Roger: Friday 17 July Sylvia wasn’t feeling too good so stayed in bed. I took a stroll out to the east side of town. The streets are dirty, not with rubbish, but even sealed roads have in places thick patches of mud on then. Even in the centre of town there is a fine layer of dirt […]

Sylvia: Saturday 11 July After another lavish breakfast, which for Roger again included champagne and caviar, we headed off in separate directions. I had forgotten to collect our tickets for the Trans-Siberian railway and had to find my way by metro across Moscow to a guard station to pick them up. Of course, at the […]

   Roger: Wednesday 8 July Heading down the passage of the Hermitage hotel we struck a Russian bride all frocked up. Down in the rather grand foyer a few pieces of brass spark up as the groom and about twenty people stand around. As we get to the ATM in the foyer the bride arrives […]

Sylvia: Friday 3 July We have a leisurely start this morning with breakfast in the Shangri-La hotel before taking the metro to the Gare de Lyon where we catch our train to Lyon at 10:58am and then on to Valence. The TGV whizzes along quickly and we arrive in Valence on time. We catch a […]

Roger: Tuesday 30 June  We leave the Villa Tuttorotto with its Roman artefacts in the basement at 0500 for a short stroll through the old city, bag wheels clacking over the rough cobble stones. The locals must get pissed off with early departing tourists. The Venezia Line ferry departed at 0630. We were a little surprised […]

Roger: Sunday 28 June Up early we were at the number one entrance to the Plitvice Lakes before nine. The lovely Irene at Villa Irene had suggested we get there before the tour bus crowds arrived. By nine we were zigzagging our way down the hill passing groups of Asian tourists wired for sound! It seems […]

         Roger: Wednesday 24 June  We had anchored for the night off an island opposite Hvar in the lee of an approaching storm.  Around eight we headed up the coast of the Hvar island. The sea was quite lumpy – Bruno the chef came up from the galley looking a little pale and sat out […]

Roger: Saturday 20 June After a great breakfast at Hotel Kazbek in Dubrovnik we took a bus to the old city. This is the first actual city I have visited which is effectively a fort. Most such places seem to house castles. This place is indeed impressive with a still lived-in city completely surrounded by huge […]

Roger: Tuesday 16 June The day began at 5am with the weird sound from the speakers from the surrounding local mosques. Opening one of the little boxes beside the bed containing ear plugs I realised why. The hotel Neorian provided an interesting selection of Turkish breakfast. This included everything from dates, nuts, mixed vegetables, cheeses, fruit, meats […]