Inspiring Travels

There's something about a road trip that is different to a planned destination when you go on a vacation. I think its the freedom of having the ability to get in that car and not really know exactly where you are heading - it gives you the sense of exploration and the ability to change your direction depending of how you feel and what you see. There's nothing like it - its part of the joy of travelling and exploring - where you see some little gem of a destination that you may never have even heard of, or, it may have been a little dot on a map - and you just think, "you know what, lets just stop here" and it turns out to be something amazing. Giving you memories unplanned . This happened many times of our recent trip around Spain and Portugal. The driving leg from Madrid to Lisbon had us discovering  Trujillo in the region of Extremadura. Plaza Major The Plaza Major, when lit at night is said to be the most beautiful in all of ...

Ole to Madrid – what’s with the big paper Mache heads?? Arriving in Madrid the weekend of the Fiesta de San Isidro was not something we had planned but could not have worked out better. This is just one of many Fiestas celebrated throughout the year.     This city really put on a show for us but I get the feeling it’s really always like this – full of people young and old, fun and laughter. This is a really friendly place.    An easy metro ride and we were in the thick of things!  On our first night landing in Spain and raced to our tapas and history tour with   Devour Tours   which I had pre booked and I cannot recommend these guys enough. The tour leader Oliver was super passionate about the city, the food, history and culture of Spain and Madrid; you will not get a more in-depth and interesting insight tour like this anywhere else. (and I have been on a few!).  The tour took us though the main areas in th...

One of things that inspired me to make Spain my next destination was 'The Way of St James' or you may know it as 'Il Camino'. Its been called by many names but the pilgrimage though Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela has been something that has drawn me for many years to this region. If you have walked the Camino, I would love to hear your story, but for this trip, I will be exploring the country and hope this journey will inspire me to come again and complete my walk. A Book that also inspired this travel was by Dee Nolan titled 'A food lovers pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela'. A beautiful book highlighting the beauty and culture of the way of St James. Some of the places I plan to include in this journey around Spain and Portugal include: Barcelona Madrid San Sebastián San Sebastián Lisbon Oporto and the Douro Valley Douro Valley Portugal There are so many amazing things to see - so to help me decide I us...