Hello from an aeroplane somewhere between Milan and Singapore – I’m posting this from the air, lucky enough to be returning from a European holiday, my first time overseas since 2017. This time we stayed in three countries, five cities, visited three other cities, saw incredible architecture, famous landmarks, amazing old town streets, stunning scenery, ... [More]
Alas it was time to head home from Europe. Why? Because we’d booked tickets for the Oasis concert on Melbourne Cup night! So we’d booked our flights to arrive home about 24 hours earlier. I’d pondered taxi vs train to Barcelona airport. Two of our party leaving the following day were going via taxi, in ... [More]
(These travel blogs have a lot of pictures. If you’re reading via email and they don’t appear, click through to see them.) One of the cool things about our accommodation in Barcelona was it was close to everything… including Passeig De GrĂ cia, a Metro station with a connected railway station for suburban and regional trains. ... [More]
Exploring Barcelona – more Gaudi, and the Gothic Quarter
For today we planned to visit Montserrat (“serrated mountain”), a mountain and historic town about 90 minutes outside Barcelona. Organising this was a bit confusing. The visitor info says to get there you catch an R5 train to Monistrol de Montserrat station (Carrer del Pont), then use the rack railway to reach the town. (Another ... [More]
Good morning Barcelona! After breakfast we headed to the Picasso museum, which included a walk through an extraordinarily long tunnel in Passeig de GrĂ cia station. The Picasso museum is undergoing renovation, but most of it was open, and we wandered around looking at some amazing pieces, then had a beverage in the cafe. After that ... [More]
It was our first full day in Barcelona, and there was heaps to explore. First we walked to a nearby market to find some fresh fruit, bread and cheese. These had been plentiful everywhere we went in France, especially the bread and cheese. The market was good, had plenty of stalls and a wide range. ... [More]
A morning of train delays, but we got there in the end
A visit to the historic city, the Palace of the Popes, the bridge, and a murmuration of starlings!
Another day exploring Arles in Provence, France
Good morning Arles! We headed out to the nearby MusĂŠe dĂŠpartemental Arles antique – a museum about the history of the area, but some especially interesting exhibits about Roman times. The centrepiece is a Gallo-Roman barge found in the river nearby in 2003. Fascinating. Short stay home rentals in Europe have been problematic. The locals ... [More]
In our last exciting instalment, SNCF had cancelled one of our trains for today. I’d scoured the web, and worked out an alternative plan to get us from Lyon to Arles. Originally it had been: This latter train was the one that was cancelled, and although it’s fairly a short journey, there didn’t seem to ... [More]
One more full day in Lyon before we move on. We walked down to a bus stop just outside the Lyon Perrache station. I couldn’t help but notice the interesting wiring on the outside of the adjacent building while we waited for our bus. We caught the bus to the Gadagne building, which dates back ... [More]
Another day in Lyon, and we’d heard about a riverside market not too far away, so made that our first port of call. The old centre of Lyon sits between two rivers – the RhĂ´ne (which runs through Switzerland and France) and the SaĂ´ne, which flows into it just south at La Confluence. We were ... [More]
Good morning Lyon! Some Googling overnight, and I felt like we could navigate the local public transport. Step one: the Lyon Metro. It’s got four lines and 42 stations, and carries a similar number of passenger trips as Melbourne’s suburban rail system – pretty good going for a metropolitan area with about half Melbourne’s population. ... [More]
As the Louvre gets raided, we head out of town at high speed