I lost the hearing in my left ear when I arrived in Greece. It has happened before, but now was a lousy time for it. We were driving from the Greek coast into the central highlands to visit Meteora, an amazing natural formation of sandstone pillars upon which are perched Continue Reading
Europe
The Greek Debt Crisis – What really happened?
We’ve been hearing so much on the news recently about the Greek and European debt crises, the decline of the Euro, and of protests across Europe, especially on the streets of Athens. The European Union and its common currency appeared for a while to be a great success, a major Continue Reading
Impressions of Greece
We drove south from Bulgaria into Greece on our own personal bailout mission for the Greek economy. Exiting the lush mountains of Bulgaria, we immediately noticed a difference. Although greener than we had expected (at least in the North), Greece had smaller mountains, larger valleys, and less vegetation. Here are Continue Reading
Impressions of Central/Eastern Europe’s Former Communist Countries
I’ve now traveled through 8 of the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe – Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria. Although I’ve written about most of them individually, I’ve recognized some things they share that I think are interesting: Capitalism has been enthusiastically adopted Continue Reading
This is the House that Nick Built
Nicolae Ceauşescu was the leader of Romania from 1965 to 1989 when he and his wife were executed by firing squad immediately after a two hour televised show trial on Christmas Day. The grand House of the Republic (Casa Republicii) he was building wasn’t finished at the time, and despite Continue Reading
The Real Dracula
Who was the real Dracula? Is it this guy trying to bite Diane? The man known as Dracula was born in 1431 in Sighisoara (pronounced ‘siggy-schwa-ra’), a town that we visited in Transylvania. Dracula (Vlad III) was named after his father Vlad II, a commander of the mountain passes between Continue Reading
Impressions of Romania
• Romania appears less developed than the other countries we’ve been to in the European Union, including other former Communist countries Poland and Slovakia. • It is common to see people driving horse drawn wagons in the countryside and smaller towns. For many, this appears to be their primary form of transport. Continue Reading
Romania — We’re not in Kansas any more…
We approached the Romanian frontier at a small crossing in the east of Hungary. Ours was the only car visible as we approached the remote border post in the dusk of late afternoon. A man in a green uniform was smoking and put his cigarette down on the curb as Continue Reading
Drinking Bull’s Blood in the Valley of the Beautiful Women
This is not a joke. We really did drink it. Read on… On the outskirts of the baroque town of Eger in North-Eastern Hungary lies The Valley of the Beautiful Women (Szépasszony-völgy in Hungarian). Skirting both sides of this valley are the cellars of many small Hungarian wine producers. The Continue Reading
Flying à la carte with Wizz Air
We flew from Budapest to Barcelona return on Hungary’s discount airline Wizz Air. I think the name was meant to conjure images of speed but I can’t help thinking of urination when I hear it. With the bankruptcy of Malev Hungarian Airlines in February 2012 (after 66 years of continuous Continue Reading