In 2014, The Guardian readers voted Newcastle best city-break destination. I had 24 hours in Newcastle to find out why, but with so much to explore, would 24 hours in Newcastle be enough?
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Europe and Middle East
24 hours in Newcastle
01/05/2016 .
Walking the Lycian Way in Turkey. Wonderful history coming to life.
23/04/2016 .
Rupert Parker takes an historic toure across Turkey as he goes walking the Lycian Way.
Read the full story hereLas Colinas Golf and Country Club
12/04/2016 .
I think I’ve fallen in love. Ever since I picked up Aloha at Las Colinas Golf and Country Club she has been looking straight at me with those piercing eyes, her nails sharp as talons, gripping my arm like she’s never letting go. Her head cocked to one side trying to decide if I am worth the effort or not.
Read the full story hereMadeira Reinvented
06/04/2016 .
Half way through a half day catamaran cruise and I’m having a silent moment. It’s not every day you get to see Atlantic dolphins in the wild, and right now, I’m not just seeing them, I’m surrounded by them. This is a somewhat different Madeira experience to one I was expecting, and if this is Madeira Reinvented then give me much more of the same please.
Read the full story hereEurocamp Les Ecureuiles
02/03/2016 .
After reading a staggering statistic which showed the number of camping holiday nights booked in 2013 in Europe totalled over 360 million, with nearly half of those taken in mobile homes, I admit I felt my view of outdoor leisure living needed a rethink. It was time to test out these impressive statistics, and after getting a family of four teamed up with Eurocamp, a provider of camping and mobile home holidays for over 34 years we tested out a week at Eurocamp Les Ecureuiles in Vendee.
Read the full story hereFoligno. Still undiscovered in Umbria
26/02/2016 .
Early evening and the ancient Palazzo Candiotti in Foligno has a big smile on her face. It’s just like old times. A proper baroque banquet. The Festa d’Oro e di Vento no less, with 250 guests commemorating the 70th anniversary of the modern Quintana joust. I can almost feel this grand old dame sighing in contentment in her Sunday best. If I didn’t know better, I would think I’d been teleported back to the 17th century.
Read the full story hereSamoens. The French Alps’ little secret
23/02/2016 .
Andy Mossack explores Samoens , a charming Alpine French Village.
Read the full story hereSix secret Paris treats
04/02/2016 .
Paris, where you only need to stroll and dream and do no sightseeing at all, is nevertheless all the richer when seen through the eyes of insiders. Guides who know where to hunt down fashion in newly-chic arrondissements most travellers haven’t yet discovered, and where to find the best sweet treats, for example.Once, such gems of knowledge were a closely-guarded secret, but now Parisians are turning their insider knowledge into businesses, ferrying visitors around addresses they’d be unlikely to discover for themselves.
Even if guided tours don’t appeal, here are six secret Paris treats for those prepared to hop a Metro to less-travelled parts of the city or bag a perch offering a ringside view of the most famous landmark in the world.
Read the full story hereChamonix for Non Skiers
03/02/2016 .
It is not often the French thank the English for anything, but in the case of Chamonix for non skiers and good skiers alike, they cannot thank us enough. It was a bunch of intrepid Englishmen in the 1800s, men like Whymper, Kennedy, Ball, Wills and Tyndall, who, armed with precious little equipment, first explored the Alps and Mont Blanc in particular. They formed The Alpine Club and returned many times to climb the peaks.
Read the full story hereBaqueira Beret. Seductive Spanish ski gem.
07/01/2016 .
