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Africa, Countries, Europe, Sport

Bring on the 2030 World Cup and Spain, Portugal and Morocco

19th July 202619th July 2026 funtime65

And by the time you read this it will be all over so bring on the 2030 World Cup and Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Which we would suggest, Mexico excepting, is ‘football coming home’ to the Old World.

And closer, and less expensive, for those of us who live in the tip of an island in the North of Europe.

A Nou experience

Barca legends: Messi is still everywhere

Now Spain, Portugal and Morocco are loco about their football as we have discovered first hand.

When we helicoptered over Barcelona (is there any other way?) and gasped at the sight of the Nou Camp.

Only to be told by the pilot that that was the reserve side’s ground.

While Jose, our Special One guide, in Portugal explained.

That under the dictator Salazar he ran the country by the Three Fs… Football, Fado and Fatima.

Portugal’s secular God

All of which became clearer in that Marian site when meeting the niece of one of the Little Shepherds (as you do) in the porch of her house.

And seeing that among the stands of holy relics and statues of Our Lady what stood out was…

A beach towel of Portugal’s secular God, one Cristiano Ronaldo.

Now we’ve flagged up already this year how the AFCON tournament held in Morocco was pitched.

At the kind of prices that would buy you a hot dog and a beer at the WC.

Although once Gianni Infantino gets his claws into that we expect tagines and mint teas to surge in price.

Shirt hits fan in Morocco

While you’ll have to have your wits about you when it comes to bartering.

Again which we found out to our cost when buying the oblig national football team’s shirt in Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakech.

Now if you’re reading this in South America, you’ve got the consolation of having single games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

A nod to the centenary of the first competition held in Fray Bentos land back in 1930.

All that’s left now is to pull down the 48 flag bunting from the garden fence.

Who knows who’ll be on it in four years’ time but we do know should Scotland get there then they’ll do it the hard way.

Countries, Culture, Europe

In the sandlestraps of Odysseus

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And ahead of the release of this summer’s Ancient Greeks blockbuster here’s how to follow in the sandlestraps of Odysseus.

Now we know, like your Bandanaman, you’ll recognise Ody’s itinerary from studying the poem in your Ancient Greek class.

We join Ody in the island of Ogygia where he is held captive by the goddess Calypso (poor little soldier).

And those of us who love the Maltese archipelago might recognise it on Christopher Nolan’s movie as its little sister Gozo.

Our love odyssey

But don’t take our word for it. Well, actually do, but no less a figure than the ancient historian Callimachus.

Which lies 350 miles southwest of Corfu (Ody’s penultimate stop Scheria in the poem).

And perfectly aligns with Odysseus’s perilous maritime journey.

And, of course, we channeled our inner Calypso and Ody by getting engaged on Malta and honeymooning on Corfu.

High land and island

Ody tells us that his journey back to his homeland of Ithaca all began at the end of the Trojan War.

And yours will too, in what we believe was Troy, in north-west Anatolia.

Its archaeological site is situated on the mound of Hisarlık, near the village of Tevfikiye, 20 miles south of city Çanakkale.

You may too want to visit (best not raid) the foot of Mount Ismaros in Thrace, in north-east Greece.

Better known among Homerians as the Land of the Cicones (Ismarus).

Before diverting to the island of Djerba, Tunisia, this lad really could have done with GPS, or this site.

To the Land of the Lotus Eaters which Herodotus and Pliny the Elder credit as being the site of Lotophagi.

And where Ody no doubt enjoyed his downtime with the inhabitants who subsisted on narcotic, memory-erasing lotus plants.

Never mind the boulders

Now you would need that if your next mission is to fight and blind a one-eyed monster, Polyphemus.

On the island of the Cyclopes, which we know today as Sicily.

And which is also billed as the Land of the Laestrygonians where man-eating monsters sank Ody’s pals’ ships with boulders.

Of course today’s Sicilians are far friendlier although best start by calling them Sicilian and not Italian.

Now following Ody’s trail you’ll be glad that the Med islands transitioned from chasing tourists to welcoming them.

Pigging out

It helps, of course, to have the right God on your side.

Which would be, and we really hope you don’t need him.

But if the sorceress Circe tries to turn you and you’re family into pigs then Hermes is your go-to god.

Of course, don’t let any of this put you off visiting Cape Circeo (Mount Circeo), the erstwhile Aeaea.

