Amanda Kendle's Blog

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Italian architect David Fisher is a pretty creative guy, and he's managed to design a functional skyscraper that changes its shape at the push of a button. Well, a little more slowly than that (you can't spin a building too quickly or its occupants would feel ill), but the separate floors of his skyscraper can all rotate independently, and this means the shape of the skyscraper when viewed from outside will be constantly changeable.

The first of these skyscrapers is due to be built in Dubai soon, but Moscow seems to be the next destination. The Mirax Group is apparently behind the construction, which will be 60 stories high, but an exact site for the building hasn't yet been decided upon - that should happen during October.

While I'm not sure if this isn't just a kitschy building (but then again, what is St Basil's Cathedral - and I love that!) - the nice aspect is it's designed to be green, and use natural energy sources to help with the mechanics of it all. When (or if) the final decision to build is made, it should take about 20 months longer until the skyscraper is completed.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

During my time in Bratislava, I became addicted to the SkyEurope website in my search for cheap flights from Bratislava to anywhere - the only criteria was it should be somewhere I hadn't been. Back then - I first flew SkyEurope in 2003 - the flight network was pretty limited, and I managed to take long weekend holidays in Paris, Venice and London using cheap flights from SkyEurope.

I wish I was still living in Bratislava, because now the network is really huge (and flights haven't got more expensive). While I was checking some facts for this week's article on Flying SkyEurope in Eastern Europe I got to see exactly how big the route map is now. I'd have a few dream holidays to take out of Bratislava now: a sunny stint to Varna or Bourgas in Bulgaria would be high on the list, as would a quick trip up to Copenhagen. I'm also impressed to see there are now a few direct flights out of the eastern Slovak city of Kosice. Things are continuing to look up for Eastern European travelers, and I think that's great!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Already this year, one of my favorite travel guide book publishers, Bradt, has released a new guide to Croatia. In its third edition, and now almost un-Bradt-like, since Croatia has become such a popular destination, the book covers areas like national parks and islands in especially good detail. Also this year, the second edition of the Dubrovnik city guide came out.

More recently, in July, Bradt issued its fifth edition of the Estonia guide book. With the growing number of visitors to Narva en route to or from Russia, Bradt expanded its coverage of this interesting border town.

Coming later this year is another useful Bradt guide - and this will be the first Bradt guide to Bulgaria. It's due to be published in December 2007 and will include information about the Black Sea coastline, the mountains and ski resorts and Bulgaria's nine World Heritage listed sites.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If you're planning a trip to Budapest or other parts of Hungary or just have an interest in Hungarian culture, I highly recommend tuning in to Budacast.hu to listen to their weekly podcast in English. Every week, they produce a twenty-minute podcast that includes a weekly news summary, interviews with locals (often artists or journalists) and some tips on what to see if you're traveling there.

A recent podcast included some language tips (desperately needed if you want to pick up a bit of Hungarian), a first person story of a day trip to Villány and a feature story about the Kerepesi cemetery. All fascinating and all likely to give you the Hungarian travel bug.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

I'm just doing a bit of holiday daydreaming and a week in a Hungarian wine-growing region sounds just right at the moment. Work commitments and finances might keep me away, but perhaps I can vicariously travel there through a reader who loves this tip.

In the north east of Hungary, towards Ukraine, you can find the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district, which is well known as the source of some great Hungarian wines. Head to a small town called Tarcal here and you can stay at the brand new Andrássy Kúria Hotel Wine & Spa resort, which has been built right in the middle of a winery. As well as nice accommodation, you can get a bit involved with the whole wine thing - there's tasting, of course, along with sessions where the owners show you something about the process of wine making there. And then ... well, some more tasting would be important, I think! The spa complex also sounds really relaxing and it's also wine (or grape) influenced - they have "vinotherapy" treatments which use cosmetics and other products made from grape and wine extracts, apparently.

Please try it out for me! You can check the English version of their website for more details. Let us know if you enjoy your stay.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A few years ago, I landed at Vladivostok Airport and was met by a charming young Russian guy whose face I can still picture clearly. Perhaps that's because I link it with the terror I felt as he drove me from the airport into the Vladivostok city center.

During our car ride, I remember this man explaining about the Russian cars that were built during the communist era, and proudly boasting that they were far superior to East Germany's Trabants, built "from rubbish", he said. This comment came flooding back to me as I read the latest novel from Marina Lewycka called Two Caravans. One of the characters, a Ukranian man named Vitaly, describes how his father had a sky-blue Zaprozhets 965, one of the first mass-produced "workers' cars" in Ukraine. And he was proud because it had a "real metal body - not fibreboard rubbish like the Trabant". While these old cars are increasingly rare across Eastern Europe, you should definitely try to see one when you travel - it's really amazing that some of them ever functioned.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Last month in Christchurch, New Zealand, the World Heritage Committee met to consider which sites to add to their World Heritage list. After much consideration (and long discussion, it seems), they added just 22 sites, bringing the total of properties on the World Heritage list to 851.

The ones that made the headlines when they were added were places like the Sydney Opera House and the Old Town of Corfu in Greece, but there was also one addition from the Eastern European zone. The he Primeval Beech Forest of the Carpathian (Ukraine and Slovakia) was inscribed on the list as a natural property.

The reasons for adding this forest given by the World Heritage Committee were:

The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian constitute a transnational serial property of ten separate components along a 185 km axis from the Rakhiv Mountains and the Chornohirskyi Range in the Ukraine, west along the Polonynian Ridge, to the Bukovské Vrchy and Vihorlat Mountains in Slovakia. The ten sites represent an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests and exhibit the most complete and comprehensive ecological patterns and processes of pure stands of European beech across a variety of environmental conditions. They contain an invaluable genetic reservoir of beech.

This area is relatively rarely visited by tourists, but after being added to the World Heritage list, that will probably change, although it will hopefully be in a controlled and careful way.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

I'm a bit of a lover of odd news, and since my friends all know I'm also a fan of Eastern Europe and Russia, they tend to forward me a big range of interesting news stories. In the last week two really strange stories out of Russia have captured my imagination.

First up, there was the story of the stolen meteorite. In Krasnoyarsk, northern Siberia, they've been keeping a hundred-year-old, three-ton meteorite there for a couple of years. The story of the landing of the meteorite itself is fascinating - back in 1904, it flattened a 2000 square kilometer area of the Siberian forest. But the problem this week was that this massive rock has gone missing: police are looking out for it, but how can you lose a whole meteorite and where could anyone hide it?

