Michael’s favourite was the kitchen! A huge stone room containing not two but three massive 6-foot wide stone fireplaces. The kitchen was built in 1530 and constantly remodeled & expanded upon. Interestingly, it was built directly adjacent the dining room – unusual for those times as the kitchens would often catch fire and burn down!

But I’ll stop there and let the pictures show you!

Yes, yes and yes!

Walking out the airport doors at 00:30 – that’s half-past-midnight – we were greeted with a full-face blast of Scandinavian winter. 12 inches of snow, ice on the roads, beards turning into icy messes, Helsinki had it all.

Terrible photo, but at the bottom there’s a thermometer that reads -10 °C

Leaving the hotel the next morning, we discovered some blokes out ice-fishing on the frozen waters of the Gulf of Finland right out the front of the hotel. I wasn’t game to head out on the ice yet, so we were content to watch from the shore. [The timidity is out of character, right? This is why –M]

What do you do in the frozen north? Rug up in 5 layers and explore, of course!

Kat showing me how it’s done up to her knees in snow

Cafés, we discovered, take on a new importance in one’s life when it’s actually possible to freeze solid from spending too much time outside! One in particular stands out; the highly-rated Café Engel on Helsinki’s Aleksanterinkatu. Beautiful, simple Finnish food at pretty reasonable (for Scandinavia) prices. Kat enjoyed the local baker’s wares, while I tried out the delicious & traditional Finnish meatballs served with mashed potatoes and lingonberries.

Looking from Senate Square towards the harbour, down Katarlinankatu

After wandering around getting our bearings in the snow-dusted city, we discovered Helsinki’s Christmas market the main square in the shadow of the Tuomiokirkko, the stunning Lutheran Cathedral. It’s a fairly new European city, rebuilt in 1812 by the Tsars of Russia to resemble St Petersburg – I’ll tell you if there’s a resemblance when we visit St Petersburg later this year!

Helsinki’s Lutheran Cathedral, or Tuomiokirkko. Completed in 1852!

Helsinki’s a gorgeous city with cafes, shopping aplenty and a buzzing nightlife in winter, but being a big fan of outdoorsy stuff I bet there’s heaps more to do in summer!

This one’s for our Mums

The Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki

This grand old dame sat regally in the thick snow in the botanic gardens

A cool old Citroen truck forms a cafe in the Christmas Market

A building… of some description

Senate Square

Our method of transport across the Baltic to Tallinn!

Related articles

• Breathtaking Scandinavia – Helsinki (soumyamukherji.wordpress.com)

Row houses in Bruges

Catching the Eurostar from London is a fantastic experience. You board the train in Kings Cross as though you were just popping down to Windsor or across to High Wycombe for the day and in two hours find yourself at Gare du Nord in the centre of Paris! Kat and I were lucky enough to jag a great deal on first-class tickets on the Eurostar to Brussels, and Bruges is accessible via an easy connecting train so we thought, “why not?”

Watching the movie doesn’t prepare you for how medieval the centre of Bruges feels. A canal city with cathedrals, cobbled streets and row houses from the 15^th century, Bruges is easily best-enjoyed by boat. Luckily, there’s any one of a dozen tour boat operators to choose from! Muscling our way through the fat Americans on our boat, we were sprightly and lucky enough to grab the seats at the very back of the boat – meaning we could cuddle up and image we were on a Venetian gondola…

A solid recommendation is a side-trip to Ghent. Much more spacious than Bruges, Ghent boasts incredible architecture, even-more-beautiful canals and Gravensteen Castle – a perfectly preserved castle that’s well worth a peek.

That red-brick alleyway!

Just up the road we spotted a red-brick alleyway that looked like it hadn’t been touched since the 17^th century!

Pictures paint the picture better than my words can, so here goes:

The dock where the boat cruise departs

Row houses in Bruges

Who doesn’t love a bit of edible boob?

Epic cake!

The cathedral in Ghent

Another beautiful Gothic cathedral in Ghent

More of Ghent’s amazing architecture

The Gravensteen Castle, the seat of parliament in Ghent for the Courts of Flanders

Check out the fella in the water! A statue of Neptune

I thought this was a beautiful shot of Ghent

The headquarters of the socialists in Ghent

More intricate Gothic architecture

What was this shop selling?

