Untimeliness in putting the Marseille experience to paper (or, more precisely into a word editor which systematically objects to my choice of English spelling and reverts to the one it likes best) means that in the meantime, Marseille has been on the verge of obliteration by riots or bin fires several times- as a matter…
Author: pocketdiarybudapest
The Joy of Simple Things- Visiting Lupa Island
While I was definitely aware of their existence, neither the much advertised Lupa Beach nor the neighbouring Omszk lake ever seemed like particularly attractive propositions to me. No matter how I look at it, the idea of a lakeside premium beach, in which the premium basically stands for faking a seaside experience so you can…
(Almost) Stuck in Paradise- A Spring Visit to Hydra
I’ve recently given in to the demons, and I spend an inordinate amount of time on Instagram reels. The AI has learned, and it now knows the kind of little videos I’ll enjoy. Cats jumping and miscalculating the landing. Italians having breakdowns over incorrect pizza. Anything poking fun at Harry Maguire, the poor sod. And…
Follow the Little Owl- A Spring Visit to Athens
A little discouraged that the previous flat I had stayed in in Athens, on the edge of Exarcheia, was not available for our planned weekend, I set out to scour for alternative options, looking for a sign that would point me to the right direction. The sign showed itself in the form of a pun,…
The Most Dangerous Bag in Berlin&Other Caffeinated Musings
We are faced off in a battle of wills, the German man and me. Only, I think he is not German. Which means I think that perhaps his parents were not born in a small village in Bavaria but somewhere altogether to the south of it. Somewhere with lovely weather, bougainvillea petals floating in the…
Remembrance of Beers Past: A Weekend in Košice.
The train rolled through the thick autumn mist, and we saw nothing. Depending on how you like to travel, this can be a good thing, or a bad thing. It’s good if you travel for the feeling. It’s bad if you travel for the sights. Now, the sights would have been the fairly lush and…
Things Are Not Always What They Symi-Island Hopping in the Dodecanese
After spending one eventful morning embroiled in the entrails of Piraeus port being unable to locate the Hydra ferry, I swore never again to arrive at a port without doing my homework properly. I was also very glad that Duolingo did find it logical to teach me the Greek for ‘where is the boat to…
Athena Was Here, Perhaps Saint Paul Too, But Mary Has Left the Building: Lindos and Beyond
The island of Rhodos offers plenty of opportunities for a day trip, and you can plan most as a mix of beach splashing and more elevated cultural pursuits. After some careful evaluation we went for what we thought was a rather relaxed itinerary of Lindos, Butterfly Valley and Phileremos Monastery, with a starting point from…
Knights, Beaches and Negronis: The (Almost)Practical Guide: Rhodos Part Two
The old town of Rhodos is an open air museum in itself. Work on the fortifications that we see today was begun by the Knights Hospitalier in 1309, the year when they finished the conquest of the island. The different portions of the wall were guarded by the different Langues of the Knights- the langue,…
Love and Loathing on a Sun Soaked Island: Rhodos Part One
We have a complicated relationship, Rhodos and I. It began with what could only be described as love at first sight but then it went down unexpected Rho(a)des. It was the first time I had arrived in Greece by way of water, which could seem odd for a country so fundamentally defined by its seas,…
Pocket Diary Budapest 