Trips
Sure, your phone is capable of taking pretty good photos, but are you always happy with them, or do they leave you wanting more? The fact that manufacturers have made great leaps during last years means that there is so much more potential to be extracted from phone photography now than ever before. In order…
First Race of the Year Every year between January and March, at the south foot of Low Tatras in Slovakia, a thrilling championship takes place. It’s the annual races of Krnohy—the traditional Slovak wooden sledges. These heavy sledges are stirred by two unstrapped daredevils who race down a steep snow road—usually through the woods, while…
Is it better to invest in a flagship phone or get a camera? It’s quite a dilemma and the fact that both devices have improved greatly in the past few years, doesn’t make the choice easier. Let me say in advance that if you never watch your images outside your phone or tablet then the…
I have always loved autumn for several reasons. It’s the time of the year that marks the end of a cycle and the beginning of a fresh one more intensely than any other season. Autumn comes just in time to save us from the intolerable heat of summer, and its frenetic energy which by the…
Shooting a city’s streets always poses a big dilemma in photography. Black & white or color? In the case of Madrid, the answer was clear from the beginning. Even though the city has some amazing Art Deco buildings that would shine in monochrome, still it yells color. And above all, so do its inhabitants. I…
I had always been curious about Madrid. After visiting Barcelona and loving it, I was eager to see how the rival city compared. And I was not let down. Madrid is as beautiful and seductive as Barcelona but in an entirely different, almost opposite way. They kind of complement each other and that didn’t come…
Food in Madrid From fresh sea food and rich stews, to simple but palatable omelettes and mature cold cuts; food in Madrid offers everything an epicure could dream of. Countless restaurants and tapas bars all over the city, serve a wide variety of dishes, more times than not, at a great prices. This food guide…
Just east of the imposing High Tatras—Slovakia’s proudest mountain range, on top of a lofty hill, lies the mighty Spis Castle. Though a ruin today, the castle’s strength is still evident on its thick walls and rugged towers. Vast in size it occupies most of the hill casting its shadow on the nearby village of…
Dunquin If a distillation came out of Ireland — its pure essence concentrated in a single place, that would be Dunquin. The next parish to America, as they used to call it, is the westernmost village of the Irish mainland, right on the tip of Dingle peninsula where the prolific green of the meadows is…
Less than three hours driving north of Bucharest, behind the mighty Carpathians, lies the city of Brasov—one of the seven walled citadels the Saxons built in Transylvania when it was under Hungarian rule. Transylvanian Saxons who were of German ethnicity, had the fame of expert craftsmen and tradesmen, so as soon as they settled the…
On the mouth of Mlynicka valley, at the foothills of west High Tatras, rests Slovakia’s most popular mountain retreat, the glacial lake of Strbske or Strbske Pleso as it is widely known. Surrounded by huge Norway spruces and tall firs,…
An early heat wave that hit Greece last June has claimed five lives, including the famous British journalist Michael Mosley, and with another three people missing the death toll may rise. Sadly, it is not the first time that tourists…
I’d never intended to visit Kinsale, but more times than not, unexpected encounters prove to be the most fruitful. Wandering around the gloomy city of Cork for a couple of days, I was scouting the county for a gripping seascape…
The forecast said it was going to snow, and indeed, thick flakes had started to fall with the first light of the day. I was looking at them slowly drifting down, layering the dark cobblestone outside the window, thinking what…
Bratislava has an array of excellent museums and galleries to visit, but the most prominent, in my opinion, is actually a few kilometers outside the Slovakian capital, where the borders of Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria meet. There, engulfed in a…
Every year around the end of November, hundreds of Christmas markets all over Europe light up, signaling the advent of the world’s biggest holiday. For forty or so days, thousands of small wooden stalls fill the streets and squares, sending…