f_jensen_at_sdr.vinge, Flickr
AKA: Fete Nationale du Quebec (Canada), Kupala Day (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland), Festa Junina (Brazil), Foguera de San Xuan (Brazil), Jaanilaupaev (Estonia), Saint Jonas' Festival (Lithuania), Jani (Latvia), Dia de Sao Joao (Portugal), ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Ukraine
Better Know A Holiday: St. John's Day (And Eve)
f_jensen_at_sdr.vinge, Flickr
AKA: Fete Nationale du Quebec (Canada), Kupala Day (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland), Festa Junina (Brazil), Foguera de San Xuan (Brazil), Jaanilaupaev (Estonia), Saint Jonas' Festival (Lithuania), Jani (Latvia), Dia de Sao Joao (Portugal), ...Eurovision 2013: All Of Europe Under One Roof
Alex Robertson Textor
Launched in 1956, Eurovision is a Europe-wide music competition held every May under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Participating countries select their representative songs over the course of the preceding winter and spring. ...A Review Of The Best American Travel Writing 2012
Tijuana. Chernobyl. Sicily's mafioso strongholds. Cairo's Garbage City. The contaminated holy waters of Varanasi, India. Bosnia. Norway's frozen tundra. These might not be the places you'd like to visit on your next holiday, but you will want to read about them in the latest ...A Traveler In The Foreign Service: Europe's 'Most Beautiful' Women And Other Reasons To Love Bulgaria
I had to go to Bulgaria just to see if Bill Bryson was full of crap. In his book, "Neither Here Nor There," published in 1991, Bryson wrote, "Sofia has, without any doubt, the most beautiful women in Europe." I was in college when I read the book, and at the tail end of the ...Photos Of Cool Cliff Castles
Nobody minds seeing photos of dreamy castles, especially if the photos are of cool cliff castles. Towering over steep slated valleys and crashing waves, Woman's Day has a great roundup of these kinds of castles on their website here. Featuring castles in Ukraine, Italy, ...Holistic Healing Practices From Around The World
Nowadays, it seems like there's a pill or shot to cure every illness. But do we really know how safe these unnatural remedies are? Throughout my travels and by talking with locals from other cultures, I've learned there are many natural treatments that are also effective in ...Budget Vacation Guide 2012: Kiev, Ukraine
This summer, soccer fans from around the world will flock to Ukraine when the country co-hosts UEFA Euro2012 with Poland for the very first time. There's no better time to visit the capital city of Kiev, which has spent the past few years beefing up its tourist ...Gallery: More travel sketches from BBC's Tim Baynes
We wrote yesterday about Tim Baynes' delightful travel sketches from around the world on BBC and liked them so much we came back for more. You can (and should!) get lost for hours looking at his drawings on Flickr with fun anecdotes and scribbles bringing depth and humor ...Illegal animal smuggler busted in Thai airport
A man identified only as a citizen of the United Arab Emirates was arrested in the international airport in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday for the illegal smuggling of animals. At the time of his arrest, he had several suitcases which contained two baby leopards, two panthers, ...Knocked up abroad: second trimester travel
Not far along enough for second trimester travel? Read more about pregnancy in a foreign country, Turkish prenatal care, travel in the first trimester,Turkish superstitions, and foreign baby names on Knocked up abroad.
A few years ago, before the word staycation ...The world's ten creepiest abandoned cities
Some cities die. The people leave, the streets go quiet, and the isolation takes on the macabre shape of a forlorn ghost-town - crumbling with haunting neglect and urban decay. From Taiwan to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, these abandoned cities lurk ...Observe the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl searching for radioactive beasts with VBS
25 years ago today, a catastrophic nuclear disaster took place at the Chernobyl power plant in the city of Pripyat. Haunted by the specter of radiation, the one time city transformed into a spread of creepy abandoned buildings and one of the most poisonous places on the ...
Bizarre foods: European "delicacies," by country
What constitutes "food" is relative, depending upon what part of the world you call home. In Asia, pretty much anything on no (snakes), two, four, six, or eight legs is up for grabs. Europe, however, has its own culinary oddities, as detailed below. Got maggots?
...Five ways to get more European stamps in your passport
Lake Ohrid, Macedonia.
Yesterday, I wrote about the fact that European passport stamps have become harder and harder to get. The expansion of the Schengen zone has reduced the number of times tourists are compelled to show their passports to immigration officials. For ...Travel then and now: Travel to the USSR and GDR
This year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet Union and 21 years since the reunification of Germany. While citizens of the USSR and GDR were unable to travel abroad and restricted in domestic travel, foreign travelers were permitted under a controlled ...Knocked up abroad: getting pregnant in a foreign country
My first clue that something was different came when I woke up one night on vacation in Kiev at 3am, proceeded to eat 3 slices of toast with caviar spread, went back to bed and woke up a few hours later wondering if they made blueberry muffins in Ukraine (tragicially, they ...Aquarium crocodile swallows cell phone
A visitor to an aquarium in the Ukraine was trying to take a picture of a crocodile with her cell phone when she dropped it right into the creature's mouth, the BBC reports.
Last month at an aquarium in Dnipropetrovsk, Rimma Golovko reached her hand towards Gena the ...The sushi invasion of Eastern Europe
Traveling through Eastern Europe recently, what stood out to me the most (aside from ultra low prices and varying success with capitalism) is the extreme popularity of sushi. Particularly in Kiev and Warsaw, sushi restaurants are nearly as prolific as the national cuisine ...Five great European budget-friendly travel sites
Practical, how-to budget travel advice is indispensible. There's something particularly valuable about travel advice that opposes the emphasis on expensive hotels and other forms of high-end consumption that characterizes the contemporary travel media, perhaps especially in ...12 historic sites in danger of disappearing
The Global Heritage Fund has released a new report that lists 200 World Heritage Sites around the globe that are in danger from a variety of threats, turning the spotlight on 12 in particular that could disappear altogether due to a lack of funds, neglect, and mismanagement. ...
