Before we started researching areas, as possible places to buy a property and relocate to, I don't think we'd heard of Medina Sidonia before. However, the name resonated with us, creating visions of...
Travel…
We love to travel. And while we’ve been travelling, because we tend to veer off the tourist trails, we realised that we were discovering so many hidden gems, having amazing experiences and picking up tips and avoiding near-disasters, that we thought it would be a nice idea to have somewhere, where this could be shared. In March 2017 we finally realised our dream to relocate to the sunshine and moved to Istria, in northern Croatia. We continued to travel, and although the pandemic restricted where we could go, it gave us the opportunity to discover Istria and Croatia. Things took a very different turn in early 2024 when we decided to sell our renovated house, and take another big plunge – this time moving to Andalucia, and taking on the renovation of a traditional Spanish townhouse.
What we blog about is a good mix of wherever we go. If you love quirky places and things maybe a bit different from the norm, hopefully you’ll like what you find here. You can also pop over to Twitter, for the brief version!
And, we’re not being paid to mention hotels etc, & none of the blogs are sponsored – although, if one day, I could make a living out of travelling to gorgeous places…
recent travel blogs
hotel la almoraima : castellar de la frontera : andalusia
We're now increasingly finding that we need to be a bit more hands on with the house renovation, and need to factor in time to get across to Jimena de la Frontera to meet with Jose, the project...
punta paloma dunes : tarifa : andalucia
The shifting dunes of the south western coast of Andalucia, really are a sight to behold, perhaps the most dramatic being those located at Punta Paloma, the headland just to the north of Tarifa,...
smartr malaga centro
For a short stay in Malaga, we recently discovered a really good company, offering fully renovated apartments in the center of the city, located on Calle Santa Lucia, in one of the city's most...
the ancient roman city of acquileia
Aquileia was an ancient city, founded in 180BC, lying at the head of the lagoons, to the east of Venice, on the road to Trieste, as a Roman colony due to its strategic position between the port and...
saintes-maries-de-la-mer : camargue : france
As a child I was really mesmerised by the Camargue. It seemed like a magical, fairy tale place, with white horses frollicking freely on the beach and pink flamingoes, standing serenely in calm...
b&b maison d’hôte mas d’eymard : arles : france
We'd never been to Arles before, a city on the Rhône River in the Provence region of southern France. It's famed for inspiring the paintings of Van Gogh, and was once a provincial capital of ancient...
hilton rijeka costabella
When we book hotel accommodation, top of the list of our priorities is always to find somewhere on the quirky, more unusual and individual side, rather than a chain. Sometimes, circumstances mean...
seven historical suites : trieste : italy
Trieste is now a city we're getting to know well, as it's so close to home. Now that Croatia has joined the Schengen Zone, travelling through the small corridor of Slovenia between us and Italy,...
lake bled : slovenia
Autumn is our favourite time of year to visit Lake Bled in Slovenia. It's only just over a couple of hours from our home in Istria, and if coupled with a break in Ljubljana, it makes the perfect out...
the redipuglia war memorial
Redipuglia is pretty unremarkable Italian town, on the road out from Trieste. We usually pass through it on our way to IKEA. It's one of those Italian towns where the houses sit alongside the road -...
Šibenik : dalmatia coast : croatia
Although we've now lived in Croatia (Istria, to be exact) over six years, and we've done lots of exploring, we are still yet to discover the hotspots of Split and Dubrovnik and the more southerly...
art hotel tartini : piran : slovenia
Piran, on the tiny sliver of Slovenian coastline, is very close to our home - about 35kms, through beautiful countryside and across the border, which now, thanks to Croatia joining the Schengen...
strunjan : slovenian riviera
Slovenia has just 47km of coastline on the Adriatic Sea, but it certainly makes the most of it. Three seaside towns – Koper, with its medieval core, Izola, known for its good restaurants, and...
free passage : croatia : schengen zone
When we moved to Istria in 2017, we knew that at some point in the future, the country would be allowed to join the Schengen Zone and there would be no more border checks. We kept checking online to...
los caracoles : frigiliana : andalucia : spain
On a drive, high up in the Andalucian hills, above the white washed town of Frigiliana and the coastal town of Torox, we spotted some very unusual shapes ahead of us. White domes, almost...
antiq palace hotel : ljubljana : slovenia
In the heart of Ljubljana city centre, a distinctive stone archway marks the entrance to Antiq Palace, a luxury 16th century palace hotel. Designed originally as the residential palace of noble...
venice : italy : december 22
The last couple of years have been a bit crazy, haven't they? Travel, in the early days, was for very obvious reasons much curtailed and so for a long time we didn't get to see family and friends in...
maison matilda : treviso : italy
Being less than 40kms from Venice, Treviso has been overlooked by us in the past.Although we have been before, we always opt for Venice because, you know, it's - Venice. But on our last Venetian...