Click on Full View for photos.... We spent quite a lot of time here in the end - especially as we didn't get to Beirut ( don't get me started on that one...) but we did fall in love with this city and the people we met. We stayed in a fab little hotel - the Afamia - ten minutes walk from the old town and the huge souk, and a few minutes walk in the opposite direction to Central - the more modern district, with all the chemists. Important fact, that. Remember it if you go to Damscus - you'll find out why. We stopped every day at a leafy corner cafe, raised up from the pavement - the equivalent of an English pub garden without the booze. We loved that too. And the fact ... read more

Everything I'd read about the Dead Cities said go there at sunset or sunrise, or better yet, go in the winter when the mists rise and experience the full effect of just how eerie cities that were abandoned over 1500 years ago can be....I left Rob in Hama with a stomach bug for company and set off... I, of course, got there at midday - madness in that heat, and not too surprisngly, I was there alone. The taxi driver was hiding in his car, somewhere in the shade. Battering heat, a vicious sun and utter stillness were eerie enough for me, with no sounds other than the ones I was making - far too evocative and spooky, if anything.... Aleppo: Was here only for a few hours, although I had originally planned to stay for ... read more

(17 photos) Cayo Blanca: WOW! Crystal water, white sand, blah blah....not exactly the norm if you live in London! And Varadero, much as I wanted not to go there, was fab in a mindless, just look at the turquoise-sea-and-beach- kind of way. And certainly not over run by thousands of tourists, as I'd expected...all very calm, very friendly and really just fine....... read more

World Heritage Site Trinidad - a fine, half-preserved town on the south Cribbean coast. Not sure what I was expecting, but this was a surprise; small, immensely peaceful and virtually no tourists...there are beautiful, ornate Portuguese-style houses, surrounded by wrought-iron grilles, sitting quietly on sunny empty streets. Walk past an open window and you'll see a still-life: an old rocker, wood smoothed over decades and decades of use, waiting for someone to warm it...a tiny market full of lace and cobbled streets full of people who smile rather than talk - none of the hustle and stridency of markets the world over... It was founded in 1514 by Valazquez and the architecture is a strange - but wonderful - mix of Moorish and Baroque (if that doesn't sound too bizarre!) a town of teracotta roofs and ... read more

Well, got to live somewhere later in life - London is so expensive, it's impossible...However, decided that Crete wasn't for me - unless I wanted to spend my life rebuilding - starting with a roof! And Kate and I had a great holiday, our balcony overlooked the sea and it was great to be back in this part of the world. But house-hunting for later in life is just going to have to wait a bit longer... We loved whizzing around having a look everywhere though - Krista was the village I thought looked most likely for me, but not to be. We grabbed a boat out to Spinalonga - the 'Leper Island', now abandoned - a very still place, surrounded by vivid turquoise sea and lots of remnants of the old Turkish architecture, overlaid with ... read more