Book Review: Experience Italy from Lonely Planet
It is no secret that I love Italy. In fact, I used to have a separate blog for my Italian travels, which I called Bewitched by Italy. So I was very happy to get a new title from Lonely Planet: Experience Italy. It could have been written just for me… Experience Italy:...
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Testing Out Wine Tourism in Cyprus
I’ve been planning to write about wine tourism for a while. To talk about the sheer pleasure of visiting vineyards, trying the wines, and learning a bit about different varieties and customs associated with wine. So where better to start than with my recent forays...
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Choirokitia: A Neolithic Site in Eastern Cyprus
One of the things that surprised me about Cyprus was how ancient and multi-layered its history was. The island was occupied not just by the Romans, but by the Greeks and the Egyptians as well, to say nothing of the waves of invaders who followed them. And I was...
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Crossing the Line: North and South Nicosia
As you approach Nicosia from the south, you catch sight of a gigantic Turkish flag in the hillside ahead. It is a reminder that Cyprus is an island of two halves, the so-called Green Line dividing it into the “Greek” south and the “Turkish” north. Nicosia, the capital...
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Eat, Walk and Discover Rome, With A BiteMojo Self Guided Food Tour
Food tours are a great way to get a flavour of a place, both literally and metaphorically. But what if you also want the freedom to explore on your own, and at your own pace? The answer is to take a BiteMojo self guided food tour. Armed with nothing more than your...
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Beating the Crowds at the Vatican Museums with a LivItaly Small Group Tour
I don’t like crowds. Or queues. A few years ago, I looked at the line of people outside the Vatican Museums and decided - regretfully - to go and do something else instead. But I was determined that I was going to get to the Vatican Galleries and Sistine Chapel one...
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Discovering Irish Seaweed on the Ring of Kerry
There are lots of reasons to visit County Kerry, in the south-west of Ireland, but you might not have thought that seaweed was one of them… I was lucky enough to meet John and Kerryann Fitzgerald of Atlantic Irish Seaweed (based near the beautiful Derrynane Beach) on...
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Blarney Castle: More Than Just a Kissing Stone
Why do more than 400,000 people a year visit Blarney Castle, in the south-west of Ireland? I’d always assumed that they all went to kiss the famous Blarney Stone, and not much more. Certainly that’s what I did, on a long ago visit to the nearby town of Cork. But I had...
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The Historic Places of County Kerry
Ireland may be modern and vibrant, with a lively social scene, but it is also an ancient country. The first people arrived almost 10,000 years ago, travelling by boat from the continent of Europe. They soon began to leave their mark and today you will find evidence of...
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My Top Five Reasons to Love Killarney and County Kerry
One reason I enjoy TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) is that it lures me to destinations I might not otherwise have considered. Like the recent conference in Killarney, a part of Ireland I’d never visited before. It didn’t take long to be seduced by the place: it has...
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