Further west of Siberia towards Moscow, the town of Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod province) was the other part of Russia to make unusual headlines recently. It was here that a crocodile fell out of a twelfth-floor flat and fall to the pavement. Perhaps they'd like to make a Russian version of our "raining cats and dogs" phrase, and describe the weather as "raining crocodiles"? It turns out that this particular crocodile had been living in the flat (with its owner) for 15 years, and it was eventually returned there, with just one tooth damaged as a result of its adventure.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A recent survey by the TRI Hospitality Consulting group has revealed that hotels in Moscow are making a considerably higher profit than hotels in any other part of Europe, including western Europe. They say that in the first half of this year, the "pure profit" made on the average hotel room in Moscow was 5,225 roubles (over US$200); the second highest figure came from London with about $150 per room.

They say the reasons for the massive profit-making in Moscow hotels are a high demand, a shortage of quality hotels and the increasingly large gap between the rich and the poor in Russia; after all, Moscow is becoming known as the city of billionaires - you just have to look at the new Moscow Ritz-Carlton Hotel to see that. And wages for many jobs are still low; Moscow hotels pay out about 20% of their revenue on salaries, whereas it's nearly 40% in Paris.

What does all the mean for you, the traveler? Well, save up extra roubles if you plan to stay long in Moscow, or find a good homestay. Budget hotels are still few and far between. One last suggestion is to make friends with one of Moscow's 35 billionaires (or perhaps even one of the numerous millionaires) - there are so many now, it can't be hard to find one.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Flying in and out of, and around, Eastern Europe is getting much easier and cheaper the more the budget airlines expand. This week, British low cost carrier EasyJet announced that it will start flights from London Gatwick into Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, as of November 6 this year. The Gatwick-Sofia route will operate three times per week.

If you're using EasyJet, you should be aware that they've also just announced there will be charges for all checked in baggage from October 1. That means that unless you can carry everything with you as cabin baggage, you'll have to pay 5 pounds per bag (or 2 pounds if you register the luggage at the time you book). The total weight for checked in baggage is still limited to 20kg, and you have to pay 6 pounds per kilogram for anything over that - and the word is they enforce this rule pretty strictly. Your carry on luggage can have any weight though, as long as it fits the 55cm x 40cm x 20cm dimensions.

But in any case, the addition of Sofia is good news, and EasyJet is still offering a number of other Eastern European destinations, including Tallinn, Riga, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava and Ljubljana.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Earlier in the year we looked at the Global Happy Planet Index and found that in general, Eastern European countries scored low on this measure, which takes into account life expectancy, life satisfaction and the carbon footprint of the country.

This week the latest figures were released for the European Happy Planet Index, with Iceland, Sweden and Norway taking out the top three places. Somewhat surprisingly, Estonia ranked last in 30th place, not far behind Hungary (26) and Bulgaria (28). Interestingly, out of the whole of Europe, Latvia is the one country that is considered to be living "fairly" in terms of a carbon footprint - it's a "relatively low-consumption country that has made extensive use of its renewable resources".

As for the rest of the Eastern European countries included in the study, their position on the European Happy Planet index looks like this:

8. Slovenia

11. Latvia

19. Poland

20. Romania

23. Slovakia

24. Czech Republic

25. Lithuania

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If you're planning some time in Croatia or Russia soon, then you might want to check out Californian Cristi Farrell's blog, A Novel Path. Cristi's just spent a stack of time exploring some of the best parts of Croatia and Russia, and by reading up on her travels, you'll learn lots of tips and tricks for the best places to visit (and how to get there and back, too). Cristi's also collected a bunch of links listed under countries, and the sites she lists will help you research the nitty-gritty detalls of a trip.

If you're trying to cram a lot into a small time, you might be interested to read Cristi's entry called Croatia in a Week. Although Cristi herself spent much longer in Croatia, a friend of hers visited for just a week and she tried to show him all the highlights. Pltivice Lakes (my favorite!), Dubrovnik and Split all made it onto the week-long itinerary. Thanks for the inspiration, Cristi!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A couple of days ago we reported on the announcement of the New 7 Wonders of the World - including our disappointment that the only Eastern European finalist, Moscow's Kremlin, didn't make the winners' list. But now we have a new contest brought out by the same team - it's the search for the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.

At the moment, the 7 Natural Wonders hunt is still at the nomination stage. You can check their website for details on how to make nominations, and valid nominations include categories like lakes and rivers, deserts, cliffs and coastlines, rocks and mountains. I have, of course, already nominated my beloved Lake Baikal for the list - nominations are open until 08.08.08, so you've got plenty of time to get your ideas in. Presumably the voting system will follow a similar system as the New 7 Wonders contest, and in a year or so we'll get a shortlist that everybody can vote for. Stay tuned for your chance to help Lake Baikal!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A few months back I told you how happy I was that Moscow's Kremlin had reached the shortlist of the New 7 Wonders of the World contest. Voting's been taking place since then, and interestingly the media reported that Europe and North America wasn't showing the same interest in the competition as other parts of the world.

Perhaps that explains a little about why the Kremlin didn't make the top 7 - and neither did the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis, Stonehenge, the Statue of Liberty or Germany's Neuschwanstein. Maybe next time, Europe! Only one European sight made it, and here's the final winners' list:

• The Great Wall of China
• Petra, Jordan
• Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
• Machu Picchu, Peru
• Chichen Itza, Mexico
• The Colosseum, Rome
• The Taj Mahal

Congratulations to the winners, but don't despair: I still think Eastern Europe and Russia are fantastic places to visit!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

This rim of the Black Sea is a part of Russia I've not yet had the pleasure of traveling to: but even if that chance doesn't arise, the Russian resort of Sochi will be plastered across my TV screen come 2014.

In case you haven't heard, Sochi has been awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics, beating heavyweights like Salzburg in Austria. Sochi is on the Black Sea and next to the Caucasus Mountains; it spreads along the Black Sea like a snake and some say it is the longest city in Europe. There's a $12 billion investment to be made (shared between the government and private industry) to provide the extra facilities needed to accommodate the Olympics.

I'm no ski champion (remember, I'm from a non-snowy part of the world) but being set in Russia will be enough to charge my interest in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Just 7 years to go!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Before my first trip to Russia, I spent a couple of months learning the Cyrillic alphabet. I used to sit on the train in Japan and write out the letters over and over. It was easier than learning Japanese; at least some of the letters are the same, and others are similar - I could remember the "backwards N" easily, for example. And when I arrived in Vladivostok, being able to read the street signs made life immediately easier.

