I first visited Istanbul in 1989. I went back in October, 2011 with my husband and our friend Eric. In the interim, I grew up a little bit, and the city grew up a lot. It’s clean, cosmopolitan and still has the most killer skyline I’ve ever seen.
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
Send to KindleA few snaps from our October 2011 trip to Romania. It was beautiful and then some. I heartily recommend it as a pick for European destinations!
Vespa scooters, outdoor cafes, beautiful architecture and leggy women — Bucharest has it all!
I was fascinated by this mobile Red Bull Art Gallery in Bucharest. Fascinated.
I would be smarter if I had attended this university.
I actually think that this was really what it looks like it might be. Continue reading
Send to Kindle“I like to use local transport, travel the back roads,” I had said to my husband’s friend Eric, whom we accompanied on a trip to Eastern Europe earlier this month. “I’ve met some of the nicest people on public transport. It’s the best way to meet locals.”
My hearty endorsement of anything that wasn’t a plane was the main reason that we didn’t book flights to get us from Romania to Turkey. Instead, we set out one morning by rail from Brasov, about 100 miles north of Bucharest, and used two connecting trains to get us to Varna, a Black Sea ‘resort’ town in Bulgaria. We decided to stay two nights in Varna before continuing on to Istanbul by bus. The idea looked good on paper, at least. Continue reading
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