Albania via Greece to Cairo

      As I write this, with the green fields of the Nile Valley flashing by the train window, it is extremely hard to conceive that just one week ago I was taking a similarly long trip in what now seems a different world. The only similarity is that I am the only foreigner […]

Big Black Mercs

I wasn’t at all sure what to expect from Albania. I guess I had the view that it would be rather backward and full of donkey carts. Well, I’ve seen precisely three donkey carts and about 300 big black Mercs… But Tirana is fascinating. No big monuments or anything but a really interesting culture.Still plenty […]

Vini Pu and other Montenegran oddities

I think it is high time I published some thoughts (and photos) on Montenegro. Now I find myself on my last day in Ulcinj in the far south, with the call to prayer at the mosque on Friday the first I have heard since I was in Morocco. The owner of my guesthouse described himself […]

Valencia

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Toledo con jamon

     I love places that resist the urge to become complete slaves to tourism. And, thankfully, Toledo is just such a place. Of course, I do accept the potential hypocrisy of being a tourist and decrying tourism, but I can justify that by saying I never buy t-shirts with a town name on, fridge […]

Hola Ecuador

      Quito is by far the prettiest of the Andean capital cities I’ve seen, not that it gets much competition from Lima or Bogota. The old city has been mostly left alone, and probably has had to be since it got one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Site awards. Just think big […]

Cultural disconnects

What a culture shock; Sri Lanka to Dubai. But even before leaving Sri Lanka, on the way out of Trincomalee, I saw the last of three fancy-looking children’s playground with very colourful and carefully constructed equipment (lord forbid the little angels should learn to take care). Now there are plenty of things the children of […]

Beirut

      Beirut is a fascinating city of huge contrasts.Poverty and wealth.Religions juxtaposed.Evidence of a great street-wise hussling culture. Where you can find a cafe worthy of St Germain opposite totally derelict land.    Where there is the latest Mercedes gullwing sports on show at the airport and a Ferrari dealership in the city […]

Paradise in a warzone

I found my golden beach in Trincomalee in the northeast of Sri Lanka.   This place should be paradise, but it’s suffered a rough couple  of decades. The north of Sri Lanka is about as close to the south of India as Tasmania is to Australia. So going back centuries, the Tamils in south India […]

Tea for two

  Today was one of those simply magical serendipitous days one gets every now and again when travelling. For a start I’d met a fellow traveller – a Swedish woman who has been setting up womens medical care centres in Dubai and has just been head-hunted by the ruler of Qatar to do the same […]

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