The daughter and I did a roundabout trip to Greece. Flights are sometimes cheaper in different cities and it happened that Bologna had...

It's the first day of August when we leave for Amsterdam. My birthday month. Full moon in Leo as well, my star sign. I am feeling like a...

Leiden is like a laid back country town but with style. We had a lovely ground floor room overlooking a canal which throughout the day is...

Met up with the partner again in Delft, the town of the famous blue and white pottery, also the birthplace of Vermeer. Full of canals and...

From Florence we got a train and then a funicular up to Orvieto which is perched on a hill that is honeycombed through with Etruscan...

We picked up a car and headed out of Florence. I hadn't driven in over five months so am slightly nervous but the daughter is fantastic...

Both with terrible flu, the partner on antibiotics and me trying not to be, we head to Modena to meet up with the daughter and her...

Awoke to a thrush singing and breakfasted under an enormous, ancient plum tree with fruit almost ripened. The heat was already palpable...

We took the train from Messina to Rome. Around 11, the train was put onto a ferry to cross the Straits of Messina. The partner was...

Oh citizens of Cefalu, we love you! We arrived via a change at Messina and were about to get into the taxi when the partner discovered...

We flew across the sea to Catania, Sicily. Another wild ride to the hotel, with a Sicilian driver this time. No rules seem to apply,...

Early start for Malta. At the airport in Rome we had a cornetto, as croissants are called in Italy, one side stuffed with nutella and the...

My solo time is about to come to and end. I'm meeting the partner in Rome tomorrow. I take the bus to Venice and then meet a lovely lady...

We hang out in the spring. There are wildflowers everywhere, fields of them swaying gently, the river like aquamarine flowing over the...

I meet the daughter in Bologna at a hotel where we’ve stayed before, right in the heart of the city. All Italianate rooms, a beautiful...

The old taxi driver, doubled over at right angles with a hunched back, insisted on putting my bags in his taxi. He tells me in...

I'm in the mountains of Sintra where the nobility of Portugal built their palaces and villas to escape the heat of summer, as you do. My...

I've worked my way down through Spain to Lisbon. I get a taxi to the hotel with a woman driver. That's a rarity here as in most places. ...

I’ve booked a beautiful hotel in Sevilla. A huge room awaits me complete with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. I’m slightly sad...

Getting to Cordoba was tricky. I hadn't realised it was a public holiday here, May Day and there's not many buses. I have to get a train...