So where the heck is Smyrna? I’d heard a little about the awful days of 1922, but despite having made a few trips to Turkey, I’d never noticed Smyrna on a map. It wasn’t until I read Giles Milton’s book: ‘Paradise Lost: The Destruction of Islam’s City of Tolerance’, that I finally got wise. Smyrna… Continue reading Searching for Smyrna in Izmir, Turkey
Category: Travel
Nominated: Content Catnip award for Most Interesting Blog on WordPress!
Last week I checked my email, to find that I had been nominated for the Content Catnip award for Most Interesting Blog on WordPress. That was a nice start to the day – thanks a lot! Content Catnip describes itself as “a quirky internet wunderkammer written by an Intergalactic Space Maori named Content Catnip, although… Continue reading Nominated: Content Catnip award for Most Interesting Blog on WordPress!
That Rich Woman in the Slovenian Forest
We don’t know what she looked like, because most of her upper body has vanished…. Most of you probably don’t know of my ‘secret’ ambition – to ‘time travel’ by recreating life-like images of people from long ago. I’m keen to know what those corroded brooches, diadems, ear-rings, and what-not that you see in museums,… Continue reading That Rich Woman in the Slovenian Forest
A Chilling Thought about Travel – is it mostly Hoarding?
Seven months of travelling nearly done, and I’m siting in a plane, about to watch a documentary on Martin Phillipps of ‘The Chills’. My trip started in Ukraine/Belarus. Then I moved south to Turkey – more precisely the Kurdish far south-east. An underlying theme was to see how many ‘Mediterranean islands I could bounce around.… Continue reading A Chilling Thought about Travel – is it mostly Hoarding?
A Postcard from the Pripyat, Belarus
The young woman walked up to me, and, without a word, began rearranging the coins on my hand…. *** References to the Pripyat Marshes, near the border of Belarus and Ukraine, keep popping up in books as the area where the Slavic languages appeared. I have no idea where this idea lies on the spectrum… Continue reading A Postcard from the Pripyat, Belarus
Excuse me, I’m looking for the bog – Yelnya, Belarus
This all started in Minsk with my CouchSurfing host Alex’s Mum, Olga. Alex wasn’t home from his tutoring work, so Olga thought she would show me some photos of Belarus on the internet. Among a slew of truly stunning landscape shots, a few reached out ad grabbed me. They were of a wetland/bog called Yelnya… Continue reading Excuse me, I’m looking for the bog – Yelnya, Belarus
Desperately Seeking Cool Cafes in Odesa, Ukraine
My first impression of Odesa was not good. It was back in 2006 when I was merely transiting on the way to neighbouring Moldova and Transdnistria. From the train, I needed to jump almost directly onto a little shuttle bus. After an overnight trip from Kiev, the train pulled up to the platform in Odesa… Continue reading Desperately Seeking Cool Cafes in Odesa, Ukraine
The antifragile (?) tree-ferns of Omatepe, Nicaragua
“We’ll follow these guys – they’re three local hoodlums”, This from my local guide on Omatepe Island, Nicaragua. I was sitting behind him on his trail bike, and we were burning down the road after walking up Volcan Maderas, the smaller of the two volcanoes on the Island. *** My hostel, Soma, had organised my… Continue reading The antifragile (?) tree-ferns of Omatepe, Nicaragua
One Night in San Salvador (El Salvador)
The first Salvadorean who I asked about visiting his country advised me to avoid its capital, San Salvador, entirely. “I love my country, but….” He urged that I get a bus direct from Guatemala (where I was based) to a beach town, chill there, and try not to even go through the capital. The countries… Continue reading One Night in San Salvador (El Salvador)
Yes – Go to Nicaragua now
The news coming out of Nicaragua back in October 2018, was uncertain. Violence from the political situation seemed to have abated, but various travelers and locals were reporting that the tourism infrastructure was in chaos. Hostels had closed down, buses weren’t running, etc. I went to Guatemala in October, to be based there for a… Continue reading Yes – Go to Nicaragua now