Call me ceramically challenged As a mother and son activity goes, a pottery workshop is a winning idea for a rainy afternoon. Matthew is top of his class at art, and I am top of the class at art in my head. And we are in Dali country, in La Bisbal D’Emporda, a region of [...]

Is Catalan food the best in the world? There are many reasons you should visit the Costa Brava. But ultimately there is only one. The best restaurant in the world. It seems that unless you are an internationally recognized food critic, there’s little chance of getting a table this summer. But don’t panic, you won’t [...]

A country of many moustaches What to pack for a Spanish holiday? Bucket and spade? Suncream? Trashy novel? Well I’m off to Spain this week and I’m packing a moustache. Yes, I know, it’s more common to defoliate before than take extra facial hair with you, but I’m off to the home of Salvador Dali… [...]

Reykjavik Children’s Cultural Festival 2013 What’s your view on culture for kids? A waste of time? A developmental priority? A welcome distraction from online gaming? In Iceland, it’s highly valued. So much so that they’ve hooked one of their annual city festivals onto it.  As the third Reykjavik Children’s Cultural Festival kicks off again this [...]

Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin isn’t your normal hotel. It doesn’t always have staff, or indeed guests, it doesn’t promote itself and you can’t book online. But it does have coffins, and cages and upside down rooms. You see it’s not really a hotel at all; it’s a work of art, a living installation, a temporary exhibition space. And you can [...]

 Berlin Cabaret: Loft at the Chamaleon Theatre Berlin has been called the Capital of Cabaret and a top priority of our Expedia Blogger Shaped Travel trip was to take in a live show. But even as we picked up the tickets, we had no idea how much we’d be drawn into the spectacle of the [...]

Not so Grimm in Berlin There can be few children or adults that haven’t heard the words of the Grimm Brothers or come across one of their archetypal characters wither in books or real life. After all, who  hasn’t met an ‘evil stepmother’ and we’re all very  familiar with the plight of a lonely Princess. [...]

Samsung’s Life’s a photo Berlin challenge Is it possible to photograph a historic city in a day? On our Fairy Tale trip to Germany I joined forty nine other euro bloggers to see if we could take and share a snapshot of Berlin, said to be one of Europe’s most photogenic cities. With temperatures reaching minus [...]

Artists have taken over Kensington Palace You can’t do London without doing the Royal Family. But what if you’re allergic to stuffy Palaces, with all their boring portraits and dusty bedding? Personally I’d rather be locked up in The Tower than spend my holiday dragging around dull royal lodgings. Having stayed around the corner from [...]

Behind the scenes at Staatstheater Mainz Have you ever taken a behind-the-scenes tour of a theatre or opera house? Most cities offer this glimpse into the land of make believe. We did a great one at the Marionetten Theater in Vienna. They’re a good way to see some tricks as well as get under the [...]