Monthly Archives: October 2017
A Halloween Tale – To Hell & Back
We arrived in the university city of Trondheim on a cold, dark winter’s night. The rain & hail were lashing down and an Arctic wind gust along the fog-bound fjord straight into our frozen faces. Dark shadows moved furtively in the distance. As we struggled to keep warm in the bitter conditions, the ghostly wail […]
Balkan Tour 2017 – A Journey To Kosovo
Kosovo is one of those places that conjures up thoughts of conflict and strife. Synominous with the Yugoslav Conflict in the same way as Sarajevo, Mostar and Srebdenica. The Islamic enclave and particularly its embattled capital Pristina certainly bore a heavy price due to the ethnic cleansing that the Serb forces carried out in those […]
Balkans Tour 2017 – Tirana
We found our hotel to be delightful and soon forgot our ‘taxi’ driver. Recently renovated the Hotel Areela was decorated very nicely throughout with plenty of interesting objects dotted about. We were about ten minutes walk to Skanderbeg Square, the social hub of the city. We had been there almost ten years to the day […]
Potter’s Portugal
Most people know the story about how the amazing J K Rowling wrote the beginnings of the Harry Potter series as a single mother sat in the Elephant House Cafe in Edinburgh, often staying for hours on end with a single cup of coffee and writing the story on free paper napkins. Inspired by the […]
Balkans Tour 2017 – The Bus To Tirana
After re-enacting the Titania breakfast with a view (and securing some takeaway cake for later), we arrived at the bus station at 9 in readiness for the 9.30 departure. Despite Mr Cool’s (the laid back bus ticket seller) assertions the previous day, we were lucky to secure the last two tickets. Unluckily they were for […]
