This brewpub/ bierstub serves food from 11am to half past midnight. Alsatian standards such as Bibeleskase (potatoes sauted with bacon, served with soft cheese), choucroute and Flammekueche, in massive portions and at very reasonable prices, to be washed down with one of the four house beers (the standard northern French quartet of blonde, ambree, brune and blanche). WARNING! Do not on any account order two choucroutes AND a starter unless you (a) are really hungry and (b) have at least five hours to eat it in. Au Brasseur is always busy in the evening, particularly Friday and Saturday when there's free music downstairs. In a rainy, overcast Strasbourg this became our regular place to warm up and relax.

22 Rue des Veaux, 67000 Strasbourg, France
+33(0)3 88 36 12 13
Google map: bit.ly/eh9YXc

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Sticky. Sweet. Milky. Moreish. Wicked sweeties in big jars from more than a dozen sellers in a shady arcade on the Plaza de las Coches. This being Colombia, it's not coconut teacakes and licorice allsorts, but 'bebes de leche' - think supersized jelly babies made of fudge - and coconut-condensed-milk mixes, and tamarind sweets. Definitely the best come from Dona Silvia, in my opinion - she was mixing up a bowl of tamarind while we were there and let us try it straight from the bowl. One sweetie, 500 pesos is the going rate - about 25p a piece.

Plaza de las Coches, Cartagena

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The Camino Real to Guane is an ancient paved track leading down the precipitous slope to the east of Barichara, and though fields and woods all the way to the colonial village of Guane. It's nine kilometres of good walking, and in Guane you can get a huge meal for about five quid (at the restaurant in the road leading up on the left hand side of the church), wander around the village, and try chicha (alcoholic Horlicks) and sabajon (a milk-and-liquor mix). It's not a challenging trek, it's just a great day's walking.

Google map: bit.ly/90aLal

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Take the bus out to Frognerseteren where you'll find marked trails leading to Tryvannstua refuge, Ullevalseter refuge, and then on to Sognsvann (about 18km in all). Dark pine forests alternate with trembling delicate silver birch; there are secret ponds in the forest, lakes, marshes full of lurid green moss, where your boots squelch as you tread; tracks that scramble over pine roots and rock, and lakeside trails. The major trails are well marked, though you take minor paths at your peril - I walked an extra 3 or 4 kilometres in a circle at one point! From Sognsvann, you can take the railway back to the centre of town in just 15 minutes.

Frogneseteren station, reached by bus (train line under repair) from Majorstuen.
Google map: tinyurl.com/33chyvb

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You'll need a bike to get out of the city and on to Bygdoy - there is a bus, but it only goes to the museums. Cycling through the royal estate, through hayfields and pine forests, you'll come first to a lovely sandy cove at Paradisbukta, and then to Huk, at the very end of the peninsula, where you can swim clad (near the restaurant) or naked (a little further north). A little touch of wilderness 20 minutes' bike ride from City Hall.

Google map: tinyurl.com/34jxyzy

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A side of meat hanging outside a tent; choose your piece, it's sliced, minced, patted together with fresh coriander, fried, the freshest meatballs you've ever tasted. At one end of the market, old blokes try out a new mule (yours for only 600 euros, but that was the starting price: haggling is the order of the day), or bargain for sheep and goats. The other end, cheap plastic kitchenware, lurid furnishing fabrics, row upon row of clay tagines. Nail clippers, tins of sardines, old bikes, shoemenders, it's all here. Never mind the tourist souks of Fez or Marrakesh with their pink babouches and knitted camels, this is the real thing. Where else can you sip mint tea in a tent and be serenaded by an old turbaned fiddler in bottle-glass specs?

Azrou - bus from Meknes; market is 20 minutes walk from the bus station
Google map: tinyurl.com/3xk8we9

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There is no nightlife in Thirassia. Once the 4.30pm ferry to Santorini has gone, that's it. The island settles down to snooze. There are no bars, no souvenir shops, only two or three restaurants. No beaches. One place to stay (rooms just above the main village, Manolas, on the single track to the south of the island).
But if you want the smell of wild thyme, a stiff breeze blowing off the water, mountain scrambles, deserted hermitages, and the sound of distant mule bells; if you're prepared to bring your own lunch, and get up early for the eight o'clock ferry, Thirassia will give you an unforgettable day's walking under the blue sky of the Cyclades. Time enough in a day to walk the entire length of the island, bag its peak, and still have time to sit and admire the view of Santorini from the other side.

tinyurl.com/379q375

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An excellent restaurant that serves huge portions of traditional food. We had the set price lamb vlachiho at EUR for two - including salad, wine, and vegetables - and could just manage to finish it, this after a pretty strenuous day of hiking from the other side of the island. Friendly service, great little place under awnings. Don't go unless you are hungry!

Perissa, Santorini - just off the main road through the town

Google map: tinyurl.com/3ae9shb

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Most people visit the three main buildings of the Acropolis - the Parthenon, Erychtheon and Propylaia - and then they go home. But as you go downhill from the Propylaia, turn to the right, almost back on your tracks, and you'll find yourself on the north slope of the Acropolis, and probably alone, despite the crowds a few yards away. Here are caves and springs in the rocks; in the Cave of Pan, we watched the water slowly bubbling up in a muddy spring. Here are little rock-cut niches for worshipping the gods. The great buildings of the Acropolis give you a feel for the 'official' Greek culture of Pericles' time - but underneath it, there's a different world, more in touch perhaps with its Mycenean roots.

