In Alcobaça are the remains of King Pedro I and (above) his mistress, and later wife, Inês de Castro. Pedro met and fell madly in love with Inês when she was his wife’s lady in waiting, and after his wife’s death the two had 4 children. However Inês was Spanish and Pedro’s father, King Afonso […]
Always with the hills!!
Travel update 🙂 Sitting with a coffee in the shadow of the stunning Convento de Christo; headquarters of the Knights Templar from the 12th to the 16th century (for reference, the black line is a shadow from the cafe canopy, the sky isn’t falling or anything) The ball-ache about visiting so many castles recently is that if […]
Lisbon Love
Travel update 🙂 It’s fair to say I’ve fallen in love with Lisbon! The beauty of this city is matched only by the warmth of its people! The initial 3 days quickly became 5 due in large part to a) a wonderful group of friends I met on my first day here (I won’t embarrass you with […]
The Hill of Doom!
Travel update! Apologies for the delay, I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath since the breakfast photos but it’s been an action packed few days 🙂 On arrival, after a brief falling out with the Lisbon metro system (I thought the tram I wanted should be running, evidently they didn’t but I’m destined never to […]
Homeward bound
So there we go then, all done and halfway back to Blighty! It’s 10pm in Dubai airport but my body clock is at 1am and flagging, not ideal when my flights not for 5 more hours. Spent the final day in Bangkok just wondering round, taking it all in one final time and getting in […]
Bangkok Reflections
Back in Bangkok now after leaving Vietnam on Sunday (it just took me the best part of a minute then to remember a: what day I flew & b: what day it is today, I stopped keeping track so long ago!) Been a tricky few days as had some very sad news re a friend […]
Motorcycle Madness (Part 2)
So I’m back in Ha Noi now after 2 more days biking through the mountains. Definitely a better biker now for the experience (the whole trip felt like an intensive training course, passed except for a massive fail whenever faced with gravel!) No doubt Mum is reading this and I know she was very worried […]
Motorcycle Madness (PART 1)
Sorry to drop another on you so soon but feel today very much merits its own post, plus I’ll be off in the mountains tomorrow and will have no WiFi or 3G so you all get a day off 🙂 The first day of the highly anticipated motorbike tour has finally arrived! So was collected […]
Ha Long winded update
Warning: Long winded travel update ahead! So happy new year everyone! On new years eve I wandered towards the centre and ended up at the Vietnam equivalent of the Sydney opera house / Big Ben / etc New Year celebrations. Loads of bands, dancers, a shedload of DJs I’d never heard of and a nice […]
The Da Nang Fire Sale
As is becoming tradition, a busy few days! After the day in Hue’s imperial city, I went to visit a number of the emperors tombs nearby. Bloody hell, they know how to build them!! Giant bronze statue of themselves, an entire underground palace (which no one will ever see) huge marble obelisks bearing down on […]
Wonderboy Wanders 