An unabashed tourist and her family explore the world one holiday at a time.
I twirl the spaghetti around my fork as I watch a stream of humanity pass me by. The fountain splashes merrily and the dulcet sounds of the street performer singing well-known arias set the mood. The sky is that exact shade of topaz blue that lovelorn poets write about, glimpsed between two rows of Tuscan buildings from which a line...
Gibraltar was a definite highlight of our trip to the south of Spain, mainly because we had opted to take a bus tour and had a wonderfully witty guide who managed to keep me entertained all day. While he expertly navigated the narrow streets of this small island city, he kept up a continuous narrative about the sights along the...
Visiting Gibraltar turned out to be logistical nightmare. Because I’m travelling with a South African passport, I needed to get a visa. There was a slight chance that Gareth’s parents wouldn’t be able to join us for our Spain 2010 holiday, in which case we considered making a quick stopover in the UK to see them while we were in...
The tiny little holiday town of Cape St Francis is one of our yearly holiday destinations. It’s the ideal place to kick back and relax, to get away from the crowds and get back in tune with nature. Although the town is better known for its waves (it’s about a 30 minute drive from the well-known surfing hot spot, Jeffrey’s...
Last week I wrote about our visit to Seville’s Real Alcazar. Here are some more pictures of this interesting palace and it’s beautiful gardens. For more posts in the Spain 2010 series, click here. Have you been to Seville’s Real Alcazar? What was your favourite spot?
The Real Alcazar, or royal palace, in Seville was one of the highlights of our Spain 2010 trip. While the Cathedral was bustling with tourists, the Alcazar was strangely deserted when we visited, even though the two sights are only a stone’s throw away from each other. Perhaps the €7.50 per person entry fee is to blame, but the moment...
Although our stay in Pilanesberg earlier this year ended in disaster, we had some very unique experiences inside the game reserve itself. One of the most memorable was an encounter with a family of four kudus, a mother and three youngsters. We first spotted them walking alongside the road and we slowed down to keep pace with them. As they...
In September 2010 I wrote about the 210 rhinos South Africa had lost to poaching. The final number for the year was 333 dead rhinos (and that’s just in this country – the rest of Africa are also losing their rhinos at an alarming rate). All for the sake of little men and supermodels who need a boost in their...
Over the years it’s become tradition to climb the highest tower in a city (usually that of its resident cathedral or the local castle) to have a birds-eye view of the scenery. In Seville, we climbed to the top of La Giralda, before exploring the area around the cathedral on foot. This is what we saw: For more...
The Seville Cathedral, locally known as Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, is the third largest church in the world. With my penchant for Catholic churches, it was inevitable that it would feature as one of the two main attractions when we visited the capital of Andalucía. An earthquake in 1356 badly damaged the city’s mosque and the then...