Steppe in Style: adventures in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

We arrived in Rijeka on a chilly day in early February. While Croatia’s third largest city is part of the Adriatic rivera (and considerably warmer than our home in Scotland!) it certainly wasn’t the weather for island hopping or lounging on the beach.  Instead we explored the city, which has so much to offer despite…

A big industrial port city that caters to thousands of package tourists in summer? I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much from Albania’s second city Durres. I was so wrong. Not only does Durres have some spectacular Roman and Byzantine remains — the amphitheatre is the biggest Roman amphitheatre on this side of the Adriatic —…

I visited Tirana in autumn 2007 and again 11 years later in autumn 2018. In those years, Tirana had become a lot more prosperous and the construction activity made some parts of the city hard to recognise — but the city still had the same exciting energy I remembered The biggest change for me was…

I packed a really basic travel capsule wardrobe for Tirana, and I wasn’t enjoying wearing it at all, unfortunately.  I knew we would be travelling about when we got to Albania, so I wanted to pack light. We are travelling with a single 10kg checked bag, a small carry-on wheelie case and my daughter’s child…

Not long before I left Bucharest I discovered some amazing secondhand clothes shops … and I have to admit I went a little crazy buying clothes. Here’s the story of my massive Bucharest thrift haul.   I have to admit that I didn’t NEED all these clothes I bought in my month-long Bucharest thrift haul…

I’m always proud to give my address in Bucharest because I live on the Romanian capital’s most fashionable street for centuries, the Calea Victoriei (Victory Street). Walking up and down the street daily past gorgeous historic buildings and tempting shops and cafes inspired me to write a north to south guide to what you will…

Busteni is one of several small mountain towns lying on the stretch of railway line between Pitesti and Brasov, where the line from Bucharest to Transylvania climbs steeply up across the edge of the Carpathian mountains. Getting there is an easy journey of a couple of hours, and one we often made at weekends (finances…

I love Bucharest but sometimes it’s good to get out of the city. Here are four of my favourite day trips from Bucharest, all to historic destinations and reachable by public transport.  Snagov Snagov is a popular lakeside resort 40 km north of Bucharest. It is set in Snagov Forest, the last remaining section of…

After our alarming arrival in Curtea de Arges on an extremely dark, stormy and dog-ridden night, we woke the next morning to find a calm sunny day, with the town sparkling after the previous night’s deluge.  After breakfast at the Pensiune Montana, we set off to explore what was once the capital of Wallachia, one…