An absolute gem. One of the oldest tapas bars in Seville, with a bar on the site since the late 17th century. Popular with tourists and locals alike.
Dark wood panels with seating at a minimum but great food and a great atmosphere.
You stand at the bar and order and your tab is chalked on the bar counter to keep track.
Food really good quality and not that expensive. The espinacas con garbanzos (spinach with chickpeas is particularly to be recommended.
You can book a seat at the back for the dinner menu but we much preferred the tapas menu at the bar, so much so that we returned a number of times during our stay in Seville.
While we were there there we encountered an elderly gentleman named Valentino who writes poetry on napkins and hands to people in the bar. If you do see him, buy him a glass of beer for his trouble.
We first heard about this place on Rick Stein's TV programme 'Spain'.

www.elrinconcillo.es/en/home.html
C/ Gerona 40 near Plaza Ponce de Leon
+34 954 22 31 83
Open until late every day
Google map: bit.ly/o0Hn7B


See bar featured at the start of this Youtube video on Rick Stein's Spain:.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fuiDcJyXfE&feature=related

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Czech tea houses are a relatively recent development. Local legend claims that a good cuppa was unheard of in the Czech capital until 1848 when Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin requested tea in a Prague café and was met with blank faces.
Fast forward 150 years and the tea drinking, which took off at the end of the 19th century but subsided under the communist regime, has flourished once more. Prague boasts innumerate independent čajovny as well as one small tea chain, each with distinct character and appeal but all offering a wonderfully relaxed environment in which to while away a few hours.
Čajovny serve čaj in abundance – fresh loose teas from across the globe. Most offer extensive menus (around 60-80 tea varieties is a standard) and some offer hookah with flavored tobacco.
Čajovny are casual, hippified places, popular with Czech students, offering a relaxed, chilled-out vibe. A great antidote to an afternoon of sightseeing!

My favourites include:
Dobra Čajovny on Wenceslas Square – www.tea.cz/cajovna/
Nearest metro: Mustek or Muzeum

Tea in the Tower
www.dojo.cz/cajovna/rozvrh/index_eng.html
Na výšinách 1 / Korunovační Prague 7
Nearest Tram: Sparta (1,5,8, 25 or 26)

* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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A wonderful puppet theatre for adults in the heart of Tbilisi's Old Town which artist, writer and film-maker Reza Gabriadze's theatre opened over 30 years ago. Choose between two powerful and imaginative long-running shows (in Russian with English surtitles), The Battle of Stalingrad and The Autumn of my Sunshine, both of which have toured the world to great acclaim. Don't miss it if you are in Tbilisi - buy tickets online (www.biletebi.ge) and follow the show with dinner in the theatre cafe next door.

13 Shavteli Street, Tbilisi, Georgia
+0995 298 6593
www.biletebi.ge

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The Tennyson Mile stretches from the delightful unspoilt beach at Freshwater Bay to Farringford, the home of the Victorian poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Fellow poets Robert Browning, Henry Taylor, Edward Lear and the American, Henry Longfellow stayed at the selection of holiday villas nestled beneath the downs. The lovely magnolia by the conservatory at Farringford was presented to Tennyson as a cutting by Longfellow in 1868. Other writers came too, including Darwin, Thackeray and Lewis Carroll.
All these famous people were photographed by the pioneer photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron. Dimbola Lodge, overlooking the bay, has excellent views across the Back of the Wight and is now a museum of photography. The tearoom serves delicious cream teas and excellent lunches that can be enjoyed on the terrace on a warm day.
This Victorian cultural circle was satirised by Virginia Woolf in her play Freshwater. Other 20th-century literary pilgrims include DH Lawrence, TS Eliot, John Betjeman, JB Priestley, WH Auden and Christopher Isherwood. Tennyson’s Gift, the novel by Lynne Truss, is set in Freshwater Bay.
The poets and pines walk (www.histreetrail.com) is a fascinating trail highlighting the trees that inspired Tennyson. It includes the Tennyson Mile but goes inland to Freshwater village passing the large property that the poet provided for his wife’s family. Hawkswood, now Freshwater Court, was built by Tennyson to complete his marriage vow. This stated that his in-laws could come and visit whenever they wished, for as long as they wished. But he did not want them under his feet at Farringford.

farringford.co.uk/
Bedbury Lane, Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight PO40 9PE
+44(0)1983 752 700
Google map: bit.ly/mTjB2I

No. 12 bus from Newport, Isle of Wight.

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Though Virginia Woolf set her famous novel in the Hebrides it was inspired by childhood holidays at St Ives Bay in Cornwall
Pure white sand, hidden rock pools, a wooden cafe serving hot chocolate, and that view to the lighthouse - a timeless stream of consciousness

West of Redruth and the A£) take the road to Hayle, just before take the coast road to the village of Gwithians, signs to Godrevy and the National Trust a mile before the village.
Google map: bit.ly/o8kOqh

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Large rectangular area within the Albaicin area from where you have a wonderful view of the Alhambra on the other side of the gorge. The view is even more stunning at night.
Just be careful as pickpockets are known to operate in the area.

