- The super-friendly, interesting and interested people;
- The in-depth knowledge of all the tour guides, and their obvious love for and pride in their country;
- Driving (or rather, being driven... I'm not sure I'd ever have the fortitude to take on Iranian traffic and the accepted practice of driving slap-bang in the middle of two lanes) through the beautiful landscapes, and even in the cities, watching how people live their lives. I particularly enjoyed this in Tehran with so much going on all around;
- Gaz (a chewy nougat, often flavoured with rose water and containing pistachios or other nuts), sohan (a crunchy, buttery, nutty brittle), halva and Iranian sweets in general... see here for more!;
- Doogh (a sour, yogurt-based drink) and mint tea with hard honey cubes for sweetening - I am not a herbal tea enthusiast but this converted me;
- ALL the tourist sites - there is so much to see and do and marvel at;
- The bazaars and the craftwork for sale in the country, with each region specializing in different types of crafts - the quality is really good and a testament to both the skill of the artists and how such skills are respected and preserved in Iranian culture (for example, I love this website!).
I hate to say this, because I've loved all of the places I've visited, but Iran is quite probably my favourite country now. I spent a week and a half there recently, touring around with my sister and aunt, and it completely blew me away. It's such a diverse country, with multiple distinct regions and terrains (mountains, desert, coast), and it has an amazingly rich cultural heritage and history. And the people are so lovely. And the food is wonderful. It's very easy to travel here; Iranians are incredibly welcoming and warm, and made us feel right at home - there's a strong sense of family and community and hospitality, and we were constantly taken aback by the kindness of strangers (for example, the woman who gave us some of her freshly baked bread to taste as we were staring in at a bakery one evening, agog at the goings-on inside). We had a busy itinerary and covered a lot of ground during our time there (Iran is massive) so I won't go into all the details of what we did; I have some (many) photos below and captions explaining where they're from, however! So, here is a list of my best things about Iran: A note: There has been increasing tension lately between Iran and the West, particularly the US, and it is apparent that this conflict is taking its toll on the country. I don't want to dwell too much on the politics of the situation here and the rights and the wrongs of the parties involved; all I can say is that I find it extremely sad and I hope that there will be a positive resolution soon. We were so well looked after during our trip; everyone was open and genuine and friendly, and we felt perfectly safe at all times. It's complicated - I suppose everything to do with the Middle East is complicated - but at the end of the day we're all just people, trying to get on with living our lives. I think it would be such a pity if Iran were to be closed down to the West again, and that we would all lose out in such a scenario - we shall see what happens, I guess, but I'm hopeful for a good outcome... Our itinerary: Photos: And here are the many photos of Iran! Tap or click to scroll through and read the captions...
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I'm just back from a mini-tour of Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia with my sisters and I'm still processing everything we saw and heard during our time there. Of course I had known about the war that took place in that part of the world during the 1990s, but I'm ashamed to say that my knowledge of this was patchy and I had no real understanding of the underlying causes or the subsequent fallout. I'm still not confident that I have sufficient insight to give an in-depth analysis here, or even an overview, but I feel incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to discover more about the war. Everyone we met on our travels was open and kind and we were privileged to learn about what happened from individuals within the Serbian (Orthodox Christian), Croatian (Catholic), and Bosniak (Muslim) communities. Although it's a hugely complex issue I'm certainly more informed about the former socialist republic of Yugoslavia, its eventual breakup, and how the distinct ethnic groups in the area have struggled and suffered throughout history. In addition, even if the complexity of the situation precluded a clear understanding of the politics for me, the emotional impact and horrific damage that was wrought by the conflict was entirely evident and almost unbearably affecting. While I found parts of our trip very upsetting, particularly travelling through Bosnia-Herzegovina and visiting a photojournalism exhibition in Dubrovnik called War Photo Limited (see their website here), the region itself is so beautiful and shows promising signs of recovery from the trauma of its past. There is a lively tourism scene and the landscape is stunning, from the scorchingly hot Mediterranean vineyards of southern and western Herzegovina to the awesome Bay of Kotor and the Adriatic coastline. We drove for hours through mountains and past waterfalls, singing along to Balkan folk music and Cher, and enjoyed some wonderful baklava washed down with the local rakija (for my sisters) or warm milk (for me). The whole trip was an absolute pleasure and I will never forget it... I visited Portugal for the first time last week, and it was wonderful! It's a while since I've travelled in sunny continental Europe and I'd forgotten how lovely it all is. May is an especially nice time of year to travel; temperatures are still fairly manageable, the tourist scene is definitely less crowded, and it's far cheaper than during the high-peak months of June, July and August. So, off we went to Faro in the Algarve, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect; I'm not a big fan of sitting beside the pool all day (while I like to know the sun is there I prefer to be in the shade, and I'm doubly rubbish at sunbathing because I get bored/cranky very quickly - I find it impossible to stay still on holidays) but Faro is really pretty and Portuguese and perfect for doing a bit of exploring. It's just the right amount of touristy; easy to navigate but it still feels like it belongs to the locals. It's the hub of the Algarve, with excellent transport links, and separates the hugely popular, party-party resorts in the central western section of the coastline from the less developed (in a tourism sense) towns to the east, which lead to the Spanish border.
