Is there anything new to say about the Great Wall of China? You already know that many of the 400,000 – give or take the odd soldier and peasant, that died building the 22,000 kms long wall from the seventh century BC to 1878 are buried within the wall, and in 2007 a British couple…
“A square foot of property in Beijing costs 54,000 Yuan” Kathy said. That is about £6500. The average size of an apartment is 100 square feet and a young couples would struggle most of their life to pay the mortgage Not everybody in Beijing is keen to live in high-rise apartment blocks. Many…
3.5 kms of citadel walls girdle a palace complexes with 980 buildings in a 72 hectare royal enclosure where 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties governed from a closed-off world until the Republic overthrew the last emperor in 1911. This is the Forbidden City of China We left Tiananmen Square, crossed…
We were body searched and our bags scanned and in the unblinking gaze of security men and CCTV cameras, we walked on to Tiananmen Square in the centre of Beijing. It’s 106 acres had no shade and the heat was intense. The name comes from the Tiananmen – The Gate of Heavenly Peace in…
I flew to Beijing with Etihad on an 18-day Ancient China Tour arranged by Wendy Wu. It was my first visit to China, first flight with Etihad and the first tour with Wendy Wu. The Chinese visa application form is the most complicated such document I have ever encountered and an absurd amount…
Friday We spent the 2019 August bank holiday weekend in London. The A1 was slow with delays, accidents and diversions and the drive from Harrogate took over six hours. Stuck in traffic, we ate cheese sandwiches, drank black coffee from a flask and listened to Ashes Cricket Radio 5. Eating Old Cow That evening we…
Ciutadella is a pretty little place. It was founded by the Carthaginians, governed by the Moors for several centuries and was finally recaptured by the Spanish during the reconquista. In 1558, Turks captured the city and the 3000 odd surviving inhabitants were taken to Turkey and sold in the slave markets of Istanbul. Ciutadella remained the capital…
Menorca is a great place for easy but interesting hiking. The coastal path Cami de Cavalls circles the island. It is a remarkable path that has existed since 1330 when King James 11 asked settlers to keep at least one war horse ready and to use the path to watch over and defend the island.…
In the summer of 2019 we holidayed in Menorca for the first time The morning Jet2 flight from Leeds/Bradford reached Mahón, the capital of the tiny Balearic island of Menorca in two hours and fifteen minutes. Nick, Renu and Seren arrived fifteen minutes later on a flight from London. Nick drove the rented car…
The 2019 Fathers Day weekend was spent in London. On Friday, we took the A1 from Harrogate to London, stopping in Blythe for lunch. It was a warm and sunny in London, a perfect evening to sit on the terrace and drink G&Ts (London No.1), munching long, thin Catalan sausages. Lamb chops, asparagus and…
Dimbulagala near Polonnaruwa, the 12th century capital of Sri Lanka, has been a Buddhist monastery for well over 2000 years. Meditating monks have lived in caves in the rocky outcrops here since Buddhism was brought to the country in 3rd century BC. Today, the focus is on a flourishing modern temple at the base of…
Wasgamuwa National Park in Sri Lanka was created in 1984 as a refuge for wild animals displaced by the Mahaweli Development Project which was a government scheme for generating hydroelectric power, controlling floods, making irrigation facilities for dry zone cultivation and developing physical and social infrastructure for human habitation using the waters of the Mahaweli River. The…
The park gate was locked, the park office was closed and there was nobody in sight. It was six thirty in the morning. Irate telephone calls to the National Parks head office were made and an hour later, a ranger appeared and sheepishly opened the gate We left Hotel Monty in Ampara at 5.30 in…
We made Caldo Verde for lunch today. Caldo verde or green broth is the most popular soup in Portugal. It has its origins in the Minho region in the North of Portugal, but today Caldo Verde is considered by many to be Portugal’s national soup.There are many versions of it but the basic ingredients are potatoes, shredded…
It was like no other Boxing Day We were in the little wine village of Kleinbottwar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was 3 degrees below zero that morning but the air was still and there was no snow. Some from our party drove across the border to Austria to ski. The rest of us walked along…
