Bay of Kotor, Montenegro (Secret Entrance)

View from the Castle Of San Giovanni overlooking the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro! Quite a climb but totally worth it. As per someone from the hostel who showed me the way, if you enter from the old town you have to pay €3 to climb it, but there’s a (secret!) entrance all the way on the northside (to the right in this picture) out of the Old Town. That’s where there are no people asking for money and the hike is actually much nicer. I didn’t like that the Bay of Kotor is already so touristy—even though it wasn’tContinue reading

Croatia’s Adriatic Highway: Makarska to Kupari nearby Dubrovnik

I took this photo while hitchhiking the coastal road of Croatia from Makarska to Kupari nearby Dubrovnik in a truck. There’s more than one ‘Autoroute du Soleil‘ and the French don’t own the rights to beautiful north-south holidaymaker routes! If you’re wondering where you need to go to travel here, look up Croatia’s D8 road. It’s part of an international road called the Adriatic Highway. It goes from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Croatia again followed by Montenegro. Here are a video and the Google Streetview version of that video for location accuracy:   2020 update: The onlyContinue reading

Ashure with a Kurdish Family in Şanlıurfa, Turkey

A Kurdish family in the city of Şanlıurfa kindly hosted me. The mother prepared this dish called ashure, which I’m not sure if it’s to celebrate or to mourn. I think it’s celebratory food because it’s a wholesome hot porridge that feels fuzzy on these cold days. It’s with fruits and nuts and grains and sugar, which sounds like peak comfort food. Mourning because I was just in Iran on the 2nd and 3rd of November, which is when Shia Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Husayn. It has a very similar name: day of Ashura. I was in Orumiyeh back thenContinue reading

Hitchhiking from Lake Van to Batman, Turkey

When hitchhiking out of Van, I had to thumb my way around Lake Van (Van Gölu). I’m on my way to Batman. Why? I don’t know, it sounds like a funny place. I don’t want to study ever again, but Batman University does pique my curiosity. Hitchhiking around such a huge body of water is also a good time. It’s incredibly beautiful here, though it’s cold. I’m very happy with my spanking new leggings from Iran. They’re really thick and have an inner layer that’s made of fleece. Fashionable and warm! While waiting for a ride nearby the ferry toContinue reading

The Van Cat Sanctuary (Van, Turkey)

When my hosts in Van told me that there’s a Van cat sanctuary, I knew I had to visit. The Van Cat is a special type of cat that hails from this area around Lake Van in Turkey. They have a white coat and often have one blue eye and one green one. This place is like a sanctuary for these cats, which are quite rare in the world and need extra protection. As I understood it, they’re here for protection and local heritage, not breeding. Back on the Isle of Man, I visited the Manx Society for the PreventionContinue reading

Tusheti Hills: Beauty and Hospitality in Omalo + Dartlo, Georgia

As you can see from this photo, the Tusheti region in the north of Georgia is pretty fabulous. I just spent a few days here at altitude in Omalo and Dartlo. To the north, the mountains form a natural border with Russia’s Dagestan and Chechnya—both places I’d absolutely love to visit. There are several hostels here and the owners of one just invited me to stay for free. That’s how huge hospitality is here. I encountered some young Georgian women here who were excited to hang out with me and show me around. They travel the difficult road to OmaloContinue reading