Foreign Perspectives

Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

We seem to be getting more and more popular with the Spanish looking for a short break outside Spain.

As we’re within two hours drive of Barcelona, it’s an easy trip for them yet it’s a very different area than they’re used to. For one thing Barcelona is a very active city whereas we’re in a very quiet area. However, people tend to like to get away somewhere “different” for their breaks and although we’re right beside Spain the local culture is very different.

But then it’s always been like that. So we’ve no idea why we’ve started picking up Spanish guests in increasing numbers. They all love it though!

One thing that’s fascinating about blogs is that they are written by people from all over the world so you can get a little slice of what it’s like somewhere completely different.

I’m a bit of a sucker for travel stories and of course there are loads of travel stories in Asia which is brilliant as it’s a really interesting area of the world, totally different from this side of the world and with lots of things to talk about.

For example, they’ve got the largest attraction in the world (the Great Wall of China, of course) but naturally they do ordinary stuff out that way as well so you can find out the best makeout spots in Sydney too which I must try out some of these days 🙂

What’s interesting too is that two of the cheapest cities for shopaholics are in the broad area of Asia ie Hong Kong and Bangkok which are both interesting places to see for all kinds of other reasons. I’m not sure if Buenos Aires really qualifies to be the third in that list though as it wasn’t all that cheap when I was there.

We’re getting to the point of having far too many options now.

Initially, we just had Hamburg in the frame. Great Christmas markets were the big attraction of this one but then there are Christmas markets all over Germany (supposedly Dresden and Neuremburg are the best). The flight prices aren’t too bad but then seeing as southern Germany is driveable from here we’ve started looking at some cities in the south. Downside of this is that we’ll need a hotel with parking but on the upside we’d be able to see places outside the city eg the Black Forest.

I always fancied Poland but Wendy was none too keen to start with. Both our Polish guests and Norman H have come up with views to push her towards accepting that as an option. Definitely a fly to destination given the distance but the prices aren’t too bad. Downside is that it’ll be darned cold there over Christmas.

Valencia is a driveable option but the Spanish don’t really “do” Christmas so not so good from that point of view. Very much the warmest of the options (well, except for Morrocco but Wendy doesn’t like that option at all).

In theory parts of northern Italy are also driveable with Milan and Venice both being options. Venice is seriously expensive itself but Lido de Jesolo is much cheaper and a very practical location if you want to see Venice.

No, nowhere in France…. we want something different and besides the French don’t do Christmas anyway (which is, of course, how come we can clear off somewhere).

We’re starting to look around for somewhere to go for our daytrip next week although we’ll need to watch the weather I think ‘cos it’s pouring at the moment.

Anyway, we reckon that anywhere that’s within about two hours drive of here is a runner, subject to there being something to see at that sort of range, of course.

To the south that takes us as far as Barcelona though, as you know, we’ve been there quite a lot and are looking for somewhere different.

The east took us to Avignon which amazed us as we’d thought it would have been four or five hours to get there. There’s quite a lot that way that we’ve not seen of course: Arles is the major place but there’s also Aigues Mort and the Camargue to name but three.

For the north we have Toulouse which we’ve not been to for quite a while and Albi which we’ve not been to at all. Closer than that there are heaps of smaller places under the two hour limit we’ve set ourselves.

We rarely go terribly far to the west so I suspect that there’s quite a lot for us to see that way. Tarbes seems about the limit but that would include Lourdes.

Also in the frame is our next overnight trip for which we’d run to four or perhaps five hours which encompasses a vast tract of France, Spain and even bits of Italy I think. Out as far as Biarittz to the west, Monaco to the east, Valencia to the south and possibly up to the Loire in the north.

Any thoughts as to where would be best?

Although we’ve been living in the Languedoc-Roussillon for getting on for four years now, we’ve only seen the Pont du Gard for the first time yesterday.

How come? Well, the Languedoc-Roussillon region is really strung out and the Pont looked a long, long way from us. In fact, Wendy didn’t believe that it would only take us a couple of hours to drive there yet, as usual, the Mappy was just about dead on.

The perfect time to arrive at the Pont is in the early afternoon as you can see. That has the light falling on the aqueduct just about perfectly.

As you’d expect there are loads of water based activities on offer around the area yet strangely it doesn’t seem overlly touristy as the relatively few tourist shops are confined to the visitor centre complex which isn’t visible from the aqueduct itself.

We’ll be running up a full article shortly for Whole Earth Guide but don’t wait around for that if you’re in the area: just go!