BLOG: A Conscious Way to Travel
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Why I would travel to Istanbul just for a scrub in the hammam
Crazy may it be, but in 2025 I plan to take a four-hour flight to have a good scrub in a hammam. But then Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, the so-called ‘tiled’ hammam, named after its original Iznik tiles, is no ordinary Turkish bath. Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, in the Zeyrek neighbourhood… -
My 12 favourite places to eat & drink in the Belleville district of Paris
The Parisian neighbourhood of Belleville is a frenzied melting-pot of cultures. An oriental patisserie across the street from a synagogue, next to a halal butcher and round the corner from a typical French café terrace. That’s Belleville. Belleville is in hip, eastern Paris, in the 20th district. To stay here… -
Arles: wild horses, frogs, mosquitoes… and art photography
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 … -
Why Marseille is my favourite French city for a long weekend
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… -
Birds, trees, lakes: why Berlin is best in spring
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,… -
Follow me in Bologna, a city made for walking and eating
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
Two years had gone by since my last visit to Early June, a friendly buvette, or little restaurant, a few steps away from the Canal Saint-Martin, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. I had legged it across town, driven by the fear that Early June’s no-booking policy…