Sheer speed, the high-speed Eurostar on the way home

Looking towards Simena island & castle

While visiting Turkey with Javi and Alexa, we were lucky enough to find another Turkish woman who could speak great English. Through her we discovered our host, Mehmet, had a 15 metre boat and was offering to take us out on a cruise to the Sunken City for a full day! Unexpected, but absolutely welcome – I’d been hoping we’d find time to go out on a boat and explore some of Turkey’s gorgeous coastline.

Mehmet arrived, full of beans at 10am sharp, ready to take us into town and buy some local fish & produce to cook us for lunch. After buying bags full of beer, vegies & very fresh fish we jumped back in the car and headed for the marina. While Mehmet got the boat ready, the girls discovered some cute little puppies that the owner of the bar opposite was more than happy to let them play with. Very cute!

Mehmet’s boat

Soon we heard the chugging of a diesel and spotted a white boat amongst cloud of black smoke rounding the bend of the inlet with a grizzled old Mehmet with a smile a mile wide at the wheel. Despite our fears we jumped aboard and soon found the smile was contagious. Javi and I were like little kids, clambering all over the boat and enjoying the sun on the front deck. The girls (sensibly) kept to the shade out the back! Mehmet had promised us a few stops along our route. He’d explained to us that “we see castle, see city in water, we lunch, we swim place, we go home, ok?” His broken English wasn’t a problem – the surroundings were so beautiful it was hard to feel intimidated. One of the coolest sights was a Giant Turtle, just chilling in the water, but as we got close he blew the ballast tanks and dived. Man, can those big guys move!

On the way to our first stop Mehmet took us to a special spot in Turkey – the ‘Sunken City’. The remnants of houses hewn into the rock are amazing, and the ruins are from a town that was destroyed in the 2nd century!

http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/kekova_simena.htm

Opposite the sunken city we could see a very beautiful island with a castle on top which happily was our next stop - Simena Castle. Despite the heat Javi and I immediately saw the fun in climbing the hill and checking out the view from the top of the castle. Well worth it!

After a dip to cool off and check out the Roman sarcophagi in the water, our captain promised us a great place to have lunch and cook up our feast. I’m not sure what his thinking was, but we ended up tying off to the dock of a failed (and very ruined) resort development! The developers must have gone broke while building, there were wrecked tiles, half-poured concrete and big pits full of stanky water everywhere. It was a bit like the abandoned visitors centre in that dinosaur movie, The Lost World. Heaps of fun!

We swam in the warm waters of the Med, we snorkelled the underwater cliffs of Simena, we feasted on local fish & vegies - amazing. We reboarded the boat after a delicious fish lunch cooked by our effervescent host.

On the way home the nightly thunderstorms developed over the peaks of the mountain all around us. My most vivid memory of this trip is sitting on the front deck watching the flashing lightning and listening to the basso rumble of the thunder rolling down the hills and across the water, and feeling the last of the sun’s October warmth disappear behind the sheets of warm big ’ol fat rain heading towards us… Beautiful.

Coming from England’s 10-degree rain and cold, the 30 degree heat in Antalya agreed with these two Aussies! This was another of those Epic Long Weekend trips where we visited Antalya for a long weekend of only 4 days, but remembering the trip back here in London, I felt like we were there for weeks.

Sunset from Azur Villa

The road from our pensiyon to the Bay

Kat enjoying the sun while I took an early-morning dip at Azur Villa

After flying out on a Friday and arriving late in the afternoon with our friends Javi and Alexa, we were so tired we struggled to figure out where we were when we reached the “pensiyon” (like a hotel, but cheaper!). We stayed in Mond Pensiyon – great location, but there’s much nicer places there for the price. Not knowing the area and looking for a restaurant, we wandered randomly towards a noisy area and found a pretty average restaurant complete with street cats and smoking Turkish men lounging about. The bar we found on the way back to the hotel made up for the average food thought – chockas full of locals, the place was as lively as a beer hall in Munich on a Friday afternoon! The locals were singing, dancing and the Raki was flowing. Definitely try the Turkish liquor, but don’t have a third glass – it gave me a hell of a headache for the 3 hour drive to Demre the next day!

