Austria’s Benedictine Melk Abbey Lest you think Austria’s Wachau Valley is all bike trips and vineyards and crumbling castles, it seems worth mentioning that there are quite a lot of ancient monastic orders that have set up shop in the region as well. There are around 50 historic abbeys in […]
The Kutna Hora Bone Church: Life, Death, and Silver in Bohemia At first glance, Kutna Hora seems like any other once-prosperous European town. Big churches, beautiful cobblestone streets, and a central square that serves as the heart of the city and the center of life. If you haven’t ever heard […]
Klosterneuburg Stift: The Vienna Monastery you SHOULD be Visiting. Like most wine-drinking religion-enthusiasts, you’ll probably visit some sort of historic monastic abbey if you’re spending more than just a few days in Vienna. They have religion and culture, after all, including the sort of culture that leads to fermentation and […]
Rustem Pasa Mosque Another of the greatest buildings in Istanbul that I’d never quite gotten around to visiting, the Rustem Pasa Mosque is tucked just between the Spice Bazaar (tons of tourists) and the Suleymaniye Mosque (lots of tourists) yet gets only a tiny fraction of the visitors of either of […]
Crete E4: Ancient Lissos Ruins As I descend down the coastal route of the E4, the ruined city of Lissos doesn’t look like much. I could see a couple of tourists on the tiny beach, the rocky outline of a small church, and what I’d hoped would be a functioning […]
I actually did the westernmost stretch of the Crete E4, from Elafonisi to Paleochora, as a one day round-trip from Paleochora. Which is a shame, really, because it means I didn’t get to spend any time on the best beach in Crete! By the time actually got to Elafonisi, it […]
Hey there! I'm Stephen, this is my travel blog, and that's me in the poofy hat.
I'm a photographer / writer traveling since 2008, and I've been doing my best to visit amazing places.
My current focus is Central Asia, because for a hiking and camping enthusiast it's as good as it gets.