Any Excuse to Travel

Stories from travels in

August 2015

Headscarves and padded bras

If this trip to Romania taught me anything, it’s the need for patience. We turfed up at the guesthouse to find it empty. Not a

2015 Grateful 18

For the last month or so, I’ve been keeping fairly constant company with a lovely man who has the most amazing green eyes and even

A Monastery between Magyarvalkó and Bélis

For the last month or so, I’ve been keeping fairly constant company with a lovely man who has the most amazing green eyes and even

Holy stitches and sunken churches

When you see a map of a country that has the dirt roads marked clearly, and then you read the fine print in a car

On the road in Romania

Horse-drawn carts are not an unusual sight in Romania, where for many they’re a familiar mode of transportation. But the sight of two lipsticked, middle-aged women

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Sometimes things just ain’t what they seem. Sometimes our expectations let us down. Sometimes, though,  we can be pleasantly surprised. So much of it depends

Bulgarian cuisine

Many years ago, while dancing with some chap in the Dinn Rí nightclub in Carlow, he turned and paid me what I can only suppose

The sea is greener on the other side

Jack Reacher, star of the Lee Child novels, has rules for living, like if in doubt, turn left and when in doubt, drink coffee. Gibbs,

Movin’ on up

It’s official. I now have irrefutable proof that I’m in danger of becoming a crotchety old cow. Two days on a relatively crowded beach in

Fit cops and coffee machines

Bulgarian cops are built. Or rather, the cops I’ve seen in Bourgas are built. Seriously built. I’ve been known to cast an appreciative eye over