Navigating our 7th Decade
Why Our 2-Cup Bialetti Moka Pot is the Best Travel Coffee Maker for Every Adventure. When it comes to travel essentials, our 2-cup Bialetti espresso maker is one of the first items that goes in the suitcase. And that’s irrespective of where we are headed to. What a lucky Bialetti! It’s been all over Europe, Australasia, Southern Africa and parts in between! It’s been camping in the wild, stayed in …
We have visited a fair few cities over the past four decades. Having both been brought up in small rural towns, we are not big city enthusiasts. Most are forgettable while some have a charm of their own. A very few have bowled us over in a glorious, noisy, chaotic rush. Naples is definitely the latter. Situated on the coast beneath the ever present threat of Mount Vesuvius, it’s a …
Beneath Istanbul’s Streets: Discovering the Basilica Cistern Just a short walk from Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the basilica cistern is an amazing place to visit. Also known as the Sunken Palace – for good reason – it was built by the Byzantine Roman emperor Justinian 1 to supply water to the Great Palace of Constantinople. Once we had paid the somewhat eye watering tourist entrance fee, we descended …
Tucked away in a narrow cobbled street in the heart of Naples’ old city is the Museo Cappella Sansevero. Hidden behind an unassuming façade at Via Francesco de Sanctis 19, this small museum holds one of the most amazing sculptures you are ever likely to see. We’d read about the famous Veiled Christ before we got to Naples, and we had seen the pictures. But absolutely nothing we saw or …
One of the activities that has been on our bucket list for a long time now is picking olives in Calabria, Italy. Despite a few visits to Italy, we have never got the timing right as olive picking only starts late October and goes through until February, depending on the harvesting method that is being used. But this year we got our timing right and late October found us in …
The West Coast Flower Show Nature can be spectacular. Very often you have to get the timing right, but if you do, you are well rewarded. The West Coast National Park on the west coast of the southern tip of Africa is a case in point. Bordering the Atlantic ocean, this park is an easy 90 minute drive north of Cape Town. Every year, between July and October, if the …
An Eclectic Mix of Kangaroos, Wine Farms, Pubs & Bush The Hunter Valley is the oldest wine growing region in Australia, and as such, we had to go and check it out. Situated just 160km north of Sydney, it’s an easy drive or train ride to get there. However, since we have family in the area, we trained it from Sydney to Newcastle and then de-camped to Cessnock for a …
We have visited Kruger National Park, usually with foreign visitors in tow, on numerous occasions.For our foreign visitors, it is usually their only chance – ever – to see the big five in their natural habitats.That puts the pressure on us and usually means we tend to stay in the southern end of the park, rarely venturing north of Olifants Rest Camp and mostly only going as far up as …
Getting to Hatta Outdoor at Wadi Hub Hatta is about 135km from Dubai and it took us just over 90 mins of driving to get to the Wadi Hub on the outskirts of Hatta. Hatta is still part of the Dubai Emirate and the road between the two centres is superb. We had driven part of the same road about 7 years ago and were amazed at the transition. From …
It was an early start to the day. The alarm went off at 4.45am and we hauled our carcasses out of bed. We were being picked up at 5.15am outside our rented apartment in Dubai. We were off to participate in our first Dubai Run. The 2023 Dubai Fitness Challenge ran from 28th October to 26th November 2023. Launched in 2017, it is an initiative to raise awareness of fitness …