The same goes for learning a few Russian phrases. I learned basic greetings, some basic question forms (especially about asking for directions) and how to count. I always try to learn these kind of phrases wherever I travel - I think it's only polite to at least make an attempt to speak the local language, rather than simply expecting everybody to speak English.

It paid off most heavily when I journeyed on the Trans-Siberian. Along with the phrases I'd learned, I used my phrase book to converse with some 10-year-old kids who were in the same car as me on the train, and we managed to play chess together and learn a bit about each other.

This week's article on Survival Russian Language Skills will get you started on your language journey. Good luck - I promise it's worth it!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Last week travel blog Gadling had an interesting feature on the weirdest amusement parks they could find - and although I don't think of Eastern Europe and Russia as home to many amusement parks, some of them made their list!

The main feature talked about Lithuania's Grutas Park, an hour south of Vilnius. Grutas Park is an unusual kind of theme park - it recreates life under Stalin, something that most people have tried to stop thinking about. The interesting part (as distinct from the depressing part, featuring concentration camps and guard towers) is the collection of communist-era sculptures. So far they've got 82 of them both from Lithuania and donated from other eastern bloc nations; I've seen a similar park in Moscow full of Lenin statues and it's something different, for sure!

Gadling also linked to a post on other communist statue parks - including the Moscow one I know, "The Graveyard of Fallen Monuments" near Gorky Park, and in Budapest, the Szobor Park collection. It might sound like an odd kind of collection but I promise you, you'll spend an hour or two with the camera and with some reflection time on the past.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A colleague of mine at Jaunted.com has just written up a great book review on Ingrid Bengis' book Metro Stop Dostoyevsky. Given my oft-professed love for reading up on destinations before, during and after travel, this one is now on my must read list.

It's all set in St Petersburg, the city where Bengis' parents came from, but a city she'd never visited until she decided to spend six months living there: coincidentally, just as the Soviet Union collapsed. The true story follows not only Bengis' experiences in her "hometown" but also those of a Russian friend. At such a tumultuous time in history, it's no wonder that a very readable book has come out of it, and it sounds like it touches on a theme that fascinates me - how people who were born and raised under Soviet Union rule come to terms with the new capitalist ways, and whether they really are better off or not. So put this one on your list if you're planning a trip to Russia. It's on my pile, as soon as I get through the other dozen books ahead of it!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Until recently, most newspaper round-ups about European sightseeing and travelling seemed to focus only on Western Europe, but things are starting to change. Last weekend the UK's Sunday Times published a list of cool new hotels and amongst the usual Western European fare, a couple of new hotels in Croatia rated a mention.

The first was the Hotel Bellevue in my favourite Croatian city, Dubrovnik. It's a boutique hotel so there are no huge crowds, and it has views over the bay. And: a private beach. It's too new for me to have tried, but it certainly sounds nice.

So new it's not even open yet, the article also gave big wrap to the Adriana Hotel which should open this month on the island of Hvar. Views to the harbour and bay can be had from the rooftop heated saltwater pool ... that sounds pretty luxurious.

If you're lucky enough to be summering in Croatia this year, please let us know if you get the chance to try the Bellevue or the Adriana. We trust you more than a newspaper round-up!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Even if you've only been reading this blog a few weeks, you'll know that I'm a massive fan of the whole of Eastern Europe, and I hope some of you have been taking some of my travel tips seriously and checking out this fantastic half-continent.

And now I can see statistical proof that more people do want to get to Eastern Europe. American travel agency chain AAA has just released its figures for bookings for European holidays for the 2007 summer season. Overall, tour bookings for travel to Europe is down 2.4% on the 2006 summer, but bookings for Eastern European destinations have risen 55%! Great news, I think.

In particular, the largest rises in bookings have gone to Romania (700% more than last summer - yes, I didn't make a typo there, 700%!), Slovenia (100%), Hungary (76%) and Croatia (69%). And I'm sure that all these people are going to come back from their holidays and rave to their friends about how many great things there are to see and do in Eastern Europe - and next summer I'll be telling you that bookings have risen again.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Someone recently emailed me a link to a great blog about ex-pat life and travels in Poland, called Miodowa. This word is actually the name of the street where Jeff and Lauren live in Warsaw while they spend their year in Poland.

As well as being busy teaching, they seem to fit in plenty of side trips. Reading their blog, you'll find interesting anecdotes on daily life in Poland - like learning how an extremely Catholic population celebrates Easter - and their own amusing tales of what goes wrong (and sometimes right) on their weekend explorations of Poland and surrounding countries.

A highlight for me is their tale of a trip to the Tatra mountains which are on ehte border between Slovakia and Poland. They, like me, stayed in the resort village of Zakopane on the Polish side, and then headed down to Poprad on the Slovak side. That was, in fact, my first taste of Slovakia when I was enroute to living in Bratislava.

And also like me, Jeff and Lauren have decided that their favourite Polish city is Krakow. It's such a liveable, pretty city, full of culture and history, and you can't help but love it. Unfortunately, Jeff and Lauren are leaving Poland soon, but have promised to be doing lots of travelling during their last weeks, so check their blog for regular updates and photographs.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Traveling without a guidebook is kind of like driving without a streetmap. Yeah, you sometimes stumble across something great by chance, but you miss a lot of things too, and you might get lost, spend more money than you need or just not have any idea what to do.

That's why we're compiling reviews of many guidebooks covering Eastern Europe and Russia, to help you choose what's right for you. Just check the links below to read about the features of each guidebook and what kind of trip or traveler they best suit.

• Time Out Shortlist Prague city guide review
• Bradt's Baltic Capital region guide review
• Lonely Planet Eastern Europe region guide review
• Rick Steves' Eastern Europe region guide review
• Fodor's Moscow and St Petersburg city guide review

Posted by Amanda Kendle

I love to read all kinds of things about my travel destinations before I get there: a novel that's set in a city I'll visit, some travel literature about a similar trip to mine, or English-language newspapers from my destination. You learn so much more, and enjoy your trip more, if you've got more background about where you'll be traveling.