The lookout in Antalya

Kat and I are early risers, so we couldn’t wait to get out and explore Antalya the next morning. In the glorious summer sun we chose a random direction to walk and discovered the most wonderful thing. Antalya’s Old Town is a maze of ancient snaking one-way streets, so we could have ended up anywhere. The travel gods were smiling on us that day, because after 10 minutes of walking down the light-filled sandstone alleyways we discovered a lookout offering the most amazing views across the bay!

Our accommodation was two hours’ drive east from Antalya, just a short way from Demre in Turkey’s south. The villa Alexa and Javi picked was stunning! In a small group of villas on a cliff right above the sea, Azur Villa was a short walk down some steps to find the most amazingly warm water, full of fish and sea life, with gentle waves lapping against the rocks. Paradise! Snorkelling in Turkey was a winner, with fish life swimming around the rocks and a gentle swell keeping everything moving. It was lovely to lie facedown and just breathe, taking in all the sea life below and moving back and forth gently with the movement of the water.

The little kitten living at Azur Villa Alexa named ‘Paul’

Enjoying the warm Med just off the beach of the villa

Azur Villa, (Demre, Kale) in Turkey sports a gorgeous view over the bay!

The entrance to Azur Villa

Dinner one of these balmy nights was on a clifftop a short distance from our villa. Again the place was packed with locals (the international ‘this restaurant is a winner’ sign) and when we asked for the menu, they pointed to the fridge! Best kofte I’ve ever had. This dinner was particularly special because as we dined by candlelight, on a clifftop above a sandy beach, a gentle breeze was blowing in from the sea bringing the scents of the warm water and the pine forests from across the bay. Out to sea we could just make out the mountains in the distance, their mass silhouetted by the constant lightning from the thunderstorms surrounding their peaks, with the occasional peal of thunder announcing their approach. We’d just finished dinner and wow did those heavens open!

I had a big grin on my face the whole time on the boat trip

Our four days in Turkey – true to the Epic Long Weekend philosophy - once again felt like weeks, with all the activities we did along the way and our time spent relaxing. Check out more pictures and this post about the boat cruise. What do you think? Keen to explore Turkey?

Paris.

Ahhh young love on our first wedding anniversary

We had been to Paris together before when we did our massive backpacking trip in 2007; its always a city I’ve felt a bit of a kinship with. Paris is magical – the French are so incredible, and just don’t get me started on the food. Heaven. I could have very easily put on 10kgs during the four days we were there!

What we were not expecting when we made the promises to revisit Paris on our first wedding anniversary to each other were Michael’s family visiting us in London for the month. We had been in London nearly a year at that stage, so happily they planned a visit to come see us and explore some of Europe together. My mother-in-law was born in Gloucester, and had not been back since she moved to Australia as a “ten pound pom” many years ago, so she was well overdue for a visit!

The Pullman clan in Paris

The glass pyramid in front of the Louvre

Since Michael and I have been to Paris before, we were really looking forward to playing the tour guides and showing them around.

This was our first real foray into exploring Montmatre too – so we got to see parts of Paris that we had never seen before and got to re-visit the hostel we had stayed as shoestring backpackers, la rue Republique.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

Cafe au lait, oui?

The fountain at Rue de Seine

A Parisienne view, no?

The Pullman clan in Paris

My favourite photo of my Mum & Dad from this trip -Michael.

The glass pyramid in front of the Louvre

The Moulin Rouge – the red windmill!

The view on the way up Montmartre

Moody Paris waiting to rain on us

The magnificent view from Montmartre

That was our trip to Paris! Thoughts?

the first castle we explored when we arrived in Wales

Michael and I with a view of Colwyn Bay

Back in February 2012, Michael and I caught the train up to Colwyn Bay, Wales. Unlike a lot of people who tend to go to Cardiff to check out what Wales is about, we decided to check out the north of Wales. In winter.  You know, as you do.

The fishing port of Conwy

Michael checking out the Smallest house in Great Britain – or at the very least, in this town… Right on the quay at Conwy so marvellous views of fishing boats.

I’ve always had an interest in Wales. In 2004, I actually travelled around the world with my Mother and Grandmother. As fun as it all was (six weeks does make or break a relationship it would seem!) the amount of people who actually stopped us to talk to my Grandma was quite amazing. Her ancestors were Welsh and apparently she looks a bit Welsh. She’s never been to Wales, so I felt it was a sense of duty of sorts to go and see it, see where my forebears came from – and send her a postcard from this beautiful region.

