By Roger Allnutt The large Mediterranean island of Corsica has had a turbulent history over the centuries, even up to the 1970s with its fiercely patriotic inhabitants calling for independence from France. Corsica has a strong connection with Napoleon Bonaparte who was born and raised in Ajaccio, the major city on the island. Bonaparte spent […]
By Roger Allnutt In the past decade or so Macau, the former Portuguese enclave on the south coast of China near Hong Kong, has undergone a dramatic transformation. On the one hand the slower paced and historic elements of the territory (it reverted to China in 1999) together with a definite European and Chinese feel […]
By Joanne Thomas In a town like Santa Cruz, where tourism revolves around the beach, the surf and the Boardwalk, it’s remarkable that there’s only a single hotel – the Dream Inn – claiming a beachfront setting. Since it first opened in the 1970s, the only beachfront hotel in Santa Cruz has promised its guests […]
By Roger Allnutt Most tourists heading to the Philippines fly into the capital Manila and after a couple of days fly out to one of the popular island destinations such as Cebu, Boracay or Palawan. However, the region north of Manila at the northern part of Luzon island is not be missed. An hour’s flight […]
By Roger Allnutt Perched high on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the St Lawrence River in Quebec City, the historic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac hotel must be one of the best known and most recognizable icons in Canada if not North America. Opened in 1893, it was one of the castle-like hotels built by […]
By Roger Allnutt France is a large and amazingly diverse country full of magnificent scenery (just watch the Tour de France on TV for a sample), with a fascinating history, wonderful buildings and some of the best food and wine in the world. Each region of France has much to offer the discerning traveler. One […]
By Roger Allnutt Many travellers to China include Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province and famous for the Terracotta Warrior s as a key part of their itinerary. However there is another province with a similar name Shanxi which lies between Beijing and Xi’an that has many and varied attractions, a number of which are […]
By Roger Allnutt For many Europeans Crete is one of the Greek islands that they flock to in droves to relax in the sunshine at one of the many resorts that line the north coast of the 150-mile-long island. Large hotel complexes and a myriad of apartment blocks are squeezed in along the coast, reddening […]
By Roger Allnutt Five mallard ducks almost upstaged Elvis on my recent visit to Memphis About 80 years ago the manager of the fashionable and very stately Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis introduced a ‘show’ where some ducks paraded out of a lift and across the carpet to plunge into the pool of an ornate […]
By Roger Allnutt Stretching about 1,500 miles along the coast of Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef (there are in fact about 2,900 individual reefs, 300 coral cays and 900 islands) is one of Australia’s premier tourist icons and a ‘must see’ for any visitor. Cairns is a perfect place from which to explore the many […]
By Jon Bogart Palm Springs is in the midst of a major renovation that will transform the city into a cutting-edge capital of shopping, dining, recreation, art appreciation and, of course, golf. Palm Springs has always been known as the “Golf Capital of the World,” boasting a phenomenal number of world-class clubs and golf resorts. […]
By Joann Deutch It’s been my dream to get to the Antarctic for several years now. I was bowled over by my trip to Tromso, a city above the Arctic Circle in Norway, and it only made sense to me that I should also visit below the Antarctic Circle – the time-honored “compare and contrast.” I’m […]
