Highlights of special memories while living in Florence

This place is special to me because this is where I used to spend my summer vacations as a child and teen. I always stayed in my cousin’s house. It was an adorable typical little house. Ericeira is a small and lovely village. Is a very calm, charming, typical fishing town that is situated along a coastline of outstanding surfing beaches. Nowadays, and because of the boom of surf lovers, Ericeira is a nice fusion of Portuguese heritage houses and atmosphere with a cool surfing ambience, where traditional fishermen’s cottages live amongst trendy lounge bars and cafes. The fresh smell of the sea is all over this place. It’s truly just wonderful.

This place is special to me because of it's rich cultural heritage and history. My map is inspired by Fraser's book Marie Antoinette: The Journey. These sites mark the dawn of the French Revolution, as well as the fall of the monarchy. Though some sites are marked by a statue and others repurposed, the architecture stands almost untouched by time. I love to imagine what everyday life was like for Marie and Louis, the nobles, and the commoners before those tumultuous times began. It's nice that tourists are welcome to mull over the history of the ancient city, and that we can drink the same tea and eat the same chocolates and pastries which delighted Marie Antoinette!

This place is special to me because... it's my current resting place and I have learnt a lot about life here.

MAPPING SPECIAL PLACES. When you, as a tourist, have only a few days to explore the Netherlands, you need to choose the right destination for your study.
AMSTERDAM, ROTTERDAM, DELFT, THE HAGUE, LEIDEN.. these cities are located not far from each other and a right route will help in a few days to get an idea of the Netherlands as a cultural country.

My boyfriend Jim and I have been visiting the Lido di Venezia since the mid-90s! This year we took my sister Salli. We swam and cycled every day. We also took little trips into Venice (a 10-minute vaporetto ride away!) to visit the Biennale and see the sites.

Camino De Santiago is an ancient pilgrimage route in Spain which leads pilgrims to the capital Santiago de Compostela. Camino Frances (The French Way) is just one of the routes, following the Northern peninsula of Spain, a journey of 760km beginning at St. Jean Pied de Port. Pilgrims come from all over the world to walk/cycle this route.

This wonderful park celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019. Since I moved to Banbury I've walked through this park on a daily basis adoring its magnificent trees and wild life.

This is a map of some of the buildings that house bee hives on their roof tops. There are many more and bees are thriving in cities around the world. Many restaurants in cities are now making rooftop gardens and creating safe feeding stations for bees and insects, creating bee hotels and placing hives to use their own honey.

This is a map of our local music festival. It takes place every year in mid July and is located on the Gurten, our local mountain. You get to the festival by taking a small rack railway or by hiking the 3.6 km and 300 altitude difference.

This June, I did the Via degli Abati in the northern part of the Emilia Romagna. It was beautiful and wild. There are plenty of other pilgrim trails in this part of Italy - not all leading to Rome...

Still beautiful and worth a visit. Best in May + September - avoid July + August

My favourites sightseeing and food to enjoy in London

The Isle of Mull was one of our favourite place in Scotland! We spent two days exploring the island and had the time of our lives…

The beautiful town of Tobermory (house to the only whisky distillery on the island) was a favourite! But we also enjoyed smaller less touristic areas such as the Isle of Mull Weavers yarn factory and the lovely Isle of Mull cheese farm…

Not sure the original planners ever imagined a giant Ferris wheel in the background...