Europe – The Travelogue.

Istria, Croatia and Slovenia

Gavin Greene — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 08:14:50 +0000

Our plan was to explore the whole peninsula, taking in a little of each country, eating the local food, pottering around sleepy villages and playing cards in smoky mountaintop cafés. The small coastal town of Rovinj in Croatia was our first stop, a picture-perfect terracotta roofed town jutting out into the Mediterranean. It was the end of September when we arrived, and the summer’s days had…

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Belgrade, Serbia

Gavin Greene — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Now it’s fair to say that Belgrade isn’t a particularly pretty city. It’s quite grey, graffiti-strewn and full of concrete buildings. But I grew to really like the place. Day one started exactly how a minibreak should, with some tiny coffees, a plate of cevapi and a wander around Belgrade Fortress. We eventually found Collins and went for some afternoon beers for a proper catch-up before the…

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Pelion, Greece

Gavin Greene — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:00:00 +0000

We had booked a small apartment up in the hills over the small village of Afissos, and met our host in the village square to follow his 4×4 up into the mountains, our little rental car whining up the hill in first gear. Every so often I felt brave and changed up into second gear, before we’d shudder to a halt, forcing me back into first. The gearbox smelt of sprouts for the rest of the trip.

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Skopelos, Greece

Gavin Greene — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 21:00:00 +0000

We landed at Thessaloniki, picked up a hire car and headed a few hours south to the port of Volos for the night. The next morning we rose early and boarded the first ferry to Skopelos, left the car and I headed up to the deck to soak up the sea air while Nicola snoozed on a bench. As I breathed it all in, I spotted a few dolphins leaping out of the water, crossing just behind the boat.

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Istanbul, Turkey

Gavin Greene — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 11:35:01 +0000

We had booked a few nights at the Galata Istanbul Hotel MGallery, just on the edge of Beyo?lu. A converted bank, the hotel opened about a year ago and promised a great breakfast buffet, views over the old town, and a comfortable bed, all for a fairly reasonable price. The area of Beyoglu also came highly-recommended, as the home of good restaurants, bars and life away from the tourist traps.

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Budapest, Hungary

Gavin Greene — Wed, 22 May 2019 13:00:51 +0000

It turns out my friends are terrible at keeping secrets, so seventeen of us arrived at London Gatwick, and I pretended to be shocked that we were going to Budapest. I’d never been to Hungary, so wasn’t really sure what to expect. And it turns out it’s a beautiful place. For some reason, I had expected Eastern European, communist-style stark concrete architecture. But the long tree-lined streets…

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Berlin, Germany

Gavin Greene — Wed, 15 May 2019 12:30:52 +0000

A few hours later, the seven of us arrived in Berlin to make the most of Andy’s last days of freedom before the shackles of marriage closed around his ankles. Or whatever shackles do. Our first activity was a trip around Berlin on a beer bike, an unwieldy but somehow roadworthy vehicle with a set of pedals for everyone, and a local chap in charge of steering. On one side of the bike a beer…

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Bruges, Belgium

Gavin Greene — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 13:30:56 +0000

For a few months, Nicola’s friend Rosie and I had been secretly plotting to whisk the birthday girl off for a surprise weekend away. The plan was for Rosie and her husband Darren to surprise Nicola at the station, then we would all board the Eurostar for a few days in Belgium. Nicola and I arrived early at St. Pancras, and after a brief argument where I tried to buy four croissants and was…

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