Any Excuse to Travel

Stories from travels in

March 2011

The wearin’ of the green

I dislike St Patrick’s Day parades with a passion that should have received specialist treatment long ago.  It’s not just St Patrick’s Day parades, it’s

Pit stop for inner peace

Depending on the temperature, the humidity, and how long I’ve been away from my own bed, I either like or loathe Malta. This time of

Two flat caps and a porkpie hat

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you that it’s taken me this long to recover from my first Ír KocsmaSó (an odd assemblage of

carnival in Malta, colourful floats, carnival floats, prinjolata

Carnival in Malta

Shrove Tuesday – the last chance for you to use up your eggs, empty your jam jars, use up the syrup and pig out before

No one goes to Modica

When I said I was going to Modica, they asked me why. When I said I’d found a nice hotel, they looked  askance. Surely I

Hypogeum in Malta

Hidden depths – the Hypogeum in Malta

When I was seven, my twenty-year-old cousin was old, which made my forty-year-old aunt very old and my grandmother positively ancient. Age was relative –

Baku, Azerbaijan

Baku bits

Baku at night is a city bathed in light. No matter that many residents have their electricity cut off at some stage during the day

Baku restaurants

Pleasure on your faces…

…is our success. So reads the front page of the menu of what has quickly become a favourite restaurant for me in Baku – L’aparté.