Kudu Travel

05/06/2024

Exciting news - we've just launched a new tour for 2025 to Lisbon.

Discover the delights of Lisbon with our resident guide Pedro Sortica de Lima and enjoy the pleasures of great food, good wine and superb music.

This 4 night cultural city tour includes tickets to a concert of the Gulbenkian Orchestra conducted by the Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki. The programme includes Kaija Saariaho’s Concert for Trumpet and Orchestra and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 1 in D major.

For more details about this wonderful trip, click here https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/lisbon-city-tour

Book soon to avoid disappointment!

05/06/2024

A magical couple of weeks in Corsica; mountain walks, strolls along the coast with swimming in tiny coves, wild horses, flowers and more flowers …
Reported by Sarah Domoney after a recent Kudu tour

28/05/2024

It is said that you never know your own town and it is certainly true that we learnt more about London during Covid than we had experienced before. But is the same true about the Czech Republic whose population is similar to London and where you can travel from one side to the other in a day? My regular readers - you know who you are - will have already surmised that the answer is a resounding yes!
We spent another day of our ongoing reconnaissance on a wonderfully scenic drive past towering churches and 19th century castles to the Republic's sixth largest city, a university town of some 100,000 people and some of the most colossal architectural buildings we have encountered. From its twenty-two churches - it used to be thirty-two until Joseph II did a deal with the local bishop to exchange ten churches for a green space - to frescoes above a shop front, this place enchants and invites further examination.
Our private guide led us through half deserted streets, avoiding the trams that have been here since the 1880s, past Hapsburg barracks and communist straplines with a 1499 pharmacy and no fewer than seven fountains.
An al fresco dinner with more than above average food and very pleasant Czech wine rounded off the day.
Onwards to the Polish border and opera tomorrow.

27/05/2024

An Istrian Idyll

May 23, 2024

By David Owen

It always surprises me when people, while nodding sagely, ask: where exactly is Istria? Yet. I am a little glad that more travellers have not discovered this pearl hanging from the ear of Trieste.

Last week Tereza and I were leading 12 eclectic Kudu guests through this distinctive part of Croatia with its Italianate influences, 140 fresco locations and truffles to rival any in Europe, perhaps even Alba. From the seashore of Fažana, gazing out on Tito’s private islands of Brijuni, to the hilltop Venetian eyrie which is Motovun, we walked flower garlanded paths, gazed on 900 year old frescoes, wondered at the 1st century amphitheatre of P**a and imbibed the local grapes of Malvazia and Teran.

We visited a sympathetically excavated Roman castrum where the last Istrian chief fought his final battle and hunted truffles with a 30 year veteran of this niche occupation. We found orchids on the southernmost point of this peninsula and surveyed the oak trees which once supplied the galleys of Venice while wisps of clouds scudded below our hotel with its chestnut tree shaded terrace and a Palladian church next door.

We discussed ancient sites and even older myths, not forgetting the discovery of a fine example of Europe’s largest moth. We eat truffles outside on the battlements of Motovun and sea salt encased sea bass in Fažana.

Finally, we walked where Franz Joseph enjoyed his seaside forays and European royalty soothed their limbs in thalassotherapeutic baths before enjoying – Kudus not European royalty - a smorgasbord of shellfish and seafood.

Sounds good?

25/05/2024

Travel, because if you don't ... A much beloved old friend sent me the full version of a poem by Gio Evan, a poet and songwriter, whose real name is Giovanni Giancaspro though he obviously felt a Welsh surname was more bardic. - Read more on https://mailchi.mp/a3213ff31fcf/enewsmay2024

23/05/2024

We'd love you to join us in Corsica on 5th October!

There are a few spaces remaining on this wonderful holiday where you will see the very best of this picturesque island. Corsica has exceptional walking trails, outstanding food and fascinating history.

Highlights include:

* 9 half-day distinctly different walks in five separate areas of this mountainous island.
* Historic Citadels (Bastia, Calvi, Corte, Bonifacio) dating from the 9th century.
* Romanesque and polychrome churches.
* Mediaeval and Bronze Age archaeological sites; sea ports and ancient hilltop villages.

For more information or to book this holiday - click here: https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/corsica-walking-tour

10/05/2024

How exciting to find an Adriatic lizard orchid in Istria!

08/05/2024

Istria - day 1 - walking towards our home for 3 nights.

04/05/2024

Far from the Madding Crowd - Not a film, play or musical but a book that resonated in my head as Tereza and I researched for September Bulgaria trip. Read more on https://mailchi.mp/b0f7800e3ca7/april2024

20/04/2024

Read more about Bulgaria research trip
Simple Twist of Fate
https://www.kudutravel.com/blog/bulgaria-april-24

10/04/2024

First impressions of Bulgaria
We can't wait to see it in the autumn when we return for our walking tour running 17 - 29 September 2024
https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/bulgaria-walking-tour

30/03/2024

Take my hand, I’m a Stranger in Paradise - After Frank Sinatra, who better to introduce our range of winter sun tours than Tony Bennett? https://mailchi.mp/7e387f83d336/march2024

19/03/2024

By Kudu guest J. Bridson

Hot and steamy - Panama - not the dinner conversations of course!

With such a climate not surprising then that the landscapes, flora, and fauna were dramatic and incredibly photogenic. Many may overlook Panama because of the association with ship traffic (1.5M pounds per one way trip for a large container carrier), but I’m glad I didn’t!

The food was good and varied as it should be for the crossroads of the Americas. Panamanian coffee and rum were exceptional. And for those with an eye
for architecture, modern Panama City has a skyscraping profile while the old city is a maze of narrow streets lined by attractive older buildings.

My camera was always in use, both in the city and the countryside.

