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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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Romania

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 Featured Weird Travel 

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

July 22, 2020July 4, 2021 pdg 3 Comments Corvin Castle, Hunedoara, Hunedoara Steel Works, Hunyadi Castle, Romania, Transylvania

It has everything you’d ever want in a medieval castle. There’s only one problem: It’s in the middle of a giant steel mill.

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Europe 

The Girl Fair: Matchmaking centuries before Tinder

October 7, 2019September 20, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Apuseni Mountains, Avram Iancu, Girl Fair, Maiden Fair, Mount Găina, Romania, Târgul de Fete, Tinder

Long before dating apps Romanian villagers would bring their daughters to a remote mountaintop in the hope of finding love.

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Europe Top stories Weird Travel 

The Merry Cemetery: Where folk art conquers grief

August 24, 2019December 28, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Cimitirul Vesel, Maramureş, Merry Cemetery, Romania, Săpânţa, Sighetu Maramaţiei

Anyone who tries to tell you death is no laughing matter clearly hasn’t been to Romania’s Merry Cemetery.

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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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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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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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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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