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Tarraco

Short Spanish trips, Sun, 16 Aug 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Spain

Cenral MarketForumForumTheatreCircusCircusAmphitheatre The Baron is just small enough to fit into the underground car parks, but sometimes it is really ‘just’. This time, poor Baron got his back scratched a little, and was not happy. Parked, we moved to town …

A More Listed Monastery

Short Spanish trips, Sat, 15 Aug 20
Jemma and Simon at a Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Spain

We started the trip quite late, following a Polish drinking party the previous night. Too much alcohol we brought from Poland, needed to go. So we only really left after noon. Luckily, the Poblet Monastery only opens at 3pm for …

Colònia Güell

Short Spanish trips, Sun, 09 Aug 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, Spain

Sunset and Sunrise in Montserrat

Short Spanish trips, Sat, 01 Aug 20
Jemma and Simon at a Mountain, Temple in Europe, Spain

1 August 2020 Santa Cecilia monasteryThe Monstrosity of MontserratThe Monastery of MontserratThe miraculous figureErmita de Sant BenetSant JeroniSant JeroniSant JeroniGoat! The day didn’t start well. When we finally left Barca, it was not in the best moods. It’s good we …

Cute overload

The long return, Wed, 08 Jul 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, France

Oh my gods was this the right spot to stay for the night! First of all, we started the day right next to a beautiful little stream, having our tea and breakfast on a stone in a middle of it. …

Sorbian

The long return, Tue, 30 Jun 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, Germany

We then drove to Bautzen. Magda recommended this town as it’s the most important cultural centre for the Sorbs. We walked into the town centre and were hoping to find a café that had WiFi, as Simon had to make …

The City and the City

The long return, Mon, 29 Jun 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, Germany, Poland

After spending a couple of hours wandering around the Muskauer Park, we jumped back in the van and headed to our next destination: Görlitz. This is a really interesting place, again on the border with Poland. It is adjacent to …

Architectural trespassing

The long return, Sun, 07 Jun 20
Jemma and Simon at a Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, France

Randomly saw a sign for Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut on the way! Crazy lucky, we didn’t even think we’ll be stopping anywhere on the way, but this just had to be done! But alas, when we arrived, the …

Lockdown is lifted! Time for soul?

Short Spanish trips, Mon, 25 May 20
Jemma and Simon at a Temple in Europe, Spain

Barcelona life

Lived here!, Sat, 01 Feb 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Museum, Park, Sea, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Spain

Got there – Never again!New Home!OK, really new homeSanta EulaliaFestival de Santa EulaliaFestival de Santa EulaliaScrap bookshelfCarnival!Carnival!The Last BirthdaySun in lockdownWork in lockdownShopping in lockdownPartying in lockdownPartying in lockdownFestivals in lockdownDining in lockdownCamping anniversary in lockdownFIRST DAY OUT!!!FIRST DAY OUT!!!FIRST …

Grandma visit before we leave

Moving out of Edinburgh, Sun, 26 Jan 20
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, UK

The Glass of Tours

Baron in Italy, Sun, 22 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a Temple in Europe, France

We set off to clean at a reasonably nearby swimming pool. Pretty basic, with done slides dated 1988, but it did the job. Jemma was so happy to be clean! But guess what was on our way a bit further …

Howling night

Baron in Italy, Sun, 22 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a Temple in Europe, France

We decided to say no to more paid motorways. Having spent almost €100 over the last couple days, it just started seeming like the cheap van life is anything but cheap… So, no more toll roads for us. After more …

Pissing in Pisa

Baron in Italy, Fri, 20 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

We had a solid sleep this morning – the far corner of the bus station car park has been wonderfully quiet. We got our supplies packed, including the pad and headphones (so prepared!) for yet another work call. Despite the …

The Dome

Baron in Italy, Thu, 19 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

We had a slower start to this day with packing up our stuff from the Airbnb and a work phone call. I also lost one of my favourite earrings on the way to our first stop and we retraced our …

Too much art

Baron in Italy, Wed, 18 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

Early start this morning – lots to see! First stop was the Uffizi gallery. This place is so vast! We started off thoroughly looking at all the Roman sculptures at the beginning of the gallery, but after 4 hours there, …

Raphael’s a dime a dozen

Baron in Italy, Tue, 17 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

Another delicious lazy morning with waking up in a proper bed! We were clearly super tired from traveling and didn’t get up until 10am, but headed out for sightseeing soon afterwards. Florence is so full of amazing things to see, …

Mosaics

Baron in Italy, Sun, 15 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

After the short drive from our parking spot, we arrived in Ravenna. We were amazed at the hugeeeee powerplants we passed on our way here and then by some of the really ugly buildings in the town – I guess …

The Tired and the Dead

Baron in Italy, Sat, 14 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a Castle, City, Graveyard, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

Waking up today was great, because the sun is back! How great to open the Baron’s door and see sunshine flood into our bedroom. Took a lovely chilled morning, with a proper tea and breakfast, even read the news! Only …

Bolognese in the Snow

Baron in Italy, Fri, 13 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Museum, Temple in Europe, Italy

Aww yes, waking up in a proper bed and having another shower. So glorious! Annoyingly we had to walk back out to the edge of the city to offload our rucksacks in the van, and walk back into town. The …

More galleries!

