General Archives ⋆ Page 11 of 44 ⋆ The Passenger

October 29, 2021January 23, 2022

EOKA

One of the biggest monuments of Λευκωσία is the Liberty Monument erected in 1973. It honors the EOKA fighting against British colonialism and occupation of Cyprus. EOKA stands for Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston, the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters. It was a military organisation fighting for Cypriot independence and for long time it was seen as a right-wing, nationalist organization. Today their work for independence is accepted and it has its fair part in Cypriot history.

October 29, 2021April 14, 2022

Green line

Λευκωσία is the last divided capital in Europe. When you’re walking through the city, you’ll find barriers made from oil barrels, roadblocks, barb wire and (bored) guards along a no-man’s-land leading from the east to the west of the city. This area is protected by UN forces and even as you’re not allowed to do photographs you can get close to the border pretty easy. It is bizarre to see the empty and deteriorating buildings in the heart of the city.

October 26, 2021April 14, 2022

Ghostrider

When driving a car in Cyprus you can learn something about history: the island was once a colony of the British Empire! And there are even still today two British naval bases that belong to United Kingdom. For you this means mostly one thing: to drive on the left side of the road. Typically, this switch inside your head is easy, you just need to remember to give way to cars coming from the right when entering roundabouts. What always happens to me is that I try to enter the car on the front passenger side. Always good for a laugh…

October 3, 2021April 14, 2022

Gateway to the orient

Romania isn’t the typical tourist destination for western Europeans. In their heads the country is associated with poverty, migration, and crime – only Bram Stoker and his vampire tale are linked to Romania with the same intensity. In reality, it is a country full of friendly people making the best of their situation. A country in development with a coast at the Black Sea, a country with vast forests (housing the biggest population of brown bears in Europe) and a long history between the east and the west.

October 2, 2021April 14, 2022

Constanța

If you want to visit the Black Sea from București, then Constanța (in earlier days Tomis) is your port of choice. A comfortable train runs multiple times each day from the Gara de Nord to the shore. It was founded by Greeks in the 7th century BCE. Roman emperor Constantine the Great named the city after his sister Constantiana.

October 1, 2021January 7, 2022

Two dolphins and three eagles

When you’re discovering ancient buildings (like the Palatul Republicii at București) you will come across the coat of arms of Romania. It shows a golden aquila holding a Christian cross, a crown, a mace and a sword. It is colored in the national colors of Romania: blue, yellow and red. But you can also find other animals on it like dolphins. Wait, what?

September 29, 2021December 20, 2021

Alo!

The Romanian language is part of the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Even if as a foreigner you might not be able to understand what people are saying it isn’t hard to read signs. Some knowledge of Italian or Latin will help a lot. Until the year 1862 the Cyrillic alphabet was used, then starting in Transsylvania, the Latin alphabet was introduced – enhanced with the five special letters ă, â, î, ș and ț.

September 28, 2021December 19, 2021

Local transport

București has a good mix of public transport options: the metro, trolleybuses, buses, tramways. The easiest way is to use the metro system consisting of four lines: M1 (yellow), M2 (blue), M3 (red), M4 (green). Just choose the right line and the correct direction (final stop) and you’re ready to go. It gets a bit confusing with stations like Dristor 1 and 2 (which are not remarkably close to each other) but it’s the fastest and simplest way.

September 28, 2021December 19, 2021

The Lion

What confuses foreign travelers often is the fact that not all countries in the European Union use the Euro as their currency (and that not all countries using the Euro are part of the European Union). Romania is part of the EU, but still has its own currency, the Leu.

August 16, 2021April 14, 2022

Grüessech

For some years I tried to avoid trips to Switzerland. It is a nice country with beautiful nature, but the prices are just horrible. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 I was searching for places I could reach by train and as I’ve never seen the capital city of Switzerland, I booked my ticket. But then our Swiss neighbors held a large yodel festival (really!), and the infection numbers were increasing dramatically. Therefore, it took me another year before I could do the trip.