Steve McKenna
Freelance travel writer, journalist and photographer. Likes Everton, football, coffee, cricket, cruises, cycling, daydreaming, music, reading, sunshine, TV
Articles
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1 week ago |
thewest.com.au | Steve McKenna
“Seven thousand years in seven days!” That’s how tour guide Mohamed excitedly described our journey into Egypt’s ancient past as we prepared to set off from Luxor. Like most week-long Nile cruises, our voyage began and concluded in this former capital, once known as Thebes, located by the river, 675km south of present-day capital Cairo. Littering Luxor is a stupendous panoply of tombs and temples, which dwarfed and dazzled us with their monumental obelisks and papyrus-shaped columns.
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1 week ago |
thewest.com.au | Steve McKenna
Rua de Santa Maria springs to mind whenever I reflect on my trip to Madeira, a beautiful and enigmatic Atlantic archipelago and an autonomous region of Portugal. Barely 3m wide, this quaint cobbled street is in the Zona Velha (Old Town) of the capital, Funchal. It has shades of Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Coimbra, and other places that have enchanted me on the Portuguese mainland. But none of those are quite like Rua de Santa Maria. For a start, the others don’t have cable car cabins floating above.
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1 week ago |
thewest.com.au | Steve McKenna
Closer to Marrakech than Lisbon, Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of Africa. Blessed with mild (or warm) temperatures year-round, it’s a popular port of call for cruise ships, while dozens of daily flights arrive from mainland Portugal and other European cities, including Paris and London. Believe me: Madeira is well worth a detour (especially between November and March, when much of Europe is on the chilly side).
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1 week ago |
thewest.com.au | Steve McKenna
“It doesn’t make any difference if they’re there or not. Nothing gets done,” sneers the taxi driver as he lambasts the politicians at Stormont, where the Northern Ireland Assembly meets. Their attendance has been fitful in recent years because of disagreements that have generally, but not exclusively, been split along the historic political-religious divisions fashioning life in this province for generations.
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2 weeks ago |
thecourier.com.au | Steve McKenna
Chester. Picture: Getty ImagesLondon hogs the limelight, but England has loads of other cities that merit a visit. Away from the more obvious alternatives, you'll find urban gems that are relatively off the beaten track for Australian travellers but offer rewards aplenty, from spine-tingling history and contemporary culture to inviting pubs and glorious rural escapes. This trio, in particular, is worth a look.
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Five great rocking bands to see live in Britain (who aren't Oasis): https://t.co/yRCqkDPIM3 @VisitBritain @Manics @suedeHQ @FeederHQ @terrorvision @TheWildhearts @westaustralian https://t.co/vfe0tdcWsU
Five toe-tapping spots on the Oasis trail in Britain: https://t.co/0UeYRn2sfx @westaustralian @oasis @VisitBritain https://t.co/CcTCbW6sFz
Happy to have caught these bands at Glastonbury Festival 2024. @BlocParty @wearejames @thevaccines @VLURE_ @softplayband @keaneofficial @baceprotvoices @mannequinpussy @idlesband @NBThieves @TheTorsBand @probpatterns @TDCinemaClub #highvis @glastonbury https://t.co/XpT42HN7yo