No alarm today! Yesterday we managed to make a lunch reservation at a nearby gastronomical restaurant somehow. The website said a spot was open on Friday, we took it and then got a very polite call from the restaurant: website was wrong, there is no spot, much apologies, do we want to go on the… Continue reading Sealife, good food and a dolmen
We fell asleep around nine yesterday and wake up before seven. We have a museum planned this morning, this opens only at ten, so we decide to head out to town for an extensive breakfast. We google in bed and decide on The Union Kitchen, because it gets good reviews and the pictures look nice.… Continue reading The big city experience
Today we're on a schedule, but in true holiday style it's pretty loose and relaxed. Alarm is at seven, but the dawn peeping through the shades wakes us up sooner. Hotels are not allowed to serve food inside, only on terraces, and that's not very handy for breakfast this early in the year, so we… Continue reading Museums and masks
Up at 7! If you've read some of my earlier travel posts, you'll notice that 7 is simply my natural hour to wake up. Apparently, this is a trend that persists even when holidaying at home. Anyway, despite the Belgian tradition of closing anything official on Monday (this includes monuments and museums), we managed yesterday… Continue reading (Medium) old history
For the first time this holiday we've actually put a wake up alarm and since we managed to stay up until nine pm yesterday, we're ready to roll around seven am. The usual breakfast and a shuttle pick-up at eight thirty to get to the Colosseum, where we meet Lucy, an architect turned guide, who… Continue reading old & new
It's famous for its natural beauty and popular with hikers, so today we take some time for hiking. I had investigated some trails online and made a short list of options, the final decision is taken with the eggs and sausage at the breakfast table. We take our hiking stuff to the car and drive… Continue reading around the Lake District
Today is Sunday and we have an ancient history day planned. We pack up to leave and arrive at Maiden Castle around ten. Contrary to its name, it is not a castle and is not related to virgins at all, it is one of the largest Iron Age hill forts in Europe. The enclosed area… Continue reading the pre-roman ages
Alarm is at 7, I wake up early, see that it's after 6 so I figure I could start the day. After protests from the other side of the bed, it turns out it's only just after 5.. so an early breakfast today. That's fine, the sun is shining and we want to see some… Continue reading mostly Roman
we're visiting the island today. sounds simple enough, but it has a surface area of 1342 km² so we'll have to make some choices if we want to make it out before dark. we set off for the northernmost point and first visit Långe Erik, one of the many light houses on the island. we don't… Continue reading Öland
after packing, cleaning up a bit and hugging everybody goodbye, we hop into the car for the road east. today's goal is to reach Öland, according to Google Maps a five hour drive and 389 km. seems slow, but there are very few highways in this area. we'll have plenty of time to visit stuff… Continue reading to the east coast
Since we want a quiet day, we plan only small activities. Gemma tells us about a cave with an underground river that you can visit by boat. She also gives us the name of a guide for Sagunto castle. We ask her to call and set up a tour for this evening. The visit of… Continue reading Sagunto fortress
Ebla is still being dug up Dead cities Epemea
We stay here for a couple of days to visit Aleppo and the area around it. We first visit the citadel in the centre of the city. It is built on a hill and the hillsides have been paved in a steep angle to make it more defensible. There is an arch across the moat… Continue reading Aleppo
After staying two nights in Palmyra and taking full day to visit the site, we leave in the morning to drive to Aleppo. Since we’ll be driving down the coast on the way back to Damascus later, we take the eastern road, bringing us close to the Iraqi border. We stop first at a desert… Continue reading Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Sharqi / Resafah
In Palmyra we sleep in the Cham hotel, which is located in the archaeological site, meaning you can see the monuments sticking out of the sand from the hotel and can walk straight in. There are a couple of buses here and a few groups of tourists. We get a guide via the hotel to visit… Continue reading Palmyra
We had the greatest falafels ever just outside the ruins at Bosra. At the parking itself there were several restaurants catering to tourists, but we walked 100 m further to the main street of the village, bought falafels and sat down on the sidewalk to eat them. Aside from the giant amphitheatre, there is a… Continue reading Bosra
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