Europe
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Exploring Riga, Latvia
Our hearts sank as we drew back the curtains to see torrential rain beating against the windows, causing us to rethink our plans for the day! First though, it was off to breakfast which is served in the basement of the hotel. The cellars have been tastefully converted into two eating areas with a third…
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Riga City Break
Having enjoyed visiting Tallinn in Estonia on numerous occasions, we decided to explore its neighbour Latvia for the first time. We booked flights with the low cost carrier Ryanair from Leeds Bradford airport which were very reasonably priced. It was an early start to the day as we needed to get up at…
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Exploring the Royal Castle Warsaw
A bright, sunny morning to start the final day of our short break in Warsaw so after breakfast we took the bus to the old town which was looking so much nicer than on our earlier visit. We started our tour in the old town market place with its Dutch inspired houses. The pedestrianised cobbled…
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A walk to Lazienki Park, Warsaw
We woke to heavy overnight snow which was surprising for late March, leaving the city looking beautiful in the sun. We started the day with a visit to the Museum of Life Under Communism located on the left bank of the river in the Praga district. To get there, we took Tram 22 from Centrum.…
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Guide to visiting Wilanow Palace, Warsaw
After enjoying the Ibis Hotel Warsaw Centrum buffet breakfast, we were ready for a busy day exploring more of Warsaw’s attractions. Our first stop was at the Royal Lazienki Park which was only a 15 minute walk from the hotel. It’s the largest park in Warsaw and was designed in 17th century Baroque style. Just…
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A Weekend in Warsaw
We arrived in Warsaw the previous evening on a Ryanair flight from Leeds-Bradford Airport. Our flight departed promptly at 16.10 arriving into Modlin, Warsaw’s second airport. Transferring into the city centre was very easy with tickets costing 19zl (£3.95) per person, available from a machine in the baggage hall. A regular shuttle bus service then…
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A weekend in Gdansk, Poland
A few weeks ago we noticed that Ryanair was offering bargain priced flights to Gdansk, and as we’d enjoyed our previous visit to Krakow, the opportunity to visit a second Polish destination seemed irresistible. Our flight departed Leeds-Bradford airport promptly at 9.30 a.m. taking just two hours over to Lech Walesa airport. The airport is…
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Gdansk: City centre highlights
After a leisurely breakfast in our hotel we strolled along the riverside promenade known as Long Bridge admiring its historical granaries and huge crane gate. The Żuraw Crane is one of the finest intact medieval cranes in Europe and, interestingly, it also acted as a city gate and defensive fortification. It was built to hoist…
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Visiting Sopot and Gdynia from Gdańsk: The Perfect Day Trips on Poland’s Baltic Coast
Gdansk and it’s nearby sister cities of Sopot and Gdynia are collectively known as Tricity, so after breakfast we set off to Gdansk Glowny station to embark on our journey. Trains in Tricity are operated by SKM and have a distinctive blue and yellow livery. Tickets need to be bought either from the SKM desks…
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Malbork Castle from Gdańsk: How to Visit the World’s Largest Castle
I’d read about Malbork Castle and was eager to visit whilst staying in Gdansk. It is the largest brick built castle in the world and was constructed in the thirteenth century. Malbork lies 69km from Gdansk and is easily accessible by train with numerous services daily. It’s on the main line to Warsaw, so tickets…
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Day Trip from Gdańsk to Oliwa: What to See & Do
On our final morning in Gdansk we took the SKM train to the suburb of Oliwa, located 5 km to the north of the city centre. Single tickets cost 3.8 zl (80p) for the short journey to this prosperous neighbourhood. Leaving the station, we headed to the main road from where it was only a…
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Our Moscow adventure
The thought of standing in a snow carpeted Red Square on a cold winter’s day seemed appealing, so we booked a few days in Moscow. It’s necessary to obtain a visa before arriving in Russia and this can dissuade potential visitors from travelling. To help demystify the process I’ll explain how we went about it.…
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The Kremlin, Moscow
Another surprise awaited us when we went downstairs for breakfast, as on giving our room number we were diverted to the Executive Lounge which was a raised area along one side of the restaurant. Here we found lots to tempt us, setting us up for the day ahead. Using the coffee machine initially appeared problematic…
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Exploring Moscow
We opened the curtains to find that there had been heavy snow overnight, covering all the surrounding roof tops with a fluffy white blanket. After a leisurely breakfast we took the metro to Komsomolskaya station which was absolutely beautiful with its painted yellow ceilings and its platforms lit by chandeliers. The station was designed in…
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Sightseeing in Moscow
There had been more snow overnight but it was a reasonably bright morning. Our first stop after breakfast was Lubyanka, which is the next station on Line 1 from Red Square. Climbing the steps from the metro station we could see the former headquarters of the KGB across the square. Lubyanka was once a name…
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Exploring more of Moscow
After breakfast, we took the metro to the new central business district, known as Moscow City. Located at the Delovoy Tsentr metro stop, the station has a modern ‘high-tech’ feel to blend in with the skyscraper landscape above ground. Moscow City consists of several towers built in futuristic styles, each tower having its own distinctive…
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Sokolniki Park, Moscow
We woke to more heavy overnight snow, creating a winter wonderland panorama from our 23rd floor bedroom window. As it was our final day, we over-indulged with a large breakfast and then bid our farewells to the lovely restaurant staff who had looked after us all week. After packing our belongings together we set off…
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Amsterdam City Break – Day 1
We needed to be up at 03.15 a.m. for our early morning flight to Amsterdam from Leeds Bradford Airport. Deciding to drive, we left our car at the Sentinel long stay car park, managing to find a discount code to reduce the price slightly. Our flight with the Dutch national carrier KLM on an Embraer…
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A Day Trip in the Netherlands: Keukenhof Gardens and the Charming Town of Edam
Breakfast was not included in the room rate and at €15 per person we thought quite expensive, especially as it’s actually taken in the building opposite. Instead, we decided to nip out to the Spar supermarket a couple of minutes walk away and buy some croissants, ham, eggs and yoghurt ourselves as our studio had…
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Haarlem and Zaanse Schans Windmills – Day Trip Travel Guide
Our morning was going to start with a short train journey to Haarlem but noticing the train terminated less than ten minutes later at the seaside town of Zandvoort, we thought we’d head there first before returning down the line to visit Haarlem. Unusually for us, we hadn’t researched Zandvoort, otherwise I doubt we would…
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A Day Trip from Amsterdam – Discover Marken and Volendam
Our plan for the morning was to take the train into Amsterdam Central and then travel from there by bus to the village of Marken. Buses run half hourly (No.315) and depart from behind the railway station, this journey being included in the regional travel ticket. It was a pleasant ride out to Marken, the…
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Lelystad and Amsterdam canal walk
A slower start to our final day in Amsterdam staying around the hotel until our 11.00 a.m. checkout time. Hotel 2 Stay had been a good choice, spacious studio rooms coupled with maid service and only a 6 minute train journey from Amsterdam Central with trains departing every few minutes. Sloterdijk is described as an up…
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Farewell Finland
I shouldn’t be sad that we had to leave southern Finland and return home today, not many people are so fortunate as me to be able to go away for an entire month. I did have a heavy heart though as we gathered our belongings together before taking one last forest walk in the warm…
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Discover Dublin’s Best Sights: History, Culture, and Landmarks
We took an early morning flight from Edinburgh Airport over to Dublin in the Irish Republic. This was my third visit to Dublin but my first in mid summer. Before leaving the airport we bought ourselves 72 hour travel passes for use on the public transport, these being valid on the bus service into the…
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