A triplet of historically appropriate greetings from the next stop on our travels – Zaragoza, the capital of the province of Aragon. And what a surprising little gem this place is. While not likely to replace a number of Spain's tourist hotspots, Zaragoza is a quiet achiever, and we have had little difficulty occupying ourselves during our five days here, albeit we have not been going at it at a cracking pace either; like the town we have been quietly achieving. Within our first 15 minutes here we were introduced to the main elements that define Zaragoza – from our arrival at the huge Delicias transport intermodal (aptly described in the guidebooks as “Space age but sterile”), our taxi ride past the Aljaferia castle – the northern stronghold of the muslim empire built before the Alhambra ... read more

And so we are in Madrid, and apart from transiting through Barajas airport it is 14 years since we were last here, when we spent a full month in this marvellous city; this time we have just over two weeks here, plus a couple of nights when we return before flying home. Our thoughts before returning to Madrid have revolved around the question as to whether we would like it as much as we did in 1997, or would we discover that our impressions had been filtered and softened (possibly enhanced) through the passage of time so that only the fond bits remained. Fortunately for us it is still a wonderful city, and as the title of this post suggests some things are very much the same, and some quite different, reflecting how those intevening 14 ... read more

An early landing on a crisp Sydney morning that hints at the arrival of autumn, a fact that is confirmed as we look out from our balcony at home to see yellowing leaves and already bare trees. How different from the scene one month ago when we left, and a sharp counterpoint to the green leafiness of the northern spring we’ve just experienced during our travels. These signs of growth and decline spark a recollection in me of some lines from Wallace Stevens’ poem “The Comedian as the letter C” …. What was the purpose of his pilgrimage, Whatever shape it took in Crispin's mind, If not, when all is said, to drive away The shadow of his fellows from the skies, And, from their stale intelligence released, To make a new intelligence prevail? ….and makes ... read more

We have left the coast and Liguria behind and have now entered Tuscany, to spend four days in the lovely little town of Lucca - a BIG thank you to Brendan for alerting us to this gem. It is not a particularly touristy town, and there aren't lots of must-do sights to see, however we are enjoying the opportunity to drop back a couple of gears after Rome and the Cinque Terre to just simply be for a short while. So we find ourselves wandering Lucca's little winding streets which hold surprises, not as grand as those of Rome, but still delightful in their own way. Lucca boasts Italy's best preserved city walls, four kilometres in length and up to 30 metres wide in parts, with a walking/cycling path and extensive plantings of plane and chestnut ... read more

Yes that inevitable time has come for us to unsettle ourselves at Chiavari, pack our bags and leave Rome to head north. So what are our impressions and recollections of the Eternal City at this time? For me, they are best expressed in the Centrale Montemartini “museum” where roman sculptures (the cast offs from the Capitoline museum, but as cast offs go they are pretty amazing) are wonderfully displayed in a 1920's modernist style electricity generation station. Although separated in time by two millenia the two sit very comfortably together, and really do create something that is greater than the sum of their parts. Layer upon layer upon layer, that uses and abuses, builds on and demolishes, appropriates, adapts and adopts what has gone before, not only in the physical and architectural environment, but in the ... read more