Thirty years working to a deadline and Black Friday can feel like a pressure I don’t need. Which is why I’ve latched onto Click&Go… http://www.clickandgo.com.
Who see the day as a springboard for their offers.
I dipped my toe again in Barcelona’s waters this year, 17 years after my first foray there.
And I found Christopher Columbus, arms open, just as welcome as ever.
Click&Go has three nights in the 4* Onix Ceo Hotel with return flights from Dublin from €189pp. For Travel in January.
We’ve got American friends of my favourite cousin who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland which is really the outskirts of Washington DC in town so I’m off to talk America.
I will report back and until then enjoy your Black Friday deals and…
Wel, you’d expect there to be wine around a church, and this being Spain it’s not too big a jump to see sangria too.
In Barcelona the most famous church of all is La Sagrada.
And the best way to make sense of this Teletubby church is with a jug of after jug of Sangria.
Which you can pick up fairly cheaply outside the church which is refreshing.
To the palate and the pocket. They do some pretty good pizzas and hot dogs and the like, and of course paella at a good price too.
Sangrias are one of the easiest cocktails to mix and always scream summer.
Whether in their home of Spain or in your back garden.
Sometimes it can go amiss such as when we were students and a bunch of us were working for SAGA Holidays in Aberdeen University’s Halls of Residence.
My flat mate was down with the lurgie so we decided to put some cough medicine in with the wine, the fruit, the soda water, the fresh orange juice and the lemonade.
That reminds me. I will bring you my review from Barcelona with Celebrity Cruises on the FlowRider on Oasis of the Seas. http://www.celebritycruises.ie
Some things were never meant to be finished… take The Scary One (please). She is always finding things that still need to be done to the house.
Word reaches me that Antoni Gaudi’s magnus opus, the Sagrada Família, first begun in 1882 but only a quarter completed by the time of his death in 1926, has hit another snag.
And just when they looked like getting over the line after Barcelona’s city authority granted La Sagrada Familia’s first building permit. I’m not even asking under what terms they built what’s already up.
Seventy per cent is done (so they had chipped away at it at some point since the Great Man died).
Eight of its proposed 18 spires have been completed and the plan is to have it all finished by 2026, the centenary of Gaudi’s death.
But I guess nobody counted on the 3,000 residents living in the nearby apartments and their objections.
Watching the cranes above the psychedelic spires while draining a jug of sangria recently I couldn’t help wondering whether Antoni had been on something.
And whether they shouldn’t just tear it down and start all over again.
I hope you’re having a good one. I won’t wish you Joyeux Quatorze Juillet, or Bonne Bastille, as the French don’t really do that in the way the Americans wish you Happy Fourth of July.
If you want to find out more French nuances then pop by the French Corner in Dublin where Alliance Francaise Dublin and the French Library with the French Embassy will be putting on free workshops and games and face painting for l’enfants.
From 11-5pm today. City Spectacular, Merrion Square, Dublin.
Cherry amour: The Cherry Blossom in Japan. Photo by Bagus Pangestu
My old friend Wendy Wu is tempting us with discounts on her 2019 and 2020 Asian tours.
She’s giving us an Early Bird saving of €200pp if booked before August 5.
So you love the Cherry Blossoms and the Autumn Leaves. As a sample of the many Asian offers, how about Discover Japan, 13 days from €7,090pp. Twin share.
Wall, what is it good for? A gable end with King Billy
As I revealed in one of my random Did You Knows yesterday, the Battle of the Boyne was on July 1 and when converted to the Gregorian Calendar became the 12th of July when it should have been the 11th of July.
Of course we were more interested in commemorating another royal victory this week on the 11th.
The final piece of the Game of Thrones tapestry has been woven in at the Ulster Museum in Belfast to mark the end of the saga.
Before it gets taken to Bayeux where it will be exhibited from September to December.
The Ulster Museum is one of the best cultural and historical museums on this island. And it’s free. Visit it. http://www.nmni.com.
I’m heading up to Royal Portrush on Sunday for the final day of The Open Golf Championship.
Queen lives here: Windsor Castle. Photo by Kris Schulze
Back in the day when I first started this scribbling lark, I found myself in the Royal County of Berkshire… where I found myself a wife.
Then where Legoland now is was Windsor Safari Park. Nothing to read into that, just saying.
Berkshire, to the west of London is a great location in its own right for its royal history and quaint villages and is also ideally situated for the Big Smoke.
And that makes it great for families. Cassidy Travel knows it and has put together a great Legoland and football package to keep everyone happy.
If Mum doesn’t fancy the footie, and these days it’s more likely it would be Dad, the shopping in London is unparalleled.
Stay in the 3* Travelodge Windsor Central and choose between Arsenal v Burnley or Chelsea v Leicester City. Package from €379pps based on four sharing. Includes a day pass to Windsor Legoland Resort.
All they wore for the whole fortnight we were in Bulgaria was their football tops and trackie bottoms.
I think they had a few changes of the same outfits. It was the wrong team they supported but they were sweet girls and their grandparents were nice too.
Bulgaria is still remarkably good value as evidenced by a Sunway survey in conjunction with the UK Post Office.
They compared the cost of holiday essentials including a bottle of beer, a coffee and a three-course meal for two with a bottle of wine in 20 European beach holiday resorts.
Sunny Beach on Bulgaria’s Black Sea comes in at €44.44 for nine items. The most expensiveis Sorrento at €159.40.
Sunway offers seven nights B&B at the 3* Hotel Kudadasi for €399. Visit http://www.sunway.ie. for this and other great holiday offfers.
And Holiday Snaps is just about to get snappier with an extra day of the snappiest snaps in Snaptown, Snapetonia.
