Category Travelling By Train Across The Balkans
Western Balkan Trains
Railway Gazette have reported in September that there is going to be sizeable investment into train infrastructure in the Western Balkans. Agreement has been reached between Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia to improve connections and journey times. Progress is definitely needed of course, but at a cost to the throwback […]
A-Z April Challenge – N Is For Night Trains
Anybody that follows Wilbur’s Travels will know that I adore an overseas train journey and absolutely adore an overnight train. They have to be one of the bargains of our time, being transport, hotel & restaurant rolled into one. And environmentally friendly too! Favourite overnight train journeys have included Bangkok to Laos, Hue to Hanoi […]
The Bridges of Europe Part 5 – Eastern Europe
Having already written about bridges in Southern, Northern & Central Europe as well as the UK, it is now time for the East of the continent. My classification of Eastern Europe is pretty much behind the old Iron Curtain (minus Prague which I pinched for Central Europe), stretching as far as the Caucasus Mountains. Budapest, […]
The Volatile History Of The Balkan Peninsular
The Balkans region is a wonderful place to visit, being so full of history and contrasts. You can read about my travels there in my book available on Amazon. A brief history of the region appears in the book and is also shown below, giving you a flavour as to why this is such a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Balkans Tour 2017 – The Environs of Skopje
Continuing the recap of my 2017 Balkans tour….. Skopje, North Macedonia You may have gathered that I do not like the ‘new’ Skopje, the €500 million vanity project that looks like it was dreamed up by Liberace on acid. Thankfully we arrived armed with a couple of decent things to take in if, as was […]
Skopje Then & Now (2006 v 2017)
The ‘new’ Skopje is not my cup of tea. I first visited in 2006 and loved the vibe of the place. Authentic, a little run down but an earthy energy to the city. Fast-forward a decade and what I found was massively different, a horrendous beautification project akin to a woman having plastic surgery to […]
Balkans Tour 2017 – Tirana
Continuing my look back of my 2017 Balkans Tour – how did Tirana 2017 compare with Tirana 2007? We had just arrived by marathon bus journey from Sarande in Southern Albania and dilapidated taxi to our hotel from Tirana’s run down bus station…….. Tirana We found our hotel to be delightful and soon forgot our […]
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 […]
