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With annual leave still to use and a desire to leave behind the cold, wet weather of London, I booked myself a city break in Athens earlier this month. My city guide will be coming soon but for all of my Athens speciality coffee recommendations, keep on reading. I had booked a trip to Athens in November 2020 but that trip was cancelled when the UK went into full lockdown a few days before my departure. Luckily, all of the coffee shop research I did came in useful when I finally made it to the Greek capital. Indeed, there were far more coffee spots on my list than I could visit on a four-day trip!  I made it to ten coffee shops, enjoying coffee from some great local roasters. Find out more about my experiences below. My very favourite places are, as always, marked in my map in purple and with an asterisk in the post. Dope Roasting Co I was surprised by the frequent absence of piccolos and cortados on the menus in the Athens coffee shops I visited, but Dope Roasting Co was an excepti...

Since I moved house in the summer, I often walk past the Bricklayers Arms, a former roundabout with a flyover, which connects the Old and New Kent Roads. It's a historically important location — it was a key stopping point on the pilgrimage route out of London, way back when — but isn't exactly a major point of interest these days. So, I was excited when I saw a sign just across the road announcing the impending arrival of Presse Books : a café, bookshop and arts venue. Presse Books finally opened last month and I've been in for coffee several times now. Architects Sanchez Benton have been working on several urban renewal projects in this area. Peveril Gardens is one such project: underused parking garages and a private walled garden have been transformed into a café and arts space with a public rooftop garden. Despite the cheerful pops of bright orange on the outside of the building, it doesn't feel out of place with the architecture of the rest of the area. There...

This is the last of my posts about my recent trip to Bali, where I summarise my overall experience: my itinerary and how it panned out, what I did, how I travelled around and some practical tips. For more detailed information, you can read my other Bali posts: Munduk ; Ubud ; Ubud speciality coffee ; the Nusa Islands ; Canggu, Seminyak & Jimbaran ; and Canggu and Seminyak speciality coffee . And I've uploaded even more photos onto my Flickr . PLANNING  Being invited to join a work meeting in Bali is the dream, isn't it? And better still, I had taken almost no annual leave this year and I was able to add ten days of holiday onto the four-day work trip. I consider myself very lucky! I had less than two months to research and plan what I would do. I had a few Bali speciality coffee shops saved in my Google Map but otherwise, I was starting from scratch. Luckily, there was a 2021  Lonely Planet guidebook , which helped a lot. As soon as I read about Munduk Moding Plantation (w...