Four hours in London
An enjoyable afternoon walking 15km around London, from Victoria to London Bridge train stations via Fitzrovia and the City. London is a glorious city for pedestrians, flat with wide pavements,…
Category: Travel
Chatham Dockyard
The largest surviving dockyard in the world from the age of sail, the historic Chatham Dockyard is a fascinating place which you can easily spend a full day exploring. Established…
Things I learnt about Romania, Moldova, Transnistria, and Ukraine
I spent fifteen days travelling from Bucharest to Kiev through Romania, Moldova, Transnistria, and Ukraine. It was a fascinating and little visited part of Europe to explore. I’ve covered the…
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Less than two hours from Kiev, visiting Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is thankfully a near unique experience. It provides an insight into what happened here over thirty years ago, and what…
Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum
Home to one of the best collections of aircraft I’ve visited, the Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum is well worth taking a 25 minute Uber to reach from central Kiev.…
Kiev
One of the largest and most historic cities in Eastern Europe, Kiev exceeded any expectations I had, with the little I knew about it relating to the Orange Revolution in…
Odessa
The third largest city in Ukraine, Odessa is an interesting place, filled with wide leafy streets and some beautiful buildings, but you don’t need to look very far to find…
Tiraspol
Tiraspol is the largest city in Transnistria and the second largest in Moldova. It is less leafy than Bendery but still a pleasant place to spend a couple of days.…
Transnistria and Bendery
Transnistria is an unusual place on the border between Moldova and Ukraine, home to around half a million people. It is about as close as you get to being a…
Chisinau
The capital of Moldova, Chisinau is a rather pleasant if unspectacular ex-Soviet city of about 700,000 people, though it’s population has been falling as it has become easier to Moldovans…
Milestii Mici and Orheiul Vechi
Two of Moldova’s most popular tourist attractions, though as one of the least visited countries in Europe they were pretty quiet in early September. Wine is one of Moldova’s main…
Gagauzia
One of the more obscure parts of Europe, the autonomous region of Gagauzia is the least visited region of Moldova, which is the least visited country in Europe. Unlike Transnistria…
Danube Delta
One of the more popular destinations, in this little visited part of Europe at least, is the Danube Delta. Most of it lies within Romania though the northern most part…
Bucharest churches, monasteries, and synagogues
A reasonably comprehensive post on Romanian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Bucharest, featuring 25 of them, plus three wonderful synagogues. Orthodox churches are relatively narrow and tall, often with between…
Bucharest museums, gardens and architecture
Far more pleasant than expected, if with a rather spread out and variable built environment, Bucharest had plenty to fill a few days. There are some excellent, if exhaustingly huge,…
The Sculpture Park
Set up sixteen years ago, The Sculpture Park in Surrey has by far the largest collection of sculptures I have ever seen in one place. Along 3km of trails there…
Favourite countries I’ve visited
I’ve been to about sixty five countries to date, a respectable number, if far short of a number of people I’ve met on my travels who have been to more…
A free day in London
London has a reputable as an expensive place to visit, though the weak pound helps mitigate this. It’s quite easy to have an enjoyable day exploring the city for free,…
Painshill and Eltham Palace
An eclectic pair of places, both quite unusual and wonderful in different ways, representing the strong personalities of those who created them. Painshill is a classic 18th landscape garden filled…
Things I learnt about India
I spent two and a half weeks travelling from Delhi up to the Ladakh region, as far north as the remote Nubra Valley. India is a huge and diverse country…