Articles by Nancy Bright-Thompson

We all spent one week within the luxurious confines of the Mamounia.  Almost out of guilt a trip was planned to see the sun set on the amber walls of El Fna Square aspected by the Atlas Mountains but there was not that much enthusiasm primarily as we had seen already this in better light and [...]

As the politicians say “I have nothing more to add” to the two posts on Marrakech and the Mamounia, but of course I will. We flew British Airways, an airline that has made huge profits under the stewardship of Willie “Slasher” Walsh but also has had a strike, left passengers [...]

We both started and ended our trip at the beautiful Rotterdam Central station. Rotterdam is Holland’s second city and as its denizens like to say “Rotterdam makes it and Amsterdam spends it.” It’s also the fourth largest port in the world. The Dutch Golden Age of Art has to be seen in [...]

To Delft on a trip organised by Alice to pursue her interest in the Golden Age of Dutch art. We are based in Delft famous for its ceramics, the birthplace of Johannes Vermeer and midway between Rotterdam and The Hague. We decided against air travel. I cannot  take the crowded airports, the [...]

When I worked in the travel industry one of the hardest things was to schedule an itinerary that pleased the clients. You must always remember that clients can often arrive exhausted after their air travel and the last thing they want is to tramp around a crowded tourist site. You therefore need to [...]

Yesterday was a full on day of visiting the Hama-rikyu Gardens and a Sumo demonstration in the morning and taking the bullet train to Kyoto in the afternoon. The gardens exemplify a paradox of Japanese culture: they are an oasis of tranquillity amongst the sky scrapers of Tokyo reflecting how old [...]

Yesterday was our final day and it rained throughout. September is a popular time to travel but we experienced first le Mistral then a deluge. The highlight of the day was a dinner party given by Mireille. She is a superb cook. One guest was a vegan so the entree and all she could eat was a salad. [...]

For most of the group this was their final day and Ralph and Joanne were interested in our feedback. It was their first such weekend. Generally the feedback was positive. Personally I would have foregone the afternoon wine estate trip and preferred one restaurant visit . However it was billed as a [...]