A small peninsula on the west coast of Italy, about 100 km south of Rome.

While for all the misadventures Ody has in Sicily, Homer obviously likes it because he sends him back there (or Trinicaria).

Though maybe not mention his name around the island as Ody’s crew destroyed Helios’ sacred cattle there (no, us neither) and Zeus totalled them out at sea.

Ithaca Homer run

All of which meanderings and choppy maritine mayhem brings us to Ody’s home in Ithaca.

Where his Scary One, Penelope is waiting for him.

Now you can overload on all things Homer, or better still get a local guide to take you around.

The Cave of the Nymphs, Stavros Archaeological Museum, Polis Cave, and Homer’s School.

How to get there quicker

And because few of us have ten years free to wander around the east Med and daren’t risk the wrath of our Scary Ones either.

The quickest way to get to Ithaca is either by sea through Kefallonia and Lefkada, as well as with the mainland (Patras and Astakos).

While the closest airports are Kefallonia and Aktion-Preveza.

America, Countries, Europe, Flying, Sport

A tale of Lief, Erling and Transatlantic Norse power

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The Americans have never seen anything like it before, only they have… it’s a tale of Leif, Erling and Transatlantic Norse power.

Because, in truth, Leif Eriksson and the Vikings were the first settlers of North America.

Nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

When the longboats made terra firma at L’Anse aux Meadowes in Newfoundland.

And made their way over the years, four million of them, to the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.

Mostly to Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Washington State and California.

The Norse Home Country

Well, they’ve been joined, as we’ve all seen in the last month, by crewmen and women from the Old Country.

With the Norwegians giving the Scots a run for their money as the party people of this World Cup.

With their Viking-rooing, or Viking rowing crowd surge.

Even taking over escalators in Boston.

And those very same Scots taking to Norway as their adopted team.

Well, the nearest train station for Shetlanders is Bergen.

Row, row, row your boat

And while none got wet in its production apart from spilled lager.

Modern Norsemen did put their backs into it to row all the way across the Atlantic.

With 338 Norwegian supporters crossing the Atlantic on Norse Atlantic Airways’ longship to New York.

Of course, most of us don’t have that amount of time (and that’s our excuse) so we avail instead of their flights.

The stuff of legend

Norse have been putting on extra seats for Miami for their quarter-final match with England.

And we dare say that Norse flights will be in high demand for the final on Sunday, July 19 in New Jersey.

But here they are, should you be free for next Sunday, from £1,082 return Saturday to Monday.

Countries, Europe, Sport, UK

When the famous Tartan Army met the Teuton Army

2nd July 2026 funtime65

When the famous Tartan Army met the Teuton Army in the Euros in Germany two years ago it changed everything.

With bonds between the 200,000 Scots and their German hosts forged and rekindled.

And promises made to meet up again in two years time in America at the World Cup.

Alas, our paths weren’t to cross in the US with Scotland and Germany being drawn apart and both being knocked out early.

But did last night at a Scottish-German get-together in Edinburgh last night.

Where we raised a Prost and a Sláinte with Harald, Charlotte and unsere alten Freunde.

And parked any Schadenfreude for England’s travails until they squeezed by DR Congo.

Back at kindergarten

Not, in truth, that the Germans have ever bought into the grudge that England feels for them.

With, in fact, it being the Dutch with whom the Germans share a rivalry.

Now while football was to the fore, and the World Cup is poorer for Scotland and Germany being out.

We were in town to celebrate the links between our countries and learn, of course, new things.

Because, after all every day is a kindergarten day.

And didn’t we discover our hosts for the night. Anderson Strathern LLP, boasted a Nuremberg chest heirloom dating back to 1701?

My German footballing odyssey

My own German footballing odyssey involved Nuremberg .

When I took in my first game in Deutschland, a Bavarian derby with Bayern Munchen during my first Oktoberfest.

And not even getting a smack in the nose back outside the Hofbrauhuis.

For trying to split up two footballing frauleins, from one of their boyfriends I’m saying, has put me off my love of football.

Which was cemented on a memorable tour around the Ruhr, the spiritual home of German football, while also visiting the German football museum.

Where they bask in the glory of four World Cups and three European Championships (count them).

Flower of Scotland in Germany

World in our hands: At the German Football Museum

So everything is still rosy in the German garden and also in the Ruhr region which will bring a different tourist over next year for their very special gardening spectacle.

