BLOG: A Conscious Way to Travel
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Awesome ARLES: Jul 2024
I have the sensation of running with the stars when I attend the Rencontres d’Arles festival, the annual art photography pilgrimage that takes place each July in the Provençal city of Arles. That is stars in the sky – not those on the red carpet. I recall the words of … -
Sailing through MARSEILLE: Jul 2024
I feel at home on the streets of Marseille. Maybe because I’m an exile (by choice). “Marseille is, and always has been, the port of exiles .… whoever disembarks in the port is inevitably at home,” wrote Marseille author Jean-Claude Izzo. In 2024, I made my sixth visit… -
A chirpy weekend in BERLIN
Flying east from London, for a weekend in Berlin, the solacing chirping of sparrows in the leafy trees outside my room woke me each morning from my slumbers. By contrast, at home in London, I wake to the squawking of parakeets. Bird song – not squawking – soothes the nerves,… -
A ‘simple place’ in BOLOGNA
I’m a hunter of experiences … of patterns and of meaning. On my third visit to Bologna, I finally found a restaurant that linked with my heart: Ahimè, or ‘alas’, recorded in the Italian dictionary as an expression of ‘physical or spiritual pain, discomfort or dismay’ I found… -
CHAMPAGNE time, France: Dec 2023
With the clock ticking down to a new year, it’s time to get out the champagne, and for me to recheck my tips and recap on my journeys to the Champagne region in France. I visited the region in 2016 and 2017, to photograph at the domaines of 17… -
LES COLS near Girona: Nov 2023/2018
I had a dream … to visit Les Cols, in the outskirts of Olot, a town in the foothills of the Girona Pyrenees. Les Cols is a two Michelin star restaurant in a 15th century masia, or country house, refreshed with an architecturally striking modern touch, and set among… -
The SEPTIME family, Paris: Nov 2023
A cluster of great places to eat and drink have sprung up around the one Michelin-starred Septime restaurant since it opened in 2011 in the backstreets of Paris’ 11th district, east of Bastille. I have yet to eat at Septime. It’s one of those places hard to find a table.… -
CANAL SAINT-MARTIN, Paris: Nov 2023
Two years had gone by since my first and last visit to Early June, a friendly buvette – the French name for a little restaurant – a few steps away from the Canal Saint-Martin, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. I walked through the door, a bit out of… -
Tasting menu CENTRAL, LIMA: 2015/23
I flew across an ocean and a hemisphere to eat at Central in the Lima district of Barranco and to meet the world-famous chef Virgilio Martínez. That was in 2016, some seven years before it was named the World’s Best Restaurant in 2023. Travelling with a purpose enriches rather… -
Keeping cool in FLORENCE: Jun 2023
Florentines avoid the historic centre of the Tuscan capital at every turn. Instead, they go round the city rather than through it. “Too many tourists” is the unanimous cry. English is the lingua franca in the historic centre. When I asked for a restaurant menu in Italian, I was asked…