Europe

Like so many before me, my love of travel was forged on a cobbled backstreet somewhere in Europe.

Family trips to the UK and Italy left a strong impression on me as a child and later inspired my first ‘Eurotrip’, which I spent driving around Spain and ticking off Western Europe’s postcard cities.

These days, I prefer to explore Europe at a slower pace, focusing on train travel and lesser-visited cities in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the Balkans and the Caucasus. But it only takes a bowl of hand-made pasta or the sound of church bells at dawn to remind me why the Old Continent keeps drawing me back.

Whether it’s bath time in Budapest, laundry day in Lisbon or tapas hour in Toledo, Europe is always a good idea.