverish zenith. The price for the most coveted varieties of tulip had skyrocketed; the
Spain Madrid & Toledo: The heart of Spain Kilometre zero. In Spain, all roads lead to this one point, the axis around which this fractious kingdom of independent-minded regions turns. The spot is marked by a paving stone inlaid with gold
Belgium Antwerp: Bridging the divide Belgium is home to some 180 breweries, producing hundreds of different beers in myriad styles and strengths. A typical pub offers the adventurous drinker a choice of cloudy wheat beers with a hint
Laos Vientiane: The sleeping capital At the end of the long and bone-jarring road south from Luang Prabang, we finally found respite. The lumpen limestone hills flattened out, the potholed gravel track gave way to a smooth, mostly
Responsible travel The ethics of travelling to repressive regimes Last year, when I mentioned that I was going to Uzbekistan for my summer holiday, a few people quizzed me on the ethical implications of travelling to a country governed by such a
Cyprus Driving the Karpaz Peninsula The Karpaz Peninsula is long, longer than you think. Often described as the ‘panhandle’ of Cyprus, this thin strip of land protrudes from the eastern side of the island like a spindly finger,
Gibraltar A grey day in Gibraltar It was a miserable grey smear of a December day in ‘Gib’. After several days travelling the coast of Spain in splendid sunshine, we arrived in this little British enclave to find British
Spain Cartagena: The new new city As something of a compulsive travel planner, it’s not often that I turn up in a city with no idea of what to do when I get there. But Cartagena was the
Spain Palma de Mallorca: Echoes of Islam One of the many misconceptions informing the current debate around migration and the Syrian refugee crisis is the idea that the presence of Islam in western Europe is a new phenomenon. Even a
Travel literature The best travel books that I read in 2015 I’ve been lucky enough to do quite a lot of travelling this year, but the list of places I want to visit only ever seems to get longer. I find that one
Poland Gdańsk: The indestructible city I rubbed the sleep from my bleary eyes as our taxi driver, unfeasibly chirpy for six o’clock on a Monday morning, fired yet more questions at us. “What about the basilica, did
Portugal A taste of Funchal I glanced absent-mindedly at my phone, as we twenty-first century types tend to do every five minutes, and it caught me a little by surprise. According to the screen, it was Monday 2nd
Spain La Palma: Fire and water La Palma, one of the lesser known Canary Islands, seems at first glance as if it must be a piece of the Caribbean that’s come loose, a wayward isle that has somehow
Uzbekistan The Tyrant of Tashkent On 25 April 1966, Tashkent was flattened by an earthquake. The city that stands today is largely the creation of the Soviets, who rebuilt the Uzbek capital as a model socialist metropolis; this