At the top of Conwy Castle.

What can I tell you about Wales? The names of the towns are all but unpronounceable, the fields are green and full of fat woolly sheep, and the countryside and indeed the main towns are scatted with ruins of medieval castles and fortresses – exactly what I had expected Wales to be like!

Michael and I had a great time trying to actually pronounce this – luckily the English subtitles helped!

Beaumaris Castle – absolutely incredible!

Wales is so steeped in history that’s tied in with the greater part of England’s history.

the beautiful rolling green hills of Wales – made me a bit homesick for home!

the fat woolly sheep – #homesick!!!

The earlier British Kings had made peace with the Welsh, by offering the title of their first born son “the Prince of Wales” who would rule and protect England and Wales fairly. To this day, this is a tradition that continues. In the late 60s, our current Prince of Wales, Charles, was actually invested at Caernarfon Castle – a castle we were fortunate enough to explore. In the fantastic history section inside the castle you can watch the video of  the whole ceremony.

We’ll always remember Llandudno for the wrong reasons. Luckily there is no photographic evidence of this, but over a piece of cake at a lovely waterfront restaurant, I may have inadvertently set fire to a napkin. Luckily, no damage – just a very amused husband and a very red faced me.

We also checked out the beach. To us, in February – the beach is a mecca. Not so much in the Northern hemisphere though….

the beach – but not as we would usually know it!!

The beach – the view is incredible.

We hired a car and drove around northern Wales from our base in Colwyn Bay at the loveliest little b&b – Bryn Holcombe. I especially loved the big bath!

Most amazing tub ever @ Bryn Holcombe B&B

Don’t ask me the names of these towns but what I can say about Wales is in any town you can stumble across some beautiful castles and fortresses – all well and truly a treasure to discover.

We had no plans, we just drove and discovered places randomly. If you are going to Wales, consider just exploring without making any plans – it really made our weekend special.

Wales has so much in store for you. Why not check it out?

An eerie passage way in Caernarfon Castle

Not something that us Southern Hemisphere types are used to doing in January!

Once upon a time, there was a fairytale-like land called Denmark, full of Vikings and Princesses and once home to one of my favourite childhood authors – Hans Christian Anderson. If you’ve read, watched the Disney version or know of the Little Mermaid, the Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, the Emperor’s New Clothes, Thumbelina, The Tinderbox – you know you’re visiting a very charming and beautiful land.

Anyone else recognise this one? I promise this isn’t a photo from Berlin!

They say a man’s home is his castle – this one was breathtaking

Quite possibly the most interesting clock tower I’ve ever seen!

Early last January we decided to have a look around by making an epic weekend of it in Denmark. Jumping on a super early flight out, we left Gatwick bound for Copenhagen. It was so early, it was too early to drink coffee. That’s how early it was.

Enjoying our first snow that winter

The first thing that takes your breath away is the cold. No, really, it wasn’t that bad – but the palaces, the snow gently kissing and melting on your face really makes you feel like you’re a part of an ancient land. Plus, being from down under meant we got a real kick out of playing in the snow and making snow angels as its not something we’re used to!

The first thing we were really preoccupied by though was the food. We wanted something authentically Danish on our first day, and luckily just happened upon a lovely underground cafe where Michael ate herring and Andrew, Paul and myself ate sangas. We watched the snow fall outside. This place seemed to be really popular with the locals, and central to museums so we were lucky to get a table when we did. Check out the Tivoli Hallen when you go

A traditional Danish (savoury) meal

We spent our Saturday afternoon getting lost in the Glyptoteket with artefacts from ancient Greece, Rome – you name it, it was there. Paul spent a better part of the afternoon pointing out paintings, and teaching us about the techniques and varying different types of art.

One of the many beautiful statues inside

One of my favourite paintings – I think by Dega?

Something Paul taught us about – hard to believe but this was all painted!! Amazing, no?

Our Sunday was made so much more awesome by this amazing cake. To this day, I can not remember the actual name of it, but if anyone recognises it please tell me because it was the height of deliciousness!

If anyone out there knows what this cake is called, please tell me!

That same day, we walked around the Amalienborg Palace.

Changing shifts!

