B&B Villa Zara, Siena, Italy
The Villa Zara is not in the old town of Siena but on an adjacent elevation. It's quiet, with a lovely garden and the Fortezza Medicea is still only a 15 minute walk away.
Travel & food stories: Baked oysters
In this last part of my short oyster series I'll tell you about baked oysters -- for all of you who can't bear the thought of eating a raw oyster and who simply want to shake things up a
Safety pin — Why every traveler needs one in their backpack
The standard safety pin -- patented in 1849 by American mechanic Walter Hunt -- is one of my favorite gadgets. Here are three uses for it that you might not have thought of:
Travel & food stories: Île d’Aix Oysters
We went to Île d'Aix, a small island, perched between famous Île de Ré in the North and Île d'Oléron on an oyster fisher boat. The guy was a friend of Sophie's and renting the oyster farm that Sophie's family once
Four years
A year ago I said: I never want or write about this again. But a year has passed and, yes, there have been some good news, but two friends are still missing. So, I'll write about it again, even though
Travel & food stories: Oléron Oysters
Oléron oysters is about how a bad night turned
Learning languages with Duolingo
One of the reasons why I designed Walking Home to cross France was to improve my French skills. I never learned the language at school but only discovered a few years ago that speaking another language (besides German and English)
Travel & food stories: Grenouille & escargots – the one where I eat frog and snails, two French classics
All the way to Lyon I had seen the signs by the side of the road: “Snail Farm”, I had seen the restaurants where one could eat frog and snails. So when I finally had a night out I wanted
Travel & food stories: The Falafel Man
This is the story of the Falafel Man, a humble man selling the most delicious falafel I've ever tasted in a side street in Luxor. We arrived in Luxor on a cruise boat from Aswan. Our host there not only had
In praise of my Moto X Play
Why I bought the Moto X Play? As a traveler, I am looking first and foremost for a phone that is robust (looking at all those cracked iPhone screens