And so, two months after getting onto a train in Beijing, I got off one in Luxembourg. As easy as that really. That brings me to the end of my Silk Road journey. The Silk Road of course never was one road, but a network of trade routes, that criss-crossed their way across Asia between Europe and China and branched off to Persia and India. Most people at the time would also never have travelled all the way, but rather just a portion of the route before passing on their goods to the next trader. Neither was my own route necessarily [View Full Entry]

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Greece is a homecoming. I'm not sure whether it's my secret affinity for all things Greek, my arrival in a country I had been to before, or the fact that for the first time since leaving China I can summon up the courage to order a coffee in the local language without holding a phrasebook behind my back. But with the sun shining and a view over the Mediterranean it is very hard to wipe a smile off your face. Which is equally difficult when you sail into Venice shortly after daybreak, pick up a cappuccino and brioche in a small [View Full Entry]

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At the train station in Istanbul I learn that the Orient Express only operates once a year these days, and tickets can only be purchased return from Paris. Well, having left my top hat behind I may not be adequately dressed anyway, so I settle for an overnight train to Thessaloniki instead. And so, safely in Schengen territory, that closes the crossing borders feature on this blog! [View Full Entry]

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Back on the more or less straight line between Beijing and Rome! [View Full Entry]

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Arriving at the north east corner of the big rectangle that is Turkey, the most direct path to Istanbul is of course along the Black Sea coast. But when you find yourself in that north east corner of Turkey, it is hard not to be tempted to see a bit more of this vast country, and so I decided to loop through it in a big U shape until I finally reached Istanbul. Three things strike me about Turkey: First, how diverse this beautiful country is: from the Georgian Valleys in the far east to the mountainous area around Erzerum, from [View Full Entry]

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Sarp is a busy border crossing: with the border between Turkey and Armenia closed because of the current political climate, all traffic travelling between the two countries and indeed between Europe and the Caucasus goes through Georgia. It's a fairly straight forward process, it just involves queuing for a couple of hours. Or rather fending your territory in the mob and try to stop every man and his dog from pushing in before you. As I had already discovered in the Baku train station, queueing culture has not yet arrived on the Caucasus. At the Turkish border post, they have tried [View Full Entry]

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Georgia: country of adorable towns, stunning mountains, sea side resorts and cheese pies. Lots of cheese pies. Khatchapuri come in all shapes and sizes, must weigh at least a pound and are delicious. They appear at all times of the day and might feature by themselves or as part of a bigger meal. They also seem to contain something that stops you from realising how many you have eaten until they physically weigh you down to the point that you cannot move. The next day you try to restrain yourself, but then again, you are in Georgia and should you not [View Full Entry]

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This is the first border that I did not have to cross on foot! Instead I was in the comfort of a train compartment (not a Chinese import this time, I think..), which I shared with a merry old Azeri. He offered me one of the many cans of beer he was carrying and made delightful conversation to me in Russian. The fact that I declined his beer and barely understood a word of what he said did not seem to matter to him too much. His daughter, fluent in English, gave up translating after a while and put him to [View Full Entry]

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Arriving from the east, Baku seems like the gateway to Europe: a quaint European style old town with cobble stone alleys and narrow side streets, big squares and fountains, cafes and restaurants - in all a lovely place to spend a few days. The slight distraction are all the oil fields. Oil and gas are the country's main assets, and perhaps what it is most known for, and step out of the old town and you can see oil pumps all around, in the sea, across the harbour, and just in land. I team up with Graham, a Brit who turns [View Full Entry]

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If it takes a beer to tie you over the wait trying to get into Turkmenistan, bring a keg when you're trying to get out. Granted, I did not fly out from Ashgabat airport like most tourists would. Instead I took an overnight train (clearly Chinese manufactured - strangely familiar!) to Turkmenbashi, the coastal city in the far west, to get a boat across the Caspian Sea to Baku. I knew that this would not be a straight forward affair: there is no timetable for the boats, they simply leave as soon as they are loaded with cargo. If there is [View Full Entry]

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