Cindy-Lou Dale is a freelance writer who originates from a small farming community in Southern Africa, which possibly contributed to her adventurous spirit and led her to become an internationally acclaimed photojournalist. Her career has moved her around the world but currently she lives in a picture postcard village in England, surrounded by rolling green hills and ancient parish churches. Her work is featured in numerous international magazines, including TIME and National Geographic.
Istanbul, the guidebook said, is a melting pot of cultures, of hidden eateries and native food, melt-in-the-mouth pastries dripping with honey and hearty aubergine kebabs found in the city’s ancient backstreets.
As a child, foreign cuisine began and ended with spaghetti out of tins; back then ‘eating out’ entailed selecting from a slightly sticky laminated menu with pictures of food on it. Which is why, sitting in Mercan Café, a small, crowded eatery found along …
Traveling to the interior of Central Africa before the advent of the railway was near impossible. On land the journey between Cape Town and Victoria falls could take the better part of four months, on train though, it was just four and a half days. By 1904 the railhead from Cairo had reached the Zambezi and required a bridge to be built to cross the chasm. The bridge was constructed in fourteen months by the …
When John Cabot set sail to discover Canada back in 1497, Bristol was already a wealthy trading port – and has been for more than a thousand years. Post WW2 Bristol became and industrial centre: home of the Concorde, Rolls Royce and where the wings of the A380 Airbus are manufactured. More recently the buzzing multicultural university city of 500,000 has morphed into a large commercial centre, one of the most popular cities for business …
Soon after missionary and doctor David Livingstone described the sight of the Victoria Falls to the outside world they became a tourist destination. Thus, following the routes he described in his journals, hunters, explorers and missionaries descended upon them. By 1898 a small settlement of white pioneers had sprung up on the banks of the Zambezi River and in 1904, when the railway arrived, the development of the two towns either side of the Victoria …
Toulouse is the birthplace of Concorde, the Ariane Rocket and home to Airbus. It also boasts sixteen-hundred boutiques, a thousand restaurants and a myriad other gourmet finds which demand further investigation. Which is why, upon arrival at Toulouse Blagnac Airport, I made my way to the prestigious Victor Hugo market, famous throughout France for its gourmet stalls and where I was told, I would definitely to find something new to like.
Across the street from …
Amsterdam is the greatest small city in the world. It overflows with character, 17th century merchant houses and distinctive canals who themselves are listed as a World Heritage.
It’s impossible to escape the city’s history, like that of the quietly elegant De L’Europe, built in the 1800s on the banks of the Amstel River in the heart of Amsterdam’s canal area. Owned by Heineken International, who recently gave it a $83-million facelift, De L’Europe is …
If you’re looking for cosmopolitan urban culture or beautiful buildings, Port Elizabeth won’t be your first choice for a South African holiday destination. It’s a busy yet relatively crime-free industrial city (important to the South African motor industry) that marks the eastern end of the Garden Route. Although the city has been ravaged by industrialization and thoughtless modernization, one or two buildings do stand out in an otherwise featureless city centre. Thankfully, a couple of …
From boardwalks, beaches, bookshops and bistros, Canada’s largest city is also its trendiest and when it comes down to urban activities it’s on par with some of the world’s biggest cities.
Alongside its ritzy skyscrapers Toronto maintains colorful residential neighbourhoods in its centre; and until recently downtown’s Queen Street West area was a crumbling with fading facades and abandoned storefronts. Now though it’s transformed into the trendy Bohemian part of town, with funky art galleries …
Thirty miles south of London, and halfway to England’s South coast, lies the Weald — an area of outstanding natural beauty dating back to the Saxons of 900 AD. Visiting the Seven Wonders of the Weald, I started my journey in the gorgeous Kentish village of Penshurst, where one of England’s most outstanding stately homes can be found — Penshurst Place.
Built in the 1300s, Penshurst has been home to Kings and Noblemen for 650 …
Liverpool, a city with a glorious history as a mercantile hub and gateway to the New World, is today a key destination for art lovers, fans of the theatre and museum-goers. The very name of the city invokes images of a magnificent nautical history, two of the Premiership’s biggest football teams and two majestic Cathedrals. Yet relatively few visitors, other than Beatles devotees, put Liverpool on their vacation itineraries. Liverpool has always been a big …
In a tranquil Belgian town, some 75km south-east of Brussels, set in a landscape of quilted willow green and sage and threaded with a broad aquamarine coloured river, lies historic Dinant, famed for being the birthplace of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. Dinant is a pretty little town slung along the river Meuse beneath craggy green cliffs in the centre of the Meuse Valley, about 30km south of Namur – a handy base …
After spending some time with three Belgian celebrities, I got insider points of where to go, where to shop and what to eat if all you have is 24 hours in the EU capital.
Elric Petit, Belgium’s acclaimed interior designer, draws much of his inspiration from the original Art Deco interiors of the Royal Library (boulevard de l’Empereur 2) whilst breakfasting on a croissant and coffee.
“From my usual table I look across the …
No other brew has the favourable effect that coffee has on the psyche and being. It boosts awareness and focus, recharges creativity, soothes the mind and induces a multitude of other moods and vibes. When introducing a coffee cup to your lips it offers an intense momentary bliss, defining the rhythm of the day – a secret well known to Belgium’s café society.
Belgians know there is more to the brew than merely sitting at …
After travelling the length and breadth of the country, Heather (my camera assistant) and I headed out of Windhoek going south. It was long and dusty six-hour drive that took us through one of the most spectacular places in the world: mile high paprika-coloured dunes, lilac mountains, endless golden savannah grassland – all dramatically offset by a big sapphire blue sky.
Our tranquil granite and glass boutique-style lodgings – the Sossusvlei Desert Lodge – was …
