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Catalyst
2022 has been a strange year; my life pivoted in July when I hit an age I never imagined I could be; 70! Then I encountered a much younger man and became madly infatuated with him. He was beautiful, sensitive and so open emotionally. At 70 I never expected such an intense sexual relationship. Older…
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My month in Florence
This has been a wonderful month and what I have learned is how exceptional people, particularly the young on the threshold of the new, can be. My “classmates ” took me to their hearts and I have made so many chance encounters with random strangers who were open to friendship and discussion on every aspect…
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Orvieto, Lucca e Firenze … a catch up
Last Sunday I visited the charming hilltop town of Orvieto. It was pleasant to wander around the flea market and the shops. The Cathedral is really lovely and the town is quaint with many little backstreets. This week I enjoyed my classes and went out with my new friends most days. I also visited an…
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Bellissima Monteriggioni
Today I took a bus ride through the lovely Tuscan countryside to this perfect little hilltop town. Set amidst olive groves, vineyards and rolling green hills it is difficult to describe its qualities. The walls were constructed in the 1220s and the town was a defensive stronghold for the Republic of Siena against its perpetual…
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Stibbert Museum Florence
After completing an excellent week of classes this afternoon I took a long walk to the hills outside Florence and the Stibbert Museum. Beautiful views of the city and a lovely garden. The museum was created by a wealthy English man and donated to the city of Florence at his death. This is the fruit…
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Exploring the beauty of Nice in autumn
I arrived in a sunny and warm Nice … today is overcast but still pleasant. I took a walk to two museums epitomising French Post Impressionism… Musee Matisse and Musee Chagall. Both wonderful; Matisse exhibiting his joy and exuberant line and colour; Chagall his deep spirituality and symbolic engagement with his inner world. I enjoyed…
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Theatre Picasso Exhibition at Tate Modern
Although not a favourite of mine I admire his inventiveness, imaginative qualities, curiosity and eclecticism and this was a fascinating exhibition bringing to the public gaze the Tate’s collection of the most significant painting and drawings by the artist in the collection and exploring performance and ambiguity in Picasso’s work. Looking at the spectrum of…
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Dungeness and Derek Jarman’s cottage
Derek created his wonderful garden on the shingle at Dungeness. He was s great director of queer cinema, queer activist as well as an artist and poet. Dungeness can be wild and desolate in winter but balmy on a sunny day. The cottage, once a fisherman’s hut is one of many now renovated as rather…
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A birthday trip to Great Dixter Sussex
One of my favourite gardens: wild, overflowing borders full of hot colours, little pathways, archways and topiary. A wonderful collection of rare and beautiful perennials and shrubs in an anarchic arrangement set against the backdrop of a wonderful Wealden house remodelled by Lutyens. The creation of the talented Christopher Lloyd.
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RA Summer Show 2025
Kate and I took our usual annual visit to the RA. We usually have a great time and this year was no exception. We’re pretty sceptical and often play “zeitgeist bingo” which entails choosing a few themes we think will be well represented. This year it was “sheds”, “urban decay”, and “animals”. We were pretty…
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An afternoon with Bloomsbury
Charleston Farmhouse was, from 1916, the hub and retreat of the Bloomsbury Group where artists Vanessa and Clive Bell and Duncan Grant entertained a glittering array of artists and intellectuals: Roger Fry who championed Post Impressionism in the UK, Lytton Strachey, economist Maynard Keynes, E.M Forster, Dora Carrington and Vanessa’s sister Virginia Woolf in a…
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Leaving Florence … home tomorrow… trains and boats and buses … no planes
Well my journey is close to the finish! Two months, 10 countries, 25 towns and cities , many new friends and 1000 experiences. I have spent two days here in Florence visiting old haunts and old friends. Now I’m waiting to get my train to Milan where tomorrow I hope to start my one day…
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Back in Rome … speeding home
A pleasant train journey through Puglia to Rome and a hostel I stayed in a couple if years ago; it’s still great. Expensive (I could stay a week in Albania fir the same price) but it’s Rome and worth it. Of course it’s busy here, it’s a Jubilee year and a new pope too so…
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Bari
I arrived in Bari yesterday morning after a peaceful overnight crossing on the ferry. Arriving in Bari was not so straightforward as just as I reached passport control the system went down so I had to wait an hour before they approved manual entry. Schengen were waved through but I needed my passport stamped for…