Acropolis, Athens

Google map: tinyurl.com/33pwp8s

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Marvellous ice cream shop. At first we looked at the mere six flavours available that evening and were disappointed; but it's all made on the premises, and really fantastic ice cream - coconut that really tasted of coconut, and the best frozen yoghurt I've ever tasted. Add to this a wonderfully crazy and incredibly friendly proprietor, who the night we were there was supporting Argentina against Greece in the World Cup footie (she has guts!) - and who kept breaking off while we watched the game to go and tend her machine, then gave us a free taster of the latest flavour.

Paroikia waterfront
84400 Parikia, Paros, Greece
+30 (22840) 24864

Google map: tinyurl.com/3alt57h

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Does what it says on the tin! Mike is a real character, and we stayed several days more than we'd intended - at the very reasonable rate of EUR 20 a night for the two of us. Air con, TV, a little kitchen, a balcony where we ate our breakfast and drank our late night raki ... and visible from the harbour as your ferry comes in.

www.roomsmike.com/
Paros Island ~ Cyclades
Post Code: 84400
Tel. No : (+30) 6932 154257, (+30) 22840 22856

Google map: tinyurl.com/2v6zrkk

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There are some huge, very well equipped, teeming and expensive campsites in the Loire Valley. There are also many small and cheap campsites run by the municipality - some in the most delightful places (one at Nazelles Negron near Amboise runs wine tastings and has a pizza van some evenings). We paid around 7-8 euros a night for two of us and a tent, and enjoyed a shady riverbank. There's also one we didn't stay on right next to the chateau at Chenonceau.

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This sweet little shop is just past the tanneries and run by a laid back individual who applies no sales pressure at all. Fixed prices, and not bad ones, and some nice work in cotton and agave fabrics. If you are hustled and hassled out of recognition, drop by here instead.

1 Bis Hay Lablida, Derb el Alami, Fes medina

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Fes Youth Hostel is in the Ville Nouvelle, on a leafy back street. Its green courtyard is quiet, occupied by a cuddly black and white cat and some cynical tortoises. Book a twin room here and chill out - we found that though it's half an hour's walk from the medina, the change of atmosphere and the chance to relax were well worth it. And at 135 dirhams a night for the two of us, this is real budget accommodation, and very much better than any hotel we could find for the price. You don't need to be a YHA member either.

18 Rue Abdessalam Sergini, Fes - the back street near the Ville Nouvelle MacDonald's.

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This is a lovely little guest house, in a traditional mud brick house about half a kilometre from the centre of Skoura. At 80 dirhams a night (eight quid) for two of us, it was amazing value. We were offered mint tea on the roof, watched the sun set over the palmeraie. Our host recommended us some marvellous places to visit and helped us rent bikes to tour the oasis. The warmest welcome in Morocco.

Gite d'etape la Palmeraie, Skoura - 0662 15 30 49. If you're getting off the bus you may meet 'our man on the scooter' - who will direct you (and took my partner on the back of the bike).

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Norwich is a capital of real ale, with some superb pubs. Norfolk has nearly 30 different breweries, and if you spend a few days here you'll be able to taste many of them.

Magdalen Street, north of the town centre, is your road to beer heaven with the King's Head, twice Norwich CAMRA pub of the year. A Victorian pub authentically restored, it has 7-10 real ales on draught, a fine selection of bottled beers, excellent pork pies and a bar billiards table. Further north is the Shed (Lawson Road) with its own microbrewery and frequent folk/blues gigs, and the Duke of Wellington, a neighbourhood local with 6 beers on handpump and more on gravity in the glass taproom.

Make a trip out of the centre to West End Street and you'll find the Fat Cat, twice CAMRA national pub of the year. An amazing selection of beers here from around the world,including beer from Laos. Gets very crowded at weekends (no wonder).

These are my locals. I am a lucky so and so. And then there are many more: the King's Arms, Hall Road; Rose Tavern and Ketts Tavern; Gatehouse - a fine 1930s pub with a historic and unspoiled interior. Most of the truly great pubs, though, are a little way out of the centre of town, so be prepared to do a bit of walking or take a few taxis.

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Head towards Rustempasha mosque, away from the Egyptian Bazaar or Spice Market. You'll find twisty streets full of tiny shops, including many selling wooden implements such as paddles for pide ovens, huge sieves, forks and spoons. The spice shops here are half the price of the Egyptian market, too, and if you're lucky you'll see the hamals (market porters) at work, or find a cubbyhole selling cay (tea) inside one of the old han courtyards.

Around Rustempasha mosque, Eminonu

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On Peykhane, one of the streets running off Divan Yolu and about ten minutes' walk from Cemberlitas. Unassuming, bright diner, with excellent, cheap meals (pide, kebab, salad, soup), no hassle or hustling, friendly staff, and the best fresh bread we tasted in the whole city. 12-20 liras for two. Convenient for Sultanahmet hotels but out of the tourist beargarden.

Karadeniz kebab, Peykhane

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A fine Indian restaurant with a €11.50 set lunch (not Sundays) and lovely decor. Something different from steak frites - and in a country where Indian restaurants are still a rarity, well worth finding.

Rue de la Clouterie, Chartres - old city centre, 5 mins walk from the cathedral

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Churros con chocolate is a great Spanish traditional breakfast. There's a little churreria stand on the square between the Alcazar and the Caliphal baths.

Order your churros (sort of long doughnuts), watch them being fried, and eat them on the hoof. Much better than a slice of toast and coffee.

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