Almost every year, we visit my family in Occitanie in France. It is a highly under-rated region. As we get to know it bit by bit every year, we venture further out to explore its beautiful countryside and charming towns. Rodez is little-known small city […]
When you are looking just for a good nights sleep, when you have transportation to catch early in the morning, and you’re not interested in nightlife or sunset-watching, where do you prefer to stay? We had an early flight from Toulouse just recently, and instead […]
February 1989: I’m on an airplane journey for the first time in ten years. For the first time, too, without my parents. It’s bitterly cold in Germany and in Moscow, where we spend one week practicing German-Soviet Friendship by visiting the great achievement of the […]
Bukhara is perhaps the place with the widest choice of charming small hotels in Uzbekistan, and perhaps Central Asia. So, on my trip to Samarkand and Bukhara, it made sense to push out the boat a bit and book a characterful traditional small hotel. I […]
Samarkand is a large city and it is harder to find charming accommodation close to the major sights. A hotel in Samarkand hotel is typically large, business-orientated and geared towards tour groups. After my good and very cheap experience at the Hotel Rahmon, I decided […]
I had the opportunity to fulfill a big dream, thanks to an unexpected week off work and the end of the Uzbek visa rule in March. And I had to act fast before this gift of extra time was to be booked up. Quickly I […]
My impromptu Silk Road trip to Samarkand and Bukhara lasted six days, including two long flights, and time was a bit of an issue. What to do if you have limited time, want to see everything, but don’t want to spend a ton of money […]
On my recent flying visit to the Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, my first contact with the locals was in this guesthouse I had just booked quickly in order to crash somewhere upon arrival. I had already booked some fancier hotels in Bukhara […]
Uzbekistan has been a rather difficult country to travel in the past. Most of us would need to apply for a visa, customs rules were extremely strict, immigration was difficult. And once there, you had to change currency at an unfavourable official rate in a […]
“What on earth are you doing in Algeciras?” you might ask. This port city is mostly known as a passing through place en route to Morocco and the Spanish Enclaves, but not as a tourist sight on its own. What makes it a great place […]
On our recent honeymoon driving round some of lesser known Andalucia, we thought we book ourselves a special treat. We checked into a real palace in Baeza. This town in Northeastern Andalucia forms an impressive coherent architectural ensemble of Renaissance buildings unique to Spain. It […]
When I travel I cannot resist a bit of shopping. I’m in a holiday mood, that money just sits a little bit looser. And I like nice things to remind me of my trip. I even managed to find something in Moldova. But there is […]
“Why forever roam and waver / see what is good lies so near thee!” That quote of Germany’s man of letters, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, should account for our wedding and honeymoon. After having lived in so many places, we wanted our honeymoon… a bit […]
Odessa is closer than you think if you live in Central Europe now! When looking for flights elsewhere, my beady eyes spotted some very cheap flights from Berlin Tegel to Odessa on Ryanair, starting in November 2019. So unless you are in Ukraine already or […]
Odessa Just like yesterday water colours turned solid I walk and wonder Did you know that from November, Ryanair will fly from Berlin (TXL) to Odessa twice a week? I took the opportunity to nudge you to consider visiting this beautiful city, but got bogged […]
