Day 190 - Vatican City 🇻🇦

August 19, 2021

The Vatican City is a weird anomaly of a country - it’s the smallest country in the world at under half a square kilometre in size, but is home to the Home to the world’s largest church, St Peter’s Basilica.

The Vatican City is also surprisingly new in country-terms as it was only established as an independent country in 1929 and was signed into existence by Benito Mussolini with the Lateran Pacts.

Anyway, along with my holiday photos here are a few Vatican themed facts:

Vatican City has no formally enacted language. The Swiss guards work in Swiss German though
Unlike citizenship of every other country in the world, citizenship is based on an individuals appointment to a role in the Vatican and is usually temporary, lapsing when the person leaves
There is a single bar and restaurant in the Vatican Museums which closes at 4:00 pm. Its reviews aren’t great, so maybe this is one is only for the devout.
The Vatican population is only 453 people

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Day 185 - United Kingdom 🇬🇧

August 14, 2021

As a British person living abroad, I’ve gradually reached the conclusion that the UK is a particularly misunderstood country. So today I’m going to use this post to take a few misconceptions about the UK.

What is the UK?

Firstly, what actually is the UK? I run into this one all the time, but a surprisingly large number of people don’t actually know what the UK is, or even worse refer to Welsh or Scottish people as English! Pro tip: don’t make this mistake.

Here’s a quick rundown of the different names and what they refer to:

The United Kingdom is a country and a collection of four nations. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland plus a scattering of British Overseas Territories.

What is England - the nation of England. Don’t call someone from Scotland English. They won’t be so happy.

Great Britain refers to the Island of Great Britain - the largest of the British Isles.

The British Isles are a group of Islands in the North Atlantic including Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and roughly six thousand other smaller islands

What is Britain? Britain is kind of a messy term. It can be used to refer to the UK or Great Britain.

Who, or what is British? This is much more of an identity question - by the book British people from the United Kingdom, although this doesn’t really answer the question. For example, someone from Northern Island may identify as Irish and be insulted if you call them British, the same to a slightly lesser extent can also apply to Scottish or Welsh people. Just remember the term British is not interchangeable with the term English.

One final tidbit are the Crown Dependencies. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK but are crown dependencies. This effectively means they’re independent, self-governing nations, but internationally the UK is responsible for them.

The UK is really rainy

If I had a pound for every time a non-Brit knowingly told me how wet the UK is, or made a rain-based joke, I’d probably have some amount of money. This definitely wouldn’t be enough to undo the clear injustice of this easily disprovable falsehood. Britain is just not as rainy as people think.

Let’s use London to illustrate this. London is the UK’s most populous city and experiences less annual rainfall than New York, Tokyo, Rome, Toronto, Mexico City, Zurich, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Paris, Lisbon or even Sydney.

So please stop telling me the UK is really wet. It’s actually the driest place I’ve ever lived. Please direct your jokes about umbrellas to residents of Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, who receive over 1.6 metres of rainfall each year.

One of Scotland’s famous tropical beaches.

The UK is anti-EU

Maybe this is the most controversial of these topics. But as a Brit in continental Europe right I feel like I need to say something. Not only am I the demographic most likely to be utterly opposed to Brexit, but I’ve also somehow become an official Brexit representative.

Contrary to widespread belief, the UK is not overrun by frothing-at-the-mouth Brexiteers (although there are many). The UK is surprisingly pro-European. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but the past five years has ignited a passion for the European project on a scale never seen before. Millions of people took to the streets and marched for the right to a second referendum. What’s more over 6 million people signed a petition to revoke Brexit.

The saddest thing now is that whenever I talk to British people there’s a general sense of quiet resignation to the UK’s state. Everyone knows that the UK has made a mistake and will be worse off, but almost like a British person not wanting to complain about an overcooked steak, there’s a feeling that this is our lot, we just have to deal with it. For me, this is the single most depressing thing about Brexit.

British food is terrible

This just simply isn’t true. British food is hugely misunderstood. If you think British food is terrible, I bet you don’t have much experience of it.

