At a time when we rail in this country about supermarkets and excessive prices – concerns also matched in Australia – the inner city Barcelona food market delighted me. The Mercat De La Boqueria in the city dates back to 1217 which is pretty astonishing ..read more

Occitania borders Spain and also sits on the Mediterranean with equally glorious sea views and coastline, but is a lot more low-key than the Riviera. It has many local villages which seemed to be full of locals, not the rich and famous, so I found it more charming. I also had time there to wander and look ..read more

What to do with these memories? I found an answer in Montesquieu des Alberes. It may not be to my personal style but that doesn’t stop me from admiring an effort that made me think it belonged to a folk art genre. Besides, I am here to share ideas others may enjoy ..read more

But the permitted colour palette is what struck me. No grey. I saw cream - no white - but mostly pale to mid yellows, pink, terracotta and pale terracotta in her village. Other villages and towns allow stronger colours. No grey. Anywhere. It seems the French real estate industry does not have an iron grip with an edict that Investment Grey is the way to higher real estate values ..read more

The two gardens I enjoyed the most on my recent jaunt around gardens in the French Riviera were the private ones where we were welcomed by the owners. I can relate to the scale, the personal vision and the detail that comes in good private gardens ..read more

Conditions are tough – exposed, coastal, precipitous, rocky, windy, very dry and hot in summer. What grows in those conditions? Cacti and succulents. They grow very well. I see a note that in getting the garden established, crews of men carted soil up the hill on their backs in bags. No vehicle access then, either. I am not a fan of prickly plants in any way, shape or form but they look right at home in these exposed conditions and I was somewhat won over by their textures and colours ..read more

And so to the pink villa and gardens of Ephrussi de Rothschild at St Jean Cap Ferrat. It was built as a delightful holiday house by the Baroness of that name, with both the villa and gardens being created in the period from 1907 to 1912. Personally, were I the Baroness, I would have cut ..read more

A FAKE FLOWER ARBOUR – no, I am not joking. That is synthetic grass, too. It was so bad it was actually funny. What you see in the photos is it but looking better in a photo than in reality. You step up to enter one side, walk through and step down at the other end, handing back your monogrammed hard hat. What were they thinking when this project was conceived ..read more

Parks are more like breathing spaces, though nowadays it seems that Parc Güell is a space where one will always be sharing the breath of many other people. Regulations allow the admission of 1400 visitors per hour (pre-purchase of tickets is almost always required and days and times can sell out well in advance). While the area landscaped by Gaudi is 12 hectares, there are not a huge number of paths so you would need to get access to the further woodlands to get the feeling of being alone in nature ..read more

But it was the interplay of architecture and afternoon light that simply took my breath away. Much of the Sagrada is impressive, interesting, curious, even odd at times but the light - the light was an emotional experience for me ..read more