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People often ask me which has been my favourite place that we’ve visited. I never really know how to answer. I don’t want to sound blasé or ungrateful for the life we’re fortunate enough to be living, because I’m neither. We’ve been lucky enough to see and stay in some truly beautiful places, far tooContinue reading “The People Make the Place”

I don’t typically like using guides, as I prefer to see places through my own eyes rather than someone else’s. But we had used Get Your Guide in South America and found them to be very good, and with getting around here a little tricky without a car, we decided to use them again. WeContinue reading “Gjirokaster and the Blue Eye”

We had some very hot weather in the UK and anyone who lives there will tell you that temperatures above 30 degrees are just a tad too warm. The houses simply are not built for it. Most are carpeted throughout and air conditioning still feels a little hard to justify, although I have been thinkingContinue reading “A return to the Ionian”

I think the South America trip took more out of us than we first realised. That said, I wouldn’t have changed a single thing, apart from perhaps the flight delay back to the UK. On our first weekend back, we all met Seb and Ally for lunch in the lovely village of Colston Bassett, asContinue reading “Back on Familiar Ground”

There was a bus to São Paulo, but we didn’t fancy it. So after a final coffee in town, and one last visit to the live music beach for me, we had a quick shower, grabbed something to eat, and set off in our transfer. For the first couple of hours we stayed close toContinue reading “São Paulo: A Different Rhythm”

There wasn’t much point in hiring a car for where we had decided our next move would be, other than getting there. So we opted for the Costa Verde bus line. After a final visit to the Australian coffee shop and closing the door on our very comfortable apartment, we set off. With luggage inContinue reading “Slowing Down in Paraty”

We decided to use the same transfer company to take us to the airport, as we were leaving Argentina and entering Brazil, flying out of Foz do Iguaçu. We had seen firsthand the lengthy queues at both borders, and as I mentioned before, the tour companies are expert at navigating this process, swiftly depositing usContinue reading “When the rain clears Rio appears”

There were no direct flights to Iguazú from Mendoza, so after another early morning pickup we headed to the small airport in Mendoza and boarded the first of two flights. We flew back to Buenos Aires before a short wait for our onward flight to Iguazú, still on the Argentinian side. It was the mostContinue reading “Where the river falls away – Iguazú”

It was an easy flight from the smaller and much more relaxed local airport in Buenos Aires. We were picked up from the apartment at 6:45am and by just after 11am we were letting ourselves into our new apartment in Mendoza. We decided to stay just outside the city, but close enough to walk orContinue reading “Vineyards and a Ride off into the sunset – Mendoza”

Chile was great fun, and after our final week in Viña del Mar we both felt rested and ready to head back into a city again. The flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires was only a couple of hours. Tim, our new host, had arranged a car to collect us and take us to ourContinue reading “Eclectic Architecture and a Tango – Buenos Aires”