Category Train Travel
European Train Tour #3 – Norway
Europe is a wonderful continent. Culturally & geographically diverse and incredibly easy to navigate from the Arctic to the Mediterranean or even the Atlantic to the Pacific. The best way to explore the region is by train with a vast network of train tracks criss-crossing the continent, connecting amazing cities and countries. Arm yourself with […]
Friday Photos – Haydarpasa Train Station, Istanbul
Haydarpasa on the Asian side of the Bosphorus was my gateway to Syria back in 2009. It has been shut for since 2012, with trains eastwards departing from elsewhere in Istanbul. This meant the 2015 journey I undertook to Georgia started from the suburb of Pendik. It really is a grand old station that was […]
European Train Tour #4 – Eastern Europe
Train Tours Around Eastern Europe This is more an account of several train tours undertaken between 2006 and 2014, some of which are featured in my book about train tours in the Balkans. 2006, Istanbul – Thessaloniki – Meteora – Skopje – Lake Ohrid – Nis – Sofia We were due to take a October […]
European Train Tour #5 – Italy
Europe is a wonderful continent. Culturally & geographically diverse and incredibly easy to navigate from the Arctic to the Mediterranean or even the Atlantic to the Pacific. The best way to explore the region is by train with a vast network of train tracks criss-crossing the continent, connecting amazing cities and countries. Arm yourself with […]
Train Travel In The Balkans – A Reflection
Travelling By Train Across The Balkans It is now over 18 months since I published my book featuring train travel in every Balkan country. With train journeys anywhere off my agenda since February, it is with even greater fondness that I look back on past trips. Some of my most memorable Balkan journeys (all featured […]
Friday Photo – Tashkent Train Station, Uzbekistan
Two years ago today I arrived in the Uzbekistan capital, the culmination of a memorable tour of the amazing country together with its off-beat neighbour Turkmenistan. I arrived with Hamish by overnight train from Urganch, back then the gateway to Khiva. Arriving at 7 in the morning we managed to find a cafe in the […]
Monday Morning Blues – Tashkent Railway Station, Uzbekistan
I have chosen a train theme for today’s Monday Morning Blues on account of our social on Zoom tonight at 8pm BST. That’s because our main presentation tells the tale of a remarkable train journey aboard the iron ore train of Mauritania. Lindy Pyrah will be recounting her nighttime journey through the Western Sahara on […]
Thomas Cook Trains
I was incredibly sad that Thomas Cook went under because they are of course synonymous with travels from bygone days. I also worked for them for twelve months on a consultancy basis a while ago. Here is a piece that I wrote about Thomas Cook’s history…… Thomas Cook “Thomas Cook didn’t run trains,” I hear […]
Balkan Tour 2017 – Romanian Holiday?
Continuing the recap of my 2017 Balkan holiday……. Train to Romania? You will remember from my previous post that we had arrived at Belgrade Dunav Train Station to a hand-scrawled notice saying “No Trains Romania” with zero assistance on offer to ease our predicament. So would we make it to Romania after all? In true […]
Proud Pristina
A look back on my 2017 Balkan tour as featured in my book ‘Travelling By Train Across The Balkans‘, today featuring the capital of Kosovo. Pristina, Kosovo We had purposely booked a hotel close to the train station as we would be departing on the 07.10 next day. It had claimed to be just 200 […]
