Slivovica is a Serbian grape brandy and it’s the drink of choice of the locals in Kotor, Montenegro, where we’re staying for two weeks. Despite having grown up drinking my Russian grandfather’s homemade vodka, which we called ‘tractor fuel’, nothing prepared me for the burning sensation in my throat from the first tasting of Slivovica. … Read more
Climbing up to Kotor’s Castle Of San Giovanni in Montenegro is best attempted after strolling Kotor’s Stari Grad, which should provide enough of a warm up for a walk up to Tvrđave Kotora or the Castle of St John. Expect stupendous vistas of the fjord and a fabulous birds-eye-view of the Old Town of Kotor, … Read more
This Kotor old town walk consists of a self guided stroll around the Stari Grad or Old Town that we created on our last trip to this mini-Dubrovnik of elegant sandstone Venetian palaces, skinny lanes and sunny squares. One of the best things to do in Kotor is simply to wander the streets of this wonderfully preserved walled old … Read more
A night getting your kicks at the Moulin Rouge in Paris’ red-light district, Pigalle, is a must-do experience for many travellers visiting Paris if the nightly long lines on Boulevard Clichy are any indication. It certainly wasn’t our first trip to Paris – we’d been visiting Paris since way back in 1999 and wrote a … Read more
That couscous could be considered Paris’ quintessential dish by one of the city’s star chefs, that an American tourist told us what she most loved about Paris was its diversity, and that a ban of the full Islamic niqab or ‘burqa’ as the French call it looked set to be introduced, were all things that … Read more