It is the world’s oldest republic and arguably has the continent’s worst national football team. San Marino is well worth a visit if you are making a visit to Italy’s Adriatic coast. My article about San Marino on the BBC Travel site was published in August (here for UK folks), but I thought I’d share […]
Taking an underground tour is hardly an unusual experience these days. There are tours of sewers, bomb shelters, abandoned train lines and natural caves in almost every major city. So what makes the 23 kilometres of tunnels known as the Casemates of Luxembourg different and worthy of special attention? For a start there’s the age […]
Ask people where they want to go on their European holidays and if they’re not heading to the beaches of the Mediterranean they’ll most likely tell you about Paris, London, Barcelona or Venice. Some may head east to Prague, Krakow or Budapest. Yet despite being the most populous European country (excluding Russia) Germany hardly ever […]
Many blog entries, particularly photo posts, are designed to inspire others to visit a particular place. This one is a definite exception. No tourist is likely to being visiting Aleppo anytime soon. As I heard the depressing news from Syria I looked back at my photos of our trip there in 2009. Our happy memories […]
It is often said that the best way to get to know a country is through its cuisine. With this in mind I was determined to sample at least one cake in every country through which we passed in our recent rail journey. Even when we only used a country as a transit stop (as […]
If you’re planning a rail trip in Europe you’ll probably need to decide whether it’s worth buying a rail pass or getting individual tickets as you go. Choosing the wrong option can leave you heavily out of pocket. While arranging a recent trip from Rimini in Italy back to London it soon became clear that […]
I’ve just returned from a couple of weeks travelling by train from Italy to the UK and in the next few weeks will share some of my experiences on here. For now, I present 10 photos that surprised me or made me smile during our travel through Europe:
“Do you really want to stay there? It’s horrible!” It was 9.30pm and I’d been in Bialystok for a little over half an hour. The bed I had arranged was not available and having been given a couple of phone numbers by the apologetic hostel receptionist I thought I’d got lucky. There was a bed, […]
Drive around northern Iceland in March and it’s easy to believe that you’re the only person left on the planet. An hour might go by without you seeing another car on the main road and even in the areas that are geared to accommodate summer tourists there is barely a soul in sight. We visited […]
Wander around any city for long enough and you’ll discover surprises in the most unexpected places. This is certainly true of Warsaw, where much of the city’s history, often tragic, often bloody but always fascinating, is hidden behind the brick and concrete of the main streets. While much of Warsaw was rebuilt after 1945 by […]
Freelance travel writer and photographer. 501 Places is a personal collection of stories and photos from the road, along with random thoughts and opinions.
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