Favourite Scottish Places

Okay, this is cheating a bit. This blog is supposed to be mainly about the Czech Republic. But as I've spent quite a lot of time recently compiling favourite place lists for friends - and I'm lazy - I decided to pillage some of these recommendations and use them here. After all, they're travel related, even if the destinations are some distance from Central Europe. I'll be posting the rest of the tips later on.

My first tip is Millport, on Great Cumbrae Island, off the west coast of Scotland. Almost everyone in the West of Scotland has spent some time in the little resort.  I have vivid memories of a holiday there as a young child (flinging toothbrushes out of the window and gorging on gooseberries to name but two).

I went back while on a visit to Scotland in summer 2009, after a gap of 30+ years.  I was cheered to see how little Millport had changed, even if I felt like Gulliver in Lilliput. Many Scottish resorts have clearly had it and are looking depressingly shabby. Yet Millport thrives and is still the kind of place that could grace the cover of a Ladybird book, with a pleasantly retro atmosphere to match. And where else can you find a bike hire and bike hire-cum joke shop on the main street?

The done thing is to hire a bike from one of the aforementioned emporia and do a circuit of the island; the views to Arran, Bute and Cowal are spectacular. Once you’re back on dry land, in Largs, you have to visit Art Deco Nardini’s, a West of Scotland institution, for ice cream, preceded by a fish tea. The famous Nardini dynasty used to own it until a family feud several years ago, resulting in the closure of this much-loved restaurant. Now it’s back, I'm happy to say, run by another west of Scotland ice cream dynasty. On the way back from Largs, stop off at Haylie Brae, just above the town, for stunning views of Arran and the Firth of Clyde. A great day out.

Finding good accommodation

I often find myself advising people on accommodation or places to eat, visit, etc. in Prague, and I've decided to post some tips on this blog as a sort of handy hints guide. Accommodation is usually the biggest expense on a holiday and finding good accommodation in the city centre of Prague can be a real headache. Demand is obviously extremely high, and many people only consider hotels. However, self-catering, or vacation rental, depending where you come from, is another option worth considering. Such accommodation can be like a real home rather than an anonymous hotel, and you have more freedom to come and go as you please in comparison to a hotel. One such agency I can recommend in Prague is Bohemia Apartment, which offers superbly located accommodation all in Prague city centre. The properties are suitable for families or groups and offer a comfortable and convenient alternative to hotels. So next time you're booking a holiday in Prague, thinking why not consider self-catering? www.bohemia-apartments.com

Here we go again.....

It's not a brilliant record so far - 3 posts in 3 years. I always seem to start off well and then things rapidly come to an ignominious halt. But now .that I'm a freelancer again (journalist/copywriter/translator among other things), it's imperative that I keep writing. It's a no brainer. Anyway, I recently got back from Riga and Vilnius (via Warsaw and Minsk) so of course there's lots to write about. This must be, I think, my third foray into the blogging world, and I hope it will be a never ending journey rather than just a foray. So let's see how it goes.

FIRST POST

"Is there anything, apart from a really good chocolate cream pie and receiving a large, unexpected cheque in the post, to beat finding yourself in a large foreign city on a fair spring evening....? I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city." Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There

Well, here it is at last - my travel blog. Travel is one of my biggest interests. I never tire of experiencing other cultures, customs, landscapes and languages. I find the sense of freshness and newness of an unknown destination (and of a known destination too) exhilarating, and the above quote sums up my feelings very succinctly. I therefore really enjoy writing about the places I've travelled to and trying, as best as I can, to describe my reaction to them. For some reason it's taken me ages to actually set up a blog about travelling. Maybe it's because of time demands, and the fact that when once I get started writing I can't stop. And I've travelled to a lot of places over the years so I have lots of material to draw on.
I'm also aware that it's a new year, a time of making resolutions and trying to be faithful to them. I'm not very good at keeping New Year resolutions but writing about travel is something I enjoy so maybe that will make sticking to my goal much easier. Unfortunately, I suspect it won't, but I will try. Last year was a particularly interesting year, as I visited two European capitals I know quite well - Berlin and Vienna - and two for the first time - Bucharest and Rome. I also spent some time in Transylvania, one of the most fascinating places I've travelled to, but also one of the most difficult to describe. But I'll start with Romania, and see where I end up after that....