Plaka Castle on the island of Milos, Greece

Day 67 - Greece 🇬🇷

March 30, 2021

Greece is a place you can visit and be almost guaranteed to leave feeling happier, warmer and more fulfilled than you were when you arrived.

The Greeks are warm, inviting and possibly some of the kindest hosts in the world. The food is mouth-watering, yet casual and almost always eaten outside under the stars (at least in the Summer). The landscape is scattered with ancient ruins, and every place seems to have an intriguing story lurking beneath the surface.

Greece is one of the countries I’ve already written about most on this blog. All of these posts have been about an area in Northern Greece called Zagoria. Zagoria is mountainous, thickly forested and the perfect place to hike or go whitewater rafting, but it’s absolutely not what most people think of when they go to Greece. So to celebrate our virtual trip to Greece, I thought I’d write a quick guide to some other Greek places I’ve visited and fallen in love with.

Mani

Mani is a finger-like protrusion on the South of the Peloponnese, and like a lot of Greece the landscape of Mani is mountainous and inaccessible. The furthest south part of Mani, or Deep Mani, is also the southernmost point of mainland Greece.

Maybe because everyone is chasing that perfect Greek island escape, most visitors overlook the Peloponnese, and most visitors to the Peloponnese overlook Mani. Having said that, Mani is only around a four hour drive from Athens Airport. You wouldn’t know though. Mani is by far the quietest and most undeveloped part of Greece I’ve visited.

Deep Mani, in the south is even quieter. We stayed in the small village of Porto Kagio, overlooking the natural cove. We spent our days eating and drinking alongside, and swimming in the cove. It felt like being in a pirate cove at the edge of the earth.

Mani doesn’t have Greece’s best food, but it is decent. While the food in Mani won’t blow you away like may in Zagoria or Milos, Mani makes up for this with its tranquility, breathtaking sunsets and beautiful sea coves.

So, visit Mani if you want some time for reflection, reading books, and doing not much at all. It’s perfect.

Milos

For me Milos is the perfect Greek island in the Cyclades. As far as I can tell it’s mainly popular with Athenians seeking a short break from the bustle of city life.

While Mani isn’t a culinary destination, Milos is definitely known for its excellent seafood. Every single meal we ate in Milos without exception was excellent.

From the top of my head I’d here are some Milos food and drink tips:

Akri for a pre-dinner cocktail and to enjoy the beautiful harbour views as the sunsets
Bakalikon Galanis for the most delicious Greek small plates
Gialos for a slightly more upscale fish menu
Zygos for delectable barbecue if you fancy something more land-based
O! Hamos! Tavern is also excellent, but everyone knows this, so you’ll be waiting quite a while for a table

Milos has a wide selection of beaches from relaxed sandy beaches such as Paliochori Beach to a stunning inaccessible beach set in the remnants of the abandoned Paliorema Sulfur Mine.

If you like fantastic food, a wide choice of quiet beaches and beautiful island scenery, visit Milos.

Pelion

I wasn’t going to include Pelion, but Joe offered to write a short snippet about how lovely Pelion is, so here’s Joe’s take on why Pelion is worth visiting.

The Pelion peninsula for me is synonymous a stay we had at magical Hotel Faros. Perched on a cliff above the Aegean, it’s a working farm and olive grove. You can imagine how good their food was using ingredients from the farm or the sea. It’s possible to swim straight from the rocky outcropping at the hotel - and I remember while swimming one morning spotting a man diving down and collecting urchins. Every time he surfaced, he pulled out a small knife to open up the urchin and slurped up its orange flesh!

Another notable moment was meeting a senior civil servant from the UK over breakfast, who had apparently been coming to Faros for years. And also had some interesting stories about working with Theresa May.

Just a short walk from the hotel is another beach (Milopotamus) which one arrives to via climbing a neighbouring cliff with a gorgeous cafe which made the freshest, crispiest fried calamari served with a big slice of local lemon.

Hotel Faros certainly isn’t all Pelion has to offer. The peninsula is just picture perfect Greece and another town was even the set for some of the Mamma Mia movie.

Faros is not the fanciest place. It’s not a place for amenities. It’s not that easy to get to especially if your rental car is a small red Peugeot. And it didn’t even take credit cards back in 2015 as I learned when checking out without any cash and not an ATM anywhere close (they kindly just let me bank transfer when I got back to the UK - not sure why that was the option we had settled on!).

