Route: Cairo (Pyramids, Souq, Nile) → Luxor (Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Luxor Temple) Distance: 510 km (by air or rail — not a driving route) Transport: Domestic flight (1 hour) or overnight Talgo sleeper train (9–10 hours) Recommended duration: 5–7 days (2–3 Cairo, 2–3 Luxor) Best months: October–April Currency: Egyptian Pound (EGP). Approximately 50–52 […]
Cairo to Luxor 🇪🇬 The River and the Stone Read More »
A morning in Heraklion. I was walking along the harbour wall — the Venetian one, built in the sixteenth century by people who expected it to still be standing when they were not — and I stopped at a place where someone had carved letters into the stone. Not graffiti. Something older. A name, or
What a Stone Remembers Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 2 I arrived in Lovran by scent. The laurel got there first. Lovran – The town is named after a tree. I didn’t know a place could be named after a smell. In Croatian, lovor means laurel — the bay leaf, the Roman victor’s
Lovran 🇭🇷 Smells of laurel or Between the sea and Učka Read More »
Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Journal 1 Rovinj. Where the Adriatic teaches you that everything you need is already here. Rovinj I came to Croatia expecting coastline. I got a whole education. Rovinj sits on a peninsula that was an island until the Venetians filled in the canal in 1763. The
Rovinj Gave Me a Speargun and a Bucket 🇭🇷 Read More »
🌐 Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Episode 1 I crossed the Adriatic and arrived somewhere Italy forgot to invent. – That was the first sentence I ever spoke about this journey. It was also the first sentence that turned out to be true. Rovinj was an island until 1763 Not folklore
Rovinj 🇭🇷 Colourful streets and sunsets that don’t exist anywhere else Read More »
The ferry from Venice took three and a half hours. I spent most of it on the upper deck watching the Adriatic change from lagoon grey to open blue to something I did not have a name for — a colour that seemed to arrive not from the sky or the sea but from the
The Colour That Has No Reason — Croatia Trip Read More »
Route: Rovinj → Plitvice Lakes → Dubrovnik Total distance: 700 km Total driving time: 9–10 hours (without stops) Recommended duration: 5–7 days Best months: May–June, September–October Roads: Istrian Y (A8/A9), A6, A1 Autocesta, D8 coastal road, Pelješac Bridge The Shape of This Drive, Rovinj to Dubrovnik This route crosses Croatia diagonally — from the Istrian
Rovinj to Dubrovnik 🇭🇷 The Length of the Coast Read More »
It was a Sunday evening. I was sitting on the stone steps of a fondamenta on the eastern side of the city, where the buildings thin and the lagoon opens and there is nothing between you and the sky but Adriatic sea and the memory of the sea. The stone was still warm from the
The Steps at the Adriatic Read More »
Around the World with Beyondia 🧵 Mediterranean Region 🪡 Journal 0 Rome. Florence. Venice. Three cities that taught the world what civilization looks like. Rome I started in Rome — and Rome doesn’t ease you in. The Colosseum appeared between two apartment blocks on a random Tuesday morning, and for a moment I forgot it
Rome Rushed Me, Florence Slowed Me, Venice Broke the Rules 🇮🇹 Read More »
I had explained Rome to hundreds of travellers. The approach from the northwest. The terracotta roofs. Which side of the plane to sit on. Then Florence came introducing Venice. Not the information about it. Rome. None of that prepared me for the moment the wheels touched down and I understood I was actually there. My
The Distance Between Knowing and Being There — Rome, Florence & Venice Read More »