Margaret Monis

Travel

Land of Kiwis

Feb 13, 2021

A hobbit's house with a bright orange, round door built into a hill

Finally we got on a plane to Auckland which is located about two thirds of the way up New Zealand’s north island. Wellington is New Zealand’s capital, but Auckland has always been its...

Portugal

Feb 6, 2021

Colourful houses and palm trees in Lisbon

The ancestors on both side of my father’s family came from Sāo Miguel, the largest island in The Azores. The Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, is an archipelago...

Holiday in Spain

Jan 30, 2021

The rock of Gibraltar towers over the city below

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, and is world famous because of the enormous rock rising up from its centre. It sits on...

Rock the Casbah Again

Jan 23, 2021

People standing in front of a sand brown casbah

My husband Douglas and I visited Morocco in 1989, and inspired by The Clash’s song “Rock the Casbah”, we decided to visit one. Casbahs consist of several buildings surrounded by...

Rock the Casbah

Jan 16, 2021

Arched doorway surrounded by tile mosaics

Morocco is an ancient and fascinating country situated in the northwest corner of Africa and bordering both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It was a protectorate...

Viva Italia!

Jan 2, 2021

Florence's Il Duomo with the city and hills in the background

My husband Douglas and I spent a month travelling around Italy in the spring of 1985. We didn’t have any sort of plan other than wanting to visit...

Turkey (Not in the Straw)

Jul 18, 2020

Houses dug into the hillside in Cappadocia, Turkey

The first place Douglas and I visited in Turkey after Istanbul was the ancient city of Ephesus. Ephesus had a population of some 225,000 people in its heyday. The largest temple...

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

Jul 11, 2020

Hagia Sophia, a famous mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

Turkey is a geographically diverse and historically significant country. It is home to Troy (the setting for Homer’s timeless epic “The Iliad”), and the city of Ephesus, whose...

Hitchin' a Ride

Jun 6, 2020

A hitchhiking astronaut holding a sign that says Mars

Hitchhiking seems to have fallen out of favour in recent years. My husband Douglas and I hitchhiked whenever possible when we were travelling in...

Just Like This Train

May 30, 2020

A woman reading in a train compartment

One of my favourite ways to travel is by train. You can quietly enjoy the scenery or read a book, and unlike air travel you always have the option of getting up and stretching your legs...

A Land Downunder

May 9, 2020

The Sydney Opera House lit up and reflecting in the water

Our plan was to visit family in Sydney and Brisbane and then make our way northwest through the Outback before using the far northern city of Darwin as our...

Toro Toro Toro!

Apr 7, 2020

Matador with red cape fighting bull in front of a packed audience

One of my all-time favourite children’s books is “The Story of Ferdinand”. This tale of a peaceful bull who prefers smelling flowers to butting heads...

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