This week’s Blogger Round-Up starts with a post by Judy MacMahon from My French Life who shares 4 secrets spots for hot chocolate – I shall be the first to try! Next Phoebe from Lou Messugo takes us to visit the Blue Church in Bratislava – I’m so jealous because I didn’t know of its existence when I visited the city last summer. Anda from Travel Notes and Beyond then tells us the good and bad of Istanbul which will stand me in good stead when I go there in September. Enjoy!
Paris off the beaten path: 4 secret spots for hot chocolate
The French know their chocolat chaud like no one else: it’s how they begin their day! After all, there’s nothing quite like a proper French hot chocolate – except perhaps drinking said French hot chocolate in Paris…
There are the classic, well-known spots to sip a hot chocolate in Paris. And then there are those little cafés that the Parisians would love to keep for themselves; but secrets have a way of getting out. Read more
The Blue Church, Bratislava
by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia
After two years of writing exclusively about France, mostly about the area where I live and French culture, I’m diverging into wider pastures, so this, my friends, is my first offering not about France. I’ve been itching to write about other places I’ve been and having just returned from a trip to Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava I’ve decided it’s now or never!
Bratislava, the tiny capital of Slovakia, is only an hour’s drive from Vienna, making it perfect for a day trip. I had done a little research about the place and knew that I wanted to see the Blue Church, no matter what. And in this case the “no matter what” was a big black cloud and rumbles of thunder coming from the general direction of the church. Read more
The Good and The Bad of Istanbul
by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel
It is difficult to judge a city of the size of Istanbul after a 5 day trip, but if I were to describe the little that I saw of it in just a few words, I would say: huge, crowded, majestic and unique. Huge, because the city boundaries cover almost 2,000 square kilometers, while the metropolitan region, or the Province of Istanbul, covers 6,220 square kilometers. Crowded, because everywhere you go in Istanbul you walk almost shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other people. Read more
Thanks for the links!
Bratislava in particular is a place I’d love to see for myself.
Love the historical part of Istanbul and reading about how life was before all the green spaces were consumed by urban machinery. That’s the bad or the sad, trying to find the park with the kids and finding a “keep out” construction site. A week later we learned we weren’t the only ones disappointed by this appropriation of one of the last city green spaces.
I agree, it’s very sad. At least in most of the big cities, they try and keep some green spaces.