Here's a reading list to help you prepare for a trip to many parts of Eastern Europe and Russia:

Non-fiction:

• Learn Russian culture and habits with World Cultures: Russia
• Follow Angus Bell's cricket journey through Eastern Europe in Slogging the Slavs
• An interesting 1980s view of Russia in Christopher Hope's Moscow! Moscow!
• A list of English language newspapers in Eastern Europe and Russia
• A great magazine for lesser-known parts is hidden europe

Fiction:

• Marina Lewycka's hilarious take on Ukraine culture in A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
• Andrei Makine's The Woman Who Waited: review coming soon

Posted by Amanda Kendle

It's no sure thing, but Russian businessmen and a few ministers have been making announcements about a project to build a tunnel under the Bering Strait to join far eastern Russia to North America. The main purpose of the tunnel would be to transport oil and gas to the US, but there would also be fibre-optic cables and a high-speed train line.

When I read about this idea recently, my immediate thought was this: wow, something even bigger than the Trans-Siberian! And sure enough, there is talk of creating a network that would enable you to get on a train in New York and then, traveling via Canada, end up in Russia and connect to the Trans-Siberian railway. How long would a journey like this take? Given that Vladivostok to Moscow already takes a week, presuming you don't get off anywhere, then we're talking about a fairly serious trip.

But don't put the New York to Moscow route on your dream wishlist too soon. While some officials seem to be quite sure it's a concrete plan, the list of important people who've never heard about it is quite long, and includes the whole of Canada (where rail corridors would be needed through British Colombia), and high-level officials from the Russian pipeline monopoly TransNeft. We'll wait and see.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

I don't know if I'm just a backpacker snob or jealous of people can afford it, but I'm none too impressed with the recent news about the new luxury train service across Russia. The Golden Eagle, as the new train is named, will hurtle tourists across the Trans-Siberian route in absolute luxury. Which takes a lot of the fun out of it, if you ask me.

The new service will include underfloor heating, ensuite bathrooms to every cabin, complete with "power showers", plus plasma TVs and DVD players for all as well. Most of the traveling will be done at night, and passengers will then be taken off the train for day trips to various stopping points along the way.

There's a too-high price tag attached, of course, but there'll be plenty of takers for such a service. But will they really experience Russia? To me, it'll be a diluted version at best. The promotion even makes careful mention that the tours are private. What's the point of traveling across Russia if you don't get to meet any Russians, or share vodka with them after three days and nights of being stuck in a cabin together? Might as well stay home with a few DVDs than watch them as you chug along the Trans-Sib route, I think.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A couple of summers ago, a Slovak friend of mine invited me to join her and some friends at a beach house in a tiny village on the Croatian coast. It was so gorgeous, and so secluded, that I'm not even going to tell you the name. Sorry! But there are countless small villages between the bigger resort towns and cities, and it's not hard to find somewhere pretty if you want.

I'll give you one hint about this village - it was about an hour and a half north of Split. That's why we managed a day trip to Trogir while we were there. Trogir's just a tiny island but full of character and fantastically photogenic old buildings. If you've got a sunny day - and surely most of summer is sunny in Croatia - then you'll come home with a memory stick full of pictures.

On my trip to Trogir, I remember that my friend's son picked our restaurant for lunch. Although we'd thought of eating something more traditionallly Croatian, Marin settled on a great Italian restaurant near the waterfront. By the end of that meal, it wasn't just my camera's memory stick that was full that day - my stomach was overflowing, too!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Nobody would probably dispute that the city of Prague is the most well-known and oft-visited part of Eastern Europe. I know I wouldn't! And while I love Prague, you'll have heard me complain before that many parts of it are a bit too full of tourists.

A recent survey by Travelcare in the UK found put Prague and Budapest in the top ten "most-booked cities", along with Western Europe capitals like Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Rome, and even New York.

And of these top ten destinations, Prague comes out on top as the cheapest for a weekend break. Using a standardized list of a double room at a four-star hotel for two nights, airport transfers, sightseeing, public transport, museum entrance and even a pint of Guinness (!), the Travelcare survey valued a typical short break in Prague at about 204 pounds, with Budapest coming a close second at a cost of 207 pounds. Unsurprisingly, other cities were all considerably more expensive.

So that's just another reason to head to some of Eastern Europe's most gorgeous cities. In fact, you could go to both Prague and Budapest for the price of just one weekend in Amsterdam or Paris!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Sometimes it doesn't work out: I know a long-planned trip is looming, and I really want to get to the reading stack next to my bed to find out more about the place I'm headed for. But life just gets in the way.

Don't do the same as me. If you're planning a trip to Russia soon, like so many of our readers, start reading up about this great country now. Or even if you just think you'd like to go there (or anywhere else in Eastern Europe) "one day", start reading. And not just travel guides telling you which church to visit or which restaurant to eat in: I heartily recommend learning about the culture and people of the region. I've always tried to do this before I travel (with varying degrees of success), but I know when I do, I always have so many more questions and conversation topics when I'm speaking with guides, hotel staff or homestay hosts, and random people I meet on trains or in queues.

This week I have a great recommendation for learning about Russia: try the Teach Yourself guide to World Cultures: Russia. It's not too academic or heavy, but it's not too lightweight either, and gives a lot of interesting facts and ideas about Russia and Russians.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

While you could get out into Estonia's wilderness on your own, sometimes these kind of adventures are made easier on a tour - where someone else supplies tents, canoes and whatever other equipment you can use to make the trip fun.

If you head out on an adventure outings, there is so much to see, from cliffs, bogs and seascapes to forests, wild flowers and bird migrations. You can trek through wetlands and across tiny islands and really see what Estonia has beyond the cities.

Trek Baltics is one of the companies that does this, and what I love about them is their refreshing approach to making Estonia approachable: for example, they are keen to point out that there are many misconceptions about Estonia, and how they're all wrong!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Finding a unique place to stay can really make a holiday, especially if you're planning a bit of relaxation time at your accommodation. I've managed to stay in a few odd places, including underground hotels and old animal stalls, but I'm still waiting to spend a night in an ice hotel. And now I'm adding "lighthouse" to my list!

In Croatia, there are (to date) eleven lighthouses that accept holidaymakers. A lot of them want you to book by the week (or at least 3 days), so if you're traveling extensively and fast, it may not suit: but if you can schedule in a few lighthouse days, I think you're getting something really special.

Four of the most easily accessible lighthouse-hotels are Savudrija, Rt Zub and Sv. Petar (all on the mainland) and Veli Rat (on an island, but reachable by ferry and near a village). Seven others are a little more remote, but that's half the fun.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

When I first lived in Eastern Europe, I needed a visa to visit Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. These visas were not only a bit time-consuming to get, they also got quite expensive when I was earning Slovak crowns, and the Hungarian one was worst of all - I would have had to pay per visit, even if I only went on a day trip or for a weekend.