But when I come back to Faros one day, I really hope that not a thing has changed.

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Day 65 - Germany 🇩🇪

March 28, 2021

Germany is one of my happy places. Germany has hugely underrated food, (perhaps unexpectedly) warm and wonderful people and an enthralling history.

While France for me is synonymous with shared experiences with family, Germany is synonymous with shared experiences with friends. I think almost every time I’ve been to Germany it’s been with friends.

The first time I visited Germany was back in 2008 when Interrailing around Europe with friends from university.

I dug out my journal from this trip. My first experience of Berlin was getting lost on the U-Bahn for two hours while trying to meet up with some friends before going out on an all-nighter.

I had a lot of fun this afternoon tracing down our route from my scribbled notes. I’d love to go back to many of the bars like Silberfisch, but the place with the most interesting story is Studio 54.

When we visited back in 2008, we were all completely mesmerised by Studio 54. Studio 54 was a crumbling hunk of a building with an art commune, surreal sculpture park and a beach bar with mesmerising techno music. Every surface of Studio 54 was covered with colourful, thought-provoking graffiti.

Questionable fashion choices in Tacheles

After a little reading up, I’ve learned its actual name was Arthouse Tacheles. It was originally built as a department store before becoming. After being damaged in World War II, the building was partly demolished, but the rest left and neglected as the East German government had no funds to renovate it.

Tacheles was then planned to be demolished in 1990, but luckily it was spared this fate as it was taken over by a group of artists. Similarly to Christiania in Copenhagen, Tacheles was run as a cooperative and used to experiment with alternate lifestyles, art, music and various installations. The building gradually morphed into an attraction in its own right before being finally vacated in 2012. It’s sadly now being redeveloped into a mix of retail and apartments.

Skiing with Katrin, Felix & Joe near Oberstdorf

Visiting Berlin with Joe and Devin back in 2018

More recently, the last time I got to leave Denmark was for an aborted Oktoberfest trip to Munich. Even though Oktoberfest may have been cancelled we still managed to catch up with some really close friends and drinks few steins.

Catching up with Wadzi for the first time in 10 years

I’ll leave you with one quick tip. Back in 2015, I wrote a guide for things to do in Berlin. I have one important addition that I discovered a few years back - Vabali Spa and thermal baths. It’s like taking an Indonesian mini-break within your break in Berlin. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Das ist alles, bis morgen!

Riding a miniature horse (it’s a French thing) in Brittany in 1990. There’s a lot going on here.

Day 61 - France 🇫🇷

March 24, 2021

France is one of my absolute favourite places in the world. Visiting France as a child is what sparked my interest in travelling and exploring other cultures.

Some of my earliest memories are sitting around outside eating with my extended family. Endless evenings with perfect weather, barbecues and all of the adults drinking too much. Those early childhood holidays really were magical.

Developing a love for baguettes back in 1990

Every summer we would pack up our caravan, drive to Dover or Portsmouth, cross the channel on a ferry and set out on a summer adventure. We had so much fun.

Cycling along mountain passes near Alp du’Huez, floating down the Dorgodogne in decidedly wobbly inflatable boats, racing against the rapidly turning tide to escape Ratty island* in the Pays de la Loire. That’s without mentioning my horrifically bad karaoke renditions of Lou Bega’s Mambo No.5.

One summer when Dad wasn’t working we even got to spend six weeks meandering around France with no set plan. We made it all the way down to the Auvergne and spent a few weeks on a lake where I learned how to row and swim longer distances. Oh, and this was the trip where I infamously contracted foot and mouth disease!

Building sand castles in Jard-sur-Mer in 2002

In later years my family would always gravitate to a small Atlantic coast town of Jard-sur-Mer. My grandparents would set off in May, towing their caravan on a ten-week pilgrimage from South Wales to Jard-sur-Mer. Then, one-by-one different parts of the the family would travel out to join them.

They knew practically everyone on the campsite where they parked their caravan and became the heart of this yearly community, making friends from all over Europe, including an elderly French couple who were known to cultivate snails from the campsite for their dinner. We never did take up the offer to try one.