We’ll start with a classic. Everyone thinks they understand fish and chips. It’s something you see around the world and is quintessentially British (despite having Portuguese origins). The problem is, it’s really difficult to get genuine fish and chips (you can’t get these outside of the UK, sorry, you just can’t). I’m talking about the North Yorkshire variety, fried in beef dripping and chunky, hand-cut chips. Get in line outside the Magpie Cafe in Whitby and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Another food you’ll struggle to find done properly outside of the UK is British-Indian cuisine. Like all the best fusion cuisines it’s rooted in two very different cultures and this makes it all the better. In my opinion, there’s nothing better than a Saturday night visit to a curry house and it’s one of the foods I miss most from the UK.

Other foods I think are massively underrated include the humble pork pie, Britain’s vast variety of delicious cheeses, my grandmother’s welsh cakes, oh and bread and butter pudding with Bird’s custard.

Of all of the insults to British cuisine that cuts the deepest is when people deride British beer. I love almost all beer, but I have a special place in my heart reserved for ale. If you think you don’t like ale, I have a challenge for you. Find a wonderful, inviting pub. You know the kind of pub that has that delightful indescribable essence of pub. Part community centre, part living room, but above all a collection of oddly sized awkwardly laid out rooms and snugs. Anyway, once you’ve found the right pub, order a pint of local cask ale. Then persist. Try a few pints. I can almost guarantee by the end of the evening you will have changed your view on ale. If not I’ll buy you a Carlsberg or Heineken as compensation.

Cheers!

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Day 183 - Ukraine 🇺🇦

August 12, 2021

We’re back! And headed to Ukraine, an utterly fantastic country.

Quite possibly the best weekend break I’ve ever had. Honestly, it was fantastic. We explored the World’s deepest metro, over 100 metres below the surface and ate our way around Kiev. The food in Ukraine was fantastic and you can really taste how Ukraine got it’s nicknames the Soviet Union’s breadbasket. The produce was fresh, generous and flavourful. I particularly loved the pickled tomatoes served in Pervak, an old-fashioned Ukrainian restaurant right in the centre of Kiev.

The most complicated departures board in the world

Other highlights of Kiev included exploring the gargantuan Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi railway station with the most complex arrivals and departures board I’ve ever seen. We also visited the Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum and I’d argue this is a must-do for anyone at all interested in air travel. It’s a cornucopia of Soviet era aircraft in varying states of decay. You can get up close to all of the aircraft, and many you’re even allowed to board. This is an aircraft museum unlike any other.

We rounded our days off by bar-hopping around Kiev’s inexpensive bars. In one memorable bar, we even got roped into in a challenge where we volunteered to wear helmets and have them set alight by a flame blowing barman while downing shots. Who needs eyebrows, you only live once, right?

We had a genuinely amazing time in Kiev - it’s refreshingly different from a typical European weekend break. There are only so many national galleries, cafes and churches I can appreciate. Kiev offers something refreshingly different, oh and it still manages to have beautiful orthodox churches and monasteries.

It almost doesn’t feel real that we were able to have such a fun time in Kiev while while Ukraine was still in the throws of the brutal Russo-Ukrainian War that continues to this day. Luckily Kiev is peaceful and seemed relatively normal while we were there. We noticed that people generally preferred to avoid speaking Russian, and the people we spoke with anger at the actions of Russia. I genuinely hope that there is a peaceful resolution before two long.

I cannot wait to go back to Ukraine some day.

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Day 179 - Turkey 🇹🇷

July 31, 2021

Welcome to Turkey, Europe’s bridge to Asia.

Turkey is the world’s largest per-capita consumer of tea, beating both the UK and Ireland. I really wasn’t expecting to learn that today.

Turkey is one of those countries I’ve visited, but feel like I don’t know it. Well, other than the evil eye amulet is almost everywhere in Turkey, especially in tourist bazaars. Oh, and I also remember there’s a photo of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in almost every building.

I went to Turkey in 2008 on a bargain-basement package holiday with my friend Sean right before graduating. It was the perfect break after exams and before going on a longer interrailing trip later that summer. We stayed Gümbet, just outside Bodrum. Looking at it on a Map, twelve years later, it’s incredible how much has changed. The area is now vastly more developed, and the sprawl of Bodrum now extends far further along the coast. Anyway, the trip was fun, we mostly lay on the beach, drank cocktails and ate. We did manage a day trip to the Greek island of Kos though, and I have lasting memories of the enormous lavash served with almost every meal.

