From Amman there is a route East that takes you past several castles in the desert. We rented a car and instead of doing this as a day trip loop , did the trip and carried on to Jerash and based ourselves there. First castle we came across was Qasr Hraneh… built in the 8th century, about 710 they reckon… although scholars aren’t in agreement on what it was used for. The most likely scenario is that it was a khan (inn). Another 10 […]
Castles
Krakow (Part 1)
After a pleasant four hour train trip from Warsaw, we arrived in Krakow around 4.30pm on a beautiful sunny spring day. Our BnB was a lovely studio apartment that was completely Ikea furnished and decorated. It was just across the river from the castle and the main part of town. One of the reasons this placed grabbed my attention when booking was that it included the free use of 2 bikes. The men’s bike was really big and the seat was up really high […]
Český Krumlov
Český Krumlov is an incredibly picturesque fairy-tale like town in Bohemia, in the south west of the Czech Republic. Its historic Old Town which is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site is almost completely ringed by the Vltava river. The main attraction here is the Česky Krumlov Castle which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just like the Old City which it overlooks. We stayed right in the heart of the Old City and it took just a few minutes to […]
Day-tripping from Prague
Kutna Hora is about 85km from Prague and definitely warrants a day trip. Together with friends Gena and Chris we took a train to this town which boasts a number of sights including the famous ‘Bone Church’ aka The Sedlec Ossuary. This was a pretty crazy place to see! The whole underground chapel is decorated with human bones. 40,000 people have their resting place here!! The reason being that around 1278 a local abbot went to Jerusalem and brough back some soil which he […]
Prague Castle
We headed to Prague at the end of September 2016 to meet with our American friends who were going to be in the city for a few days. I had visited Prague twice before (in 1995 & 2006) so was mostly looking forward to hanging out with our friends rather than sightseeing. But I have to say the city really impressed again! In a city full of fantastic architecture and magnificent buildings, Prague Castle dominates them all with its place on the hill overlooking […]
Akhaltsikhe & Georgian Food
We took a marshutka from Kutaisi to Akhaltsikhe and when we got off we were admiring the cars set up as hardware shops and were trying to work out which way to go to get to our hotel when a bustling woman approached us offering accommodation at her guesthouse. We had already booked a room a hotel so politely declined her offer. Not giving up she offered home cooked meals and a husband who could drive us to Vardzia and other places of interest […]
The Amazing Aras River Valley & Babak Castle
Talk about saving the best for last… we had a real treat in our last two days in Iran. 🙂 Things didn’t go too smoothly when we arrived in Jolfa but once we got on the road exploring the Aras River Valley – first west then east of Jolfa- we were blown away with how beautiful it was! The last destination before we left for Armenia was Babak Castle and it was incredible… our last hours in Iran were quite possibly the best!! We […]
Alamut Valley & Castle of the Assassins
Don’t these names, the Alamut Valley & the Castle of the Assassins conjure up some kind of dramatic image? To me they sound so exotic and exciting. I had been looking forward to visiting them since I first arrived in Iran, but I had to wait to the last couple of weeks as we started in the south of the country and this area is in the north. We hired a local couchsurf host who couldn’t host us but helped us find a hotel […]