It’s almost impossible to summarise Europe as a whole. The highlights reel would run into hours. Europe is the traveller’s lolly jar: lots of epic, distinct destinations and experiences packed into a relatively small space.
Road tripper? Beach lover? Island hopper? Alpine adventurer? Maybe you’re happy wandering ancient towns for hours on end? Perhaps, like us, you’d go to extreme lengths to hunt down an original Caravaggio or search out the remnants of an ancient Roman road. Or maybe you like nothing better than sipping a sunset vino sourced from nearby vines, while watching the world go by in a local town square. Europe offers a little bit of travel Nirvana for everyone. The history, culture, food, people, tradition, architecture and, of course, the nature will always keep us coming back for more.
Posts from Europe
Exploring A Glacier In Norway By Kayak And Crampon
It’s summer in Norway and the turquoise waters of Styggevatnet glacier lake seem tranquil and inviting. Then I dip my hand in and realise why our guide was so insistent that we paddle carefully to avoid tipping the kayak. As I pull my tingling hand from the frigid water, giving our kayak …
Read More
Sogndal To Geiranger – The Most Spectacular Drive In The World?
For most of our three-week journey around Norway, John and I wore the look of the stunned, partly due to the cost of travelling there but mostly because the country is just off the charts in the natural beauty stakes. We were already doing overtime on the superlatives. So when …
Read More
Hiking Kjerag – A Heart Pumping Adventure in Norway
“Stand straight, arms up, smile. Show confidence, strength, and most of all, bravery. You’re a conqueror of your worst fears, ready for any challenge”. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. It’s the image we all try to portray in that fleeting moment atop a metre-wide hunk of rock precariously suspended 984 …
Read More
Hiking to Pulpit Rock – A Leg-Stretching Introduction To Norway’s Fjord Walks
My heart was hammering and my face was the shade of a ripe tomato. As we stopped to catch our breaths and take in the views, we started to laugh. We could still see the carpark. We’d just climbed the first 500-metres of the Pulpit Rock trail and my lungs already felt …
Read More
De Ruien – A Tour Of Antwerp’s Underground Past
I’m standing in a chilly, dimly-lit brick-vaulted passageway. A frothy brown sludge is lapping at my ankles. John is a couple of feet away with his nose wrinkled, wearing an expression somewhere between bemused and horrified. A kid’s high-pitched voice suddenly cuts through the silence, yelling ‘Stinken!’ He might be …
Read More
The Path Of Yeast Resistance – A Belgian Beer Tour
Surely it’s every beer lover’s dream come true: a trip where drinking beer is the ‘must do’ of the itinerary. No cobbled streets, churches, museums, galleries, ancient history and all that exhausting walking. This trip would be all about the beer. Ok, so there did turn out to be plenty of history, …
Read More
Timeless Malta: Photo Gallery
Malta is a small nation with a big past. Its three islands – Malta, Gozo and tiny Comino – are interwoven with a long and often fraught human story that spans the Mediterranean Sea. On our visit, we spent one week milling with the many in the tourist town of Sliema on Malta, …
Read More
Visiting Malta – A History In Nine Amazing Sites
It’s midday and the high sun has sapped the colour from the dry, dusty hills sloping down to the sea. Against a backdrop of wan blue sky, the ragged stone profile of Hagar Qim squats resolutely under a protective sail. This crumbling megalithic temple is one of the main reasons we’ve come …
Read More
Diving In Malta: The Underwater Wonders Of Gozo
We’ve often heard tell of the excellent diving in Malta and Gozo, an area awash with caves, wrecks and reefs. And while we’re a little uncertain about its vote as the second best diving destination on the planet – as judged by the Diver and Sport Diver Awards in 2013 – we’re …
Read More