I just got back from Croatia where I went for many walks along the Adriatic Sea, looking at the sunset and thinking back on the history of these waters. The eastern shore of the sea, which is today Croatia, was once inhabited by Illyrians. After a short colonization by the Greeks, it was time for the Romans to enter.
It’s currently a scorching 30 degrees in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. We’ve been trying to escape the heat by all means necessary, which would include beaches and sweets.
Today I’m in Porto, the birthplace of port wine in northern Portugal. The Alto Douro wine country is the oldest demarcated wine region on the planet and even the Romans made wine on the banks of the Douro river.
After spending time in Swiss cities such as Zürich and Bern, the town of Luzern surprisingly turns out to be the prettiest of them all. It feels more like a town in northern Italy than a Swiss one. Surrounded by snow-clad alps, Luzern features towers, medieval walls, wooden bridges and waterfront promenades.
So what’s up in Liechtenstein these days? Not much, it seems. With a population of 35000, this country is one of the smallest there is. Today I’ve been strolling through the capital Vaduz, a small town along the Rhine with 5000 inhabitants.
I’m currently in Munich, the heart of Bavaria. While it’s the most popular city in Germany to live with high living standards and a bustling economy, unfortunately many associate the name with the tragic events of 1972. During the Olympic Games 17 people were killed in a terrorist incident.
After recently spending time in Ukraine and Moldova, it felt odd to enter the polished streets of Bucharest with its sprawling boulevards and Arch of Triumph. It is a strange mix of western architecture and communist style buildings.
We’ve just arrived in Chisinau after a fuming bus journey from Odessa in Ukraine. We took extra care to avoid the territory of Transnistria, which covers most of the Ukrainian border. It seems to be locked in some sort of post-Soviet conflict with Moldova and we were advised not to receive any passport stamps there, despite the soothing soundtrack of “Moldavia” by Front 242.
The soundtrack of the day was Radioactivity by Kraftwerk, as we rolled into Chernobyl this morning. I felt a slight chill at the sight of the empty streets of Pripyat. The silence. The abandoned Ferris wheel. The grass where children will never play again. Soviet rural life locked in time.
Welcome to part 2 of my quest for finding movie locations around the world! Left images are from the actual films and to the right are my visits to the spots.
