An island. Mediterranean sea. Belongs to Italy, so great food and nice weather. The above bullet points were on our wish list, but only four out of five checkboxes ticked because…..During the first 3 days of our holiday i couldn’t stop thinking about the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Who’ll stop the rain”. Luckily our hotel Petra Segreta had a wellness area and an outdoor swimming pool. Raindrops on your head while swimming feels a bit exotic and refreshing at the same time. Not to worry about the bad weather we decided to explore the nearby city Olbia. In all honesty, …

Picture this. You’re having a lunch in a cosy classic restaurant in a city which breaths history and you hear ‘Dueling banjos’ from the movie ‘Deliverance’.When you ask the waiter about the music choice he answers that he plays Grand theft auto and this song is used in that game. Since then this Portuguese man is a big fan of country music. No fado for this cowboy. At another point, we were entertained by a gang of buskers while enjoying our apéro. Music and good life seems to blend very well. Évora is a charming medium-sized city and the historic …

Only 20 mins driving and you’ll find yourself in a different world.By coincidence we bumped into a simpatico taxi driver at the Lion’s gate. He was not only a good driver but also an entertaining tour guide. Later on we also discovered he was a friend of the former police commissioner of Bethlehem. Israel does its best to discourage you to visit Palestine. They know very well tourism is a steady flow of currency and money is what Palestines are lacking of. And they like to keep it that way. I’m not asking for a life without a battle. Peace …

A golden landmark in the Old City center. It’s very easy to spot the Dome from far away. It sparkles & glitters in the sunlight, covered with 80kgs of gold foil. But kind a difficult to visit the area. Out of 12 entrances only 1 acces gate is opened to the public. Mughrabi gate -check upfront the time table as opening hours varies- is the only entrance for non-muslims next to the Western Wall. All others are controlled by heavy armoured Israeli police officers. We tried several other entrances but were summoned to retrace our steps on every attempt. The …

Jerusalem’s Old City is a real microcosm, roughly divided into 4 areas. The Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters surrounded by monumental defence walls that were built in 1541 by Suleiman the Magnificent. A genuine melting pot. Each area has is own identity but still shares the great history of the city. Walking around it looks like a labyrinth at first. But once your inner pigeon gets familiarised with the small streets and corners, you start to know your way around. The Islam area is covered with little candy shops, seeds, spices and a zillion shops stuffed with trinkets. Sales …

Where to start?To enter Jeruzalem that’s an easy one, you just have to use one of the gates.But how to describe the city itself? The moment you set foot you can sense the tension. It’s like tons of religious scriptures try to crush you, that’s how heavy the atmosphere feels. You can also feel hope. From both sides. Jewish hope that one day they can walk again mount Moria instead of praying at their Western wall.Muslims hope that finally one day they own the city again.On both sides they increase their population. The Jewish community does this by luring Russian …