There are places you dream about visiting, but when you go there, they fail to live up to the hype. There are places that in real life turn out just as postcard-perfect as you want them to be. And then, once in a great while, you encounter one of those really rare things – a…
There are three things you learn about King Ludwig II of Bavaria on the Bavarian Alps Royal Castles tour: 1-he died under suspicious circumstances; 2-he was either crazy, eccentric or gay; 3-he was really into the French court, peacocks and country life. The one thing you learn about Ludwig when you actually get to Linderhof,…
Before they became Tzars and Emperors of the Russian Empire, the Romanovs were prominent boyars (nobles) and lived in Moscow. Their house in Moscow’s oldest neighborhood, Kitay Gorod, was built in the 1500s out of stone – a rarity at that time – and was practically a palace in those days. It was painstakingly restored…
Here are some random interesting bits from Tallinn. A Tale of Two Churches The Soviet Union was not kind to organized religion of any stripe, and thousands of churches were outright destroyed or re-purposed for other needs of the people. Old Town Tallinn has two remarkable examples of ecclesiastic architecture with equally fascinating histories. The Russian…
Of all of Crimea’s palaces, the one that belonged to Count Vorontsov – the hero of Napoleonic wars and later the governor-general of Crimea – is probably the most peculiar and magnificent. I say “probably” because it’s the only major Yalta / Alupka palace that I got to visit, as my pre-purchased excursions to Massandra…
One of the highly appealing aspects of Crimea as a travel destination (in case gorgeous nature, sea & sun and wine by the bucket were not enough) is its incredibly diverse cultural heritage. Ancient Greeks, Visigoths, Vikings, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Genoese, Georgians, Tatars, Ottoman Turks and Russians have all left their mark on this…
Yalta, a city on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula, is the resort capital of the region. For some two hundred years it has been referred to as the Nice of the Black Sea/ Russia/ Soviet Union, as thousands of summer vacationers descended on it every year from all over Russia/ USSR/ former USSR…
Over the last two weeks you have heard all about how gorgeous Saint Petersburg is. You don’t have to take me at my word: Streets, Buildings, Details. Canals, Embankments, Bridges.
These were the exclamations that kept coming out of my mouth — to myself, out loud — as I walked from room to shining room of the Winter Palace, former residence of Russian emperors and now home to one of the greatest art museums ever. The Hermitage, according to multiple sources, is actually the largest…
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to plan, and the thing I love to plan above all is travel. Mapped out itineraries, color-coded Excel timetables, museum tickets purchased in advance – all this stuff gives me the special kind of tingles. So when an opportunity presented itself not just to go to Saint…
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