Posts/Entries

All posts/entries, for now, from over two decades of global travel. And a few colourful tags, too.

Mystras, Greece

Mystras, Greece

“In a country where antiquity is king, the fascinating tumbledown complex of churches and monasteries of the fortified UNESCO-listed mountain retreat of Mystras, last foothold anywhere for the once-mighty Byzantium Empire, feels like something of an upstart; it is only, at most, 800 years old.”

Sparta, Greece

Sparta, Greece

“Conscious of the past, efforts were made at the time to rebuild the town so as to reflect its ancient pre-eminence, but the town planners fell someway short. In their defence, they did not have a lot to play with; it’s obvious Ancient Sparta was more focused on building legendary armies as opposed to cities. Plus, it’s hard for a structure to outlive antiquity if it was never constructed in the first place.”

Olympia, Greece

Olympia, Greece

“If the present-day archaeological site of Ancient Olympia, the former celebrated sanctuary of Greek supreme god Zeus and the birthplace of the Olympic Games, doesn’t win gold for being Greece’s most redolent ancient site then it would at the very least be assured of a podium finish.”

Peloponnese, Greece

Peloponnese, Greece

”The Greek Peloponnese Peninsula heavy-hitting history trilogy: Ancient Olympia, the once-great sanctuary to Zeus and birthplace of the Olympic Games; Sparta, the ancient city-state famous for its military prowess; and the UNESCO-listed lofty heights of Mystras, the last bastion of power for the once-mighty Byzantium Empire.”

Zákynthos, Greece

Zákynthos, Greece

“A now-iconic image… the MV Panagiotis… blown off course during adverse weather in October 1980… sitting pretty here ever since in the middle of a secluded white-sand beach and surrounded by towering white limestone cliffs… it is beyond dazzling, easily one of the most picture-perfect scenes I’ve ever pointed a (zoom) lens at.”

Tínos, Greece

Tínos, Greece

“There is more to the Cycladic island of Tínos than the all-encompassing holiness associated with its venerated Church of Virgin Mary/Panagia Evangelistria and its miracle-working icon. But the hulking form of Greece’s major Marian shrine is the only reason I paid the island a visit from nearby Mýkonos meaning that overtly-religious Tínos may just be as adept at drawing tourists as it is pilgrims.”

Delos, Greece

Delos, Greece

“… one of the holiest sanctuaries in Greek mythology, the island is the mythical birthplace of the gods Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. Today, the fascinating archaeological site on the island, one of the most important collections of ancient Greek ruins on earth, preserves the remains of a sanctuary to Apollo and Artemis and the once-magnificent city, a bustling commercial centre, that developed around it.”

Mýkonos, Greece

Mýkonos, Greece

“It’s not the exclusive celeb and jet set hangout it used to be in the 50s and 60s, when such A-listers as Jackie O, Maria Callas, Marlon Brando, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor all vacationed here, but fabulous gay-friendly Mýkonos is still the Cyclades glamour capital, not to mention its hedonistic party central.”

Páros, Greece

Páros, Greece

“Páros… was all the more charming for what it wasn’t – it wasn’t busy, it wasn’t expensive, and it wasn’t as ostentatious as elsewhere. But it was still sufficiently Cyclades-esque swank and downright seductive, almost coquettishly so. And pretty. Oh-so pretty. Two islands in and one was quickly discovering that ‘oh-so pretty’ is par of the course on these Cyclades isles.”

Santoríni, Greece

Santoríni, Greece

“… a somewhat exclusive destination of unparalleled global appeal, a place-to-see-before-you-die location par excellence. Oozing romance and voguish in the extreme, its world-famous landscape, vistas, architecture, and cave house infinity pools have graced the pages of nearly every glossy travel or lifestyle magazine ever printed and formed the backdrop for many a bikini-clad fashion model shoot, staged social media influencer selfie, or dreamy wanderlust-inspiring GoPro video footage.”

Island Hopping, Greece

Island Hopping, Greece

“… pick your island of choice. Better still, pick a few. Check the ferry schedule and set sail. Settle into a quaint room. Wander among whitewashed lanes. Wash down your souvlaki with a beer or a carafe of wine in a local taverna. And when all that is done you can hop to the next island and do it all over again. C’est la belle vie Greek style, one sun-drenched island at a time.”

