By and large, I’m a solo traveller and I think it’s time I started emphasising that a bit more.
Back in the days when I could solo travel, I gravitated towards Iceland, Scandinavia and the Arctic, with occasional visits to places like the Baltic states and eastern Europe but you’ll find plenty of Paris and Switzerland and western Europe here too. Actually, my non-Wessex UK travels are here as well, so come with me to Scotland, London and a few other places around my own country.
I can’t remember what day it was – maybe after the Old Town tour? – but one of my planned trips was viewpoint photography. I thought it would be good to get to a viewpoint, to take photos of the view, maybe to learn about photography but on the other hand, I knew that I… More Tbilisi’s funicular and Mtatsminda Park at sunset
And we’re back in Georgia! Five posts down, half a dozen still to come. Today I’m taking you out of Tbilisi, on my big day out. Friday was the day of longer day trips – there was a trip to Kazbegi, wine tours to Kvareli and Signagi and my choice, Uplistsikhe, an ancient cave town.… More Uplistsikhe, the ancient cave town
My second Traverse tour was a tour of Tbilisi’s Old Town. There were four Old Town tours going and it took a moment to make sure we were all on the right buses. There was a Cultural Exploration which was going to various museums, exhibits and galleries – not my thing. There was a Gastronomy… More A tour of Old Town Tbilisi
This was my first trip with Traverse. I arrived Monday night and just about had time to figure out the metro before I had to use it for real to get to the pick-up spot at Rose Revolution Square on Tuesday morning for our trip to the Chronicle of Georgia. To be honest, I wasn’t… More The weird Chronicle of Georgia
I was most excited about the enamel workshop, out of all the tours we did in Georgia. A traditional craft, one I’d never even considered having a go at! I watched videos on how cloisonné enamel is made and honestly, I realised it was going to take longer than the three hours allotted. At the… More An enamel workshop and the ancient capital of Georgia
Going to Tbilisi and not taking an hour or so for a sulphur bath is like going to Iceland and avoiding the Blue Lagoon or going to Paris and covering your eyes whenever the Eiffel Tower comes into view. The sulphur baths are a Tbilisi tradition. More than that, they’re the reason the city exists!… More What happens at a private Tbilisi sulphur bath?
Here we are! Arriving in Georgia! I thought a good place to start would be with my first evening and what I thought of Tbilisi on first impressions. I was there for Traverse 24, a conference and networking event for travel creators. I’ve had my eye on it for a few years and always been… More First impressions of Tbilisi
How have I never written this before? Laugardalslaug, the big public pool in Reykjavik, the best swimming pool in the country, a place I make a point of visiting whenever I’m in Reykjavik and yet have never written about? Might be because you’re not allowed to take cameras in, so I have no photos. Nonetheless,… More Laugardalslaug is the best swimming pool in Iceland
I do believe I’ve finally reached the end of my posts about Helsinki last May! This last one is about my boat trip around the bay and the islands. I said a couple of posts ago that I like to see a city from the water. If a boat trip it possible, I will almost… More A freezing summer’s boat trip around Helsinki
If you don’t know, I’m something of an enthusiast of ecclesiastical architecture. Well, I’m a fan of Norman and Gothic. St Paul’s leaves me cold and while I appreciated its Gothic grandeur, Truro Cathedral was disappointing in that it was brick and only a little over a century old. So I stopped by three churches… More Three churches in Helsinki