My Favourite Place in Paris – the Marais
After a decade, I’m still not sure whether I’m a Parisian girl at heart who keeps leaving, or a foreigner who simply keeps returning, but Paris had me from the start.
By Alex Billington
Categories France
A place in the sun
Naxos has a little bit of everything; traditional villages, history, cool bars and Cycladic sun
By Alex Billington
Categories Cyclades, Greece
Rooms with a view
Santorini offers some heart-stopping dramatic scenery, but that isn’t quite the full picture.
By Alex Billington
Categories Cyclades, Destinations, Greece
In the footsteps of philosophers
Somehow the pedestrian area of Plaka, at the base of the Acropolis, still manages to maintain a taste of bygone Athens.
By Alex Billington
Categories Athens, Cultural, Greece
Rome Off-Season
There’s something strangely intimate about time spent losing oneself in a European city off season; life is quieter and feels more ‘real’ – as if the shallow but enticing layers of bright glitter, crowds, chatter and noise have been stripped away to reveal something more real, weighty and lasting. A young Italian filmmaker I met compared Rome’s contrasting seasons to the difference between falling unexpectedly in love with a serious contender as opposed to a light-hearted fun, summer fling. A metaphor only an Italian (or French) man could come up with.
By Alex Billington
Categories Italy, Rome
Three Things to do in Paris
Shopping: Collette (www.colette.fr ) is pure, hip, sleek and most happening Parisians will tell you it’s the coolest store in Paris; Open now for eleven years and located at 213 Rue St Honore, Paris 75001, Collette’s modern three level store boasts some of the best collections of designer clothing, make-up, gadgets you didn’t know you needed, a bar, a café, a magazine stand and even their own music compilations which are played all over the city in all the right places. Those in the know in fashion rate the store highly and you can easily pass an afternoon there in shopping bliss maxing out the credit card.
By Alex Billington
Categories France, Paris
Perfume Shopping in Paris
I’ve discovered some of the smaller boutique perfume houses in Paris over recent years, each one with its own unique smells and sensations.
By Alex Billington
Categories France, Paris
Paris – A Love Affair
Alexandra Billington’s relationship with Paris is strictly personal, and it all starts at The Shakespeare & Company bookstore on the left bank.
Right now I’m sitting in a café in New York thinking about Paris and remembering the first time I was sitting in a café in New York thinking about Paris, under quite different [...]
By Alex Billington
Categories France, Paris
