Since 1987 Greece has officially been a country of thirteen regions, a slightly Balkanised version of its previous subdivision into nine. If you looked at an ancient map of the country, or at least the Hellenic area we now know as Greece, you'd see just three regions: Achaia, Thessaly, and Epirus. The latter, only integrated… Continue reading A Trip up north to Epirus
Category: Travel
A Week in Sicily 2: The Greek Connection
After a long, hot four days in Palermo we hired a car; we had to see more of the biggest island in the Mediterranean. Sicily edges out Sardinia for that title, and certainly is so much larger than Zakynthos, our home for the previous three months, that, unlike Zante, we rarely felt like we were… Continue reading A Week in Sicily 2: The Greek Connection
A Week in Sicily 1: Palermo
"Another victory like that and I'm done for": King Pyrrhus of Epirus made his famous quip shortly before taking up arms in Sicily. Having just come back from the same island I'd like to make one of my own: "Another holiday like that and I'll need a break". Graffiti in Syracuse One of the advantages… Continue reading A Week in Sicily 1: Palermo
A Long-delayed return to Zante
The week before Easter we left Athens and went back to Zante for the first time in four years. I can't remember if we planned it that way, but Easter is a good time to arrive anywhere in Greece - the weather's good, and people are out and about, dressed in their finest. A burst… Continue reading A Long-delayed return to Zante
Three days in Athens
Leaving Mum on the doorstep, and stopping only to pick up a bottle of Grace O'Malley Irish whiskey in duty-free, we took ourselves to Athens for a three-day meze before Zakynthos, the main course of Project Frappé. Athens is a place we only ever hit on the run: last time we'd been there was pre-Covid,… Continue reading Three days in Athens
Ireland, after nearly four years
In the old days there were four flights; five on a bad trip. First we'd fly to Singapore or KL, wait around in a relatively decent airport for six hours or so, maybe visit the Butterfly Garden or book a hotel for a few hours if the transit was particularly long, maybe even splash out… Continue reading Ireland, after nearly four years
Obsessed with History in Smolensk
One of the best books - no, make that the best book - I read last year was 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Adam Zamoyski. I was reading it in Smolensk, fittingly enough, on a flying two-day stay, as part of our two weeks in Russia, in the very city where the Russian… Continue reading Obsessed with History in Smolensk
Morning coffee in Moscow
Moscow was our journey's summit. St. Petersburg, in particular the Hermitage, had been more like an outcrop just below the peak, the one with the best views, but we'd still had some climbing to do. It would be all downhill from here to Greece, our next and last destination on this trip. Arriving so early… Continue reading Morning coffee in Moscow
Our, and Russia’s, first Kremlin
Having learnt just enough Russian to recognise the word gorod (town, city) in the name Veliky Novgorod, the town four hours south of St. Petersburg (by train) we'd be stopping in overnight on our way to Moscow, I wondered what the nov- prefix meant. Indeed, what did Veliky mean? Eoin and the dragon Well, turns… Continue reading Our, and Russia’s, first Kremlin
In the Hermitage and at the ballet in Russia’s city of culture
Back home in Brisbane after our European summer break, we watched a movie one cold winter's evening called Russian Ark. It's set in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum, somewhere we'd visited on the Russian leg of our trip, and it's unusual for having been shot in one ninety-six-minute-long continuous take. In… Continue reading In the Hermitage and at the ballet in Russia’s city of culture
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