Steppe in Style: adventures in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Curtea de Arges has a better claim to a Dracula connection than many of the Romanian cities that also claim him as their own; Vlad the Impaler lived at the ruined Poenari Castle nearby. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that our arrival at Curtea de Arges late this evening was worthy of chronicling by…

It was the depths of winter when we visited Sighisoara, one of the seven cities — Siebenbürgen — founded by the Transylvanian Saxons. Snow was falling lightly on the steep roofs and cobbled streets of the old citadel, and with few people venturing out it was easy to imagine ourselves back in medieval times.  The…

I wrote before about where I find inspiration for my articles. One of my favourite features recently was on the threat posed to Romania’s historic industrial architecture. The idea for the story entered my head when I set off south from Piata Unirii to the annual expat fair at The Ark exhibition centre. I never…

In need of a break from decorating my new home, I made plans to go to Brasov, a town in Transylvania about a two hour train journey from Bucharest. The trip was mostly a fail though I’m happy I got to see this beautiful town and a different side to Romania.  Brasov is the beginning…

I flew from the Kazakh winter (it was below zero when I left Astana) into the Romanian spring. When we touched down in Bucharest I could see trees in blossom beyond the runway. Much of the road into the city was lined with parks, where the trees were already green with new leaves, and the…

I was sitting at my desk trying to work while feeding a hangover when a note came through from one of my analyst contacts saying there had been a massive devaluation of the Kazakh currency.  Over the last few months there had been growing speculation that the government would allow the tenge to devalue. Now,…

With most people in big Kazakh cities living in flats, balconies are the only piece of outdoor — or at least semi-outdoor — space their residents have.   A lot of the balconies in Kazakhstan at least in modern buildings, including mine, are enclosed, which means they have a wall to waist height then the…

I’ll admit it, I’m addicted to coffee. Not just physically addicted — though I do get a crushing headache if I don’t get a cup by 11am — but also mentally. I always give a little sign of satisfaction when I take that first hot, creamy sip first thing in the morning. But getting coffee…

If you go outside of the main towns and cities in Central Asia, and visit anywhere that’s not a soviet-built or post-independence building you will encounter the pit toilet — and it probably won’t be pleasant.  And on Kazakhstan’s immense expanse of steppe, usually even these smelly, fly ridden outhouses are in short supply.  The…