Travel stories, quotes and fun facts

Travel far enough

Travel far enough, you meet yourself.

The shepherd's shortcut

The gorge trail was closed and we sat at the gate feeling defeated. A shepherd walked past with eleven goats, looked at our boots, and gestured for us to follow. His shortcut took two hours and involved no path at all.

Rome throws coins by the tonne

Around a million euros in coins is fished out of the Trevi Fountain each year and donated to charity.

Venice is built on a forest

Venice stands on millions of alder logs driven into the lagoon mud. Starved of oxygen, the wood petrified instead of rotting.

Ferry deck at dawn

We slept on the deck under jackets because the cabins were sold out. At four in the morning the engines changed pitch and everyone woke to see an island appear out of the dark, one white line at a time.

The gladdest moment

The gladdest moment in human life is a departure into unknown lands.

Pompeii is still being dug

After more than 250 years of excavation, roughly a third of Pompeii remains buried, deliberately left for future archaeologists with better tools.

The border that moved

The bus stopped at a checkpoint that did not appear on any map we had. It took two hours, three stamps and one shared cigarette between drivers before we crossed into a country whose name had changed twice in thirty years.

San Marino is the oldest republic

San Marino claims a continuous republican government since the year 301, making it the world's oldest surviving sovereign republic.

Vatican City fits in a park

At 0.49 square kilometres, the Vatican is smaller than many city parks, yet it has its own post office, pharmacy and railway station.

Adventure is worthwhile

Adventure is worthwhile in itself.

Coffee with the mayor

We asked for directions and were invited for coffee. Halfway through, someone mentioned our host had been mayor for eight years. He was more interested in explaining lake trout than politics.

Malta drives on the left

Malta kept left-hand driving from its British era, one of only a handful of European countries to do so alongside Ireland and Cyprus.

Greece has thousands of islands

Greece has around 6,000 islands and islets, but only about 200 of them are inhabited.

The bridge divers

A young man stood on the parapet for eleven minutes collecting coins before he jumped. Someone in the crowd explained that he would not go until the collection reached a certain amount, and that this had been the rule for centuries.

Own only what you can carry

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people.

Santorini's colours are volcanic

Santorini's red, black and white beaches come from a single enormous eruption around 1600 BC that blew the island's centre into the sea.

Athens invented the marathon

The marathon distance commemorates a messenger's run from the plain of Marathon to Athens, and the modern race was revived at the 1896 Olympics.

Sarajevo roses

There are scars in the pavement where shells landed, filled with red resin. Nobody points them out. You simply notice one, then another, then you walk more slowly for the rest of the afternoon.

Croatia's coast counts 1,200 islands

The Croatian Adriatic includes over 1,200 islands, islets and reefs, though fewer than fifty have permanent residents.

Wandering re-establishes order

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.

A wedding we were not invited to

The road was blocked by a wedding procession. We waited, and then someone knocked on the car window with two glasses of plum brandy and would not take no. We arrived at our guesthouse three hours late and extremely happy.

Dubrovnik's walls survived everything

The city walls of Dubrovnik run two kilometres around the old town and were never breached by an invading army in their long history.

Slovenia is half forest

More than 58 percent of Slovenia is forested, and brown bears still roam within an hour's drive of the capital.