As we arrived on the island. A sentence which is, likely, the most commonplace way to start a piece about Hydra. So, as we arrived on the island, the sky was very blue, the sea was very smooth, and the sun was very high above the horizon, steadily beaming salty, furnace-like heat. It was very…
Category: travel photography
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,…
Turkish Words for the Human Condition- Walks Through Istanbul, Part One
Only an idiot would go for two days to Istanbul and hope to achieve anything- and so we did just that. It has to be said that our saving grace was having been to Istanbul before, and, on these occasions, having ticked off all the ‘cumbersome’ must-sees, the palaces, the mosques, the churches, the cisterns,…
City of Liquid Gold: October in Prague
I find myself raiding local bookstores whenever I travel, even in countries where I don’t speak the language. Bookstores are a window into a country’s soul, and, with a bit of luck, you’ll find at least some English translations of local authors. (The availability, and language, of translations is also a good way to gauge…
Through the Storm, In Search of Light- Another September on Hydra
You go to Greece for the sunlight, you take it for granted, not just any light, any sunlight, but Greek light, Greek sunlight, the one which is purest, strongest, and immutable. There is an expression in French, probably invented for the Mediterranean weather of the French riviera, but I only ever associated it with Greek…
Baby, We’ll Be Fine: The Unexpected Joys of Seeing The National In Munich
It takes a special talent to go to Munich during the Oktoberfest, but not go TO the Oktoberfest. I plead guilty to it. In all truth, it’s not really, entirely, my doing. It all begins with the fact that I have a select few bands that I would like to see live at their own…
A Great Place To Be Lost In- Athens Diaries Continued
We arrived in Athens on a windy day, which sent my two randomly assigned fellow travelers into a bit of a state, as they don’t often fly, don’t really like it, and the bumpy descent was really not what they’d signed up for. They were in their early 70s, came equipped with lovely straw hats…
Marseille in Fumes of Pastis and Revolution
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…
Pocket Diary Budapest 