All of which has got me thinking, mibbeees I should present a trip to the Ruhr Valley as a horitcultural holiday to Der Scary One.

And I slide off to Essen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen.

Countries, Europe, Sustainable Tourism

Baden-Baden is so gut they named it twice

27th June 202627th June 2026 funtime65

Now where better to get away from the heat stifling the continent of Europe than a spa, right, and Baden-Baden is so gut they named it twice.

And if that name sounds familiar then you probably recall it from the England WAGs, Victoria, Cheryl, Coleen, Abbey and Co.

All pampering themselves here 20 years ago.

And earning themselves the mantle of Baden-Baden Girls… OK, we just made that up but still.

The girls, of course, availed themselves of the Brenners Park hospitality.

A £1,000-a-night 1800s spa hotel on the outskirts of town, and the Italian restaurant Garibaldi.

While they naturally went in for some retail therapy with the wags (that’s funny people) declaring the Wags had renamed the town Shopping-Shopping.

Spending £57,000 an hour on one party excursion.

Ja dancer

Now we can’t say we know if the Equipage dance, music and cocktail bar were around back then.

The WAGs and their families made do instead with Garibaldi.

Where Elen Rives, Frank Lampard’s then partner climbing on a table and singing I Will Survive.

And Neville Neville, the dad of Gary and Phil, and that really is his name, got renched in beer and brandished a replica World Cup (they never did get their hands on the real one).

To be fair, when England football wives aren’t in the small town of just 30,000 then there is a more sedate feel.

Much like we’d say an Oberammergau, although without Der Passion, more say Der Passsion Fruit cocktails when the WAGs are there.

And prides itself on its motto of the good-good life.

The good-good life

Baden-Baden, of course, is nothing to do with a negative outcome…

I mean, who would call themselves that?

But rather bad means bath, although Bath-Bath sounds more of an order.

For those denonymophiles, and yes, we made that up to… there is a very good reason why Baden-Baden was named twice.

It is to differentiate it from other Badens in Germany, theirs starting off life as Baden in Baden, the Baden region, before getting abreviated.

You’ve been Tangoed

And why apart from nostalgia are we honing in on Baden-Baden?

Well because we and the Unesco-listed Great Spa Towns of Europe are celebrating.

Five years of collaboration this year.

With Baden-Baden running a full weekend, with its popular annual tango event.

In the collonades of the Trinkhalle, or pump room

Alongside a film screening of the silent film Der Skandal in Baden-Baden.

Guided tourse addressed Baden-Baden’s significant role in the development of music in Europe.

And the Kurgarten was transformed into a scene from the heyday of th Great Spa Towns of Europe.

Now, you don’t have to be a WAG or their appendage to stay at Brenners Park.

So maybe we’ll see you there because you know how much we, and she, love a spa.

And you might very well see my very own shopaholic will be there around the shoes.

America, Countries, Europe, Food & Wine, UK

Irish bar flagging up Ivorian green, white and gold

17th June 202617th June 2026 funtime65

And as Scotland basks in World Cup glory let’s include our Celtic cousins too and the Irish bar flagging up Ivorian Green, white and gold.

Now we’ve been here ourselves, and too often, with the world champions in waiting (that’s us) outside looking in for 28 years.

And in that decade and a half trying to immerse ourselves in the tourney through clever tie-ins.

Like adopting whichever team is playing England with some smart word play in the marketing merch.

Although worryingly one in ten Scots want England to do well, including Royalist Roy next door.

The Green, White and Verde

It is the birthright, of course, of all Celts that you get to support Ireland or Wales too if your own country miss out.

And in Ireland’s case anybody with any tangental connection.

Such as Cape Verde’s Roberto “Pico” Lopes, a Shamrock Rovers defender the Africans tapped up on LinkedIn.

After discovering he qualified through his father.

Now Ireland and the diaspora have lent their support to Cape Verde.

With the Honey Fitz bar in Astoria, New York adopting the archipelago as their team for the tourney.

And we dare say that the old family bar, the iconic Irish Cottage, in Queens too would have done the same was it still here now.

Men in the mirror

For us living in the country of the world champion heir apparents there is another Irish link, for when Scotland aren’t playing.

In the shape of Cote D’Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast, because their flag is the mirror image of Ireland’s.

Ireland’s green, white and orange represented green Irish catholicism, orange Northern protestantism and white for peace.

