Being a Jewish tourist is not always straightforward. Like most people, the main reason I take vacations is to relax, and that makes holidaying in some countries difficult. I have, for example, visited Germany and Lithuania for work, but I'm not sure I would go to either country for an actual holiday.
'Portugal was born in Guimaraes," explains our tour guide during the 30-mile road trip from Porto airport to a 2012 European Capital of Culture. Now the affection which the Portuguese display for the nation's 900-year-old birthplace is to be shared with a wider audience, as organisers expect a doubling in visitor numbers to one million.
If ever there were proof that you can't always believe what you read in the travel guides, it's Conde Nast Traveller's assertion that "there are 12 times as many cows in Morocco as humans".
Disappointingly, I have to report that the cow population of Morocco does not seem to reside in Marrakech.
Firstly, a confession. I've been visiting Bournemouth regularly for more than 30 years and had no idea that for the past ten there has been a World Heritage Site on its doorstep.
Set between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky mountains in Canada's west coast state of British Columbia, Vancouver has always been a stunning city simply by virtue of its location. But a municipal decision 20 years ago to make the downtown area more residential has paid huge dividends for tourists.
Sipping a cocktail in the lounge of the Esmerelda Rennaissance golf resort at the base of the Santa Rosa mountains in Indian Wells, everything seemed reassuringly calm. But when a glamorous girl in a tight red dress and a handsome man in tow beamed "I've won, I've won sixty thousand dollars," the tempo rose somewhat.