Yes! Poland! And specifically, Krakow, in the south of the country, where we spent a few days earlier in January. There was snow and it was cold, but not as cold as it might have been (apparently it had been approximately -10C the week before we arrived), and it was just lovely! It's a nice-sized city, with a population of in or around 760,000 and is perfect for exploring on foot. I knew very little about the history and culture of Poland before visiting, and even after spending time there and re-reading my guide book, I still can't quite process everything that has happened in this country - Poland has been through a LOT but Krakow and its inhabitants seemed like a city and a people at peace.
I meant to include this in my previous blog post but actually, I now think it deserves a post all of its own (nearly)... This is a map of Wales where I've highlighted the various Places of Interest mentioned in my first Welsh roadtrip (here!) and my second (here!) - it's in Gallery format because otherwise it would be teeny-tiny and impossible to read, so just click on the image to enlarge. I've also put in some photos of my wonderful AA Road Atlas (all falling-apart and probably deeply traumatized from my manhandling over the years)... oh, the times we've had together! Oh, what a time we've had, the past few weeks/months... it's been an emotional rollercoaster, and I feel like I'm just about catching my breath now. Moving house is always ridiculously stressful, but moving country is a whole different ballgame... I had expected a certain amount of upheaval, but nobody told me there'd be so much ADMINISTRATION involved, and so many forms to fill in. Honestly, I kind of feel like I've been run over by a bus.
First of all, we need to acknowledge that autumn is happening RIGHT NOW and it's as wonderful and leafy as ever... I'm therefore sharing with you all a sample of my dried leaf collection, which resides on top of our never-been-used microwave in the kitchen, along with some purely-for-decoration Indian cups/spoons - aren't they pretty?! Autumn's the best; everyone agrees...
Like everywhere on the Mediterranean, Beirut really comes alive in the evenings, when the extreme heat of the day has given way to a nice, mellow warmth. People tend to congregate along the waterfront, to stroll, chat, eat, and other people-watch, and there is an extraordinary night-time cafe culture throughout the city. On our last night before flying back to the UK we went for dinner at a restaurant just beside the sea; we were sitting outside and were treated to the most spectacular sunset (and some wonderful food), which of course necessitated frantic photograph-taking on my part. Yesterday when I was posting my pictures for my little piece on Jordan & Lebanon I couldn't choose between all the different sunset photos (it's like picking a favourite child; don't ask me to do that - what is wrong with you?!), so I thought I'd just put a selection of them up here, in a separate post.
I hope you like them! I've recently returned from my very first trip to the Middle East, which took in the countries of Jordan and Lebanon, and several days later, I'm still attempting to process the experience.
The Middle East is such an interesting and culturally rich part of the world, of which we simultaneously know so much and so little. We are being constantly presented with images and news stories focusing on this region, so that on the one hand it all seems incredibly familiar, yet at the same time it really is utterly foreign to us Westerners. I'm surprised at how deeply my visit affected me, and how it has changed my outlook on the world/life (that sounds very dramatic but I'm being serious) - I had quite strong preconceptions that were completely shattered and I feel like I have received a wonderful education. Everywhere we went people were lovely and helpful to us, the food was universally amazing, and the scenery/history is as stunning and profound as you would imagine - I won't go into too much detail regarding the places we visited and so on (I have a tendency to lose the run of myself when describing my travels), but I've put little captions and titles to the photographs below to identify the location. Enjoy! A few years ago I inadvertently started collecting nicely-illustrated books from other countries, which happened to be in the native language of that particular country, and were therefore (for the most part) entirely unintelligible to me. As it happens, most of them were books for children but this really isn't as strange as it might sound... let me explain!
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About my blog
Really, it contains a little bit of everything, from a celebration of science and the English language to the joys of travel and the Shipping Forecast. The title ('Meanderings') is a fairly accurate description of its content: I write about different things as the mood takes me, but hopefully there's something in here for everyone... Categories
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March 2021
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