These are the best Christmas markets in Europe for sipping warming glühwein and munching on kartoffelpuffers (potato cakes), for shopping for artisanal Christmas gifts – from old-fashioned, handcrafted, wooden children’s toys to hand-knit woollen scarfs, mittens and beanies – for buying homemade edible souvenirs, such as Christmas cakes, biscuits, honey, and preserves, and for gawking … Read more
Aimed at helping travellers staying in holiday rentals and settling into a place for a while, Price Check is a series of posts in which we reported every two weeks on the prices of groceries at each destination we stayed on our yearlong grand tour. This post is a comparison of our Price Check posts, … Read more
Having just spent our first full winter in Europe, we thought it was time for some reflections on the last four months of our grand tour. Having lived in Sydney for many years, it’s fair to say that winter was of little consequence in Australia. Sure it gets chilly, but you have to drive a few … Read more
The duration of most of our stays on this yearlong global grand tour have been two weeks. Apart from our pre-departure preparations for Grantourismo and a pre-launch sunset soiree in Dubai and the days leading up to our launch party in London, only on two occasions on the trip have we stayed in places for only … Read more
The best Vienna chocolate shops in Austria’s capital range from Demel, the former royal court confectioner, loved by Viennese for its decadent chocolates as much as its Sachertorte to Austria’s more innovative, smaller, boutique chocolatiers, such as Tiroler Edl, available at enormous gourmet emporium of Julius Meinl. Vienna’s chocolate history is long and rich and … Read more