velvet | travel ideas

Velvet Moments: travel photo – a moment in Avignon

It was a beautiful sunny day in Avignon and I’d just arrived. There are so many things to see and do in this historic town in the Provence but I decided to take it easy – there was sufficient time to explore the town and visit the main attractions. I headed straight to the Place [...]

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Chilling in Rio

I LOVE RIO! Who wouldn’t? It surely is one of the most spectacular cities in the world. Hemmed in between a huge bay, the Atlantic Ocean and a mountainous interior, Rio de Janeiro boasts some of the most famous attractions anywhere, such as the Christ the Redeemer statue atop the Corcovado mountain, the Sugar Loaf [...]

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The historic baths of Budapest

A trip to Budapest will not be complete without a visit to at least one of its historic thermal baths. It’s said that the Romans settled in the area because of the abundance of thermal springs – I would too! The first Roman baths were constructed around the 2nd century AD but it wasn’t till [...]

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UBER cool and oh so classy!

UBER. I’d never heard of it until my recent trip to Berlin. I was handed several discount vouchers and decided to give them a try one evening. After a long day out on the town, the idea of my very own private limousine to take me back to my accommodation sounded very appealing. I downloaded [...]

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A view of London through its maps

The Beefeater, Big Ben and the dome of St Paul’s are all icons of London recognised by everyone. But there’s another icon of the city that every Londoner knows, though perhaps they don’t think of it that way – the Underground map. Look at one of the early tube maps and what you’ll see is [...]

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A bookstore tour of England

A trip to a good bookstore is about more than just picking up a new novel: you’ll understand if you’ve ever stepped foot in one. These are the places where the shelves are packed from floor to ceiling with interesting titles, the booksellers themselves are knowledgeable, friendly and likely to know better than you what [...]

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The fortress town of Civitella del Tronto

Civitella del Tronto is a historic fortress town in the northeastern corner of Abruzzo, the Italian region that stretches from the slopes of the Appenine mountains (east of Rome) to the Adriatic Sea. The last fortress The 500 meter long fortress, the second largest of its kind in Europe after the fortress in Salzburg, is [...]

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Exploring Bo Kaap in Cape Town

The Bo Kaap neighbourhood in Cape Town is a historic enclave that graces the slopes of Signal Hill. The first thing anyone will notice about this neighbourhood are the gorgeous, brightly-coloured houses lining steep cobbled streets. The second thing: the faint scent of spices such as cardamom and cloves in the air. Bo Kaap is [...]

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Discovering Cyprus on two wheels

Every year, millions of people pack their suitcases and head off to the nearest airport for their annual holiday. We all have our own specific reasons for wanting to get away from it all, but for most of us it’s simply because we want an opportunity to rest and relax under a warm sun and [...]

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Walking the city walls of Girona

Girona is a small medieval city about a 1.5-hour drive north of Barcelona. Located halfway between the majestic peaks of the Pyrenees and the rugged Costa Brava coast, the town sits on the confluence of four rivers and has a rich history that goes back to the Roman ages. Girona is quite often overlooked by [...]

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