Category European Cities
Euro 2020 Quarter Final 1 – Spain v Switzerland
Now it starts to get serious. Three wins away from becoming European champions. Both these nations needed extra time to go through, with Switzerland also needing penalties to defeat favourites France. The match takes place in St Petersburg. Spain Many Basques do not consider themselves as Spanish. The language & culture are certainly much removed […]
Euro 2020 Rest Day 4 – Non Qualifiers, Armenia, Belarus & Georgia
The three ex-Soviets all make intriguing destinations. Armenia I have been to Armenia once and had a wonderful time. I arrived by overnight train from Georgia, at one point sharing our compartment with a blind cat! We actually arrived on Armenia’s Independence Day so we’re able to gatecrash a great party. As well as the […]
Euro 2020 Rest Day 3 – Non Qualifiers – The Baltic States
Now we know all the quarter-finalists with Italy v Belgium the first one to be played Friday. Continuing my non-qualifiers with the Baltic States. Latvia Riga is one of my favourite cities in Europe. It has a lovely old town, a magnificent Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) District and a fine river (Daugava) with impressive bridges. I […]
Euro Match Day 17 – Ukraine v Sweden
The final match of the round of 16 takes place in Glasgow. Ukraine The ex-nuclear submarine base in Balaclava in the Crimea was such a secret that the town of Balaclava did not appear on maps and even the families of engineers, scientists & technicians who worked there had no idea that the base existed! […]
Euro 2020 Match Day 17 – England v Germany
There is loads of history on the football field between these old rivals. The 1966 World Cup Final and the Euro 96 semi-final being the two of the most pivotal. Like those two famous contests this game will be played at Wembley. England Bath in the South West of England is one of the finest […]
Euro 2020 Match Day 16 – France v Switzerland
Favourites France take on the resolute Swiss in Bucharest. France Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France with many Michelin star restaurants (21 at time of writing) and some fine classical cafes. The city is on the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers and makes for a perfect place for a riverside stroll. You […]
Euro 2020 Match Day 16 – Croatia v Spain
Copenhagen plays host to the first last 16 tie of the day. Croatia On my 2015 Balkans train tour we found ourselves in Ploce. Having left the delights of Split we were hoping for another version of the same to wile away a couple of hours before catching a train to Sarajevo. Instead we found […]
Euro 2020 Match Day 15 – Netherlands v Czech Republic
The last 16 tie takes place in Budapest. 55 ‘European nations’ entered initially including ex-Soviets like Armenia & Kazakhstan, the four UK countries, Israel for political reasons and bizarrely in my opinion Faroe Islands and Gibraltar. What next, Jersey & Yorkshire? Czech Republic I first visited Prague in 1992 when it was part of Czechoslovakia, […]
Euro 2020 Match Day 15 – Belgium v Portugal
This is a match of heavyweights in Seville with both nations amongst the favourites. Belgium The Manneken Pis is the symbol of Brussels and like the Mermaid in Copenhagen and The Mona Lisa in Paris you might be left scratching your head wondering what all the fuss is about. That doesn’t stop crowds of people […]
Euro 2020 Match Day 14 – Italy v Austria
Italy impressed in the group stages by winning all three games without conceding a goal and are up against the Austrians in London at Wembley. Italy We visited Bologna as a starting point for a train tour of Northern Italy taking in Venice, Verona and Lake Como too, before crossing the border to Switzerland. We […]
