Valenciennes

Global style reaches just about everywhere these days. When a town of around 40,000 people like Valenciennes in France’s far north boasts international labels like Zara, Sephora, H&M and Esprit alongside charming boutiques in its central shopping district, you know that the locals have just as much choice as their city cousins in the style stakes, [...]

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Ignoring Fashion Week, French Style

Despite the flamboyant spectacles of Fashion Week going on all around them last week, I found the women of Paris quietly going about their business in the simple but well put-together style for which they are so famous.
Top five items seen on the autumn streets of Paris:

Longchamp Pliage Bags – short or long handles, but [...]

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Casa Batllo Barcelona

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Riding into Town with Renfe

Whilst making my first travel arrangements of the New Year recently I decided to do my bit for the environment (not to mention the budget) and booked myself a ticket on the overnight train from Granada to Barcelona. Never having enjoyed the services of RENFE (as the national train network is called) on a long-distance [...]

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Si, Si, Bici!

Since my last visit to Seville in 2006, the eco-conscious citizens of this lovely city have embraced the introduction of a bike-sharing scheme with the same Spanish enthusiasm usually reserved for eating, afternoon siestas, and football.
Called ‘Sevici’ , a truncation of the words ‘Sevilla’ and ‘bici’, (slang for ‘bicicleta’), it follows in the footsteps of similar [...]

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