[10th – 17th September 2019] Lipari has made us feel like island hoppers again – albeit 60+ island hoppers! The largest of the Aeolian Islands has a wonderfully chilled and laid-back feel, especially in the evening, reminiscent of Greek Islands we visited 30 odd years ago. No package tours, certainly Read more
Last Year, we had a Blog Zero because of events prior to us even reaching our first port of call – Oporto. This year I thought “Well there’ll be no need for a Blog Zero, because we’ll be really organised and all the preliminaries will go smoothly this time.” The Read more
[8th – 10th September 2019] Catania was originally just meant be be a one night stopover en route to the Aeolian Islands, but the British Airways pilots’ strike led to us leaving a day early, so we had a full day in Catania as a bonus. Because of the way Read more
Sol del Este, Menorca [7th-22nd October] It’s not often that arriving in Menorca seems almost like coming closer to home, but after four weeks of travelling in Spain and Portugal, visiting lots of new places, and a re-visiting a few old favourites, it did seem a little like a stepping Read more
Palma de Mallorca [5th-7th October] As with Sevilla, Palma was somewhere we’d both visited before, but never together. Our stay was short, as it was mainly designed to facilitate us arriving in Mahon by ferry, which we’d never done before, though we had often watched Mediterranea ferries, as well as Read more
El Puerto de Santa Maria [28th September – 5th October] Staying in El Puerto de Santa Maria for a week let us relax a bit, after five cities in a row, in a large and ultra modern apartment, with a balcony overlooking the main square. The town is bigger than Read more
Sevilla [25-28th September] We’d both been to Sevilla before, but not together, so we were really looking forward to getting back to the heart of flamenco country. The train ride down from Madrid was First Class on the high speed AVE, which meant the Sala Club lounge before departure, leather Read more
Avila [23rd-25th September] Avila, one of Spain’s walled hilltop cities, is the shortest stop on our trip, and it was me who insisted that we stay here. Fiona suggested missing it out, and allowing more time elsewhere, but I wanted to stay in at least one of the walled cities, Read more
Salamanca [20th-23rd September] And so into Spain, with minimal notice taken of the border with Portugal. Quite glad to have the only significant bus journey of the trip done with, as the bus was made for Portuguese folk, who are generally smaller, and so I felt like I spent three Read more
Guarda [19-20th September] Guarda, our last stop in Portugal, is the country’s highest city at 1056 metres. For us, it was a one night stopover rather than a destination, as this was the easiest way to transition from Portugal into Spain and our first stop in Salamanca, by bus. The Read more