And the Cote D’Ivoire’s green for its grasslands, orange for its forests and white, er, for peace again.

Edinburgh and Ivory

Your best Biddy: Channeling the Ivorians

Biddy Mulligan’s in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket has gone full Ivorian.

With all Irish flags, which feature the same tricolour as the Ivory Coast in a different order, will be flipped to represent the African nation.

While Ivory Coast tunes will be played before and after matches.

And Biddy’s has also partnered with an Ivory Coast snacks company to bring food to customers ‘straight from the source’.

And have even bought in hundreds of bottle of African Guinness. with the stout selling more in Africa than any other continent.

Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Sport

Wunderbear… here’s Germany and Curacao

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Only a World Cup could bring Old Europe and the Caribbean like this together but Wunderbear… here’s Germany and Curacao.

Courtesy of Derself, who was born on a British military base.

And circumnavigated the world when her family returned from a posting in Australia.

Bringing back mementoes, as we all do, which have taken on another life as the years have rolled on.

A word from the advertisers

So meet Yorkie, here modelling a Curacao t-shirt which once adorned Derself and Der Daughterie of Derself.

And Barney Bear who despite his very Bavarian lederhosen hails from the home of German beardom, Swabia.

Now whisper it around Barney who doesn’t have the iconic button in his ear which all Steiff bears have.

He’s actually bear ein Berliner but the German capital too has a bear tradition going back 600 years.

All of which he told me at one of those hydration breaks they have brought in during halfs to sell advertising.

New alliances

World in my hands: At the German Football Museum in Dortmund

Now such is the bonhomie of a World Cup that new alliances are forged regardless of the scoreline.

Such as German football fans and Curacao supporters.

Although, in truth, the 150,000 party people of Curaçao’s connection is with the Netherlands.

Of which they are a constituent island nation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

While old alliances are renewed such as that between the Tartan Army and the samba-dancing Brazilians.

And yes, senor, we can boogie.

With the two sets of famously partying fans renewing acquaintances for a fifth time at World Cups in 50 years.

Another reason to see Amsterdam

Ride on: Can I be trusted on a bike? In Amsterdam

Now we obviously know our way around Germany but Curacao clearly takes more prep.

So if you’re not on a round-the-world boat journey, and you should, you deserve it.

Then it makes sense that you’ll fly out of Amsterdam with KLM.

Which we priced up at from £1,177pp from Edinburgh going through Tuliptown.

Countries, Deals, Europe

Inside the United Nations in Geneva

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And you thought it was in New York, well it is, but here’s somewhere else where you don’t have to press your nose up to the glass… inside the United Nations in Geneva.

Switzerland is famous for its internationalism and neutrality so of course it embraces the whole United Nations ideal.

And is more than happy to open its doors for a new gateway into how the world works… the Portail des Nations.

Located at the entrance of the Palais des Nations (along the Alley of Flags), this immersive visitor centre invites you, we’re told, to explore the forces shaping our world.

Of course, now we’ve had our big kick-off to the football World Cup, we’ve got our own Alley of Flags along the garden fence.

Our own little effort at world unity.

Flagging up the Portail des Nations

More than a visitor centre, the Portail des Nations, which opens on Friday, June 18, is designed as a journey.

Across nearly 1,000m², interactive installations bring global challenges to life.

From climate change to human rights and global health.

A highlight of the visit: an immersive experience inspired by how the United Nations operates.

And it offers visitors insight into the mechanisms behind international decision-making.

Designed for everyone, the experience is easy to access and does not require the usual formalities associated with institutional visits.

The art of diplomacy

Whether you’re travelling solo, with family, or in a group, it’s the perfect introduction to international Geneva.

With this new landmark, the city on the lake reinforces its position as a hub of dialogue and diplomacy.

The Portail des Nations becomes a must-visit starting point.

To understand how global decisions are made and how they impact us all.

We found an EasyJet return flight from our local airport here in Edinburgh to Geneva for £200 return…

That’s assuming that the half-Scottish Donald Trump can’t get us on Air Force One.

Deals, Europe, Sport

For go-karting in Galway read Avo-Drift in Avoriaz

9th June 20269th June 2026 funtime65

Plus ca change as they say en France and for go-karting in Galway read Avo-Drift in Avoriaz aujourd-hui.

One of the highlights back in the day on holiday in Salthill on Ireland’s west coast .

And before Sky television and mobile phones and girls, was the go-karts.

