Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city and one that just does not get the recognition it deserves from international travelers. This is a guide to the best things to do in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The moment I stepped foot in Kharkiv, I knew I was going to love the city and that it would become one of […]
Category Archives: Central & Eastern Europe
Once upon a time, I sat in Riga, Latvia for two weeks waiting for a visa to Belarus. A visa that ended up being invalid, but nevertheless, I still had two weeks to hang around Latvia’s capital city and also time for a short couple of days in Daugavpils. I really should have followed a […]
While Riga is famous for its nightlife, lip-smacking dishes, the Central Market and Vecriga (the Old Town), there are other jaw-dropping spots not everyone recommends to tourists. If you haven’t still eaten those baked piragis or potato pancakes to heart full, pack them up- I am taking you on a tour of unusual things to […]
I am very picky about where I choose to stay and especially where I choose to stay and recommend to my readers. A sweet spot for me is a hotel that is environmentally friendly or a hotel that just has a cool and hip atmosphere. It is very rare that you find a hotel that […]
Ukraine, Inspiration, Soviet History & Architecture
Slavutych, Ukraine: The Soviet City Built for Chernobyl Refugees
I have witnessed the Chernobyl disaster go from being a globally-recognized mass tragedy to a clichéd source of trite tourism where travelers go in with their cameras hugging their hips, all ready to shoot the perfect photo (which has inevitably been taken 3,790 times already that same month) for bragging rights about how they visited such a creepy […]
Ukraine, Soviet History & Architecture, Things to Do
Duga: The Russian Woodpecker inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Soviets never did anything in an unostentatious manner. Not even radars that were supposed to be kept a secret from the rest of the world. Such is the case with “Duga” (meaning “arc” in English), commonly known as the Russian Woodpecker. I have long had a desire to travel to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. […]