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

smartr malaga centro

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...

ronda : andalucia : 2024

ronda : andalucia : 2024

It's over ten years since we lasted visited Ronda, and that was a flying visit, as we were en route to Seville for Semana Santa. But it imprinted such a memory that we always said we'd return for a...

petit sant miquel : calonge : mallorca

petit sant miquel : calonge : mallorca

After spending time on the western side of Mallorca, we decided to explore the eastern side of the island and found a gem of a hotel, called Petit Sant Miquel in the very pretty and very traditional...

hotel grand wiesler : graz : austria

hotel grand wiesler : graz : austria

Sometimes, you see somewhere online and you just have to go. No matter what. This happened recently when I discovered the website for the Hotel Grand Wiesler, in Graz, in the Styria region of...

maribor : slovenia

maribor : slovenia

Maribor is Slovenia’s second largest city, but that doesn’t mean it’s big, by any stretch of the imagination. Up until now, we’ve overlooked it, in favour of the capital, Ljubljana, whose appeal is...

officine cavour : padova : veneto : italy

officine cavour : padova : veneto : italy

Our second accommodation on our weekend stopover in Padova was an apartment, slap bang in the historical centre, called Officine Cavour. Directions to the car park were great – but we struggled a...

carnevale : venezia : italy

carnevale : venezia : italy

Apart from Easter in Seville – Santa Semana – we’ve not witnessed a spectacle quite as amazing as the Venice Carnival. We arrived in Venice on a cold, misty February morning, having booked two...

brimham rocks : north yorkshire

brimham rocks : north yorkshire

Although we know most of the north of England fairly well, we weren’t aware of Brimham Rocks. How did we not know about them? Found on Brimham Moor in North Yorkshire, England the rocks began taking...

london : england

london : england

Not too long ago, when we still lived in Didsbury, we often thought about having time away in London, but never got round to it, because, well – London was just too far away from Manchester. The...

whitby : north yorkshire

whitby : north yorkshire

Split by the River Esk, Whitby is one of my favourite spots on the Yorkshire coast. I always seem to have visited in the winter months, and although I am sure spring and summer are glorious...

road trip : september 18

road trip : september 18

We’ve made a few trips back to England since we moved out to Istria, and we’ve just completed our second road trip. Driving is definitely not the quickest way to get back, but it’s surprisingly less...

salò : lombardy : italy

salò : lombardy : italy

When we visited Brescia, not too long ago, we decided to visit the town of Salò, located on the western banks of Lake Garda. I’d seen Salò on Francesco da Mosto’s “Italy : Top to Toe” and was...

rovinj : istria : croatia

rovinj : istria : croatia

We thought we knew Rovinj, in Istria pretty well as it’s now one of our go-to places when we need some sea air and a bit of comfort away from an on-going house renovation. We decided to stay...

Looking for something?