My eyes open sluggishly and adjust to the new interior around me. Pastel pinks and greens fill my view. A peek out the window tells me it’s still early. It’s dark outside, or as dark as it gets in this winter wonderland. The window sills are thick with snow. I realise it must have snowed more…
“I’m sorry, I can’t go. I’m flying to Milan this weekend.” It even sounded glamorous when I sounded it out, Mi-lan! Rebecca and I were headed to Lake Como just north of the fashion capital of the world to soak up the autumn colours. It sort of started off with a few bumps in the…
A little dazed and half confused, we disembarked off the T2A bus at the top of Tibidabo mountain overlooking Barcelona city. As we stepped off the bus after our rollercoaster ascent, we blinked away the bright sunlight. I breathed in the fresh mountain air. I felt right at home. We staggered onto the hillside, marvelling…
And so it begins: the journey to drop off the youngest Combrinck on her first day of university. She will be attending IE University in Segovia, Spain, the kind of place whose name seems so fantastical it could be the country Anne Hathaway rules in Princess Diaries. We decided to trek to Segovia by train….
To explore the city of Barcelona is to straddle the old and the new. Today I got to sightsee along the harbour where I visited my university, before heading to the ‘old town’ to soak up some history. I am sitting in the courtyard of the Museu Frederic Marès, in Barcelona old town, breathing in the city….
I squeezed into my little cabin I would call home for the next few days. It was a tough haul with all my luggage, and I definitely looked like a tourist when I arrived at Rue Montorgueil. I quietly surveyed the room as the AirB&B guy walked me through the rules. “And finally, here is your terrace,…
I like to try something new each holiday. This time I was hauled up in a fishing village far north in France, in Bretagne (Brittany). Residents here have been fishing proudly in these waters for centuries. This generation does the same. Seafood was my staple diet in Kerlouan. It wasn’t limited to just fish; I…
I have had the perfect holiday. I spent two weeks in Kerlouan at the beach, and a week in Paris. It gave me a taste of France I will not forget. The two weeks were spent with Marc’s family. They have a beautiful house in Bretagne (Brittany), the north-west province of France. There is a…
I took a sneaky weekend getaway to one of the Western Cape’s most colourful regions: the Overberg. This winter escape at White Water Farm took me straight back to my childhood days I spent in the countryside. We drove along the Whale Coast, passing through Hermanus and stopping just outside Stanford for our weekend getaway destination….
We Cape Townians are not very brave in the face of winter. We stay indoors, layer up and wait until the winter rain gives way to the summer sun. But in doing this, we miss out on cosy winter warmers we can only experience for three short months of the year. There are many gems…
