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| Beyond Prague: 8 undiscovered Eastern European cities Posted: 19 Jun 2013 11:00 PM PDT Budapest, Kiev, Prague? Been there, got the burger. These lesser-known cities still offer frontier thrills  Once frontier travel territory, Eastern Europe has officially been discovered. Or so you'd think if you visited only places such as Prague, Budapest and Kiev. Thankfully, much of Eastern Europe remains way off the tourist radar -- including a lot of cities you'd actually want to visit. Visiting these 10 lesser-traveled Eastern centers can still make you feel like you've stepped into a John le Carré novel, mid-winter. Poznan, Poland
Best for: Food scene Noisy and invigorating, Poznan is fast gaining a reputation as the best city in Poland to sample the nation's famously robust cuisine. Amid fine squares, cobbled streets and tramways of the Old Town, you'll find restaurants with earthy yet skilfully prepared dishes such as perogi (boiled pastry balls filled with anything from cottage cheese to mince and mushrooms) and golonka (tender roast pork knuckle served with horseradish sauce). Culinary explorations are best begun in the side streets around Stary Rynek square. Here you'll find current al fresco favorite Ratuszova (Stary Rynek 55; +48 61 8510 513), with large portions and a bohemian crowd. With just three tables, Vine Bridge (6 Ostrówek; +48 61 8750 934) is the nation's smallest restaurant. It serves modern twists on ancient dishes such as bear claw -- minus the claw, nowadays -- and "meat in clay." When you're not eating: The strange-looking monument covered in numbers in front of Zamek Castle is dedicated to the team of Poznan University graduates who cracked the Enigma code during World War II. More about Poznan. Odessa, Ukraine
Best for: Hedonism With its reputation as the party capital of the former Soviet Union, the Black Sea port of Odessa is nonetheless surprisingly little known to Westerners. Locals and visitors gather at the Potemkin Steps (immortalized in the Soviet cinematic masterpiece "Battleship Potemkin") and soak in the sun on sandy Lanzheron Beach. As for clubs, you won't go wrong at one of the glitzy and totally unhinged venues on Yekaterininskaya Street. And to replenish the brain cells: The Pushkin Literary Museum (13 Pushkinskaya St.; +380 25 10 34) commemorates the great writer's time in the city, which inspired him to write one of his best known poems, "The Bakhchisarai Fountain." More about Odessa. Sibiu, Romania
Best for: Friendly locals Deservedly labeled "Prague without the tourists," the Transylvanian town of Sibiu has vast, genteel squares, Romania's greatest art gallery (the Brukenthal Museum) and restored Saxon churches -- all with a dose of local hospitality often lacking elsewhere in the country. The good vibes extend well into the evening. At traditional cellar restaurants such as Vechi (3 Papiu Ilarian St.; +40 269 212 814), you can try dishes incuding sarmalute (cabbage, vine leaves and mincemeat) and ciorba de burta -- a local version of tripe soup. There's a young cosmopolitan crowd in the scruffy but friendly bars around Piata Mare Square. When you're not chatting with the locals: Close to the university in the south of Sibiu, the August Von Spiess Museum of Hunting (4 Şcoala de Înot St.; +40 369 101 784) has ornate, old fashioned weaponry and a grisly collection of stuffed bears' and other animals' heads. More about Sibiu. Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
Best for: Your health Illustrious past visitors to the riverside boulevards and Belle Époque mansions of this elegant spa town include Beethoven, Wagner, Goethe and even James Bond -- scenes from "Casino Royale" were filmed here. Karlovy Vary was the health retreat of choice for the ruling elite in Soviet times, and it still draws thousands of Russian visitors each summer. There are numerous spas and sanatoriums nestled between the colonnades and fountains, or you can sip for free from the 12 natural springs dotted across the town. When you're not taking in the waters: Funiculars take you up the hills surrounding the town where you'll find a spectacular memorial to Peter the Great. More about Karlovy Vary. Kotor, Montenegro
Best for: History Miniscule Montenegro became an independent nation only in 2006. On the coast, the town of Kotor is an untouched retreat from the modern world -- the entire old town has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There's little to disturb your indolence here, other than the lapping of the olive-colored waters in the harbor or the occasional creak from some sleek moored yacht. The Hotel Vardar (Stari Grad 476; +382 32 325 084) -- plumped-up pillows, marble bathrooms, dreamy views across the medieval quarter -- suits the mood. To get you really sleepy, there's even a Turkish bath. When you're not trying to delay your flight home: There are stirring paintings of ancient sea battles plus displays of uncomfortable-looking seafaring costumes in the Maritime Museum (Boka Marine Square; +382 32 304 720). More about Kotor. Durresi, Albania