So I waited until Hungary joined the European Union - along with 9 other nations - on 1 May 2004. Then I was on the train, first to Budapest, and a couple of weekends later by hire car to visit Lake Balaton. I still remember feeling anxious at the border crossings, that perhaps my information was wrong, and they'd send me back to Slovakia. But fortunately the immigration officers were all up with the changes, and my Aussie passport and I were allowed to pass into Hungarian territory. Check out the result of one of these trips with the information on Exploring Hungary's Lake Balaton that I've published this week.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If you want to get a daily read on something going on in Russian-speaking parts of the world, try English Russia sometime. With the motto "just because something cool happens daily on 1/6 of the Earth's surface", this blog uncovers usual and unusual events around Russia. Beware that sometimes the posts are pretty controversial and of course, who knows if it's accurate or not! Some posts are really neat: examples of strange old Russian postcards, for example. Archived posts are categorized like Culture, Economics, Law, Russian Art, Technology and many more.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

The first time I saw Kaliningrad was when I was standing on the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. And I admit, before then I hadn't really known what it was. Although the name rang a few bells in my mind, I had to check my guidebook to discover that it's actually part of Russia. It's now an isolated little patch of Russian territory surrounding by European Union members, but I think that's a big part of the fascination.

I love to visit places that are not on the beaten track - for me, a trip to tiny Abruka Island in Estonia beats a day out in Rome any day. (Maybe not Paris, though - that's a very special city!). So if your taste is also for something a little out of the ordinary, read about Visiting the Kaliningrad Region this week to see if it's something for you.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

My favourite spa in Eastern Europe is still the amazing Heviz Spa in Hungary - floating amongst those lilies is hard to beat. But with the opening of the spa season coming soon in the Czech Republic, maybe there are a few more places I need to experience.

Each year the main spa towns celebrate the annual ceremony of the opening of the springs, and some put on two or three day festivals to do so. The festivals might include music and costume, and of course the symbolic spring opening. A couple you can check out are:

• Jeseník 30 April - 1 May
• Karlovy Vary 4-6 May 2007
• Luhacovice 11-13 May 2007
• Mariánské Lázne 11-13 May 2007
• Teplice nad Becvou 12 May 2007

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Looking back over my many adventures in Eastern Europe, I often think about how much my activities can vary from one day to the next. A spy observing me wouldn't have a clue how to classify my interests, that's for sure!

That's how I can justify such differing articles out this week. First, I look at a great day trip from Latvian capital Riga to Sigulda and the Gauja National Park. Although Riga's a perfectly gorgeous city, if you've been doing a Baltic city hop then Sigulda is a really convenient place to head for a day "out of town". But do you know the strangest thing? I still remember that the whole day I spent in Sigulda, I had a line from a song running round in my head - obviously the wrong line, but I kept singing "I lost my wallet in old Sigulda". At least it's one way to avoid forgetting the place I'm visiting.

The second article out this week looks at a completely different aspect of travel in Eastern Europe: history, and especially the impact of the world wars. At the Warsaw Historical Museum in Poland, I still clearly remember being amazed at the destruction the Old Town of Warsaw experienced, and even more amazed at how fast and well the reconstruction was achieved. And I also remember that visiting the museum was a perfect way to spend a cold, rainy day in Warsaw - even though it was late summer.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A year ago today, you might've read my story about touring Vladivostok - one of Russia's easternmost cities. Since then, we've moved only west but have explored all kinds of great parts of Eastern Europe and Russia. Over the past year we've been tracking what stories you most like reading, and here are the results:

1. Visiting the world's largest lake, Russia's Lake Baikal, is the most popular read.
2. Whether shopping for matrioshka dolls or other traditional gifts, learning about Russian Souvenirs comes in at #2.
3. Still in Russia, many of us dream about Cruising from Moscow to St Petersburg.
4. And still in Russia, my favorite building ever comes in at #4: St Basil's Cathedral.
5. At #5 we finally get out of Russia, with many of you enjoying reading about Bratislava's Christmas Markets.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Last Easter we talked about the curious habits of Slovaks during this season: guys pour water over girls and then whip them with willow, all to help them have maximum beauty during the next year, apparently. Well, they do pretty much the same thing in the Czech Republic, and they also celebrate with some special Easter markets.

The Easter Fairs in Prague sound more enticing to me than getting drowned and whipped, so here's the info: Running from March 24 to April 15, you'll find market stalls in both Old Town Square (16 stalls) and Wenceslas Square (a further 60 stalls!). Arts and crafts and snacks will be available, and I think a highlight might be stalls selling the gorgeous painted Easter eggs.

And there'll be similar Easter fairs in other parts of the Czech Republic:

• March 31 and April 1 in Telc
• March 31 in Kromeríž
• April 7 in Uherské Hradište

So there's plenty of shopping and browsing to do if you'll be spending Easter in the Czech Republic. Enjoy!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Sometimes I'm really suspicious of some of the news items that come out of Romania, but whether or not this one's true, it's interesting. The story goes that Romanian witches are particularly pleased that Romania has joined the European Union.

Why? Simple: now businessmen are making appointments with witches to get assistance with their proposals for EU funding. One witch is reported to have said:

"You cannot pretend you are a real witch if you cannot help a businessman get the European Union funds he wants."

I love it. Any Romanian readers who can confirm or deny these reports, please let us know!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If, despite all my urgings, you decide you don't want to take the Trans-Siberian across Russia but want to fly instead, then I have some good news for you. A Russian budget airline has just been launched to fly you all around Russia for (so they promise) a fraction of the cost of existing airlines.

SkyExpress is the name of the new airline, and at the moment they've got an opening special offering 500 Ruble flights to anywhere (including taxes!). All flights start or end in Moscow at the moment, and destinations include:

• Murmansk
• Rostov-on-Don
• Sochi

With plenty more to follow, they suggest. Flights are daily at the moment, using Boeing 737 aircraft. If you have the chance to fly SkyExpress, let us know what it's like.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

In case you haven't worked it out yet, I'm a little obsessed with Trans-Siberian journeys. I dreamt for years of doing it, did it, and now can't stop reading about everybody else's experiences, and giving tips to anyone else who wants to try.

