What better way to chase away the gloom of grey midwinter, than by reminiscing about, and perhaps planning, a summer holiday. The seed of this holiday was in fact sown in winter. A few years ago I had watched the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, parts of which are always illustrated with short…
Category: travel
Burčák, Spice and Everything Nice- The Simon-Judas Day Fair of Štúrovo
One sunny day last autumn, we decided to take the train to Esztergom and then cross the Danube to Štúrovo, or Párkány, as it is known in Hungarian. There is not much sightseeing to do in Štúrovo, except perhaps enjoying great views of the cathedral of Esztergom on the other side of the river. It…
Holy Bones and the Unexpected Delights of Almost Broccoli- A Visit to Bari
As already mentioned in our piece about Matera, the first mystery I tried to unravel upon our arrival in Bari was the name of its airport. Known traditionally as Bari- Palese, after the nearby neighbourhood, it was later renamed Karol Wojtyła. You will surely be delighted to know that John Paul II does have other…
(Not) Everything is Carved in Stone- A Visit to Matera
The one caveat I had about going to Matera was the bus- I don’t like travelling by bus, as a rule, I will always go for the train, if such a choice is available. I must also mention the fact that when it comes to Southern Italy, most people, both locals and tourists, will opt…
Tapas, Poetry and The Red Fortress- A Visit to Granada
The train ride from Málaga to Granada takes you from the sea to the mountains, through stunning valleys bathed in crisp sunshine and fleeting mist, among vineyards and olive groves, in a brief hour or so. Provided there is no lady, Anna Karenina like, on the rails. But there was, and we waited in the…
House of the Winter Sun- A Visit to Málaga
I stepped on the tarmac of Málaga Costa del Sol airport, and I took a deep, hungry breath. I immediately felt it. Plane exhaust. But beyond it, something unmistakable, tugging at the deepest recesses of my sensory memory. Salty, briny, fragrant, almost like an infusion of moss and minerals. I screamed, internally, like the Greeks…
Visiting an Awkward Friend- A Weekend in Bucharest
The flight from Budapest to Bucharest is a brief one-hour affair- hardly has the plane reached cruising altitude that it starts to descend towards the south Romanian plain. Yet, for years, a direct connection failed to take root. More precisely, Tarom, the Romanian national carrier, did have a daily connection, but prices for flights flown…
Old Things for New Times- A Visit to Florence
I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to start this post. Which is not a bad thing, because I have learned something. I have a problem with Florence. It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s more that I don’t know what to do with it. In a nutshell, I was more interested,…
A Little Off the Beaten Track- A Visit to Pisa
It was criminally early on a spring Saturday, and we’d headed south across Europe above a cover of clouds. But as the plane made its descent, I could clearly discern the outline of Pisa, a bit upriver from the estuary of the Arno. We veered out above the sea to line up for landing, passing…
The City is a Labyrinth of Lives- Walks Through Istanbul, Part Two
Our long and arduous quest for nourishment, somewhat hyped in the first instalment, lasted a whole five minutes. Istanbul Modern rubs shoulders with the Galataport development- to be more precise, it is in fact a part of it, dominating one of its ends, alongside the Nusretiye Mosque situated across the same square. For a moment,…
Pocket Diary Budapest 