Best for: Crowd-free beachcombing All but off the European beach radar, this unpretentious Adriatic coastal town an hour's drive from Tirana is a favorite of young Albanians and visiting Kosovans. You can spend a lazy afternoon playing volleyball on the butter-colored sands with forays to one of the ramshackle beachside bars for a local Korca beer costing pennies. When you're not being a beach bum: You can see a recently excavated Roman amphitheater in Durresi, which once held 15,000 bloodthirsty spectators. More about Durresi. Veliko Tarnovo, BulgariaBest for: Romantic interludes Spectacularly situated on a hill between two giant gorges, the former capital of medieval Bulgaria is an impossibly atmospheric city. Cobbled passages weave among tiny red-roofed cottages and Byzantine dome churches add to the feeling of romantic seclusion. Amid all the splendor lies one of Bulgaria's most stylish hotels. Hotel Studio (4 Todor Lefterov St.; +359 62 60 40 10) is a romantic bolthole with dim retro lamps, red leather armchairs and a spectacular roof terrace. When you're not sharing a bottle wine: You'll find the odd surviving weaver and coppersmith among innumerable clothes stalls in the town's bazaar. More about Veliko Tarnovo. Kosice, Slovakia
Best for: Going gypsy With its baroque burgher's houses and gold-spired Gothic cathedral, what the Slovaks call "the Jewel of the East" is a far more attractive alternative to the humdrum capital, Bratislava. But the usual Eastern European medieval and classical remains aren't the only attraction here. Kosice is home to Europe's only Romany theater, which puts on gypsy plays and concerts throughout the year. There's also central Europe's only wax museum (Wax Museum of Kosice, Hlavna 3, in St. Urban's Tower; +421 055 623 2534), which gives pride of place to one of Slovakia's most famous descendants -- Andy Warhol. If you fancy dancing to another tune: The fountain in Kosice's northern town square reputedly "dances" in time to the pop music pouring from the surrounding bars and cafes. More about Kosice.      |
| The rise of the big, unnecessary, crazy, travel adventure Posted: 19 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT For some, a trip to India isn't enough anymore, it seems  Bragging of your travels has become difficult. Spending three months in an Indian ashram no longer qualifies for several years' worth of conversation. The girl who has been to so many countries she could probably write a guidebook -- no wait, she has -- can be found hanging around every other budget hostel. With international travel being cheap, easy and fairly common, a new and more epic trend is emerging: the big, unnecessary, crazy, travel adventure. Almost every week we're bombarded with requests to blog/donate/tweet/share/like/show some form of generic support for an outrageous trip. It's no longer enough to see the world; you have to do it on a unicycle. You're running a marathon? Lame. You can't call yourself an athlete until you've run six. Back to back. In the desert. Naked. Ultra-travelerBriton Dan Parr has done all that, albeit with his clothes on. Full-time director of an international sports marketing company and part-time ultramarthon runner, Parr has raced 250 kilometers over seven days in both the Sahara and Gobi deserts -- and won. On these trips he had to carry his own food, water and equipment. "I loved the feeling of isolation, being completely out in the desert, completely dependent on yourself," says Parr. "I have a wife and three kids, I run an office. There are a lot of things weighing on our minds in day-to-day life. Things become simple in the desert: you need to get from A to B in as quick a time as possible, in the best shape. "That self-dependence is incredibly liberating. You don't get that feeling very often in today's world." The university of life