Next Kudu trip to Panama will run 2nd - 14th February 2025
https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/panama-wildlife-tour

02/03/2024

'Cause nice and easy does it every time - The lead song of Frank Sinatra’s eighteenth studio album serves, hopefully, as a reminder that there are only a few places left on our Menorca tour. For further availability updates, read https://mailchi.mp/e647686b75e4/february2024

27/01/2024

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi
Forgive the eruption into a foreign language but the first line of the Welsh national anthem seems a fitting introduction to the launch of our Anglesey tour.
Read more on https://mailchi.mp/ac03a744fdf0/january2024

09/01/2024

Our new 9-day walking tour takes you to Anglesey, the island anchored on the northwest corner of Wales by Telford’s suspension bridge and Stephenson’s Britannia bridge. From megalithic ruins to Druidic battles and the re-emergence of the Welsh language and culture, we journey through time and space to explore the past of Anglesey and its inhabitants.
https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/anglesey-walking-tour
6 - 14 September 2024

04/01/2024

Over 17 days, 17 Nov – 3 Dec 2024, we take in Patagonia’s vastness. On 10 days, we walk in national parks. From Buenos Aires, we travel to the Nahuel Huapi NP and further south to the Los Glaciares NP. We have 3 days in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. In Chubut province, we visit the Welsh village of Gaiman and Punta Ninfas on the Atlantic coast.
https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/patagonia-walking-tour

23/12/2023

We'll have time for coffee flavored kisses and a bit of conversation - In the spirit of Christmas, the opening lines comprise our Yuletide (who invented that awful word?) quiz. Read more on https://mailchi.mp/fd342cb223fc/december2023

26/11/2023

A flamboyance of flamingos and a congregation of ibises
Read our latest newsletter featuring Patagonia, Costa Rica, Bequia and more https://mailchi.mp/e3ece6a42fba/november2023

28/10/2023

There’s a place for us - We reach back to the 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story for our headline this month. Composed by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a dream team if ever there was, the song is more accurately entitled “Somewhere”. https://mailchi.mp/d4d25dedf45d/october2023

15/10/2023

Goats’ inherent design flaw and other memories from a Kudu
by Penny C.
Northern Cyprus (2007) showed us goats’ inherent design flaw as the American returnee fished (with her finger) poo out of the bucket as she demonstrated how to milk her goats.
Read more on https://www.kudutravel.com/blog/goats-design-flaw

30/09/2023

Since you gotta go, oh you’d better
Go now, go now, go now
As Kudus prepare to ‘go now’ to Corsica with Sarah Wright and Andalucía with Thomas Randall, our thoughts turn from autumn to winter sun and exotic destinations. - https://mailchi.mp/eb7f9c2455a6/september2023

18/09/2023

We'd like to share with you the highlights of our recent visit to the island of Anglesey in North Wales.

https://www.kudutravel.com/blog/anglesey-sep23

03/09/2023

These are a few of my favourite things
Yes, that song from that film where there are occasions on which I have cheered for the baddies. However, listening to the John Coltrane version, one can forgive Rodgers and Hammerstein for this sugar-coated parcel of mush. https://mailchi.mp/0343c113db99/august2023

14/11/2022

We have been asked frequently if we could create a truly Kudu tour in Corsica. Our original plan was to undertake the research in April 2020 but something got in the way. So, fast forward two years: David and I finally landed in Corsica and it was worth the wait!

We have set up two dates in 2023, showcasing spring flowers on our May departure and autumn colours in the tour running 30 September – 10 October.

https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/corsica-walking-tour

29/03/2022

“God when he had finished creating the world, found some stones left over which he fashioned into Montenegro.”

A quote by Fitzroy Maclean, the soldier and writer and one of only two men who during the Second World War joined the army as a private and rose to the rank of Brigadier, accurately describes the terrain of this jewel of the Balkans.

Read more in our monthly newsletter
https://mailchi.mp/4da623b20092/march2022

16/02/2022

The Orkney archipelago has been inhabited for over 8,000 years and contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe. Amongst them is the archaeological site of Ness of Brodgar, where digging continues every July and August.

Many of the most intriguing finds from the Ness of Brodgar will be on show at the British Museum in a new exhibition, the World of Stonehenge, opening on 17 February.

Join us in June in Orkney to experience the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Neolithic Heart of Orkney for yourself.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/feb/15/orkney-ghosts-of-past-world-of-stonehenge-british-museum

Archaeologists excavating the windswept Ness of Brodgar are unearthing a treasure trove of neolithic villages, tombs, weapons and mysterious religious artefacts, some to be displayed in a blockbuster exhibition

14/02/2022

Join us this July for a week exploring the Finnish summer landscape of tranquil lakes and silver birch forests.

During the week we attend three chamber music concerts of the Kuhmo Festival and two performances at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

14 - 21 July 2022
https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/finland-opera-tour

01/02/2022

You can read more about our Tenerife tour on David's blog
https://davidgwynnowen.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/back-on-the-road-again/

Not the REO Speedwagon hit, but the cry from Kudus as we relaunch the 2022 programme with a January trip to Tenerife. Sterling efforts were made by Ruth Hackney in 2021 with two trips to the wonder…

31/01/2022

Our recent trip to Tenerife saw a group of loyal Kudus explore the northern part of the island and discover that there were no tower blocks; no raucous drunks and no sun loungers. We explored historic conquistador architecture; stayed in 17th century patio’ed hotels; drove round hairpin bends and walked in magnificent scenery featuring volcanic rocks and eternal vistas.

We have put dates together for repeat expeditions in both November of this year and slightly later in the month of January 2023.
https://www.kudutravel.com/tours/tenerife-walking-tour