Author: Brendan

I have come from the north of Italy down to the south, into the heel if you know your geography. I am in Lecce. Nicknamed the Florence of the south, it’s a small city I have been wanting to come to for a while. It has a historical centre full of winding alleys and roads…

With Milan just over an hour away from Turin, it was worth a visit. I’ve been before but there were a few great sites that I had not had the chance to see (or hadn’t known about). First up the church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro. Looks beautiful inside, like so many others I…

Continuing on exploring the grandeur of Turin. While I won’t get to all 14 of the residences from the Royal house of Savoy in the area, I did make out to one of the more opulent palaces and gardens. It was a short train ride away from Porta Susa, the train station I find I…

A short half hour train ride away is the small city of Asti. It may be familiar as a wine growing region -both their red wines including Barbera D’Asti as well as their sparkling wines like Asti Spumante. After reading a bit about it, it seemed like an interesting place to visit and pretty easy…

Up early on a beautiful fall day, so I decided to head across town and up the hill to where there is not only a nice church, it has one of the best viewpoints of Turin as a city. The galleria for a little high end shopping… or catch a film at the Lux Just…

My day started with a quick 20 min train ride to one of the southern suburbs of Turin, where standing high on a hill was Castello Moncalieri and the lovely historical centre that surrounds it. Originally built as a fortress for the Savoys in the 1100s, it was turned into a “pleasure residence” in the…

Turin is quite a grand city. If you look across the city’s history it starts to make sense. Home to the Duchy of Savoy in 1563 and it was Turin that was Italy’s first capital when it was united into a single country. While it only lasted from 1861 to 1865 the remnants of fortifications,…

A spontaneous trip to Belgium. A short 25 minute train ride costing 5 euros and I was in the loveliest small city of Tournai, Belgium. It has a hulking Cathedral with five bell towers and some lovely squares with Flemish architecture.

While Lille isn’t the biggest of cities, it sits within the larger European Metropolis of Lille with a regional population between 1.5-2 million. While I explored most of the historical centre there is lots more to come back one day and explore across the region. And the usual steep and traditional winding French staircase to…

Leave it to British aIrways to provide a most British experience. From “a very good evening to you ladies and gentlemen…” to the newest safety video “May One Haveth one’s Attention”. On the flight from London to Paris: “Sir would you like a scone? A fruit scone or a plain scone? What kind of scone…