We caught a train up to Zeeland, and we were lucky as it was a clear day so we got the hint of the Swedish horizon and checked out the Danish National Gallery.

Oh hello there Sveden!

This sculpture looked amazing at night – it was really pretty and glittery!

Sadly the central theme park in Copenhagen, the Tivoli Gardens, were closed for the winter. I did have a colleague go quite recently and she raved about it – which obviously made me quite jealous and check flight pricing to go back!

Totally recommend going to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. We didn’t get a chance to, and it is a bit out of the way from the centre of the city but I definitely think you should go!

Check out The Antipodean Blog for Andrew’s take on Copenhagen.

Our favourite shot with the Kiwis

Malta’s M’dina, or Old Town from a distance

You absolutely must see the M’dina – Malta’s medina, or Old Town. A walled, moated fortress that’s changed hands many times throughout the ages, we really connected with Malta’s rich past here. Plus – they filmed Game of Thrones here! So it’s totally famous

The gorgeous view of Marsalokk from the hills above. On the way to St Peters’ Pool

By far the best way to get around & see Malta properly is by car. The bus networks are a little confusing and it would mean you’d have to master the names of the villages – with names like Qrendi, Mqabba and Il-Kalkara! Its ok though, when you’re driving the roads are pretty simple – they all lead to the airport. The airport’s in the center of the island which means all the roads radiate out like the spokes of a wheel – meaning we drove past the airport about sixteen times in the two days we were there! For an island that’s only 27km long by 14 km wide, you sure can do some driving. Booking a car is straightforward and pretty cheap (about €60 for two days) – just avoid the big guys like Budget or Hertz and go for one of the smaller, local guys (that’s how I snagged such a good deal for our upcoming trip to Iceland!).

Our chariot for the weekend

You probably don’t know but I’m crazy about cars and I was thrilled to pick up this bright green little number, a bright green Daewoo Kalos.

The poor old girl was pretty beat up – she’s seen more hits than Elvis, The Beatles and Queen combined. This little number got us around Malta in, well, it got us around Malta. Still, it ended up like one of those episodes where the presenters fall in love with the car after only two days.

My Malta must-dos:

St Peter’s Pool
I’m a big fan of swimming where there’s big cliffs and rocks plunging into the water – mostly ’cause I can jump off ‘em into the water! The south-east coast near St Peter’s Pool is awesome for that.

The swimming hole just around the corner from St Peter’s Pool

The colourful fishing boats at a fishing village in Malta, Marsalokk

Lunch in Marsalokk
A charming little fishing village, Marsalokk is definitely worth a look. If you get there early there’s a beautiful (and fragrant) fish market on the pier. Have lunch at one of the pier-side restaurants – against the backdrop of the harbour and the colourful fishing boats it really sums up the Maltese experience.

Head up to the 200m high cliffs at Dingli
The view from these cliffs is superb, the drive is awesome and the beach near Dingli is stunning. ‘Nuff said!

Oh yeah… during the day, there were often sudden bursts of fireworks as if tiny villages were shouting at one another – apparently the villages on Malta take it in turns to host a festival every weekend, and they all try to out-do each other with the fireworks show on the Saturday evening – perhaps they were practicing?

This trip to Malta really proved to me why Kat and I have chosen to see Europe 3 days at a time – we were there only two nights (flew out of Heathrow with Air Malta on Friday night and back on Sunday night) but I honestly felt like we’d been there a week. Loved it!

Here’s the map of places we visited. Like it?

I’m really, really into cars. So into cars that I’ve had more cars than the number of years I’ve had a drivers licence!

Had to share this little photo from what I reckon is London’s best car museum – http://www.londonmotormuseum.co.uk/

They have all sorts – SSX Ultimate Aero and my favourite car, ever – 1998 Viper GTS.

Heaps of pics follow:

Dodge Challenger on some deep dish rims. I fell in love with Challengers at SEMA 2010 in Las Vegas!

The Challenger again

Its Eleanor – 73 Mustang GT500

The ’73 GT500 again

The most priceless car in the collection – the SSX Ultimate Aero. Elmo actually drove this example from London to Concours d’Elegance in France

Very cool AMC Gremlin

Massive Peterbilt Truck

Another gorgeous Mustang

More dumped American muscle

Dumped American muscle

On hydraulics!

Hydraulics again!

The infamous Batmobile