Grand Train Tour Of Switzerland. Touring Switzerland has never been as easy as this.
28/10/2024 .
Trip Reviews
Shetland. Discover brilliant Islands with Latitude
In 1999, when I first visited Shetland, I was presented with a certificate confirming that I had been farther north than 60°; it was a marketing ploy, but I was pleased to receive it – and still have it. Latitude, clearly, was anything but a geographical platitude to these people of the far north of Britain, closer, as they are, to the Arctic Circle than they are to London, and on a level with Hudson Bay in Canada, St Petersburg in Russia, Stockholm in Sweden and Helsinki in Finland.
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Sarlat
At the hub of Périgord Noir, the vintage town of Sarlat lies in a depression surrounded by a protective arrangement of wooded hills, a medieval settlement that evolved around an abbey with Carolingian roots.
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Essential Guide to Madeira. Stunning views and outstanding cuisine.
Often cited as a destination for Saga louts, or a welcome port in many a cruise ship’s storm, Madeira has come in for some unfair criticism over the years for, it is claimed, favouring the more mature rather than the 18-30 brigade and families. Here is my personal guide to Madeira, a very special drop in the ocean.
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24 hours in Newcastle
In 2014, The Guardian readers voted Newcastle best city-break destination. I had 24 hours in Newcastle to find out why, but with so much to explore, a strategy was needed.
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Walking the Lycian Way in Turkey. Wonderful history coming to life.
In front of me are small bowls of eggs, olives, tomato salad, bread and home-made goat’s cheese. I’m in the mountains in South West Turkey, at almost 2000m, and a shepherd is sharing her breakfast with me. This is one of the many joys of walking the Lycian Way in Turkey, a 330 mile long distance route on Roman roads, old footpaths and mule trails. It starts in Fethiye and ends in Antalya, running between the mountains and the sea, and it takes over a month to walk.
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Kambala Buffalo Racing in South India
In India’s palm-rich south, where Karnataka and Kerala meet, kambala rather than cricket, is the most popular sport.Two pairs of buffaloes are raced head-to-head along specially prepared twin tracks in kambala, the sport of the people in the rural districts around Mangalore. Crowds of up to 20,000 people gather on race days. People cheer while men sprint with their buffaloes along the jodukere kambalas, deliberately waterlogged, 450 feet (137 metres) long tracks prepared in river beds or the sodden mud of paddy fields. This is Kambala Buffalo Racing in South India.
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