There’s nothing particularly special about Jard-sur-Mer. There are no big landmarks or spectacular scenery. It’s just a small, French coastal town that became a home-away-from home. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

One of the last trips we took before Covid was to see our long-lost friend Audrey in Lyon

*Named after the rat we saw. It’s actually Île à Bacchus

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Helsinki Harbour from the ferry to Suomenlinna

Day 60 - Finland 🇫🇮

March 23, 2021

Welcome to Finland, the land of Saunas, lakes, birch forests and the Moomins.

Finland has been proudly independent since 1917. Before that, it was annexed by Russia and before that Sweden. Despite this, it keeps mostly cordial relations with both of its neighbours nowadays.

Freezing. In Suomenlinna, a sea fortress right next to Helsinki

Today Finland has a proud reputation for high levels of press freedom and ranking at the very top of country stability rankings, the world happiness index and the gender gap report.

One other thing for Finns to be proud of is the amount of coffee they consume. Depending on which source you choose to believe the Finns either drink the most, or the second-most coffee per-person in the world. Apparently, when it’s dark for almost all of the winter you really need that extra cup to wake up in the morning.

I visited Finland for a weekend break back in December 2018. My most prominent memory is how cold and windy Helsinki was. My puny Denmark spec-jacket really wasn’t cut out for a Finnish winter. Visiting the beautiful fortress island of Suomenlinna was a particularly frigid experience. When we weren’t walking around freezing in the cold, we visited the delightful Allas Sea Pool and sauna which was exactly what we needed.

I have surprisingly few photos from that weekend. I think it was simply too cold to take photos.

Right, enough writing, time for a warming shot of Finlandia.

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Day 56 - Estonia 🇪🇪

March 19, 2021

It’s been quite a while since we covered somewhere I’ve been. Today we visit Estonia. This was the first weekend trip Joe and I took after moving to Cambridge back in 2011.

Tallinn was a great place to visit for a winter weekend. The food and drink were affordable and delicious, and there’s a wealth of things to see.

There is nothing to see here - The KGB Museum, Tallinn

Tallinn is imbued with a quaint and comfortable old town, but what I found most interesting was the leftover Soviet relics such as Linnahall and the KGB Museum located on the top floor of Hotel Viru. In this hotel, the concrete which formed the walls was roughly 50% microphone.

I also very much recommend checking out the haunting Soviet-built Linnahall. Originally built as the V. I. Lenin Palace of Culture and Sports for the 1980 Moscow Olympics it now sits decaying and crumbling into the sea.

I also found it fascinating visiting the ferry port where Finnish people visit on rowdy weekend booze-cruises. The duty-free shop at Tallin port was the only place I’ve ever seen multipacks of vodka for sale.

Beyond Tallin, it’s clear Estonia has a lot to offer. I really want to return one day.

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Day 46 - Denmark 🇩🇰

March 9, 2021

Ah, home sweet home. And also time for something slightly different.

When people talk about Denmark, then generally reel off the same old cliches. Something about Vikings, something about the Danes being happy and something about Hygge. You might even hear about Denmarks’s legendary mountains and Fjords. Spoiler - Denmark has no mountains, or even a single substantial hill.

Anyway, enough of this! To celebrate the fact that we’ve reached Denmark, I’m going to treat you to a genuinely different list of observations about Denmark from the perspective of a non-Dane.

Duvet hanging day

I’ll kick off with an essential piece of domestic advice. In Denmark, Sunday is duvet hanging day. To be more specific, on Sunday many Danes strip their bed and hang their duvet out of their window. I’m yet to work out why.

Swimming

Danes are really into winter swimming. The colder the better. Talking of swimming, with its clean waters and plentiful ladders, Copenhagen is probably the best destination in the world for urban swimming. In the Summer, city beaches (i.e. harboursides and boardwalks) are the place to be.

Boating

In Copenhagen, a common weekend DIY project is building your own barge. It’s also probably one of the only cities in the world where you can sail your own homemade boat wherever you like. In the Summer all of Copenhagen’s waterways are crammed full of small boats, kayaks, floating hot-tubs and barges.

Birthdays

When it’s someone’s birthday, Danes celebrate with the Danish flag. Everywhere. On cards. On the table. On wrapping paper. On their desk at work. There’s nothing that says Happy Birthday (or tillykke med fødselsdagen) than the Danish flag.

Sanding down your savings

Floors and walls are all totally renovated between house rentals at great expense. Floors are sanded and varnished, and every surface painted regardless of whether this is needed or not.

New Years Eve

New Year’s Eve is a BIG celebration in Denmark and seems to be the only time each year when Danes dress up in formal attire.

