A year ago I travelled through Europe to remind myself what being part of that continent has given us as a people and as a culture. This year I am driving through Belgium, Holland and Germany to visit Denmark and Sweden for the first time, en route to visit my family in Norway. I shall thus, … More R-Day minus 6
Listening to the likes of Ian Duncan-Smith (IDS, barely distinguishable from IBS) rave about their battle to reassert sovereignty by walking away from Europe, his claim that it is all about intellect and integrity makes me laugh. As intelligent Tories – not necessarily an oxymoron – are at pains to point out, sovereignty is not … More Toeing the line
I thought that everything in Switzerland was organised like clockwork; well, my clock doesn’t work either. The day started well enough, driving from Lake Varese to Liuno for coffee before pottering up the east side of Lake Maggiore, giving us sensational views of its west bank. You sweep into Switzerland without let or hindrance and … More Days 33 & 34: From Azzate to Brussels
Bumped into these two nuns surreptitiously licking an ice cream at midnight on their way back to the convent: the Institute of the Immaculate Cornet. Venice was where I effectively ended my road trip in 1968, because I bumped into a party from my old school there who – having lost a teacher to dysentery – had … More Days 31 & 32: From Venice via Verona to Valpolicella and Varese
Leaving the long rugged terrain of Croatia, Slovenia immediately presents as a more tamed landscape, with gentler wooded hills, small meadows and roads lined with lime trees and wild cornflower. It was also the first time in weeks I managed to find a classical music channel on the car radio, on Radio Slovenia, which was … More Days 29 & 30: From Volosko to Venice
Had a good fish and seafood meal in Trogir last night, having just enjoyed another restaurateur’s fuming and exhaustive essay of refutation to a bad TripAdvisor review. These sites have become the ultimate double-edged weapon, as they make so much from the booking fees that it undermines their critical detachment. Most hoteliers loathe the stranglehold … More Day 27: Trogir to Volosko
Just follow the umbrella like a crocodile of schoolchildren or, in this case, the dangling heart and listen to the enhanced commentary delivered on the built-in portable sound system. I once saw a woman completely covered by a swarm of midges in September in the Scottish Highlands, an unwanted version of those lunatics who cover … More Day 26: Trogir to Split
24 hours cut off from the interweb, alcohol and meat – I should do this more often. I was staying at Putna monastery, 3 km from the Ukraine border, just as I was on 20th August 1968, when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia to put down the Prague Spring. Troop trains were moving through the village … More Days 16 &17: From Suceava to Putna Monastery to Sighisoara
I needed today to remind me what a staggeringly beautiful country – at least in some parts – Romania is. Having spent one night in Transylvania, with my neck still intact I drove over the Valea Postei viaduct: and then along the side of the massive reservoir Izvorul Muntelui, the largest artificial lake in Romania. I … More Day 13: Lacu Rosu to Suceava
I always feel embarrassed at my linguistic failings: I was more adept at 18, having taken Latin to A level, and French proving a useful alternative when all else failed. Then, everyone was keen to welcome a rare foreigner and most generous. I think it was in Iasi that one family I hitched with … More Day 11: Tulcea to Iasi
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