Stories from travels in

Mary Murphy

First day in the second city

My last attempt to visit Georgia had to be aborted due in part to being refused a visa for Azerbaijan (I wanted to get the midnight

Air travel from Georgia

Apart from the obvious environmental repercussions, the stress that can accompany airline travel makes me wonder why I persist. Not every flight is stressful but

A cellar of note

My head is easily turned. Some would say I’m fickle. Mapping the direction of my conversation would be a challenge. I have a tendency to

Blind date

Back in the heady days of teenage-hood, we favoured deep and meaningful conversations with a pseudo-intellectual bent. That was back in the days when a

A blessing in disguise

We had a few hours to kill before our Glamping experience was due to start so we hit upon the neighbouring village of Noszvaj. We

Eger revisited

It had been a while since I’d been to Eger. I spent a weekend there once, the memory of which is tainted with just a

The royal Balaton

My geography is terrible. My Hungarian geography is particularly bad. Add that to a horrible sense of direction and the countless times I’ve gotten lost

One street over

Budapest is blossoming. Local neighbourhoods are being revamped. Buildings are getting facelifts. Previously drab and uninspiring places are now teeming with life and energy. And

Escaping the city

Summer is coming. Short of moving to the Southern Hemisphere, there’s little I can do to avoid it. I’m not a hot weather person. There’s

A café conducive to thought

The first thing that strikes you about Café Toucan is the space. It is light, airy, and relaxing, so conducive to thought and chat. You might