Distortion

Each Summer several of Copenhagen’s streets close down for a free street music festival named Distortion. Residents who don’t want to partake are bussed-off to classical music performances on the other side of the city. Celebrations stop at 10pm sharp and the streets are all meticulously cleaned and within an hour everything is back to normal.

Lighting

The Danes appreciate the importance of good lighting like no other nationality. You can generally spot a non-Dane’s apartment by the hue of the lighting. If you want to blend in, buy a PH5. Copenhagen has a yearly festival of light every February. Expect to see lots of colourful, abstract lighting installations.

Bread lines

During the Covid-19 pandemic, bakeries are now the only attraction left in Copenhagen. So now, if you want to buy some nice bread and pastries on a Saturday or Sunday you can be guaranteed to stand in a long bread line.

Food and drink at work

Danish work culture includes the perk that most professional jobs come with an inclusive lunch. Pretty much every Danish employer offers a Friday bar at the end of the week where you down multiple cans of Carlsberg before snaking home on your bike.

Seaplanes

Copenhagen and Aarhus are connected by a seaplane service.

Bikes

Everyone knows Danes cycle a lot, but the cycle infrastructure is next-level. Trains have dedicated bike carriages and at traffic lights, there’s often a device for you to rest your foot on and hold on to so you’re comfortable.

Pigs blood and cinnamon

In Denmark, black pudding is sweet, contains cinnamon, and is considered a dessert food.

Have you declared that Covid test?

Denmark is most likely the only country in the world where privately administered Covid tests are considered a taxable benefit.

J-Day

The first Friday of November is known as “J-Day”. J-day revolves around the annual delivery of Tuborg's Julebryg Christmas ale. Julebryg is a seasonal liquorice-infused dark pilsner. At exactly 8:59 pm bars and trucks driving around start handing out free beers. It’s wild.

Smooth Sailing

Copenhagen has several sail-thru bars.

Right, it’s time to crack open a cold Tuborg. Skål!

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Day 45 - Czech Republic 🇨🇿

March 8, 2021

I’m hoping today’s post will be refreshingly short. The reason for this is I’ll be tucking into a refreshing can of Pilsner Urquell. This beer, originating from the Czech Republic, (or Czechia) is in my view the unassailable king of mass-produced beer. It’s also one of the two things that come to mind when talking about the Czech Republic. Beer and Castles.

Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic lives up to this reputation. It’s a near-mythical medieval maze filled with beautiful cobbled squares, castles and wonderful bars serving delicious beers. In fact, Prague is so well preserved because it was the only major city in Europe that wasn’t extensively bombed during World War II.

Prague was mostly spared as Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany before the war started. Later in the war when the Red Army pushed west, it was more practical to advance through Poland than mountainous Czechoslovakia.

After enduring 42 years behind the Iron Curtain the Czech Republic’s transformation from state socialism to capitalism is mostly considered a success. Nowadays the Czech Republic’s biggest export is cars, namely Skodas. They’ve gone in my life from being the butt of jokes to being desirable, solidly engineered cars.

I’ve visited the Czech Republic twice in my life. First when I was backpacking around Europe after graduating. On this visit, I learned it is actually possible to fall asleep in a nightclub. I also inexplicably bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen for over six years in a bar who then let us shelter from the rain in his apartment the next day before catching our night-train to Budapest.

The second time I visited Czechia was a few years ago with a group of beer-loving friends. Stan’s Dad happens to be the brewery manager, so was able to arrange a private tour of the Pilsner Urquell factory and tunnels. It’s the equivalent of Disneyland for beer lovers. Strangely enough, my memory of that evening is a little fuzzy.

Right, my beer is calling.

I do have time to leave you with a classic Skoda joke though. What do you call a Skoda with dual exhausts? A wheelbarrow.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 44 - Cyprus 🇨🇾

March 7, 2021

What I knew about Cyprus before today

It’s a Mediterranean island with two nations. The Republic of Cyprus is what we’re mostly talking about today. After the Turkish invasion in 1974, Cyprus has been split in two with a UN-controlled buffer zone. To the North of the line is the Turkish controlled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is only internationally recognised by Turkey. Finally, the island of Cyprus is also home to the surprisingly large British controlled Akrotiri and Dhekelia bases. There have been numerous fruitless attempts to reunify Cyprus and end the Cyprus problem. However, despite its idyllic Mediterranean setting, the geopolitics of the island of Cyprus is in danger of becoming one of the longest outstanding unresolved problems of the world.