Google map: bit.ly/qkiOqm

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Worth going in to this late Gothic chapel to see the final resting place of the two famous Spanish Catholic monarchs Isabel and Fernando.
The two monarchs lie in the crypt in simple lead coffins along with a few other related royals.

www.capillarealgranada.com/
Calle Oficios, 1, 18001 Granada, Spain
+34 958 22 78 48
Google map: bit.ly/pbvDHa

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The ruin of Top Withens farmhouse is the perfect place to experience the fictional world that the Brontes created in their novels. Purported to be the location that Emily had in mind when she wrote Wuthering Heights, the farmhouse is reached by a well signposted walk across the moors from Howarth. Far removed from the touristy tea shops in the village, the isolation of this windswept ruin gives you a true sense of what it must have been like in the world of Cathy Earnshaw or Jane Eyre. The views are wonderful, but even on a bright summer's day, the loneliness and solitude of this moorland are an almost tangible presence, and you feel that the howling winds and harsh frosts of winter are never far away.

www.haworth-village.org.uk/brontes/places/top_withens.asp
Google map: bit.ly/or3Rm4

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The Rustaveli Theatre is a stately, grand building set on one of the main tree-lined avenues that run through the centre of Tbilisi. The corner stones still bear a couple of bullet holes, remnants of the independence struggles of the early 90s. I was at the inaugural Georgian International Festival of Theatre in 1996, and remember jamming into the back of the circle, peering between the numerous decorative pillars, straining to see Vanessa Redgrave performing a one woman show. There is a huge tradition of theatre in Georgia, and the visual, imaginative productions of Shakespeare created during the Soviet Era made a huge impact at the Edinburgh Festivals of the 80s. The International Theatre festival's still going, now renamed the Tbilisi International Festival of Theatre, and you can still see international stars (such as John Malkovich) as well at the top national companies performing on the Rustaveli stage.

17 Rustaveli Ave, Tblisi
+995322726868
rustavelitheatre.ge
www.tbilisiinternational.com

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Laurie Lee supposedly said he turned to prose when his passion for poetry died. But this second autobiographical volume was a continuation of his poetry by other means. It has romance, adventure, politics and war, the tragedy of 1930s Spain. It sucked me in the first time I read it, making me want to follow. So I did. And still it draws me back. If you think you’re tired of Spain, read (or re-read) this.

Published by Penguin, rrp £8.99. Available from Amazon and any good bookshop.

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Sorrento is a great place to go for a late summer or autumn break. The evenings are cooler, but the days are still sunny and warm, and the colours of the autumn foliage blaze along the Amalfi coast. The crowds have gone, and the temperature is much more agreeable for visiting the sights such as Pompeii and Herculaneum. Foodies are in for a treat too, as this is the time of year for freshly picked local mushrooms, chestnuts and walnuts. For a splurge try L'Antica Trattoria - fabulous food, a beautiful terrace and a cosy traditional interior for the cooler evenings. For a restaurant with a local neighbourhood feel, try Il Leone Rosso - spot on for an authentic Pizza Marinara.

www.lanticatrattoria.com
Via P.R. Giuliani, 33, Sorrento
+39(0)818071082
Google map: bit.ly/riisdC

www.illeonerosso.it
Via Marziale 25, 80067
+39(0)81 807 3089
Google map: bit.ly/qHd8fn

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When you step into Café Louvre on Národní, it is as if you step back in time. Opened in 1902, Louvre has always ranked highly in Czech kavarna culture. For a time it was the meeting ground of philosophy groups whose members included Franz Kafka and Max Brod. Many key players in the European literary scene of the early twentieth century spent time here, including Czech the Čapek brothers and Otto Pick.
Although the café closed for several years under the communists, its interior underwent considerable reconstruction in the 1990s. Today visitors will still get a feel of the grandiose café scene that existed at the beginning of the last century, as they walk up the wide staircase with marble walls and an iron handrail. The main room of the café, overlooking Národní below, boasts high ceilings, large windows and huge mirrors, which makes this one of the most splendid locations to drink caj or kava in the whole of Prague.
Louvre does offer full savoury meals, including soups, salads and pancakes. However, the best reason for a visit is the magnificent coffee and cake menu. Their homemade cakes, strudels and waffles will satisfy even the sweetest tooth – the blueberry cake on linz dough with vanilla ice-cream (65 CZK) keeps me coming back again and again.
An impressive drinks menu makes Louvre a winter time favourite – hot chocolate with rum and whipped cream (59 CZK) will keep you warm when it’s cold outside.
For good quality coffee and dessert set in historic opulence, look no further.

