How did this happen? The name of one of Italy’s most charming cities twisted, turned and squeezed into a moniker for a certain sort of sandwich meat. Enough, we say. It’s time to take back the word and sing its praises for what it is: Bologna, city sublime. True to its nickname, Bologna Il Grassa […]
Australia is amazing. So amazing in fact, that I felt it absolutely necessary to come up with probably the most groan-worthy, pun-laced post I have ever put my name on. So, why should you visit Australia? Because it is incredible, of course, and also for every reason below (and in the corresponding photo evidence above). […]
Okay, you got me, I like my sugar. Maybe it’s because I’m from Swiss parents, or maybe it’s because we owned an ice cream parlour when I was growing up (it’s true: unbridled access for 17 years), but I can’t kick the sweets. So, naturally, whenever I travel I track down the finest delicacies I […]
While Paris’s 6th arrondissement might have a long and illustrious history in literary and artistic spheres, but it is its contribution to the world of sinful sweets that interests me most on this overcast morning. Bypassing the Café de Flore and its adjacent Picasso sculpture, I set off on my guided walk with Context to […]
There is a recurring theme for every Indochina trip we plan: food. Produce is literally farm to table, whether you’re eating at a roadside stall or the best digs in town. A typical day can consist of mind-blowing noodles on a tiny roadside plastic stool, and then hours later find yourself dining in a beautifully […]
Okay, so you haven’t quite gotten around to planning that late December holiday getaway. You don’t need more guilt heaped on your work-weary shoulders. But you do need some help. The Christmas to New Year’s travel window is a busy one, so there’s no more time to waste. Here’s a rundown of of what could […]
“How ya going?” I got very used to hearing that friendly greeting. While the dust is still settling, the laundry washing, and the jet lag still very much in full force, I thought I would put together a quickie about my recent incredible Australian experience. I just returned from over three weeks of exhausting research, […]
Escuchame caballeros y caballeras. The fields of Latin America are proving too vast & bountiful for just one farmer to harvest. We are looking for a new trip planner to help make hay in Latin America. Estas chancho numero uno? If so, llamanos pronto! For years now we’ve been bashing about the far corners of the Americas, from […]
Barbarossa is the best sort of simple Greek ouzeri/taverna, in the picturesque little port town of Naoussa, on the island of Paros in the Cyclades. How do you know it’s any good? It’s easy: the locals come here. Unfortunately (or not, depending on your point of view) in order to discover this, you have to […]
There are rich pickings in the countryside north of Uzès, where Provence meets the Languedoc, and combines the best of both. Villages, vineyards and views; lavender fields, rivers and mountains; cafés, restaurants and chambres d’hôtes… It’s almost an archetypically French mini-region, of which there are so many to explore, and which are always so hard […]
The huge food markets of Tbilisi are not for the squeamish. Vegetarians look away now. I’m interested in how food reaches big cities from the countryside where it’s grown. In Paris, much of what we eat comes through the vast food market of Rungis, just outside the city, where all the buyers for the markets […]
Stand aside, Mister Merlot. Here come Lord Ondenc, Sir Len de l’El, The Earl of Prunelart, and the Count of Mauzac Roux. If you’re bored of wine that tastes more like processed blackberry tart, it’s time to discover the weird old wines of the dustier corners of France. First up: Gaillac. If Willy Wonka was […]
Welcome to Villefranche-de-Rouergue, a hard-to-say town with a not-to-miss market and a resolute refusal to enter the 21st century. Nowhere better to see what Autumn has to offer the curious cook than the Thursday morning market here. I’ve visited all the markets in this part of France (the South-West), and this is hands down my […]
Cornwall is a ruggedly beautiful, curious and varied land, and, with the exception of its interminably windy little roads, presents the curious traveller with a perfect fortnight’s exploration. Cornwall is the toe of Britain—the south-western tip beyond the river Tamar and the English county of Devon, jutting out towards its point at Land’s End. The […]
The first in a series of posts on the best of the many thousands of farmers markets in France, this one’s on the Thursday morning market in the South-West town of Auch. Auch is the capital of the Gers region, a pretty old town on the banks of the river Gers about 90 minutes west […]
Google “Norte Sur” and you get a subtitled Patrick Swayze pressing himself against the heaving bosom of Lesley-Anne Down in “North & South”, a very missable period drama. I hope this post launches Norte Sur, the distinctly unmissable Madrid tapas bar, to pole position where it belongs. This is a bar where the Spanish interior […]