A blog about adventures in tango, travel and storytelling
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It was the TranzAlpine that brought me to Greymouth. Well, not literally. I was planning to take the TranzAlpine from Greymouth to Christchurch. But given that the train only runs once a day and my risk-averse nature, I decided to stay a night in Greymouth in case the bus was delayed. The bus wasn’t delayed....
There are two people buried in the monastery of Alcobaça and it was them who first brought me to Portugal. I was fifteen and had just won a writing competition organised by the Portuguese Ministry of Education. My entry was a re-telling of the story of Ines and Pedro, written in diary format from the point of view of Pedro. I called it “The Dead Queen”. Don Pedro and Ines...
A guide to exploring central Warsaw on foot, discovering the city’s sights and stories along the way....
Just like many of the best things, I discovered Polish tango music by accident. It was shortly after I had been to a concert of Tango Diagonales, a quintet of young Argentinian musicians from La Plata. It was the first time that I had heard the flute played in a tango ensemble. Although the flute was one of the original instruments used to play tango you don’t hear it that...
This series finishes in the last town along the Côte d’Azur, just a few kilometres from the Italian border. Menton is mainly known for its lemons and this can already give you an idea that this is not going to be a party hotspot. So if you’re looking for a quiet place to spend a day or so along the Côte d’Azur and like places that feel like time has...
Of all the places I visited while I was in the south of France, Antibes was my favourite. We spent a day there, and the next time I go back to the Côte d’Azur I’ll definitely be staying for at least a few days. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Antibes has a cerain sparkle. Of course it helped that the sun was shining so much, it...
A Day in Montecarlo – The day after I arrived in Nice was my birthday and, always eager to add another country to my list, we decided to spend the day in Montecarlo. Monaco is just a twenty minute train journey from Nice and a return ticket costs around 7 euros return at time of writing (2018). Montecarlo train station is located in the higher part of the city and...
After spending my first night in Marseille dancing tango, I set out the next day to explore one of the city’s main attractions: the Old Port. The area has been completely redesigned in recent years, ahead of Marseille being the European Capital of Culture in 2013 and it’s a great place to walk around. If you get there early, you can walk around the fish market. During the day, there...
A cautionary tale for those who would whale watch I had never seen a whale before and I knew one of the highlights was going to be a boat trip from the Peninsula Valdes. The photos I would take! It would be an unforgettable experience! Well, as it turned out, it was, but not quite the way I had imagined it. It started out OK; we arrived in Puerto Piramides...
My last stop of this trip where I have been trying to dance as much tango as possible along the way, was Singapore. My main reason for stopping here was to participate in my very first tango festival. As I was taking classes during the day, I mostly limited sightseeing to the area where I was staying and where the festival events were taking place (central Singapore). Here’s what I...