It is sad that we cannot publicly commemorate Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) this 8th of May yet it also feels apt and even more poignant that its 75th anniversary should fall as we battle our own invisible enemy. Today many of us continue to stay at home to save lives while 75 years […]
 Cattle ranch, Uruguay. Señora Vaca what startles you so? Is it the rare sighting of the lesser spotted gringo in the middle of Uruguay’s lockdown? Or perhaps you have just realised how grim your job prospects are in a country that consumes the most beef per capita in the world?
An almighty splash and primordial trumpeting wrenched me from the velvet embrace of the canopied bed. I strained my senses beyond the ghostly mesh of the mosquito net, past the stylish teak furniture and below the veranda to find them, to fathom their purpose. Yet I need not leave my bed to see them as […]
Originally posted on Nomad Scribe:
Below the picture-postcard Lisbon is another Lisbon. A Lisbon without trams, decorative tiles or salted cod, from where the cobbled streets and red roofs wrapped around the city’s seven hills cannot be glimpsed, a little-known underworld where only adventurous souls enter and only after donning hard hats. Their reward is…
 Ljubljana, Slovenia. A land where a dog can be entrusted to sell usnjeni copati (‘leather slippers’) in the street. That may well be a safe bet given Slovenia’s ranking as the 10th most peaceful nation on earth (Global Peace Index), with the 8th lowest crime rate (World Population Review). Apparently language is no obstacle […]
San Marino, 2019. The world’s fifth smallest sovereign state punches above the weight of its landmass when it comes to historical facts.
The jungle orchestra provided a rousing soundtrack as I steered my dugout canoe from the geographic certainty of Brazil’s Urubu River into the randomness of the flooded rainforest: the syncopated rhythm as each gasp for breath was louder than the paddle splash that preceded it; the atonal yet beguiling melodies of myriad creatures in a […]
 The Berlin Wall, Germany. Thirty years after the fall of this most iconic symbol of the Cold War, I am still grateful that it did not happen whilst I sat on top. You may wonder how I managed to climb up there in the first place but that remains a closely guarded secret.
Use of the labels ‘Nordic’ and Baltic’ suggests that these groups of countries are defined by their common traits. However, despite intensive programmes of assimilation under the Russian Tsars and the Soviets followed by 12 years of “ever-closer union” through EU membership, the main trait shared by the Baltic States is their uniqueness. Likewise, the […]
From the first volley of ‘ta-ta-ta-taaa’, Beethoven’s fifth spirited me away and struck untouched emotional chords. The musical drama conjured that night, within a mysterious triangle formed by the conductor’s extravagant flourishes, the paper enshrining Beethoven’s genius, and the musicians’ trance-like dexterity, was matched by the grandeur and opulence of its surroundings: the marble statues, […]
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