Summer 2019: First Leg of 35-Day Adventure This is the first leg of a 35-day adventure that will cover 5,000 kilometers and cover 11 countries. The entire trip entails: – Hiking in beautiful Bavaria – Brief stopovers in Vienna and Krakow – 10 days in Ukraine, including a tour of Chernobyl – Visiting Transnistria, a…
I admit, it’s a weird trip. Who wants to go to Ukraine? But Chernobyl is haunting, Odessa mysterious, the Russians have invaded, a tenuous democracy is taking hold, and the future of the country is still unfolding. It’s the only place I’ve seen an old peasant woman taking a cow for a morning walk. We…
JUNE 2018 I did not go to Porto or Lisbon. I did not see one tourist attraction. And I had the best Portugal trip ever, exploring the mountain villages of northern Portugal. This trip was amazing because of encounters with an old shepherd and his flock and the “Portuguese Mafia” who knew America better than…
JULY 2019 Romania is supposedly the brackish backwater of Europe filled with gypsies. We did not experience that in our week here. Instead, we found the rolling hills, mountains, and Transfagaran Highway nothing short of stunning. The little German villages throughout Transylvania ooze with charm, plus you get Dracula, roving sheep and shepherds, and the…
JULY 2019 This is part of a 35-day trip spanning 5,000 kilometers. To be honest, this part of the trip through Bosnia was an add-on. I had read reviews on Air B&B and walked away with the sense that this was a special place to visit. So I took a couple days from other places…
WINTER 2018 Who goes to Istanbul, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Kosovo in the dead of winter? Europe Nerd! Istanbul pushed me out of my comfort zone, but ultimately charmed me. I’ll show you the best way to see the Hagia Sophia and why you should skip the Blue Mosque for a stunning smaller mosque. I avoided…