Travels around the Continent
"... And now for something completely different" (Monty Python) This post continues the account of my journey to Romania and Bulgaria in October 2024. Romania was a country that I had previously visited 41 years earlier, whereas I had never been to Bulgaria before. Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet, but all place names in this …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 15 – Romania and Bulgaria – Part Two: Bulgaria"
"À la recherche du temps perdu" (Marcel Proust) This trip was designed to combine a visit to a country I last went to a long time ago with a visit to a country that I had never been to before. In 1983, I undertook an Interrail journey across Europe and back. My time in Romania …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 15 – Romania and Bulgaria – Part One: Romania"
“... You have nothing to lose, but your chains.” (Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels) Day 6 – Monday 16th September 2024 – Leipzig to AugsburgWe were making an early start on this day and walked the short distance to Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in good time to catch the 07:48 train to Munich. The station was much quieter …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 14 – German Medley – Part Two: from Leipzig"
"Workers of the world, Unite! ..." (Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx) In recent years I have visited most of the major cities in Germany, most recently being a trip along the Baltic coast from Hamburg to Poland last October. My wife and I had a number of places in Germany we still wanted to go to …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 14 – German Medley – Part One: to Leipzig"
"L'amour est un oiseau rebelleQue nul ne peut apprivoiser"("Love is a rebellious birdThat none can tame")Carmen In September 2023, on my EuropeExplored trip to Finland and Sweden, I went to see Nabucco at Gothenburg Opera House, the first time I had ever been to an opera. I enjoyed the experience so much that I thought …
Continue reading "City Visit (Operatic interlude) – Gothenburg"
"Beautiful plumage" (Description of the Norwegian Blue parrot - Monty Python sketch.) Day 5 (continued) – Friday 7th June 2024 – KristiansandMy ferry from Hirtshals in Denmark docked in Kristiansand on time at 15:30. Disembarkation was relatively speedy - a connecting passageway was attached to the side of the ship almost as soon at it …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 13 – Denmark and Norway – Part Two: Norway"
"We are red. We are white.We are Danish dynamite!"(Chant of Danish football fans at the Euro 92 tournament -won by Denmark.) My only previous visits to Denmark and Norway had been two trips to their capitals, Copenhagen and Oslo in 2018 and 2019, not counting my return from Sweden via Copenhagen airport last September. So …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 13 – Denmark and Norway – Part One: Denmark"
"Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn" (We want to stay what we are) - Luxembourg motto Luxembourg is a country that I had never visited before, unless you count briefly passing through it on an overnight coach trip to Italy with my parents in 1970. Having got a taste for free travel with my Freedom …
"The best things in life are free." Having recently reached the state pensionable age of 66, my London-wide Oyster 60+ card was replaced with a Freedom Pass, which additionally gives free off-peak bus travel anywhere in England. When I first turned 60 I tested my 60+ Oyster Card by visiting within a week all of …
Continue reading "Freedom Pass workout – Manchester to Woodford for free"
"Between Scylla and Charybdis" After a three month gap since my previous excursion to Europe, I decided to head south on a short trip in the hope of catching some warmth. Day 1 - Tuesday 27th February 2024 - London to NaplesAs usual when I fly to my initial destination, I was going to depart …
Continue reading "Europe Explored – Trip 11 – Naples and Sicily"
Europe Explored 