Ohrid, Macedonia

Ohrid, Macedonia

“There are two versions of Ohrid here in this placid region of southwest Macedonia: one is a small hilly resort town with a compact walled Old Quarter of traditional houses with red-tiled roofs, medieval churches, monasteries, open-air ruins, and a centuries-old fortress towering above it all; the other is a shimmering lake straddling the mountainous border between Macedonia and Albania, one of Europe’s deepest, oldest, and most picturesque bodies of water harbouring a unique and UNESCO-protected ecosystem. Two reasons to visit when, for me at least, one would be draw enough. Fortunately, where Ohrid is concerned they come as a package.”

Skopje, Macedonia

Skopje, Macedonia

“Most of what bemused me about the city today wasn’t even here a decade ago. Millions have been spent in recent years turning the centre of the city into something of a bizarre theme park of garish architecture – some 130 structures (buildings, statues, bridges, water features, and even a triumphal arch) were erected between 2010 and 2014 as part of the Skopje 2014 project, one of Europe’s biggest urban renewal schemes centred around both banks of the city’s Vardar River.”

Kosovo

Kosovo

“It’s affordable, gritty, youthful, ambitious & friendly, a very new country dealing with a troubled past while looking towards a brighter future. Here and now Kosovo also has bears; UNESCO-listed monuments; and a likable capital city boasting 200,000+ hospitable locals, a not-so-old Old Quarter, a bizarre man crush on a former US president, life-size lettering…great street scenes, and some standout architecture, including what must surely be a contender for the ugliest building on earth. Yes, it’s a curious mix alright, but one that somehow works…”

