In a small valley cut between two hills packed thickly with green trees, I sat ensconced in a wooden chair in the outdoor restaurant of my roadside motel. There, I supped on vegetable soup and “Transylvanian” Tochitură (a Romanian and Moldovan pork dish) with egg and polenta. As I waited to order, the man who had kindly given me a lift in his cart an hour earlier appeared. I translated the word...
From the Hook of Holland to the Golden Horn of Istanbul
During my gap year, I plan to follow in the footsteps of the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor and walk the some 2,500 miles from the Hook of Holland to the Golden Horn of Istanbul over the course of around five or six months. Following a similar course to the route that Leigh Fermor – always known as Paddy – took as an 18 year old in the 1930s, I will no doubt note the similarities and stark differences between two very different portraits of Europe – on the page, a Europe on the eve of war, and in person one in a hyper-interconnected global landscape.
However – more importantly – I will meet new people, see new places and explore unencumbered by the restraints of work and home.
It is here that I will write.