I’d love to visit Turkey properly one day and make the effort to appreciate the delicious cuisine, nature and culture. We had a trip booked to Istanbul for Easter 2020. Once it’s safer to travel again I’d love to re-book. Istanbul looks like one of Europe’s most fascinating cities, packed will delicious food, Turkish baths and iconic sights such as the Grand Bazaar or Hagia Sophia. Istanbul would also be the first transcontinental city I’ve ever visited. That is to say, a city that exists on multiple continents.

Anyway, Turkey, see you after the pandemic!

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Day 170 - Switzerland 🇨🇭

July 22, 2021

Haven’t spent that long in Switzerland. It was the first country I ever entered other than the UK and France.

To me (and probably most people) Switzerland is synonymous with good cheese, skiing, cows with cowbells, and money. Lots of money. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that Switzerland is the most expensive country in the world. It also has the fanciest trains I’ve ever travelled on. The train we took from Zurich Central to Zurich Airport was a double-decker train with a large restaurant car replete with waiter service and crisp white table cloths.

As well as being particularly refined, Switzerland is also a little weird. Not only because of its German dialect that other German speakers often can’t understand, but also because women weren’t allowed to vote until 1971, oh and also officially Switzerland has no capital city.

Switzerland is known as being neutral, but it only joined the UN in 2002. Despite having very low crime rates, Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world mainly because after national service, conscripts are allowed to keep their guns.

I’ll leave you with a final fact: Switzerland is home to the world’s longest tunnel. The Gotthard tunnel is 57km long.

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Day 169 - Sweden 🇸🇪

July 21, 2021

First visited in 2008 on one of my first independent weekend trips. I remember I was very excited to be flying with Scandinavian. This was still the era where you got a free newspaper and meal in economy. Visiting Scandinavia for the first time was a big deal back then. I vividly remember trying moose for the first time, eating vast amounts of pickled herring and exploring Skansen.

Today I’m going to let the photos and a few lists do most of the talking:

My top 5 Swedish things:

Dill Crisps (chips)
Abba
Gravlax
Free dessert and coffee in country restaurants
Volvo

A few places in Sweden I’d love to visit:

Trollhättan
Sarek National Park
Gotland, Sweden’s Baltic island
Kiruna the desolate far-north mining town
Yasuragi, Stockholms Japanese themed spa and baths

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Day 165 - Spain 🇪🇸

July 17, 2021

Today we’re dispensing with the facts. Spain is a country I feel I should know far better than I do. It was the place I took my first ever independent holiday as a teenager. Seven days in the sun in the garish resort town of Benedorm. It was messy.

I returned to Spain again two years later to visit Ibiza. It was a relaxing if not spectacular trip with an ex. We stayed in the family orientated town of Santa Eulària and mostly sat on the beach. Don’t most people go to Ibiza for the clubbing? I suppose I hadn’t yet figured out what kind of travel, or men suited me.

The third and most recent I’ve visited Spain was back in 2016. Madrid was the perfect starting point for our sabbatical that kicked off properly in Cuba. Two nights of late-summer Madrid was wonderful, but sadly probably constitutes as my only real experience of Spain. We ate our way around Madrid taking in its sights and atmosphere. We just weren’t there for long enough to truly get the feel of the place.

This brings us back to the present. I’m hoping to visit Spain again next month. Provided travel is still possible in August - this time I’m hoping to really get to know Spain. The rough plan in my head is to start in Valencia (I’ve heard it likened to a less touristy Barcelona), and then head out on a mostly unplanned road trip north. Maybe we’ll stop off at a few coastal towns for some beaches before heading north. We may even have time to take in a little of the Pyrenees before ending up in San Sebastian or Bilbao. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Ljubljana, Slovenia on a winter’s day in 2013

Day 160 - Slovenia 🇸🇮

July 12, 2021

Today we visit Slovenia. The country almost everyone confuses with Slovakia. Or is it the other way round? Unlike landlocked Slovakia, Slovenia has Europe’s third shortest coastline. This consists of a tiny stretch of coast between Italy and Croatia of around 47 km dubbed as the “Slovene Riviera”.