What is Cyprus’s top tourist attraction?

According to Tripadvisor, it’s the Kato Paphos Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage. The site contains the major part of the important ancient Greek and Roman city of Paphos and includes the remains of villas, palaces, tombs and fortresses.

What was the last war or conflict Cyprus took part in?

Cyprus has an incredibly long history of over 10,000 years of civilisation and an accompanying timeline of constant invasions and colonisations. The most recent conflict though was the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. This invasion was in response to a coup d'état by the Greek Army in Cyprus. Both the coup and the invasion were motivated by underlying power struggles between Greek and Turkish Cypriots after Cyprus became an independent state in 1960.

Watchtower in the UN buffer zone, Cyprus

A Bizarre fact about Cyprus

Cyprus and Greece have many things in common, but unexpectedly they share the name of their highest mountains. In both countries, the highest peak is named Mount Olympus.

Was Cyprus a former colony?

Yes, multiple times throughout its long history. Alexander the Great invaded and seized Cyprus from the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians in 333 BC. The most recent colonial presence was the UK. Britain negotiated control of Cyprus in 1878 from the Ottoman Empire and administered Cyprus until 1960.

What are Cyprus’s main exports?

Citrus fruits, potatoes, pharmaceuticals and cement.

What’s Cyprus’s National dish?

The rustic soup named fasolada is considered to be the national dish of Cyprus. Fasolada is made with butter beans and is actually popular in both Cyprus and Greece.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 26 - Bulgaria 🇧🇬

February 17, 2021

When I think of Bulgaria the first things that come to mind is its reputation for Black Sea beaches popular with Russians and budget skiing.

Bulgaria borders Romania to the north along the Danube, and is separated from Serbia and North Macedonia by mountain ranges. To the South East it borders Turkey and is strategically important as Europes main overland connection to Turkey. One other claim to fame is that Bulgaria is home to The Stone Desert, Europe’s smallest desert.

Bulgaria is the EU’s poorest country and had the dubious honour of being ranked as the most corrupt country in the European Union in 2018. This isn’t Bulgarias biggest problem though. It has the fastest shrinking population in Europe and is projected to lose 23% of its population by 2050.

Even though Bulgarians may be rapidly emigrating, they’re leaving behind Shopska, or Bulgarian salad. It was recently awarded the best dish in Europe in a contest organised by the European Parliament. Don’t they have parliamenting to do?

Bulgaria’s other culinary claims to fame are its unique yoghurt and the fact that in Soviet times it was the forth largest exporter of wine in the world. Nazdrave!

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Day 22 - Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦

February 13, 2021

Today I’m less of a writing mood than I was yesterday, so instead I’m sharing lots of photos I took when I visited Bosnia back in 2018. For our summer holiday that year we did a circular road trip around Southern Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

Almost everyone who writes about Bosnia and Herzegovina writes about the 1990s war, and the tensions between the Serb and Muslim populations. Today I’m going to focus on happier times, but if you want to learn a bit more about these tensions, check out this documentary - Bosnia and Herzegovina: and ethnically divided country.

We visited during the Red Bull cliff diving competition Mostar, 2018

We stayed in the infamous city of Mostar. If you’ve not heard of it you’ve almost certainly seen the beautiful Stari Most bridge being blown up during the war in 1993. We stayed in the pristinely maintained Ottoman-era Muslibegović House right in the centre of Mostar. It’s both a wonderful hotel and also serves as a museum.

It was over breakfast here that we met our friends Petter and Aron, who later that day became our partners in crime exploring Mostar’s Sniper Tower. Despite being a tourist hotspot, Mostar is full of derelict buildings and reminders of the war. The Sniper tower is a former bank seized as a sniper vantage point during the Bosnian War is now a secret graffiti art gallery. Getting in involved quite a bit of clambering over fences and avoiding anti-climb paint - but it was worth it.

Sniper Tower, Mostar. We definitely didn’t break in.

Joe getting ready to jump into the Kravice falls

One final point about Bosnia and Herzegovina - the food is incredible. It’s a perfect mix of Balkan, Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines. Think delicious grilled meats, flatbreads, and mouthwatering salads. For this reason alone, I want to return one day!