That's why this week I'm featuring Chris's Trans-Siberian 2007 blog as something to watch. Chris is at the beginning of the planning stages for his trip, and I was happy to see he'd already come across the super-helpful Man in Seat 61. Keep an eye on how his trip planning progresses - he's also promising updates while he's on the road - or the rail, as the case may be. Happy traveling, Chris!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Remember I'm originally from Australia, right? Western Australia, in fact, where it never, never snows. That's the hint for why Komarno, Slovakia, has a special place in my memory.

In 2004, at the ripe old age of, well, nearly 30, I made my very first ever snowman in Komarno. My dear Slovak friend had been giving me advice for weeks, and I'd finally believed her that you did need a particular kind of snow, that "sticky" stuff that rolls up together easily. And when I reached a public park in Komarno on a quiet winter Sunday afternoon, I found a field full of sticky snow and rolled my own Slovak snowman.

I named him "Kommy", both in reference to his town of birth - the feature town of this week's article, Komarno - and to Slovakia's former mode of government. Well, at first I was just thinking of the town, and the obvious double reference took a bit longer to come, as my brain was a bit frozen. If you visit Komarno, look out for a melted pile of snowman somewhere towards the center. He's mine.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Our stereotype of Russia - particularly in winter, and especially the further east we travel - is a cold, harsh land, and sometimes that's true. Take the example in the news this week of fishermen at Sakhalin Island, the eastern-most part of Russia.

There they were, out on the ice, drilling holes and ice-fishing their hearts out, warmed by (we can only presume) large amounts of vodka. Apparently, authorities have been warning this year in particular that the ice is dangerous - a mild winter makes the risks higher. And they were right, when large chunks of ice, holding up 200 fishermen, broke off and started floating around the Sea of Okhotsk. Rescue helicopters and boats rushed to start picking them up; obviously some of the fishermen didn't get too anxious about the whole drama as the authorities described that they were "in a state of heavy alcoholic intoxication". Part of the everyday drama of life in Russia ...

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Perceptive Travel is a great online mag anytime, and this issue has one of the most delightful articles about train travel in Russia that I've ever read. Robert Reid starts his story like this:

"There's no way to know the precise percentage of Russian men who wore moustaches in the first decade of the 1700s, but if you're like me you've spent some time wondering about it."

Now if you're like me, you've probably never wondered about this at all, but don't let that stop you. The story goes on to describe his travels across Russia by train, intermingled with his quest to survey the moustache-wearing habits of modern Russian men. It even includes pie charts and bar graphs of the results of his survey! Don't be scared away by this mathematical element, head over to Searching the BAM For Russia's Lost Moustache and enjoy.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A University of California research team recently unearthed fascinating news for Russians: homo sapiens probably first colonised Europe in Russia, around 45,000 years ago.

The team of scientists were excavating sites along the Don River, 400km south of Moscow. They found stone, bones, tools made from ivory and various ornaments, and have dated these finds to between 42,000 and 45,000 years old. That makes it possible that the first humans in Europe lived in Russia.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If you want to fly into or around Eastern Europe, Czech Airlines (CSA) can be a convenient way to do so - with flights from Prague to destinations like New York, London, Paris and Amsterdam, you can easily land right in the heart of the gorgeous Czech Republic.

In the last year, passenger numbers on Czech Airlines have increased almost 5 per cent, up to 5.5 million passengers. At the same time, they've increased a number of their flights within Eastern Europe, including to Moscow, Tallinn in Estonia, Vilnius in Lithuania and Ljubljana in Slovenia. Check them out when you're planning your next trip to Eastern Europe.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

The Festival of the Arts Boca, "An Eleven Day Celebration of Music, Literature, Film, Art, Food and Wine", hits south Florida in March 2007 and we're mentioning it here because Russia gets a lot of mentions!

The Russian National Orchestra will perform at the opening concert of the festival, along with several other performances during the the week. Along with the orchestra, some impressive Russian soloists will be on stage, including singer Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Nina Kotova on the cello. Get more info at the Festival website.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Got a spare 60 million euros? Always wanted to buy a castle? Then check out the real estate pages in Romania, because Bran Castle is for sale. It's better known to the public as Dracula's Castle and because it's such a tourist hotspot, the local Brasov province council is trying to buy it. It's lasted through the centuries, after being built by the Teutonic Knights in 1212, and inspired the story of Dracula after the 15th century inhabitant Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) who impaled his victims.

During the communist era, the castle was seized by the state and was only returned to Dominic Habsburg (grandson of Queen Mary of Romania) in December last year. Although he initially agreed to sell it to the state, he's since put it on the market for the higher price (the council thinks it's worth 25 million euros). We'll see how this one plays out, but hopefully whoever ends up as the owner manages to preserve the cultural history and intrigue attached.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Cricket's that strange sport of British origins that can take up to 5 days to play: and we wouldn't expect it to be popular in Eastern Europe. But a new book from Fat Controller Media called "Slogging the Slavs", written by Angus Bell, tells another story. A recent Guardian review describes some of the stories like this:

"On an ice rink inside a former Soviet missile factory, he joins the Estonian national team, the worst international squad in the world. In Prague, he avoids fingerless Tamil Tiger fielders. In Slovakia, he plays with a team manned exclusively by gardeners. At the Slovenian border, guards try to convince him that real cricket requires the active participation of horses."

It sounds hilarious, and travel narratives based in Eastern Europe are few and far between. As soon as we get a copy of it, we'll let you know if it's a travel narrative worthy of reading before your next Eastern Europe expedition.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

For over two hundred years, thousands of Lithuanians have been gathering at Dusetos in early February to be part of the festival surrounding the traditional Sartai Winter Horse Race. While they traditionally ran at Lake Sartai, changeable winters made this location impractical, and the harness race is now held in a nearby hippodrome. Other traditions which go along with the horse race are brass bands, choirs and many people in national costumes.

This year, the big Sartai race takes place on 3 February at the Sartai Hippodrome in the Zarasai region. The festival's fair opens at 10am with the official opening and race from midday. From its beginnings, this year will be the 211th Sartai race, and the 101st official "traditional" race. With all the marketing promising an event full of "legends, stories and vivid heroes", it sounds like a Lithuanian tradition not to be missed.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A colleague this week made me green with envy as he described the Trans-Mongolian trip he and his father are planning for later in the year. On top of that, I've been teaching a bunch of wonderful Chinese students who keep enticing me to visit various parts of China. And all of that made me think of all the different possibilities for taking trains around Russia.

