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Ramblings

Ramblings

Photos, travel stories, reportage and random stuff from New Zealand and around the world by Peter de Graaf

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Europe

Europe 

Romania’s singing sheepdogs

August 28, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Maramureş, Romania, sheepdogs, Sighetu Marmației

One of my favourite experiences during my last visit to Romania involved a chance encounter with a shepherd, a pack of singing sheepdogs and a 19th-century-style road crash involving a horse-drawn cart.

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Europe 

Inside the world’s second biggest wine cellar

July 4, 2018September 10, 2021 pdg 2 Comments Chișinău, Cricova, Mileștii Mici, Moldova, wine, world's biggest wine cellar

The two biggest biggest wine cellars in the world are in … France? Italy? California’s Napa Valley? The former Soviet republic of Moldova? The answer might surprise you.

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Africa Europe 

Best and worst hotels

June 29, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 2 Comments Axum, Chișinău, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, Harar, hotels, Kibuye, Moldova, Muscat, Oman, Picos de Europa, Romania, Rwanda, Spain, Tiraspol, Transnistria

My pick of best and worst accommodation ranging from a flash eco-resort to a chicken coop.

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Europe Featured New Zealand 

The far-reaching wake of the waka

May 27, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 0 Comments Leiden, Museum Volkenkunde, Netherlands, Te Hono ki Aotearoa, Te Papa, waka

What makes a group of Dutch students so passionate about Māori culture that they travel halfway around the world each year to take part in Waitangi Day festivities?

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Europe Featured Weird Travel 

The strange case of the giant underpants

May 26, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 4 Comments Czech Republic, Czechia, Miloš Zeman, Prague castle, underpants, Ztohoven

How I ended up with a piece of the Czech president’s flag.

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Europe 

A pilgrimage to the birthplace of beer

May 23, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 0 Comments beer, brewing, Budvar, Budweis, České Budějovice, Pilsen, Pilsner Urquell, Plzeň, Plzeňský Prazdroj, Václav Havel

A 19th century uprising against bad beer, in what is now the Czech Republic, led to the invention of the golden lager we know and love today.

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Europe 

God’s brewers

May 21, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Achelse Kluis, beer, Belgium, Trappist

Belgium’s Trappist monks make some of the best beer in the world – but forget trying to watch these pious brewers at work.

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Europe New Zealand 

Hundertwasser in Holland: ‘Your loss is our gain’

May 20, 2018March 12, 2022 pdg 4 Comments Hundertwasser, Kindervallei, Netherlands, New Zealand, Valkenburg, Wellington, Whangarei

How a ‘New Zealand monument’ designed by eccentric Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser ended up being built in Holland instead.

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Europe Weird Travel 

The love boat

May 19, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Black Sea, Istanbul, Moldova, Odessa, prostitution, Turkey, Ukraine

The author accidentally finds himself on a ship shuttling Eastern European sex workers to the brothels of Istanbul.

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Europe 

North Wales in 48-and-a-bit hours

May 12, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Anglesey Island, Caernarfon, Conwy, Llanberis, Llandudno, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Mt Snowdon, Portmeirion, Tre’r Ceiri, Wales

In just over two days the author stumbles over more castles than he can count, a very small house, a very long place name, some of the best scenery in Britain, and an astonishing 5000 years of history.

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Europe 

On an Italian mountain high

May 12, 2018September 19, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Bolzano, Dolomites, hiking, Italy

In Italy’s Dolomite Mountains hiking doesn’t mean you have to go without the good things in life.

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Europe 

No ordinary hole

May 11, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 0 Comments Big Pit, Blaenafon, National Mining Museum, Newport, Wales

The birthplace of the Industrial Revolution is more than slag heaps and old coal mines.

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Europe Weird Travel 

Last bus to Shqipëria

May 11, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 0 Comments Albania, Kukës, Tirana

Two weeks amid the post-communist shambles and spectacular scenery of Albania.

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Europe New Zealand 

Following in Sir Ed’s footsteps

May 7, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 0 Comments Edmund Hillary, Mt Everest, Pen-y-Gwryd, Snowdonia, Wales

When inclement weather stopped the great Sir Edmund Hillary training for Everest on the peaks of Snowdonia National Park, he’d practice on a stack of chairs in a Welsh pub instead.

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About Ramblings

Kia ora and welcome to Ramblings, a fairly random collection of travel stories, photos and reportage from New Zealand and around the world by Peter de Graaf. I’m a reporter and occasional travel writer based in Kerikeri, a small town in New Zealand’s Far North. Read more...

LATEST

How to ride New Zealand’s Timber Trail without blowing your budget — or busting a gut
New Zealand 

How to ride New Zealand’s Timber Trail without blowing your budget — or busting a gut

January 15, 2023January 20, 2023 pdg 0

Ancient podocarp forest, soaring suspension bridges and oodles of history make the Timber Trail one of New Zealand’s best cycling experiences.

‘We can hear ourselves think again’: Stillness descends on Mangamuka as highway closes for the second time in two years
New Zealand 

‘We can hear ourselves think again’: Stillness descends on Mangamuka as highway closes for the second time in two years

December 1, 2022January 18, 2023 pdg 0
“We were starving”: How my aunties saved their family from famine
Europe Featured 

“We were starving”: How my aunties saved their family from famine

August 6, 2022August 15, 2022 pdg 0
Jordan in pictures
Middle East Photos Top stories 

Jordan in pictures

July 1, 2022August 6, 2022 pdg 0

WEIRD TRAVEL

The Bone Church of Kutná Hora: Final resting place of 40,000 people or macabre tourist attraction?
Europe Weird Travel 

The Bone Church of Kutná Hora: Final resting place of 40,000 people or macabre tourist attraction?

November 18, 2021November 19, 2021 pdg 0

The monks of Sedlec Abbey, in what is now the Czech Republic, turned a problem into a morbid masterpiece.

Is this the world’s most bizarre place for a castle?
Europe Featured Weird Travel 

Is this the world’s most bizarre place for a castle?

July 22, 2020July 4, 2021 pdg 3
The Merry Cemetery: Where folk art conquers grief
Europe Top stories Weird Travel 

The Merry Cemetery: Where folk art conquers grief

August 24, 2019December 28, 2020 pdg 0
Is this the world’s strangest parade?
Europe Photos Weird Travel 

Is this the world’s strangest parade?

August 11, 2019September 20, 2020 pdg 0

PHOTOS

Jordan in pictures
Middle East Photos Top stories 

Jordan in pictures

July 1, 2022August 6, 2022 pdg 0

Proud desert dwellers, extraordinary hospitality, and the ancient, rock-hewn city of Petra: Just three of the reasons you need to visit Jordan.

Ukraine revisited: Invasion rekindles memories of long-ago trip
Europe Photos 

Ukraine revisited: Invasion rekindles memories of long-ago trip

March 20, 2022March 20, 2022 pdg 0
Egypt in pictures
Africa Photos 

Egypt in pictures

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021 pdg 0
Cambodia in pictures
Asia Photos 

Cambodia in pictures

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021 pdg 0
Albania in pictures
Europe Photos 

Albania in pictures

September 13, 2021August 6, 2022 pdg 0
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