Kharkiv, in the far north-east of Ukraine, has been described as ‘a city without windows’ (Mayor Ihor Terekhov in a Twitter post of June 27, 2025). The city’s location, just a twenty minute drive from the front line, had seen it occupied early in the Russian invasion, then liberated by the Ukrainians, but it remains… Continue reading The Invincible Children of Kharkiv – Musicians in the ‘City without Windows’
Tag: Travel
Geography and the Bronze Age Battle at Tollense, Germany
One of the beauties of modern archaeological technique is the ability to analyse ancient battle, or massacre sites, in a forensic way. This has happened at the famous Teutoberg Forest site in northern Germany, and is happening in the also famous ‘Tollense’, site in north-western Germany. It’s become known as the earliest battle site in… Continue reading Geography and the Bronze Age Battle at Tollense, Germany
1066 and the Dead Parrot (The weird things going on in the margins of the Bayeux Tapestry)
I like to see things for myself. It can give me a sense of place or scale that one doesn’t get from books or the internet. It also gives a chance to spot something new, that whoever might have photographed the original, wasn’t thinking about. Like most people of generally British Isles background, I was… Continue reading 1066 and the Dead Parrot (The weird things going on in the margins of the Bayeux Tapestry)
Searching for Smyrna in Izmir, Turkey
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
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!
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?
Belarus – and that ‘Registration Thing’
The passport control officer at Minsk Airport seemed genuinely shocked to see me (well, OK, I can have that effect on people). For so long, Belarus had seemed to be the hardest country in Europe to visit. This changed suddenly for citizens of many countries, and caught me off-guard. For New Zealanders at least, the… Continue reading Belarus – and that ‘Registration Thing’
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
Magic on the Night Train to Odesa, Ukraine
“Only First-Class!” Well darn, that wasn’t in the script – there were no other berths on the train from Poltava to Odesa. I had tried to be organised, and buy them earlier in New Zealand. Buying Ukrainian railway tickets on line is essentially quite straight forward. It was just that, after I had plodded through… Continue reading Magic on the Night Train to 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