It's not just the Trans-Siberian. In fact, most people don't actually take the Trans-Siberian route, even when they say they do - it's the one that goes all the way to Vladivostok. The most popular trip is in fact the Trans-Mongolian, which "turns right" after Lake Baikal (if you're coming from Moscow) and heads down through Mongolia. This is a trip I've never done, but really, really want to. Do you think my colleague might take me instead of his father? But in fact, when I researched the possible routes further, I dug up another itinerary which I would really love to do - the Crimean Express through Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Oh, if only there was more time and more money! In the meantime you can get some planning tips with this week's article on Train Trips Around Russia.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

We've been giving you regular updates on the progress of Austrian runner Manfred Michlits's attempt to run around the world to raise money for children's charities, starting with a run through Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, the latest news from Manfred's camp is that the toothache problems we've been reporting on have got so bad that he's returned to Vienna to have treatment. A combination of pain and side effects of medication had slowed the running progress too much, and they never made it to Bulgaria. But, Manfred is determined to run on as soon as possible, so when his feet start pounding the pavements of Eastern Europe again, we'll make sure we tell you!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If you're the kind who loves to learn up on your destination before a big trip, then you might be a fan of the history of Russia. This vast nation has one of the most tumultuous histories around, and there's sure to be an interesting aspect for everyone.

Our feature website is a collection of links titled simply History of Russia, and hundreds of useful sites are indexed by category, from ancient Russia through Catherine the Great to Gorbachev and the present day. Moscow and St Petersburg are singled out for their own collection of links, and I found, for example, the sites dedicated to Chornobyl especially interesting.

But beware, this site isn't perfect. It looks like a non-commercial site, so we can't whinge too much, but quite a few of the links are outdated and lead to nowhere. Just the same, it's a nice way to surf around Russian history and get some background on what you'll see and hear about when you travel there.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

A funny story out of Bulgaria this week caught my eye, and it's all a result of joining the European Union on January 1, 2007. The EU accession led to the cutting of customs taxes on alcohol coming out of Bulgaria, and now there's a big demand for Boza beer.

What's so special about Boza, I hear you ask? Well, although I can neither confirm nor deny this myself, it's believed by many that drinking Boza helps to give a woman a fuller chest! Customers from neighboring Romania, in particular, are heading over the border in droves to bring back their now much cheaper Boza. In fact, it's even been snapped up by ski resort owners in Austria, if the newspaper reports are true. Please let us know if you have a chance to drink some Boza, and most importantly tell us if the results are as the folklore suggest!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

On the original plan, Manfred Michlits should be running into Bulgaria tomorrow, but he's just hoping to make it to Belgrade. That puts him 4 or 5 days behind schedule, but with tooth ache and an emergency root canal procedure, plus problems with weather, vandalized tires on the support car and roadworks at border crossings, it's hardly surprising. Just the same, Manfred's quest to run around the world in 2007 and raise money for children's charities continues, and we'll report back again when he reaches our section of Eastern Europe. Keep running, Manfred!

For previous updates, see:

• 5 January 07
• 10 December 05

And folllow his run with daily updates at the Charity Run website.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Last year we talked about traveling that isn't fun - visiting places like the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau to witness the very places where terrible tragedies occurred. The term "dark tourism" was coined about 10 years ago, and refers to travel like this; or, as the experts describe this travel trend, "tourism to sites associated with death, disaster and depravity".

Lonely Planet Bluelist's "Dark-O-Meter" gives a ranking of how "dark" you are in your traveling thoughts. With 5 levels starting at Opaque (you visit museums that include exhibitions about people who died), ranging through to a middle level of Die-Hard Dark (you visit memorials and interment sites), the last two levels are the most interesting:

"PITCH BLACK – you visit actual sites of death, but a respectful amount of time after it has happened – places like Auschwitz and the Killing Fields. This is the darkest level that is acceptable.

"TOO DARK – some people travel to watch death – public hangings, whippings and executions. Likewise, some people travel to sites that still haven't recovered from catastrophe and are not yet ready for travellers. Neither of these have any justification." (Lonely Planet Bluelist 2007)

It seems like I fit the "pitch black" definition, but never in a million years would I belong to "too darK". My experience at Auschwitz is not something I'd want to repeat in a hurry, but I'm very glad I did it, to have a better understanding of the Holocaust - a much deeper understanding than what I had just from school history lessons, reading books and watching films. But too dark? - no way. Definitely no public hangings for me.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

I love lists, and I love "world's biggest", "world's longest", "world's craziest", and anything else that gives me just one more excuse to travel somewhere. But when I thought about Eastern Europe, I couldn't think of many "world's tallest" parts. A bit of research later, it turns out I'm more or less right, but there are (and were) a few record-breaking heights in Eastern Europe:

• in the category of "tallest latice tower", Ukraine's capital Kyiv wins with its 385m TV Tower.
• the tallest supported structure in the world was the Warsaw radio mast in Poland; until it collapsed in 1991; but the radio tower in Gliwice became the tallest wooden tower after a taller one in Germany collapsed
• in the timeline of world history, St Olav's Church in Tallinn, Estonia, held the record as the world's tallest building between 1549 and 1625, before France's Strasbourg Cathedral beat it; and from 1967 until 1975, Moscow's Ostankino Tower gave the crown to Russia.

The thing is, I really like it that there's a lack of tall buildings in Eastern Europe - that's where a lot of the charm comes from. So I really hope that developments like the proposed St Petersburg skyscraper don't become the norm. Here's for Eastern Europe staying out of the tallest building record books!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

It was on a bus between Listvyanka - a small village on Russia's incredible Lake Baikal - and Irkutsk, a major city on the Trans-Siberian route - that I chatted with Kurt. He was a German traveler who came to Lake Baikal every year for his summer holidays, and the most notable thing about him was his lack of luggage. A change of shorts in a plastic bag and not much more was all he carried with him enroute to his return flight to Berlin.

He eagerly told me that he'd swum in Lake Baikal every single morning of his two-week holiday. I'd only dipped my foot in and knew it was freezing, so Kurt was one tough guy (he looked it, too!). Then things started getting a bit creepy when he told me his theory about Lake Baikal being the source of all life in the world ... and luckily, we soon arrived in Irkutsk. But if you want to know more about Lake Baikal (whichever theory of evolution you subscribe to), check this week's article, Visiting Lake Baikal.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

After reading a couple of times recently about All Cappucino in Latvia's capital city of Riga, I've decided it must be time to pass on the recommendation. This new chain has just two outlets at the moment, but like all good coffee shops they have a million variety of coffee. What they also have is funky music, a good atmosphere and even a limited menu of food (though I think eating fish and chips in a cafe is a bit odd).

