One Week in Pretty Porto

One week Porto sounds like a lot to some people, who think Paris can be done on a weekend, but if you have the time, one week Porto might be just what you were looking for. It was my first time in Portugal and I had a brilliant time. I was joined for most of the week by Nils, an old friend of mine, who was visiting from Munich – you can see two of his guest blog posts here (Kalmykia) and here (Grozny). Then my wife, Ellie or MsB, as she likes to call herself for blog purposes – she is writing this blog with me – joined for the second weekend. My name is Stefan, by the way, or Mr B, if you like. Things to Do We did most of the touristy stuff like all good travellers (can’t miss out on the top sights). The city is […]

Continue Reading

You may also like

Lisbon – Mecca of Street Art

When researching my trip to Lisbon, I came across the local street art pretty early on. Other bloggers and travel sites were reporting an incredibly vital scene and it did not take me long to decide to book a tour. I followed the advice of various travel sites who all recommended Lisbon Street Art Tours (we do not receive any favours for recommending them here). Our guide, can’t remember her name (I’m pretty sure it started with a ‘V’), sorry, was a young lady from Belgium, who studies street art at the local uni and is currently working on her thesis on Lisbon street art. Not only was she pleasant to listen to, with her shy, enthusiastic, bubbly nature, but most of all she obviously had to hold herself back on a constant basis in order not to overwhelm us with the vast knowledge she has accrued about her area […]

Continue Reading

You may also like

Lisbon Sailing Tour

While in Lisbon for a day last week, Pedro from Pypas Cruises invited BSqB on a 1.5h sailing boat trip. My wife only joined me in Porto a few days later, so I went on the trip on my own together with a young Portuguese couple. Pedro was joined by one of his experienced skippers, Antonio, so it was five of us overall (the maximum is 12 persons/10 guests). If you should do the tour in the morning, too, like I did, then I would highly recommend having breakfast at the world-famous Pastéis de Belém. From there you can cross the Jardim de Belém to the starting point just 15 minutes’ walk away. The UNESCO World Heritage listed, gothic Jerónimos Monastery and the (equally listed) Torre de Belém (Belem Tower) are also next-door. When it was built in the early-16th Century, the tower was towards the middle of the Tagus […]

Continue Reading

You may also like

Magical Lantern Festival, Chiswick

We visited the Magical Lantern Festival in Chiswick, West London, yesterday evening, and it was an incredible experience. Hundreds of lanterns, the biggest ones several storeys high and several dozen meters long! It took us more than two hours to walk to follow the path through the park and stop every other minute to take photos. This year’s show is themed “Explore the Silk Road”, so you’ve got plenty of camels and Aladdins, but also a gigantic Chinese palace, the center piece of the festival, that can be seen from nearly everywhere else in the park. Considering how cold it was it was a blessing that they serve hot chocolate (and mulled wine, hot whiskey, and spiced hot cider) on three or four locations. We also had a lovely pulled-pork sandwich for £5.50 right behind the 2nd entrance (the one where they check your tickets). The festival is taking place […]

Continue Reading

You may also like

Bloomsbury Club Bar hosts BlackTail Residency

We checked out the BlackTail Residency at the Bloomsbury Club Bar (BCB, 16-22 Great Russell Street, London) today and were very impressed. New York’s BlackTail has been created by the team behind the Dead Rabbit, which regularly gets ranked as the best or one of the best cocktail bars in the world. BlackTail itself is generally considered to have been the most anticipated and successful bar opening in the U.S. during the past year (it opened a few months ago). It emulates the American bars that sprang up in Havana during the 1920s Prohibition (not sure why some reviewers call the bar a speakeasy, which would be the improvised U.S. underground bootlegging version of the time, and quite the opposite in some ways, ultimate luxury versus greasy, badly-lit basements). The Irish duo behind the BlackTail, Dead Rabit’s co-founders Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, were inspired by the distinctive black tail […]

Continue Reading

You may also like