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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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Czech Republic

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 Comments Bohemia, Czech Republic, Kutná Hora, Sedlec Abbey, Sedlec Ossuary

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

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Europe Photos 

Czechostalgia: A photographic ramble through 1990s Bohemia

August 28, 2021August 28, 2021 pdg 0 Comments České Budějovice, Český Krumlov, Charles Bridge, Czech Republic, Czechia, Czechoslovakia, Novohradské hory, Prague, South Bohemia, Šumava, Temelín, Vltava

Snow-covered landscapes, peeling plasterwork and views from my window: A sentimental selection of photos from Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic in the early 1990s.

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Europe 

Far from home: The Czechs of Romania’s Banat Mountains

April 14, 2021April 26, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Balkans, Banat, Czech Republic, Romania, Rovensko

How a familiar tune in a remote corner of the Balkans led a hiker to rediscover a long-lost ethnic minority.

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Europe 

Bagpipes in Bohemia: A festival full of surpises

September 7, 2019September 10, 2021 pdg 0 Comments Czech Republic, Czechia, International Bagpipe Festival, Mezinárodní dudácký festival, Strakonice

The world’s biggest bagpipe festival is not in Scotland but in an obscure, post-industrial town in the Czech Republic.

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Europe Photos 

Bohemia’s bagpipe festival in pictures

April 21, 2019September 20, 2020 pdg 0 Comments bagpipes, Czech Republic, International Bagpipe Festival, Strakonice

Every two years the International Bagpipe Festival draws pipers from all over Europe — and occasionally from as far away as New Zealand — to a small town in the Czech Republic.

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Photos Weird Travel 

Phone booths of the world

June 25, 2018August 31, 2021 pdg 12 Comments Armenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Hungary, Iran, Laos, Macedonia, New Zealand, phone booth, Portugal, Romania, Spain, telephone, Ukraine, USA, Vanuatu

The phone booth has, tragically, become an endangered species — hence my mission to preserve these once ubiquitous features of our urban landscape through photography.

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Europe Featured Weird Travel 

The strange case of the giant underpants

May 26, 2018June 2, 2022 pdg 2 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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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

Auckland’s island escape: Great Barrier’s Aotea Track
New Zealand 

Auckland’s island escape: Great Barrier’s Aotea Track

June 5, 2022June 5, 2022 pdg 0

The island boasts spectacular beaches, hot springs, raucous birdlife and lush forest — and it’s just half an hour from Auckland by plane.

Fiordland’s Hollyford Valley: A walk back in time
New Zealand 

Fiordland’s Hollyford Valley: A walk back in time

April 6, 2022April 7, 2022 pdg 0
The Hunger Diary: My father and the Dutch famine
Europe 

The Hunger Diary: My father and the Dutch famine

March 26, 2022March 28, 2022 pdg 2
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

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

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

Towering monuments, vibrant cities, and a national identity which has somehow survived Soviet oppression and a turbulent history — those are a few of my memories from a trip to Ukraine long before the Russian invasion.

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 Top stories 

Albania in pictures

September 13, 2021October 4, 2021 pdg 0
Czechostalgia: A photographic ramble through 1990s Bohemia
Europe Photos 

Czechostalgia: A photographic ramble through 1990s Bohemia

August 28, 2021August 28, 2021 pdg 0
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