Too Square to be Hip
A narcissist's guide to travel and culture
In the northern reaches of the province of Transylvania, you will find an economically wealthy region that is powering a resurgence in the Romanian economy outside of Bucharest. The large urban centers of this region are the cities of Cluj and Turda, cities that are rich in culture and steeped in history. When I approached …
After my visit to the Transylvanian city of Sibiu, I found myself wandering the Romanian countryside in a rental car. It was a sunny day and there was no highway in sight. The two-lane main roads gave way to narrow country roads where progress was slow – a refreshing prospect as I wanted to enjoy the …
Walking to my hostel from the train station in Sibiu, I could not believe the scene unfurling in front of me. The picture seared in my memory was the exact cityscape I had imagined in my mind before my visit, a Transylvania of old. The sheer marvel of the multicoloured Saxon buildings had drawn me …
After a night of little sleep with a merry band of singing Germans in Timisoara, I was off on an early morning train to the Romanian city of Deva to get my first glimpses at on of the most famous castles in Transylvania. I boarded the train at 6am, only half awake. I was in …
My interest in Timisoara, the westernmost city of Romania, was first peaked while I was watching a documentary on the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the brutal communist dictator of Romania. The revolution that brought him down started in this city, in large part due to the protests of a Hungarian priest. Learning about the ethnic …
My first introduction to the Croatian capital was acquired through the medium of film, rather than the typical tourism pictures found in city guides. It was a James Bond picture, “From Russia with Love”, to be precise. In the movie, Bond’s train departing from Istanbul briefly stops in a grim cold war Zagreb where it …
The most popular nature reserve in the expansive Croatian system, Plitvice offers something of a paradise to whomever visits. Within the narrow confine of its limestone cliffs you will find one of the most beautiful succession of waterfalls that I ever have laid my weary eyes on. One could call them a gem of natural …
The small town of Nin may not be on the radar of most tourists but its name is synonymous with one of the great names in Croatian History, Gregory of Nin. A past capital of the Kingdom of Croatia, the settlement is one of the oldest cities in the country and as such bears a …
I arrived in Zara, a proud maritime port that now goes by the name Zadar, to a blinding sunshine that made the Adriatic sea glitter. I could but register an endless sea of blue for my eyes to feast on. When entering the city by way of the mainland I was l be greeted by …
Šibenik is a personal favourite of mine. Unlike many of its urban contemporaries located on the Dalmatian coast, it lacks the large hordes of tourists. This allows for a nice change of pace from the busy old towns of Split and Zadar. The people here are friendly, much more so than the rest of Croatia. …
