2017 was an interesting year for Ukraine. For the first time ever, the 25th December was a holiday and I happened to spend Christmas in Kyiv. During my time in Kyiv, I stayed at Dream House Hostel. You can read about my review of the hostel here. I arrived in Kyiv via train from Lviv to find the city covered in snow. It looked liked it had been snowing for days but it had actually only started snowing that day!…
I arrived back in Kiev for the 3rd time recently and stayed at Dream House Hostel, located directly on Andriivs’kyi descent. Dream Hostel have 9 hostels in 3 countries – Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia. If you are travelling in this part of the world, they are a great option. Read on to discover why I think they are the best hostel in Kiev. The Location The hostel is located right on Andriivs’kyi descent, one of the main tourist sites in the…
April 2014 was my first visit to Bucharest, Romania. Since then, I have been back to Romania a further five times. That should be a clue as to what I think of the country! This will be a very brief post about how you can spend one afternoon in Bucharest, walking around some green sites in the city centre. I will have more posts on Romania coming up soon too! Herăstrău Park Herăstrău Park is a large park in the North…
If there is one thing that people really should do when visiting Crete, it is hiking the Samaria Gorge. The hike through the gorge is 16km, 13km for the hike in the gorge itself and a further 3km from the exit of the park to Agia Roumeli on the southern coast of Crete. For me, the best way to do this hike is on a day trip via the capital city of the island, Chania. This trip can be done using…
New Years Eve in Stockholm Part 6 in my blast from the past series is my the time I spent New Years Eve in Stockholm in 2013. I was expecting it to be very cold but it was quite warm at 4-7 degrees most of the time. What I did notice was how little daylight there is in Stockholm at that time of the year. Sunrise is around 9am and sunset about 3pm. Even on my short trip, I can…
Languedoc-Roussillon is the southernmost region of France. Part 5 in my blast from the past series is my trip to this region in September 2012. For two weeks I stayed in Languedoc-Roussillon region in the small village of Paraza. A village which has a population of only 586! The village itself sits on the Canal du Midi – a 17th century canal which took 14 years to construct linking the Atlantic with the Mediterranean. House in Paraza The house that I stayed…
Continuing on my blast from the past series is a trip exploring the ancient history in Naples back in 2011. Naples itself didn’t really impress me too much but there can be no denying that it is a great base to explore the surrounding area. Herculaneum, Pompeii, Sorrento, the islands of Ischia and Capri are all within a short trip from Naples. Plus of course there is the slightly further trip to Rome. If you like your ancient history and…
The 3rd post in my blast from the past series is on my visit to Cyprus in October 2009. After flying into Larnaca, I transferred to Paphos on the west coast of the island. It was very hot at that time of the year, about 32 degrees. Considering I left Belfast in 6 degrees, it was a bit of a change. Tomb of the Kings If you enjoy places like Pompeii, then you will like the Tomb of the Kings…
Paris in Spring The second in my series of blast from the past posts will be on Paris. I first visited Paris in Spring in February 2008, partly to see Ireland play France in rugby. I made it back to Paris, again for a rugby match, in March 2014 and also celebrated St Patrick’s Day with my couchsurfing host. On both of these trips I was able to enjoy fantastic weather, especially in 2014 when it was over 20 degrees! “It’s…
Venice in December Before I created this blog, I travelled a little around Europe. I have a lot of photos from these trips and rather than not use them, I have decided to do a series of “Blast from the Past” posts starting with Venice! I was in Venice in December 2006 (time really does fly!) and actually got engaged there (it didn’t last). Anyway on with the photos………… Gondola Ride One of the obvious tourist things…