www.cafelouvre.cz/
Národní 22, Praha 1, 110 00
+420 224 930 949
Nearest metro: Narodni Trida or Mustek
Nearest tram: Narodni Trida (6, 9, 18, 21, 22 or 91)
Mon-Friday: 08.00 to 23.30
Sat-Sun: 0900 to 23.30
Google map: bit.ly/mQerhN


* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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I've used the service of this company for my transportation in Istanbul and all was arranged in a perfect way.

www.vipserairporttransfers.com/

Ogut Sokak No: 10,
Beyoglu 34437 Istanbul
Tel: +90 532 608 1470
Fax: +90 212 244 0649
Email: sales@vipserairporttransfers.com

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In the Town Hall square next to the House of Blackheads you will aslo find The
Museum of the Occupation of Latvia housed in a black communist-era building -
.detailing events of Latvia's recent history, from the World War II occupations to the
events of independence in 1991, the museum is definitely worth a visit, in order to
gain a clearer understanding of Latvia.

www.omf.lv/
Strēlnieku laukums 1, Rīga LV-1050
+371 67212715
Google map: bit.ly/ni3iQJ

* * Kristine is our Been there local for Riga. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/riga-local-kristine.jsp and she has her own blog here: www.friendinriga.blogspot.com

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The House of Blackheads in the Town Hall square built in 1344, is a stunning example of Gothic architecture. The original house was the headquarters of unmarried local merchants, known as the Blackheads. It was a place which played an important role in the life of society and traditions; VIPs from all over the Europe were often guests there and had wild secret parties.

A German merchant club the Brotherhood of Blackheads existed here until the middle
of the 20th century. On the top of the building you see a blue astronomical clock and inside the
building in the basement there is an exhibition about the history of the building. Its rooms and halls are rich with golden decorations, 19th century furnishings, paintings, the Latvian State highest award - the Three Star Order
- and the medal collection. Rooms of the building are also rented for cultural and private
events/celebrations, different concerts and exhibitions.

Rātslaukums 7, Riga, LV-1050
+371 67044300
Google map: bit.ly/o0kBd1

* Kristine is our Been there local for Riga. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/riga-local-kristine.jsp and she has her own blog here: www.friendinriga.blogspot.com

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You will find the Town Hall square (Rātslaukums)
as you walk through The Old Town. And you don’t want to miss it because it’s what you see on postcards from Riga. You need to take your own picture at this place.
With stalls, workshops and various feasts The Town Hall Square used to be the centre of public life during The Middle Ages. Historians believe it
was originally a market place, but after expansion of the city in 1211 the Town Hall square was formed here. Punishments were executed and pageants used to be arranged here
as well. During World War II the luxurious development of the square was completely destroyed. Thanks to grand reconstruction works in this century the main buildings - the Town Hall and Blackheads House - have been restored.

Today at the Town Hall Square you will find a renovated House of Blackheads, souvenir shops, City Hall and the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. In the centre of the square you can see a figure of Roland which is a symbol of judicial
power, freedom and independence of many European cities.

It’s located between Kaļķu Street and Grēcinieku Street, close to the river Daugava.
Google map: bit.ly/qYOlPf

* * Kristine is our Been there local for Riga. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/riga-local-kristine.jsp and she has her own blog here: www.friendinriga.blogspot.com

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For the more mature backpacker- this hotel - once the opera house - is now a tranquil haven of old colonial with stylish bedrooms and a leafy quadrangle for dining- after the hustle and bustle - nestled in a cobbled street just above the government house. A real treat for sore feet.

www.hotelopera.com.co/
Calle 10 No. 5-72 La Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia
+ 57 1336 2066
Google map: bit.ly/o7TZZR

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Housed in an imposing looking building, this museum will tell you a lot about the natural and social history of the area. It includes everything from local rock samples to wooden church architecture to Soviet propaganda posters and has a particularly interesting room devoted to clothing and artifacts of the Sami people who inhabit an area stretching from here through to northern Finland and Norway. It's all very well presented, though you won't find any English explications.

www.russianmuseums.info/M914
Lenin Prospekt 90
+7 (815) 242-2679

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This is a 35.5 metre high statue of a World War Two Russian soldier, erected in 1974, complete with suitably large wreaths placed at its seven-metre base. It towers impressively above the surrounding landscape and is another reminder that if the Russians are going to have one, it's usually a big 'un.

Path leading from Ulitsa Aleksandrova

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What a place to watch a game of football! It was a dull game but the venue was stunning. We sat right at the back – the back row of the stand opposite the Ostkurve which is akin to the Kop.
You can get a reduction on tickets with a Berlin Welcome card so the price of tickets is very reasonable.
If you can’t see a game, visit the stadium. Incredible.

www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/en.html
Olympischer Platz 3, 14053 Berlin, Germany
Google map: bit.ly/qWvFpp

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