501 Places

We had rushed out of our hotel in Nice to make it to the station in time. In our haste we had left our passports in the room. I sat on the train for the 20 minute journey feeling annoyed with myself. Would I regret this? We were entering another country after all. Surely Monaco [...]

First it was the Asian guy. He was sitting at the table next to us when we arrived and had just polished off his plate of whatever it was. Although he’d done a good job there was enough left to see that it was probably a good choice. After exchanging greetings (it’s the done thing [...]

We recently spent a weekend on the Cote d’Azur in the south of France. Thankfully we had been warned about the prices that we should expect and so were not caught completely by surprise. Shabby 2 star hotels charging around €100 for a pokey room and restaurants €15 for a simple plate of pasta was [...]

We spent yesterday walking the streets of Paris and visiting the famous spots we’ve had the pleasure to see many times before. Paris is choc-full of instantly recognisable monuments and symbols, and on a sunny day is a photographer’s dream. Add to the mix tens of thousands of tourists on any one day and you [...]

Later this month we will be travelling overland from Lisbon back to London. From the point where we reach the Spanish city of Merida, a little east of the Portuguese border, our journey will be made exclusively by train. Seeing that we will be crossing two large countries and spending three days making lengthy train [...]

I’d had a bad day. And to top it off, here I was in a pastel pink Parisian hotel room, complete with a frilly lamp and that textured wallpaper that a previous generation had considered the height of interior design chic. There was no TV and no view from the dirty window. I was only [...]

Imagine coming face to face with this creature? I was calmly munching on my baguette when I turned round and caught sight of this monster lurking in the bushes. Well, I was so shocked I almost dropped my delicious snack. When you’re in France for a day trip you should be prepared for almost anything. [...]

Planning a day trip from London? 90 minutes from the capital by train can take you to some interesting cities: Bristol, Southampton, Winchester, Canterbury, Stratford are just a few options. Until recently however, you would not have considered a French destination. All this changed with the introduction of the high speed line that takes the [...]

You are approached by two backpackers. They tell you their story of misfortune. Robbed in the hostel, they now have no money and only their passports to get them home. What do you do? There are numerous stories of similar scams doing the rounds on the internet and via travellers’ gossip. After all, if you [...]

Having focussed much of our efforts of our trip to northern France on reaching Mont St Michel, I then looked at a map of the nearby area and wondered where we might take a drive. The city of St Malo appealed, not least when I took a look at its shape on Google Earth and [...]