I must confess that I was about to, again, give up on the yearly list exercise. I am too old and wise for this- which is something I often say when I feel lazy to do something, hence being immature. But then I took a look at previous yearly lists and discovered strange and interesting…
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…
Arrival with Immediate Departure- A Day in Poros
There is absolutely no way to be polite about this. I went to Poros like the unprepared buffoon that I am- or, more precisely, I can be. Generally speaking, I have two travel modes: full blown OCD and total nihilism, with nothing in between. Either I have a maniacally designed plan, or I just show…
Ever Changing, Ever the Same- Another September in Hydra
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…
Through Our Lenses: Sziget 2024 Days 3&4
Part one of this year’s Sziget round up is available here and our take on Editors is available here. Yves Tumor, August 9, Main Stage We started day three of Sziget at the Main Stage- and when I say we, well, there wasn’t all that many of us. Despite it being the Friday, which usually…
Through Our Lenses: Sziget 2024 Days 1&2
We’ll start with a disclaimer, and a metaphysical observation of sorts: this year, increasingly often, I felt that a band/artist sounds like a tweaked version of someone else, or a mate remarked on the same. Therefore, we undertook some Pilsner imbued thinking on why this is the case. Arguments being brought up were the scary…
Finding Ways Out: Editors at Sziget 2024
When drawing up lists of favourite shows at festivals, people tend to end up, unsurprisingly, with their favourite band on top. It’s the nature of the festival beast: you’re more than often buzzing around like a bee in search of the most delicious musical nectar, and, when discovering something that sounds fresh, might still move…
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 