The Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City is a wonderous grand pile of early 20th Century design, with an elaborate exterior of Neo Classical and Art Nouveau architecture, topped with an iron and Marotti crystal dome, creating gallery spaces below naturally illuminated by skylights, a first for its time.  The Palacio de Bellas Artes was…

Meanwhile, over at the magnificent Museo Nacional de Antropología, truly one of the world’s great museums, is the most comprehensive collection of ‘Pre-Cortesian’ (Hernán Cortés) history, dating back to 1790 when the great 24 tonne Aztec Sun Stone was uncovered at the base of the Metropolitan Cathedral.  The Museum is packed with the most important archaeological…

There’s not a lot left of the legendary Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, save – amazingly – some stone remnants of the Templo Mayor (Main Temple), where the most important ritual and ceremonial activities in Aztec life took place. Much of this is now below street level, as Tenochtitlan and now modern-day Mexico City continue to…

On any Sunday, Bosque de Chapultepec is packed with locals enjoying the warm sunshine and the cool shady woods and lakes of this vast park. Chapultepec is the lungs of Mexico City and at over 686 hectares, it’s the largest and oldest urban park in all of Latin America.  The crowds stream out of the…

Our home away from home in Ciudad de México is the gorgeously leafy and oh so cool La Condesa, a rather large well-to-do fashionable barrio in the city that consists of three neighbourhoods: Colonia Condesa, Colonia Hipódromo and Colonia Hipódromo Condesa (our immediate hood).  It has wide tree-lined avenues with shady central garden walkways, the…

You could walk right by the Venice Canals without realising they’re there – they are that hidden. But stray just off the beaten track and away from the busy thoroughfares of Washington and Venice Boulevards and you’ll be amazed at the tranquillity that lies here. Of course it’s not Venice as we know Venice, but…

Arriving into the US can often be an anxiety inducing process, what with the intense grilling and extensive finger printing at immigration – with the ‘will I get through?’ question playing in your mind. We’ve all heard the stories. And then there’s LAX, with its vast creaky old infrastructure. It’s not exactly the epitome of…

It takes 5 hours to fly across Australia from Sydney to Perth, across the endless Nullarbor and the Great Australian Bight. It’s as if you’ve travelled to another country. It feels different, and it’s not just the intense light and the dry desert heat. Perth is 2,104 kilometres away from the next capital city, Adelaide…

Fremantle is just a short train ride away from Cottesloe, hugging the coast then crossing over the narrow Swan River mouth. It’s quite the contrast to modern Perth and the laid-back beach life of Cottesloe. Fremantle looks and feels old, but of course not old in real terms. The Swan River Colony, as Fremantle was…

The sun setting over the Indian Ocean is quite the novelty for this East Coaster, and where better to sit and watch in the gloaming then Cottesloe Beach – along with everyone else of course. On a balmy Sunday evening, fish ‘n chips eaten with a glass or two of wine, there’s possibly nowhere more…