Lisbon in a Day

I flew into Lisbon last Friday night and had until the next evening, when my train for Porto (more about Porto here) left at 8pm. I was on my own, as I was only going to be joined in Porto by (first) an old friend of mine and (later) by my wife. Unlike me, my wife had already been to Lisbon, loved it, but preferred to stay in London that weekend and party with her girlfriends. I arrived at the hotel at around midnight and gobbled down a rather rare, but very tasty cheese burger at a nearby bar, before logging off. The next morning I got up at 6am, got myself a sandwich and a coffee to go, then explored the street art near Teatro Maria Vitória, which happened to be walking distance from my hotel. More about Lisbon street art here. Then I took a cab to the […]

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Pisqu, recent Peruvian Opening, Fitzrovia

[Pisco Sour feature photo by Pisco Trail piscotrail.com] We recently visited Pisqu (23 Rathbone Place), named after the eponymous birthplace of the national drink, for a quick Pisco Sour with a Peruvian friend of ours, who recommended the place as his favourite Peruvian restaurant and bar in London, in particular because – he says – the cuisine prepared by the Peruvian-Japanese team is authentic, not watered down for the Western palate. He might be slightly biased, because the bar manager is from his home town and the first twenty minutes were spent on our friend talking with his buddy about their village and what had changed in recent years, who left and who returned. It is only four months since the restaurant was opened (and is now run) by chef William Ortiz, the younger brother of the chef at Michelin-starred Lima, literally just across the street, which is why Pisqu […]

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Rose Bay to Watsons Bay Walk

From Circular Quay it’s only a bit over ten minutes by speed catamaran to Rose Bay, the starting point of one of the most spectacular walks we’ve done in Sydney. The walk follows the coastline from Rose Bay to Watsons Bay all of about 8km distance with only a few exceptions, when the path is a bit further inland. More than half the distance is through light woodland, so that you are not fully exposed to the sun, and there are several cafes and picnic stops along the way.       From nearly all points you have beautiful views of the city and the harbour and of the many ships and boats in between. The vegetation is abundant and we saw many lizards, cockatoos, kookaburras, rainbow lorikeets, parakeets, butterflies, and other colourful birds and animals.       After about two hours and a half, despite many stops to shoot photos […]

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Taronga Zoo to Balmoral Beach Walk

This walk has become one of our classics each time we visit Sydney and not a single trip to this town has passed without us doing at least one Taronga-to-Balmoral walk. It follows the twisted coastline around peninsulas and bays through thick subtropical jungle and shrub along beaches and on top of cliffs.        Taronga Zoo is very easy to reach from Circular Quay by ferry (it’s the first stop if you’re on the right ferry). The zoo itself has been on our list for a very long time to visit with our niece (my wife’s brother’s daughter, who lives in Sydney with her parents), but somehow we always get carried away with lots of other activities and haven’t managed to take her to the zoo yet.    Today we saw many very large lizards (the largest one probably 80cm in length from nose to tail, and very […]

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Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk

We had done the walk before, but it is always great fun to walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach. The walk is about 6km long, but feels longer, because it is usually rather crowded, so you can’t walk at full walking speed, and it does go up and down the cliffs. With all the stops to shoot some pictures, take a rest, sit down at one of the various cafes along the route to rehydrate or have a coffee, and considering we happened to have picked the hottest day of the year (38.8 degrees, hottest day in Sydney in 2016), it took us a very pleasant three and a half hours from start to finish, serious walkers can easily complete the walk in less than one and a half hours. If you choose to walk all the way to Maroubra, then you should add another one and a half […]

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