We arrived in Tarragona by train from Barcelona, a journey that already sets the tone for the day. The tracks run close to the Mediterranean for long stretches, the sea appearing and disappearing between towns, cliffs, and beaches. It feels like easing into something…
The idea for this weekend began weeks earlier, during a visit to Ensérune in southern France. Standing on that exposed hilltop, I learned how places like Ensérune functioned not as isolated settlements, but as crossroads shaped by trade and contact. Cultures met there not…
Once the workdays and museum visits were behind us, Madrid began to feel different. Less like a place to be understood and more like a place to move through without intention. We spent hours simply walking, letting neighbourhoods lead into one another, stopping when…
Madrid was never meant to be Spain’s most beautiful city. It became its most important one almost by accident. Chosen as the capital in the sixteenth century largely for its geographic position, the town grew inward rather than outward, shaped more by administration than…
From Carcassonne, the transition into Cathar country is subtle at first. Vineyards still line the road, and villages appear familiar in scale and colour. But as we headed south, the land began to tighten. Valleys narrowed. Hills rose more abruptly. Stone replaced soil, and…
We left Combaillaux early and headed west, leaving the limestone valleys of Hérault behind. The change that followed was subtle rather than dramatic. Vineyards and low hills did not disappear, but the land began to open out, and water behaved differently. Valleys softened into…
After two days immersed in the wetlands of the Camargue, the shift inland was immediate and noticeable. We left Aigues-Mortes behind and drove north toward Combaillaux, trading open marshes and wide horizons for vineyards, low hills, and narrower roads. That evening in Combaillaux was…
I’ve written about the Azores many times before. My mother is from the island of São Miguel, and we’re incredibly lucky to have a family home there, a place that has anchored countless summers throughout my life. As I’ve gotten older, and work priorities…
After a full day exploring Arles, we left the city behind and headed south into the Camargue. Breakfast was at our accommodation, followed by the familiar routine of packing up, preparing a simple lunch, and loading a cool bag with an ice pack. By…
After a full first day arriving in Occitanie and exploring Nîmes, we woke up in Arles, ready for a slower but no less layered day. While Arles is often grouped mentally with Occitanie, it actually sits just across the regional border in Provence, and…