After leaving my car in underground parking by the cathedral, I dropped off my backpack at Hotel Sauce in Old Town. There is an attached cafe/coffee shop that has good breakfast and delicious bakery items. I started my sightseeing with the Puente de Piedra and Los Leones. I walked across the bridge for great views of Old Town on the opposite side. You can get excellent photos of the Basilica of Our Lady and the Cathedral of Salvador. I went…
I stayed in the lovely Hotel Palacio de Valderrábanos Ávila, a gorgeous 14th c palace. This was inside the city walls so I parked outside at their recommended lot. The hotel is on the Plaza de Catedral. I started my city visit with the magnificent 12th c gothic Cathedral. It included an audio guide. At the end of the tour they had VR headsets in 4 languages showing Avila, the cathedral, and the city walls when the cathedral was first…
I only spent one night in Salamanca. I stayed at the Ibis Salamanca. It was better than the Ibis in Brussels, you could actually move around the room and bath without turning sideways. They had a good breakfast buffet, also. I arrived mid-morning and headed right out to explore old town after getting a good map from the concierge. I started in Plaza Mayor. A big beautiful busy place, there are many restaurants, pastry shops, stores. I picked up a few…
I’ve been wanted to see the Basque region of Spain plus make a visit to Andorra. So I pulled out my maps and my 1000 Places to See Before You Die book and read up on other sites in Spain. I was going to visit Caceres, Salamanca, Avila, Zaragoza, then Andorra. Back into Spain I was going to see San Sebastian-Donostia, Bilbao, and Leon before stopping at Braga, Portugal on my way back to Lagos. It was a lot of…
Taking the train from Ghent, I went right to my hotel, the IBIS Brussels City Center, to store my backpack. It was a convenient location but the rooms were very tiny and the bathroom worse. I definitely do not recommend; I think most of the IBIS hotels have very small rooms. Recommendations My first morning in town I found the Banksy Museum and spent about 90 minutes here enjoying his art before picking up lunch and going to my afternoon…
I had a morning walking tour, History and Legends of Ghent, scheduled my first day in Ghent so took an early train from Bruges then went directly to Cours Saint George to drop off my backpack. The reception didn’t look great but the room was fine. Very large and comfortable. Our tour guide was informative and friendly. We started at St. Michael’s Bridge and walked along the Leie canal and the Korenlei neighborhood. We heard about the old tax house,…
I had a direct flight from Lagos to Brussels then took the train from the airport to Bruges the first night. I recommend the SNCB app for purchasing tickets; it was very easy. I wasn’t quite sure for the first train about buying online since I thought tickets were for a specific time. I wasn’t sure how long it would take from my gate to the train station so bought this first ticket using the machines, once I arrived at…
I went to New Orleans a few years ago specifically to visit the National WWII Museum and I planned my trip to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches. I could have wandered on my own but wanted a guide, both for more information and to visit additional WWII sites beyond the beaches. I found this site for a private tour: D-Day Tours of Normandy. I booked the 3-day US based tour. I highly recommend this company; it’s run by Malcolm…
I went to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches but there is so much more to see here. I wish I had booked additional time to see more of the small towns like Saint-Lô or driven up to Cherbourg and the Cotentin peninsula. I stayed in Bayeux, at a lovely but overpriced hotel. Bayeux Bayeux Tapestry Museum The tapestry is over 900 years old, is 70 meter long and 50 cm wide. It depicts the Norman conquest of England in…
I’ve been wanting to visit Malta for years. There is so much amazing history here, in the Crossroads of the Mediterranean. Early settlements date back to 5900 BCE. I looked at just visiting Valletta, but wanted to see more of both islands so found a package, a guided small group tour “Malta and Gozo Discovery”, via Explore. We spent five nights on Malta in Sliema, but didn’t have a lot of free time in Valletta and there was more I…