Rob Lilwall is a Hong Kong-based TV adventurer, author and motivational speaker. After working as a geography teacher for two years, Lilwall spent three years cycling from Siberia to the UK. He spent $1 to $5 a day sleeping in a tent and eating instant noodles. Despite being robbed at gunpoint and contracting malaria, Lilwall described the trip as a "university of life experience" and cheaper than studying. National Geographic used Lilwall's footage from the journey and turned it into a TV series. Lilwall also walked from Mongolia to Hong Kong in 2011-12 and is currently writing a book about the experience. But he didn't set out with any professional aspirations. "Cycle through Tibet because that's what you want to do," says Lilwall. "I do feel a bit sad when I get emails from people saying, 'How do I turn this into a TV show?' I feel like saying, 'Go and have a trip, film it a bit and afterward worry about whether you'll do something semi-professional with it.' "It's easy to look at it and think that would be so amazing, but day in and day out you face a lot of boredom as you're just cycling down long empty roads. "It's tough and sometimes you think this is just a waste of my life, or you get ill, you get robbed or are knocked over by a car. "But I think it was partly because I was learning so much about the world that it was worth continuing, and I had a really clear ultimate goal -- I was trying to cycle home. I also met my wife along the way so that was a great achievement!" For love or money
At the end of July he'll fly 13 hours to Beijing then spend the next three-and-a-half years walking back. He's dreamed of doing a big trip since he could first read maps. Johnson hopes the walk will help create a name for himself in the Internet industry. He wants to develop cross-platform Web applications that engage nations. Johnson will be producing a TV show on YouTube and holding Google Plus Hangouts as he travels. He admits that the original goal of the trip was commercial. "Initially, I was going to do the walk as 'Michael Lee Johnson: a walking advertisement' and I was going to be a walking billboard from one side of the world to the other. Now it's changed for more humanitarian reasons." UNICEF has since been in touch with Johnson about raising money for charity. Johnson says that even planning the trip and reaching out to people for support has already changed his outlook on the world. "I've always been behind a computer, I've not really lived, I've not really seen the world," he says. "I've always had a bad view of people and life because I was bullied. "But as I have met more people over the last few years, months, days, they're changing my life on a day-to-day basis and I've not even left the country yet. It's crazy." Officially nuts?
Psychologist, mountain climber and author of "Adventure in Everything: How the Five Elements of Adventure Create a Life of Authenticity, Purpose and Inspiration," Tucson, Arizona-based Matthew Walker believes our desire for adventure comes from a need for uncertainty -- something rare in today's world. "There is a drive and a desire to feel on the edge, to feel that sense of vitality and aliveness," he says. "When people are put out in situations where there is minimal comfort they reach a place where they can evaluate their choices with more clarity. "Sleeping in a tent, eating basic meals, getting down to the simple elements of living gives them an opportunity to reframe what is really important." Microadventures next?
He may have cycled the world, rowed the Atlantic and walked across India, but recently Humphreys has been going small -- working on the concept of "microadventures." "There are definitely adventures to be had everywhere," says Humphreys. "I try and choose things that will be challenging to me personally. That's the real essence of the microadventures -- for people who just want some excitement. "Don't be put off because everyone has already climbed Mount Everest, but climb the hill three miles away from your house that you've never been up." Humphreys warns the desire for adventure is insatiable. "It's a Pandora's box. Every trip I've done I've thought, 'Right, once I've done this trip I'll be a happy man and I'll be able to get a job running the local sweet shop.' "That's not the way it works. Once you've got the wanderlust, you're affected for life." InfectiousPerhaps now I should reveal that I'm infected. I want to become part of this big, crazy, unnecessary, travel adventure club. My boyfriend and I are plotting to cycle from Malaysia back to my home in the UK. I'm not doing it on a tandem, blindfolded or with my arms tied behind my back. I'm not going to break any records. I'm doing it for the thrill of being on the open road, the wind in my hair, the rain dribbling down my neck. Well that's not entirely true. A bit of cash wouldn't go amiss. (What self-respecting journalist wouldn't try and flog something off the back of such a trip?) The bragging rights would be epic too; three months in an ashram is so last year. Have you been on or are you planning a big crazy travel adventure? Let us know about it in the comment section.    |
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