The two stores are at:

• 30 Barona Street - two floors, with smoking allowed in the basement; and apparently good fish and chips!
• 11 Antonijas Street - smaller and cozier

Let us know if you have the chance to try them out.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Scene of many a tourist snap in Prague, the historical Charles Bridge is looking forward to a big year. As if it's not enough that it'll get an extensive renovation (at a cost of 100 million koruna), the Charles Bridge Museum should open in June 2007.

The founder of the museum, Zdenek Bergmann, has worked for many years in Prague as a tour guide, and now plans to open the private museum at the Square of the Knights of the Red Cross, at the foot of the bridge. It will give information about the long history of the bridge - which celebrates its 650th anniversary this year.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

You know I can never stop raving about a Trans-Siberian rail journey. For many people, myself included, this is a dream crossing and truly a trip of a lifetime. And probably not something that many people do twice ... although I'm thinking about it ...

Anyway, this week I stumbled across a great blog site put together by an Australian ABC reporter and her journalist husband as they traveled for across Russia three weeks from Vladivostok to Moscow. Detailed daily entries and nice photos make for a very readable account of a Trans-Sib crossing not dissimilar to mine. So if your New Year's Resolution is to learn more about the Trans-Siberian (and one day to really take it) then check out Emma and Paul's site here.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

If you're a traveler who can't live without their laptop and their Wifi, then Estonia is definitely the place for you. In fact, during my summer 2003 visit to Estonia, I can credit it with being the first place that I saw public wireless internet areas - whole towns were already online.

New laws beginning from January 1, 2007 increase the online nature of Estonian life even further. Rules and regulations enabling government services to be offered increasingly online are all part of the plan to make Estonia a "Net-based bureaucracy". So if you want to be online all the time, just head to Estonia!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan have recently confirmed that they will make an official visit to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during their May 2007 visit to Europe. In just a ten-day trip, they will also tour England and Sweden.

Having lived in Japan myself for two years, I can see plenty of obvious differences between the Baltic countries and Japan, but one thing they have in common is friendly, welcoming people - especially, as I often mention, in Estonia. And of course if the Emperor or Empress need any tips for their tour, they can visit us here and read all about their destinations! We'll keep you up-to-date with their exact itinerary closer to the time.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Breaking news: check our January 14 update.

Back in December we gave you an outline of Manfred Michlits's route through Eastern Europe at the start of his 2007 run around the world, raising money for worthy children's charities. His website gives daily updates of his progress, so we can now report that he's still running through Hungary, soon to head into Serbia and Montenegro.

To date, Manfred's run hasn't been without its problems: on Thursday, he stopped early rather than risk running in a dangerous area - a difficult road with many potholes, heavy traffic and no lighting. But other parts of the run have also been successful, with some 18 other runners accompanying him on the first day as he crossed the Slovak border to enter Bratislava.

Currently following the route through Hungary, Manfred's schedule has him re-entering our region of Eastern Europe on January 14 when he's due to hit Bulgaria. Stay tuned then for another update!

Posted by Amanda Kendle

You know I tend to prefer quiet places, the spots maybe less tourists know about, or at least at a time when they're not there - something like Prague's Charles Bridge at 7am, before the tour groups arrive. In Poland, the southern city of Krakow is attracting tourists in unheard of numbers, rivalling Prague and Hungarian capital Budapest as Eastern Europe's most popular destination. Does that mean I should avoid it?

No. Because like Prague and Budapest, there's a very good reason why so many people are visiting. Krakow is simply gorgeous. Whether you travel off-season, get up early or stay up late, or simply mingle with the large crowds, it's worth seeing. The best bits feature in this week's article on Krakow's Old Town Square and in the future we'll take a look at other highlights like the Wawel Castle.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

UPDATE: In July 2007, the latest European Happy Planet Index was released.

Studies that focus on happiness over wealth are always interesting to me, but of course measuring happiness is not so easy. (Should there be a "smile" index?). In any case, the New Economics Foundation recently released its ideas on the happiest (and unhappiest) countries in the world, using a measure based on current well-being and environmental impact to show "that people can live long, happy lives without using more than their fair share of the Earth's resources".

On this index, Vanuatu achieved first place, followed by mostly central and south American countries in the top ten. Where did Eastern Europe place? Well, according to this study Russia is an unhappy place, reaching just 172nd place out of 178 countries involved. Estonia and Ukraine also ranked in the bottom ten. The top performers from Eastern Europe were, in fact, Slovenia and Croatia. (And interestingly, due to its "heavy ecological footprint", the USA reached only 150th).

Posted by Amanda Kendle

Well-traveled people often love to share their knowledge and experience to help would-be travelers, and Lonely Planet's Thorntree forum is one place where many travelers help each other. But some forum contributors do more than just help a couple of people, and Ruth Imershein, known on the forum as "everbrite", has done just that: she's developed resource pages of detailed information for those who want to travel to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Whether you want to know the best place to get a visa for Belarus, what health insurance you need for a Ukraine visit or to find website links to bus, train and ferry timetables across the region, Ruth has collated the information she found was most often requested by would-be travelers. For these countries where accurate tourist information is difficult to find, these links are a God-send. You can see the everbrite pages here.

Posted by Amanda Kendle

I love to read travel narratives and novels about my favorite destinations. Recently I re-read Christopher Hope’s Moscow! Moscow!, describing his experiences of visiting Moscow during the 1980s. With two stays in Moscow under my belt since I first read it, I found a lot more familiar sights and people in the book, despite the fact that it was all pre-revolution. The stories he heard from people were often similar to what my homestay hosts told me.

And one story I especially liked in his book was this incident he observed:

In the sandy yard behind their apartment block one evening in spring, a little boy and girl were playing shop. She was the baker, he was the queue. He shuffled forward and asked for bread; she considered a line of rocks on the ground behind her and handed him a small stone loaf. He put it in his bag and paid. She shouted at him. He apologised for not having the right coins. Then they changed places.

Whether you prefer to read books like this before or after your trip, it won’t spoil it to read my review of Moscow! Moscow! first. And if you have any favorite books (fact or fiction) about Eastern Europe and Russia, let us know.