And we’d spend the hard-earned Saturday work cash on cornering and pretending we were James Hunt.

Of course, I should have known then I wouldn’t be cut out to be a natural driver.

Spin me right round: Underground karting

Although I did manage to get my driving licence after I think six times.

During which I got lessons from Her Behind the Wheel which is where she has stayed, not allowing me to drive since.

And the most laidback rasta driver who would pass over anything I might be doing wrong.

Occasionally stepping on the emergency brake, but mostly waving at his ‘brothers’ out the window.

One careless driver

You can take it as red: Fiat 501 en France

A range of work cars laters, a slip on the ice in Aberdeen and a rear-end outside a football ground and a clamping and we’re more or less up to date.

Apart, of course, from the time on the French Riviera when our party were given Fiat 501s to drive.

Only I couldn’t work out the old hand gears and the tour operator insisted they drive me instead!

All of which driving mishaps behind me I was rather taken by the invitation put out here.

To discover Avo’Drift in Avoriaz on the French-Swiss border.

And despite the billing, it doesn’t down scary at all, which is more than be said for my mountain escapades.

Get the Drift

Avo’Drift, we’re told, and I checked out the pics, is a unique drifting-style driving experience.

Set inside an underground parking garage.

All transformed into a vibrant illuminated arena with neon lights and an underground atmosphere.

Participants take the wheel of electric vehicles.

All specially designed for drifting, featuring one front wheel and two rear wheels built for sliding.

All of which is meant to allow drivers to drift through corners, swing the rear out, and challenge friends in a fun and immersive setting.

Helmets and gloves are provided if necessary, and the activity is accessible to anyone over4.5ft tall.

Sessions last between eight and ten minutes.

And prices are set at €15/£13 per driver or €13.50/£12 with the Multipass discount.

Count us in

A seven-night stay at Hotel des Dromont s, arriving August 8, is priced from £643pps, sharing a double room with breakfast included. Flights and transfers extra.

We found flights with EasyJet from £194.48.

BON VOYAGE

Countries, Cruising, Deals, Europe, Ships

VIVA the Danube’s Iron Gates

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They sound like something out of Game of Thrones but VIVA the Danube’s Iron Gates are all too real and more dramatic than anything in George RR Martin’s world.

The Iron Gates, for those who are not too familiar with the great river gateway of central Europe, are the natural border between Serbia and Romania.

An 83-mile route, with the last barrier, the Kazan (Great Boiler) gorge being the narrowest and most breathtaking at just 15om just beyond the Romanian city of Orsova.

The side of the gorge in Romania constitutes the Iron Gates Natural Park, and the Serbian Đerdap National Park.

And what’s more Lepenski Vir in Serbia in the gorge and on the banks of the Danube is mooted as being the oldest planned settlement in Europe at 13,000 years ago.

Long before we’d hazard those Starks and their dragons were around.

Move aside Winterfell

Now all this will naturally pull in any of us who have enjoyed the charms of the Danube.

And even more so with VIVA Cruises tempting us with a gentle amble through its waters.

The 11-night ‘The Danube’s Iron Gates’, sailing on VIVA TWO departs Passau on September 6.

With ports of call including Bratislava, Belgrade, Donji Milanovac, Novi Sad and an overnight in Ilok.

Then on to Aljmas, Budapest, Hainburg and Vienna, Dürnstein; and Melk.

Many of those stop-offs sounding like they’ve come straight out of Winterfell.

With prices starting from €2950, the campaign comprises a free cabin upgrade and onboard credit.

VIVA the river

In addition, a reduced single supplement of 20 per cent is available for applicable solo bookings.

The offer is valid on 65 river cruises departing in 2026, with prices listed for Emerald deck cabins.

And if you can’t extend to 11 nights on VIVA TWO then there is a seven-night Danube from Vienna, sailing on VIVA MOMENTS from €1795pp.

Or a seven-night Whispers of the Rhone, sailing on VIVA VOYAGE, departing Lyons and flowing through France, from €1695pp.

While there’s a seven-night Waterways of the North, sailing on VIVA ONE through the Low Countries from €1795pp.

Guests will receive €25pp onboard spending money on cruises of up to six nights.

And €50pp for voyages of more than seven nights in duration.

The credit can be used for shore excursions, spa treatments and in onboard retails shops.Cabin upgrades will be applied to the next higher cabin category.