501 Places

At first glance the cemetery in Mostar looked like any other. Nestled alongside a mosque and on the main road heading out of town, this quiet corner of the old city would be unremarkable if I hadn’t looked a little closer. As I started to wander among these tall white stones the enormity of the [...]

One of the greatest pleasures of travelling through the western Balkan region was the fact that as tourists we were always given our own space to observe, experience and interact if and when we were happy to do so. I mean this as a contrast to those many places where as a visitor from western [...]

London, Paris, Rome, Prague: mention these European capitals to most people and they will instantly conjure up an image of a famous building or scene from a favourite movie. Mention Tirana however and you’re likely to be met with a blank stare. And it’s hardly surprising; as the capital of one of Europe’s least developed [...]

After a little over two weeks away it’s nice to get back to posting on 501 Places again. Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Croatia provided much for me to ponder and share in the next dozen or so posts; beauty, sadness, the kindness of strangers and the scars of a bitter war are [...]

This week’s guest post is written by Juan Otero Rionda. I spent several days with Juan on my recent blog trip to Valencia, and during that time he described how he owns and manages a couple of rural guest houses in the beautiful countryside of Asturias in northern Spain. His passion for his home region [...]

Planning a day trip from London? 90 minutes from the capital by train can take you to some interesting cities: Bristol, Southampton, Winchester, Canterbury, Stratford are just a few options. Until recently however, you would not have considered a French destination. All this changed with the introduction of the high speed line that takes the [...]

Ireland is famous for many things. Castles, in my previously narrow knowledge of the island, was not one of those claims to fame. So I was intrigued, if not full of expectation, at the prospect of visiting Ashford Castle in County Mayo; a place I had known little about, despite the fact that all my [...]

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Christopher Wren was instructed to design and rebuild 51 churches in the city. He was later knighted and would become the architect who, more than any other, left his mark on the city in a way that has survived more than three centuries. Wren’s most celebrated work [...]

The Irish have a reputation as good story-tellers, and given the rich and troubled history of the island it’s hardly a surprise that many legends have been exported from its shores. As a long-standing sea port and well-worn route to the New World, the western city of Galway has more than its fair share of [...]

I’m taking a shine to Galway. Having arrived here last night and enjoyed the legendary Irish hospitality on the inside of many of the city’s bars, this morning I took the chance to wander around and see what I could find. Being out at 9am the city was very quiet; hardly surprising given its lively [...]