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Mumbai/Bombay Mississippi Montgomery Amman Delft Colonial Williamsburg Trinidad and Tobago Jamestown Hatch merida St Cloud Noosa Venezuela Roanoke Island Los Angeles Cote d'Azur / French Riviera Rosario jaco flores The Catlins Christchurch Olympia Ontario Toronto Astana Giza Sligo Ghent Guayaquil Torres Del Paine Iowa Valparaiso Bolivia Panama City Yongin Santiago Atitlan Jebel Toubkal Mendoza Cetinje Rockfish Gap Netherlands pushkar Sarajevo Baltic States ulan bator Grand Cayman Delaware Whangarei Vermont Foz do Iguacu Nuwera Eliya Isla de la Ometepe Trieste Warsaw Xian Chesapeake Soufriere Sabah Nuweiba Bosnia and Herzegovina tikal Volubilis Iguazu Falls Dahab Buenos Aires Brian Head Vilnius Puerto Ayora Kleinbaai Middle East China & Tibet brisbane coba Wadi Musa Grand Forks Vík í Mýrdal Richmond Custer Navajo Nation victoria Outer Banks Sunauli Tyumen New Hampshire Camaguey boston dubai Pucon tijuana Beaver Dam Cap-Haitien Bratislava Lewes Siem Reap Perito Moreno Hispaniola New Mexico Central America Lesser Antilles waikiki Honduras Antarctica Estes Park Arabia jodhpur Ping An Asheville Canada Tekapo El Jadida Uyuni Arlington Stellenbosch Colombia New Orleans tibet Rio de Janeiro Laganas Israel Sinuiju Guatemala Wyoming Chicago Quebec City Czech Republic Tegucigalpa Gyeongju Kathmandu Franschhoek Oregon Bangkok Shelly Beach Cannon Ball Nepal mysore Punta Cana Pyongyang Adirondacks Hue Belize Dayton leshan Edinburgh oslo Kazakhstan Novosibirisk Prishina Nashville Nara West Indies Varadero Transylvania Santa Rosa de Copan Curacao Bethlehem Twin Lakes Tbilisi St Paul Monaco Iceland Milan Panajachel Como Bluffs Dades Gorge Queenstown Alausi Armenia Santiago wicklow Brasov Santa Clara Invercargill Highland Patagonia Cape Reinga Charleston Caucasus Ciudad del Este Eastport Nice Rhineland bundi Tierra del Fuego Kilkenny Pennsylvania Scottsbluff goa Cayman Islands New Zealand - South Island Copan Ruinas maui San Juan Del Sur The Cyclades Tallahassee uxmal Lake George South Carolina Savannah copan Guilin Mystras vladimir French Antilles Hyannis Walker Mayo alleppey Gibraltar Gori Jeju Coeburn Prattville Ica Istanbul Meridian utah Germany Lakota Barre Upstate New York Olive Hill Cape Cod Kona Macclenny Alaverdi Shakhunya UAE Kill Devil Hills Pisa Kentucky Pokhara Honolulu Brussels USA Burwell Ocean City Harbin Gettysburg Podgorica antigua Atlantic City Luxor Jacmel Arkansas Boracay lisbon Popayan Santorini Florianopolis Datong Scotland kuta Llandudno England Zante Mexico City mafra Castro Appalachians Puerto Lopez Madrid South Ossetia Cusco Chiclayo Marbella Michigan Bloomington Clarksdale Veliko Tarnovo Wadi Rum Overberg Gangnam Concepción de Ataco Hartland United Kingdom John O'Groats Chile cancun Saint Lucia yucatan Te Anu Rissani Cape May Spalding Stanstead Cheyenne New Zealand Iberia Grand Lake Woodstock Tennessee Mandeville France Aviemore Brazil Spitsbergen Hanoi Krasnoyarsk Cork Caleta Tortel Andros Toledo Milford Sound Friendship Highway North Korea Garden City Bulgaria Lombardy suchitoto Bukhara Alliance Maynardville anjuna Campania Berlin Ticonderoga Banos chetumal Castries Stirling Crown Point caye caulker Paju Gradil Mongolia Kyrgyzstan Galway Slovakia solola Wilmington Santa Roas de Copan Shigatse Wanaka Suez Cooke City Matauri Bay Australasia colombo Montreal Srebrenica Portugal Samarkand Austria Durango vancouver Medicine Bow Bran Fort Yates Willemstad Belize City Colleville Sur Mer Essaouira Rapa Nui Svalbard Cordell Sucre Kodari Longyearbyen Prescott Lago De Yojoa Panguitch Tetouan Alaska Perm Dijon Beulah Mississippi Delta Romania West Virginia Nags Head Canyon Village L'Agulhas Trujillo San Jose South Africa Madaba Punta Arenas hohhot India Zugdidi irkutsk New Church chengdu busan kandy Himeji Piura Missouri Nizhny Novgorod Catalonia Reykjavik Mestia Torrington kosovo Cape Town Louisiana Greenfield Fengdu North Dakota Margate Yichang Amsterdam Tashkent Laramie Crow Agency new south wales Fox Glacier Australia Bird in Hand san salvador Quito shanghai tomsk Italy Vietnam Puerto Natales Ghandruk Trakai Bentonia Bremen Argentina Dominica Antarctic Peninsula Bogota Galapagos Islands Ireland Virpazar ABC Islands Finland Cherbourg Littleton Burdine Atlanta The Caribbean / West Indies kenai peninsula Minnesota Deception Island Leadville leon Chichicastenango Port of Spain Lake Ohrid Ancud hana fort cochin Philadelphia Easter Island China Helen Suwon Imjingak kovalam Tangier Monticello Naushki Panama Imlil London Hatteras Island Sinai Yerevan Salina Peloponnese Galax Franconia Front Royal Normandy Nasca Lincoln Wellington Uttar Pradesh Vienna Muriwai Beach North Carolina Saint Stephen Dandong Palestine Aspen Colonia del Sacramento helsinki Galapagos Elim Caen dublin Hermanus Nebraska New York Serbia Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Tingri Treasure Beach hilo Golmud Sparta Cairo Kerry El Salvador Scandinavia Mobile Verona Ecuador Burlington Ashland homer ubud guadalajara Trinidad & Tobago Sint Maarten Blugaria Guanajuato Teotihuacan New Zealand - North Island El Calafate Charlottesville Essex Palolem Huaraz Haiti Maharashtra Warwick Cienfuegos Turkey Jacksonville Plovdiv Porto Montenegro Memphis Birmingham North Macedonia Tivat Asuncion Gracanica Montville Jungfrau rajasthan Stepantsminda Isla Isabela Idaho Knoxville Sofia Dorasan Puno siberia

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