Home in Time for Tea

Sick of the sand? Summer holiday prices too high? Prone to sunburn? Enjoy These Unique & Exciting Swimming Activities for Adventurous & Relaxing Holidays ! From warm alpine thermal waters to a dip in a fresh lake, swimming in places other than the sea offers an exhilarating way to appreciate stunning landscapes, immerse yourself in nature, or just splash around a lot, somewhere new! Some of the most exciting & unusual places to swim that are not at the beach are as follows:   Corsican Vasques Corsica can be extremely hot in the summer and a trip up into the mountains to bathe in a cool natural pool higher up is deservedly refreshing. The natural pools dotted around the island are called vasques and are in such beautiful scenic locations, they are great to visit even if you do get cold feet when you arrive (pun intended - your feet will certainly feel somewhat fresh after dipping them in, as will your entire body when you base-jump from ...

Nice, Cote d'Azur There is nowhere quite like Nice. A sprawl of civilization backed by the beautiful Maritime Alps and framed by the magnificent bright blue Baie des Anges. The Cote d'Azur airport balances on a narrow strip of land at one end of the bay, and the atmospheric old town teems with activity at the other. In between is a city packed full with great opportunities for shopping, eating, sightseeing and more, and a potent fusion of French and Italian culture. It is easy to fall in love with the atmospheric, narrow streets of the old town and how they are at such a contrast with the wide open spaces of other areas in the city. Place Massena for example boasts a bright and enormous square with a fountain and rows of pastel coloured arched buildings, often accompanied by classical musicians somewhere in the space. The Nice  Vielle Ville  (old town) is a joy to wander around with no particular purpose. Just enjoy t...

Random Street Party: Gay Pride in Nice Richard and I arrive at our hotel in Nice on a Saturday afternoon, and following a few wrong turnings in the old town, we find our hotel in a quiet street a few blocks from Place Garibaldi and dump our stuff so we can go out for something delicious to eat in the late afternoon sun. Walking around on the way into the old town we spy a fair few bunches of rainbow balloons, and there seems to be a lot of merriment - more than usual anyway . "I think it's something to do with gay pride you know," I say to Richard as we pass by a particularly colourful rabble of men and balloons on our way to yet another restaurant to assess the menu. "What makes you say that?" He asks, clearly confused at my sudden judgement. "All the rainbow balloons! The gay pride flag is a rainbow." "No - well I haven't seen any gay.... oh!" Richard stops mid sentence and grins. Right on cue a truckload of transvestites an...

With some of the richest culture and history in Europe, and indeed the world, it isn't surprising that  France is absolutely packed with historic sites and medieval towns and villages from top to bottom. So how to choose the best ones? Well you can't, but here are four stunning, perfectly preserved medieval towns and villages perched high on beautiful hilltops in the French Riviera on the Cote d'Azur , which could well be some of the most beautiful in the country... Hilltop Village: Eze Right beside Monaco and the Italian border, Eze has a rich Liguarian and Phonecian history. Its medieval walls are intact and there is one entrance into and out of the village itself. Perched high on a hill, with a vast blanket of blue Mediterranean sea stretching out directly below, it offers the most stunning panoramic views, best appreciated from the botanical cactus gardens right at the very top (around 12 Euros per adult). The tri...