Joe and I visited Slovenia back in 2013 and getting there was certainly an adventure.

Entering Slovenia at the Nova Gorica border

We were staying in Venice and wanted to cross into Slovenia and explore Lake Bled and Ljubljana. The plan was to take the train from Venice to Slovenia, except there were absolutely no trains going from Italy to Slovenia. This is despite the fact there is clearly a rail line crossing the border, and I’d already crossed the border the other way on a night train back in 2008.

It just turns out that Slovenia and Italy don’t want to be connected by train. What followed was taking a train to the Italian border town of Gorizia and sprinting across the border to the Slovenian town of Nova Goricia. Is this the only land border I’ve ever crossed by foot before, other than perhaps the Vatican City?

It was worth it though, the train journey on the other side of the border was spectacular. The all-but-abandoned Bohinj railway heads north over Europe’s second-largest stone bridge into the mountains. We were practically the only people on the ancient rattling train for the entire journey. For lunch we snacked on Italian cheeses and salami we picked up from a deli before crossing the border. The scenery became increasingly wintery and snowy until we were up in the mountains in deep snow cover. The Bohinj Railway is probably one of the most scenic rail journeys I’ve ever taken.

After an afternoon exploring the snowy Lake Bled, we took the train to Ljubljana, a tiny, but wonderful capital city crowned with a picture perfect castle.

I’d certainly love to return to Slovenia one day.

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Day 159 - Slovakia 🇸🇰

July 11, 2021

Today we head to Slovakia. It’s going to be a super, short stop as the weather is beautiful, Beth is visiting from Zurich and we’re lucky enough to be joining some friends on their boat this afternoon!

Keep this post short is kind of apt though. I haven’t been to Slovakia, but I been through it on a night train from Prague to Budapest. Other than shadowy glimpses of the countryside whizzing past I’ve really seen very little of Slovakia. My friend did possibly have her phone stolen in Slovakia on that train. That’s another story though.

Slovakia is a relatively small country and is a little larger than Denmark and Estonia, and has a population of around five million people.

Car production makes up almost 50% of Slovakia’s industrial production.

The second most watched sport in Slovakia is ice hockey. Slovakia is also very good at ice hockey and is currently ranked 9th best in the world, but in the early 2000s made it as high as 3rd best in the world.

Slovakia reportedly boasts the highest number of castles and chateaux per capita in the world with over 6000 in existence.

I’ll leave you with one final, small fact about Slovakia - the largest meteor ever to hit Europe landed in Slovakia in the town of Zboj in 1866.

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Day 155 - Serbia 🇷🇸

July 7, 2021

Today we head to the Balkan nation of Serbia. I’ve not been to Serbia, but I have transferred through Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport. Incidentally, Nikola Tesla wasn’t actually from Serbia but was born in modern-day Croatia.

I’d love to visit Belgrade, and also Serbia as a whole. It also sounds like I’m not the only one as Serbia was voted the number one emerging travel destination in Europe for 2019. Admittedly, this was only on a small blog called Travel Lemming, but as it fits today’s narrative, who am I to argue?

Anyway, I’d love to visit Belgrade as I’ve heard only good things from everyone I know who has visited. It’s a city known for its gritty culture and fantastic nightlife. For example, it has a large number of “splavs”, or river clubs. As far as I can tell splats are basically floating bars and nightclubs.

Serbia is also home to what must be the world’s largest trumpet festival, the Guča Trumpet Festival which regularly attracts up to 600,000 visitors. That’s a lot of trumpet fans.

You’ve probably heard of Kosovo, a breakaway region of Serbia. Kosovo is home to mostly ethnic Albanians and wants to be independent, declaring independence 2008 after a brutal conflict in the late 90s. Yet Kosovo is still in limbo as it was unable to get a two-thirds vote to be recognised as a nation by the UN. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo persist to this day as Serbia still views Kosovar territory as a key part of Serbia.

Serbia tops the global raspberry export tables and claims that in 2012, 95% of the world’s raspberries came from Serbia. I’m dubious of this.

I’ll leave you with a final fact before escaping to watch the England - Denmark game - most Serbian surnames end in “ić“. This is certainly true of the Serbian people I know.