1918! A monumental year. World War I ended, empires broke up, national borders were rearranged, political orders changed dramatically, and new countries appeared. One of these was Latvia. The little Baltic country declared its independence from Russia on 18 November 1918, just one week after the [...]
My little quest to see world heritage - places that deserve special protection for future generations - has provided some truly amazing experiences I’d never even have considered otherwise. 10 days ago, I was in central Croatia to explore four of them. However, I seemed [...]
St Gallen was one of the first foreign cities I visited. 15 years old and not a care in the world. Also, more interested in shopping than nature and architecture. Naturally, I missed most of what this Swiss gem has to offer. Now, decades later, [...]
There’s something magical about watching a city wake up. And if that city has an old medieval town, contained within a 1700-year-old royal castle, so much the better. Here in Split, in the middle of Diocletian’s Palace, it’s as if I’m watching 2018 waking up [...]
At the end of a mind-blowing road trip along the Pamir Highway (which you can look forward to in a later post), my two fave travel friends and I are in Osh. Driving most of the day from Karakul Lake across the border in Tajikistan, [...]
Crossing Mount Lebanon, I'm now deep into the Bekaa Valley, in Heliopolis. You might know it better as Baalbek. This is Hezbollah country, visible by the militant organisation's characteristic flag - green logo on yellow background - but not much else. My first glimpse of [...]
As this goes to publish, flight schedules on point, I’ll be ambling about the airport in Constantinople (something about that name…), Central Asia bound yet again, and I was reminded I still haven’t told you about the rock carvings in Kazakhstan’s Tamgaly Gorge. Now, Tajikistan [...]
