The morning we left Sparti we visited the stunning, Frankish, hilltop monastic settlement, Mystra. The Byzantine architecture fit beautifully into the rocky landscape. It was also a peaceful place and we got on to the bus exhausted, overheated and sweating but glad. Every seemed to be on the phone to their parents or girlfriends while
Tag: city breaks
The study tour section of the trip started in earnest at half eight on Tuesday morning after our dishevelled group staggered down from breakfast, such as it was. I was worried that I wouldn’t know many people or that travelling in a big group wouldn’t suit me (it didn’t totally in Barcelona and that group
I’ve wanted to go to Athens and see the Acropolis since I was eleven and my drama teacher started us on Greek tragedies. So when a university study trip of ten days based in the ancient city was offered to me I jumped at it like a shot. My mother was so jealous that in the
We arrived in Lyon to an evening of heavy snow. We were running late after getting the tram and two metros from the airport to our hostel on the quays of the river Saone. The Cool and Bed Hostel is clean and the staff is friendly but there’s an air of disorganisation and zero security,
Down the side of Sultanahmet mosque is a square with Egyptian obelisks brought to then Constantinople by the Romans and the Serpent Column of Greece which once stood as a Pan-Hellenic monument to the Greco-Persian war made from melted weapons of Persian soldiers and dedicated at Delphi. On the right from there is the less visited Museum
Topkapi Palace closes early in the mid-afternoon and fills up fast so if you want to see Istanbul’s most iconic Ottoman palace before the crowds at the gates become unbearable than get there before half ten. It’s 25 Turkish Lire (TL) inside and another 10 TL to see the Harem area which was in my
Istanbul has a wonderfully organised public transport system where with just one card, the Metro Card, you can take the tram, ferries, buses and metro. You can top it up at most shops and the machines at the stations and ports. Also one can be be shared throughout a group perfectly legally. Using Seán’s
We froze, forks halfway to our mouths and halted our conversation as the sundown prayers were called out in song through the city evening. The restaurant, a tourist favourite, kept on bustling. A haunting echo sang back from the city in reply. That morning that we had sleepily left our house and now we were sitting
“I’m sorry madam; you’re going to have to check that bag in. There is a fifty euro charge.” There is a reason everyone hates Ryanair. Call me madam one more time, go on I dare you… Okay so it was not the most promising start to a holiday ever but despite being fifty euro out
We didn’t have long to stay in Glasgow. I regretted not allowing more time for Scotland in hindsight. I definitely want to organise another trip to Scotland some time this summer, maybe even take in some of the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. if I can get some kind of a job. Glasgow has a bad reputation.
