France

It may be close but I haven't travelled much in France. In 2012, a friend and I took a short trip through the Rhône valley down to the Côte d'Azure and then back home along the Ligurian coast. Our first stop was picturesque Mirmande where we stayed in a quirky, old hotel with thick stone walls and massive oak beams.

Two years later, my sister Anna and I travelled through the Périgord and the Dordogne. Many of the medieval towns of the region sit high up on the chalk plateaus which frame the fertile river valleys. These chalk plateaus are riddles with caves many of which were settled in prehistoric times.