Skip to content

johnelsewhere

Thoughtful wanderer in search of virtual meaning

  • Home
  • Iceland
    • Reykjavík
      • Culture
        • Live Music
        • Museums and Galleries
        • Street Art
        • Sculptures
      • Eat and Drink
        • Bars and Clubs
        • Burgers and Bites
        • Capital Cafes
        • Reykjavík Restaurants
      • Outside
      • Laugavegur
      • Outside Reykjavík
    • The Reykjanes Peninsula
    • Route 1 – The Ring Road
    • The Golden Circle
    • South Iceland
    • Beyond Vík to Jökulsárlón and Höfn
    • The Eastfjords
    • The North East
    • Akureyri, Mývatn and North Iceland
    • The Northern Peninsulas
    • The Westfjords
    • The Snæfellsnes Peninsula
    • Vestmannaeyjar
  • Elsewhere
    • Amsterdam
    • Athens
    • Berlin
    • Bilbao and Beyond
    • Bruges and Flanders Fields
    • Copenhagen
    • Istanbul
    • Lisbon
    • Marseille
    • Marrakech and Essaouira
    • Milan and Lake Como
    • Munich, Innsbruck and Salzburg
    • New York
    • Paris
    • Prague
    • Porto
    • Rome
    • Rotterdam
    • Seville
    • Sofia and Borovets
    • Stockholm
  • In Praise Of…
    • Skógafoss
  • Contact

Stormy Weather

On October 27, 2020October 27, 2020 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

Not every road trip in Iceland is fun. I took this picture while driving around the Snæfellsnes peninsula for the first time during my first Airwaves festival, in November 2015. I thought it would be a good idea to nip up and see Kirkjufell for the first time, with plenty of time to get there …

Continue reading Stormy Weather

Identity Crisis

On September 7, 2019September 7, 2019 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

“What does it mean to be British now?” An unexpected question, put to me by one of my Airbnb hosts a few days ago, which has been rolling around in my head ever since. Five weeks of roaming around Europe by train, moving from one country and culture to another, visiting places freighted with history …

Continue reading Identity Crisis

Kraków

On August 12, 2019August 12, 2019 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

When I first thought about going on the European Train Odyssey©, all sorts of potential itineraries started floating around in my head. Adding the Greta Thunberg element of trying to do the whole travel thing in a slightly more sustainable way soon put paid to a Scandinavian leg, as there apparently wasn't a way to …

Continue reading Kraków

Warsaw

On August 8, 2019August 8, 2019 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." That insight, from the American writer Henry Miller, is of course just another way of saying the usual thing that people say about travel - that it broadens the mind. Over the last few years, I've sat down in bars …

Continue reading Warsaw

London to Warsaw

On August 6, 2019 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

The first stage of the European Train Odyssey is nearly complete, as I trundle through bucolic Polish countryside at a decent click on Deutsche Bahn's Eurocity EC43 service from Berlin towards Warsaw. Don't worry - that will probably be the last time I make a note of the actual train numbers... By the time I …

Continue reading London to Warsaw

Riding The Rails

On August 5, 2019August 5, 2019 By johnelsewhere19686 Comments

About 18 months ago, I started this blog by quoting the opening paragraphs of one of my favourite books, John Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charley”, as a perfect evocation of my desire to be elsewhere. It went like this: “When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was …

Continue reading Riding The Rails

To Santiago

On May 24, 2019May 24, 2019 By johnelsewhere19686 Comments

The morning after the night before and there was a decidedly odd atmosphere at La Calabaza del Peregrino as people began to stir around 6am. Albergue life requires a certain degree of tolerance, but it was becoming apparent that one or two dormitory denizens might have reached the end of their tether. One of these …

Continue reading To Santiago

This Woman’s Work

On May 20, 2019May 20, 2019 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

Many years ago, I found myself weekly wallowing in the wonderful words expressed by the venerable Australian writer Clive James in a series of podcasts for the BBC, which covered a multiplicity of subjects, but which largely sought to focus on the overarching benefits of liberal democracy for those of us lucky enough to actually …

Continue reading This Woman’s Work

A Pilgrim Dinner…or two

On May 16, 2019 By johnelsewhere19681 Comment

After the odd start to the day before with a temporary incarceration in Arcade, my desayuno at Hotel Rúas in Pontevedra was similarly unusual in that it included a drunken floorshow provided by a local couple who had clearly been drinking all night on a Sunday evening and a Monday morning. They were now attempting, …

Continue reading A Pilgrim Dinner…or two

To Pontevedra

On May 16, 2019May 17, 2019 By johnelsewhere1968Leave a comment

The seventh day of the Portugués started off in unusual circumstances as I found myself actually locked inside my hotel, somewhat stymied in my attempt to make an early Sunday morning start on the road to Pontevedra. This sort of thing just doesn't happen in albergues. I might have understood the detention policy if it …

Continue reading To Pontevedra

Posts navigation

Older posts
Blog at WordPress.com.
johnelsewhere
Blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×