Baron in Italy, Thu, 12 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Museum, Temple in Europe, Italy

From here, trouble started. Bologna doesn’t allow older diesel cars in. Normally we would qualify as the Baron is reasonably young, but today there is a smog alert and no diesels are allowed in at all! How useful that, having …

The Views

Baron in Italy, Thu, 12 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a Temple in Europe, Italy

Getting to Bologne turned out to be hard. We aimed for the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, which is a bit out of town, situated on a hill and with a beautiful panoramic view. But that we did …

Night time in Modena

Baron in Italy, Wed, 11 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

We arrived to Modena around 7pm and spent the first half hour looking for a parking spot. Figuring out Italian parking rules is hard and not make easier by the system of ridiculously narrow one way streets and a complete …

The erotic palace (no tea)

Baron in Italy, Wed, 11 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a Castle, City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

The trip from Verona to Mantua is very short, and the view of the town is magnificent once you get there. Surrounded by a river bend, Mantua just didn’t grow that much since the Renaissance and seems like it’s completely …

Zeno is great

Baron in Italy, Wed, 11 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, Italy

We had a lovely sleep by a park where is city walls used to be. The nights are getting warmer, have to say! Before leaving Verona we saw one more church – and it was definitely worth staying for! St …

In (the city of) love

Baron in Italy, Tue, 10 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

Verona is wonderful! We arrived at around 11am. Firstly, we visited Verona Arena, an amazingly preserved Roman amphitheatre. It was so cool and had great views of the surrounding city and Alps in the distance. Next we walked to Piazza …

Better in Brescia

Baron in Italy, Mon, 09 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

We spent this morning seeing some of the beautiful churches of Brescia. Firstly, the New Cathedral. I really liked this church as the interior lacks all of the gold & gaudy baroque decor. Next to this is the Old Cathedral, …

So so in Brescia

Baron in Italy, Sun, 08 Dec 19
Jemma and Simon at a Castle, City, Museum, Ruins/Excavation, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Italy

Today was a day of misunderstandings. We left Aprica in the morning and got to Brescia before noon, taking in some awesome mountain and lake views on the way. It took a while to find a parking spot – this …

The Pilgrimage

Moving out of Edinburgh, Fri, 20 Sep 19
Jemma and Simon at a Temple in Europe, UK

Salisbury Cathedral

Moving out of Edinburgh, Fri, 20 Sep 19
Jemma and Simon at a Temple in Europe, UK

Coventry Cathedral

Moving out of Edinburgh, Wed, 18 Sep 19
Jemma and Simon at a City, Temple in Europe, UK

Kraków

Double Parents Extravaganza, Wed, 24 Jul 19
Jemma and Simon with Bruce, Iwona, Jacek, Jane at a Castle, City, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Poland

Hundreds of dwarves

Double Parents Extravaganza, Mon, 22 Jul 19
Jemma and Simon with Bruce, Iwona, Jacek, Jane at a City, Temple in Europe, Poland

Sacrilegious

Short UK trips, Thu, 14 Mar 19
Jemma and Simon at a Castle, Temple in Europe, UK

‘Staff exchange’ in Valencia

Conference Trips, Short Spanish trips, Sun, 03 Mar 19
Simon at a City, Park, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Spain

Town centre and figures for the Fallas Full of street art La Lonja de la Seda Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias Park and beach

Heretic and Hetera

Conference Trips, Fri, 20 Jul 18
Simon at a City, Lake, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Germany

Visited as part of the Diversity in Europe conference

The last sunset

Diamond Carnival, Thu, 22 Feb 18
Simon at a City, Museum, Temple, UNESCO site in Brazil, South America

I arrived to Salvador as planned, 6:30am, after a night of reasonably decent sleep – as good as one can expect from sleeping on a bus. After checking in to my AirBnB, I set off to spend a day walking …

The Night

Diamond Carnival, Tue, 13 Feb 18
Simon at a City, Temple in Brazil, South America

Tonight is the main parade night. Well, the one I got a ticket for, the parades have been going since Friday. But everywhere I read said this one is best, so high expectations!  I got up late, which is wonderful. …

Some city!

Diamond Carnival, Tue, 06 Feb 18
Simon at a City, Park, Temple in Brazil, South America

Is really cold today, one of the people at the uni made a point of remarking about it when I came in at 10:30. It’s 22°C. My kind of people! Entrance to the Uni Today was another day of university …