A love letter to culture and slow travel
Life as an expat: it always sounded kind of “exotic” to me. I admired the people who dared to leave everything behind to start a new life abroad. It never really occurred to me to follow in their footsteps, but after 2 ½ years of being in a long distance Continue Reading
It’s exactly two o’clock, when the floating bridge opens and lets the yachts pass from mainland Greece into the Ionian Sea. Every hour on the dot, a floating procession sails into the canal, on its way to Lefkas, the first island on the west coast of Greece. The island is Continue Reading
Who hasn’t heard of Odysseus? Or Ulysses, as he is also known by his Roman name. He’s the hero of Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey”. According to that poem, Odysseus was the king of the island of Ithaca, a small Greek island in the Ionian Sea. After fighting in the Continue Reading
We arrive at the Hackerbruecke hostel at 11am. The reception is full of people and empty beer cans, a forerunner of what awaits us a few miles further on the Theresienwiese. Two days of Oktoberfest in Munich, that is the plan. Hopefully. We didn’t make any reservations for the beer tents Continue Reading
Never heard of Meganisi? Don’t worry; before I set off on a sailing trip around the Ionian islands, neither had I! Its name means “big island”, although it only has 3 villages, is about 20km² and has no more than 1000 inhabitants! Up to the 20th century the island was Continue Reading
The sound of the rattling metal balls and chains is disturbingly lugubrious as the penitents walk barefoot on the cobbled streets of Ronda. I am on a trip to southern Spain, attending one of its most vivid traditions and most popular celebrations: the Semana Santa in Andalucia. Tonight is the Continue Reading
I was in my second year of Spanish when I proudly declared: “Mi ciudad es muy famoso para su sopa de polla”. The face of my teacher went bright red as she, a little embarrassed, explained me that the Spanish word for chicken is “pollo”, “polla” apparently means “penis”…I spent Continue Reading
Everybody starts looking nervously for their camera and mobile phones to snap the first picture of Volcán Concepción, as the boat from Rivas approaches Isla de Ometepe. I’ll be staying on the island for a few days and I am determined to discover the best things to do in Ometepe! Continue Reading