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The villa of King Zog at Durres … disintegrating dreams
This was a haunting place. Built by King Zog, short–lived king of Albania in the 30s, as a place for receptions and as a summer retreat he only enjoyed it for a year before he was deposed. Walking through the derelict rooms echoes of the interwar years whispered of cocktails, jazz, parties, intrigue and politics.…
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Durres … a seaside town and Albanian politics
I arrived in Durres this morning having ditched bus and train travel … there are no trains and after six weeks the buses with a rucksack were too complicated … so a cheap taxi! Durres is a port city and with its spacious city square and palm trees seems, at first sight, more cosmopolitan than…
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Tirana … old and new
The contrast between Ohrid and here couldn’t be greater. Ohrid: charm, the lake, calm. Tirana: noisy, intense, and impenetrable. A city of crumbling buildings against the modern civic area of Government departments where new high rises go up apace … there is some good modern architecture. My arrival was not without trauma. My hostel no…
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Ohrid … a discovery
It surprises me continuously that there are so many unexpected and hidden beauties in what at first sight appear to be nondescript countries. Ohrid is one such. Macedonia, mountainous and often overlooked suddenly reveals a totally different character here. Sunny, expressive, glittering. This morning I went out early, both to escape the crowds and the…
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Walking in Skopje
I’ve just taken a long walk through the city. Now I’m sitting in a cafe with coffee and baklava pretentiously reading L’Etranger. But in fact I don’t feel pretentious; rather I feel a little as if I’m finding more of myself. I’ve come to Camus a little late in life but he seems to be…
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Skopje: boats, caves, cable cars,views
I arrived in Skopje yesterday evening. The hostel is charming, family run and an enjoyable waik away from the city centre, lying in the hills with tree lined streets and a pleasant garden. After a good nights sleep I decided on a tour to some of the sights out of town so I took the…
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The last of Thessaloniki
It’s still and quiet here in the monastery courtyard. A dog barks, swallows wheel above; peacocks scream and doves murmur; a cat passes. time to reflect, contemplate and meditate. Now to make my way North and home.
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Morning thoughts
Sitting on the terrace this morning listening to swallows and squabbling crows in the sun and thinking aboout my next destination I realise how fortunate I am to be able to do this. The places I have seen that I never imagined I would encounter and the people I’ve met are something I won’t forget.…
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Meteora… an incredible experience
Today was something I will never forget. These photos will not do Meteora justice. A three hour drive took us past a snow-capped Mount Olympus to Meteora in Central Greece. Home to 24 monasteries built on vertiginous precipices in the remote region of Meteora. In greek it means “between the earth and the sky”. Isolated…
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Thessaloniki … Cats, churches, monks and monasteries
So today I was out early in my usual search for coffee. Success; not Starbucks. I was on a mission to visit as many of the Byzantine churches included in the UNESCO list for Thessaloniki. I managed nine of the 14. They are rather wonderful. They date from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries and…
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Plovdiv … Ottoman houses and the remains of Philippopolis
Another great day with visits to more Roman sites with Volcan. Plovdiv was anciently settled in neolithic times but the Roman occupation began in the first century when the city was called Philippopolis. There are remains of the stadium(some under the local H&M!), the forum, the East Gate and the beautiful amphitheatre. Despite my fear…
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What’s great about Plovdiv?
I arrived here by minivan this morning. An easy trip which dropped me five minutes from this fabulous hostel in a mid nineteenth century listed house right in the centre of the old town. The room is beautiful and I have an antique bed with painted headboard … I feel like a king or a…
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Long days journey into night … and day … Sofia
Well I arrived in Sofia after a gruelling six hour overnight bus ride, I’ve been awake for 30 hours. Now I’m in the hostel but I arrived 5.30am and couldn’t register until 2.00 pm. I left my bags and toured the city for breakfast, being Easter Monday not much was open so was left with…
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Bucharest … a day of revelation
This has been an amazing day … two day trips exploring Bucharest’s turbulent past and its effect on the city and its development from medieval times to the present. My guides are passionate about their city and unflinching in exploring it with us. A trip through Bucharest’s history This mornings guide was Stefan who lead…
Escape to myself
Travelling to reconnect
Escape to myself 