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Bologna’s Trattoria di Via Serra is more than just a restaurant; it is an incredible experience! I qualify the statement simply because there are a couple of other extraordinary restaurants that I know and love, and would not want to make a definitive statement like “The Best” without causing opprobrium. Among them are Pheasant’s Tears in Sighnaghi, Georgia, and The Creel in St. Margret’s Hope, Orkney (now sadly closed) and the Roca Sao Joao dos Angolares in São Tomé. There are others, wonderful restaurants all of them, but few make it to my top table, and let me tell you […]

Visiting Bologna is a very special experience, and one that all travellers to Italy should consider. Touring Italy is a wonderful experience, but where to start? How do you separate the wheat from the chaff, the brands from the local and get to experience some part of the country that is not highlighted too boldly in the guidebooks. It is complicated, and here’s the thing. Italy is an almost brand-new country; it was unified only in 1861 from a motley collection of Dukedoms controlled by Hapsburgs, the French and other foreign powers, and as such only just beat Canada into […]

TransDniestria and Moldova: two unknown countries The Journey I have been most remiss; I have, as you will know, not written a piece for some time, and have been rightly chided by some regular readers for this absence. I have, however, been busy; my last piece was of two very fine restaurants in Bologna and Tbilisi, and there it all ended. But my wanderings have not. I spent time travelling through Moldova, the northeast corner of Romania and the southwest tip of Ukraine on a magnificent voyage of discovery, and leaving with a burning desire to return and explore in […]

The Trattoria di Via Serra in Bologna and Barbarestan in Tbilisi are two very fine restaurants indeed   I do realise that I have a very fortunate life, and my ability to wander and experience the world is one that I don’t take for granted. Bologna There is, for those who wonder, a downside. My friend Cameron once said that I was “hyper-stimulated”, and thus unable to settle to routines any more, and constantly craving excitement. New colours, unseen mountains, interesting people and simply the need to see what is around the next corner. This is, of course, true, and […]

Although this tour was operated in 2016, I am always ready to head back and explore the Soviet Legacy in Georgia again. It is a fantastic juxtaposition with contemporary Georgia, and if this itinerary is of interest, contact me and we will see about operating again in 2021. send a note to me at max@maxglobetrotter.com Sixty-five years of occupation by the Soviet Union has left an indelible impact on Georgia. A fantasy economic system, archaic infrastructure and deeply peculiar and repressive social systems are now being erased, but their legacy lives on. This unique tour program aims to introduce visitors […]

Here’s the thing; when one looks for commercial accommodation listings, there are a few universal truths that we all know: 1) The cheapest hotels use the most expensive photographers 2) Small rooms are photographed with fish-eye lenses 3) They don’t exaggerate about “the bones” If a room is small, its dimensions are given in terribly small writing, and euphemisms like “cozy, snug and homey” are used with abandon. The furnishings, sometimes brought in for the occasion, are pretty and very well matched, and exaggerated to maximum that the owner’s imagination can conjour. When one arrives, the room’s decoration may be […]

“Why are you going to La Réunion?”, I heard a lot. Well, firstly because it is an amazingly interesting place; Réunion is isolated, volcanic, wildly curious, gorgeous and completely counter to any concept of an-island-in-the-Indian-Ocean. And secondly because it is an astonishingly interesting destination. This, of course, was a little odd because one’s first impressions are not terribly positive. There are nearly one million people living on the island; yes, that is a one plus six zeros. It covers an area of only 970 square miles (and no, I don’t know how many multiples of a football field or Rhode […]

St. Helena may not be the most recognised country in the world, but the predicament in which it now finds itself is quite extraordinary, and deserving of thought. St. Helena is isolated, and this simple fact is the cause of the islanders’ current sense of complete isolation, even abandonment. It is so far into the Atlantic Ocean, and so far from any other land that until last month when an airport was finally opened it was accessible only with a regular schedule of the Royal Mail ship, the RMS St. Helena. This vessel served both St. Helena, and Ascension Island […]

Bodega Sommos, an idyll of natural wine There are wineries, and there is the Bodega Sommos, located in north-central Spain, just south of the Pyrenees in rural Aragon. For those (like me) whose knowledge of Spain is limited to the most iconic locations, exploring Aragon has come as a complete and wonderful surprise. It is a vast and geographically diverse region, and of historical significance to the British because of Catherine and her relationship with King Henry VIII; and that the pomegranate happened to be her symbol. Although betrothed to Prince Arthur (Henry’s brother) at the tender age of three, […]

Muscat and Oman were an eye-opener. Beautiful, friendly, fascinating and a blend of ancient and ultra modern, it is a great place to visit. Travelling to Oman seemed so exciting and demanding; careful planning for visas, car insurance, hotels and every other facet of travel was indicated. However, as it turned out, visiting The Sultanate of Oman is a true joy, simple and an experience like no other. I drove 1,200 kilometres through the country, and wished that I had given it more time to explore.   From the welcoming message as I crossed the UAE border to the universal […]

Travelling to Georgia is a quite astonishing and unique experience, and I have had many requests for more practical information from readers. How, when, where and sometimes why are asked, and perhaps this will help. Georgia is, as you will have noticed from my blog, a truly remarkable country. It is remarkable on many levels, and offers visitors an extraordinary variety of experiences, and that is just the beginning. It is possibly easier to start by saying what Georgia is not. It is not a homogeneous destination, and it is not overrun with tourists; yet. It is not in the […]

In truth, I didn’t actually get to Chechnya, but I might as well have done so, and I loved the first flake of this remote, North Caucasian culture. There is a valley in north Georgia called the Pankisi Gorge; sparsely populated for millennia, since the 19th century, 10,000 Chechens, fleeing one brutal war or other, settled here as refugees. This convenience has continued to this day, with more fleeing the 1993 war when the Russians so pitilessly bombed this small republic. Today, the vast majority of the Pankisi Valley are of Chechen origin, and here, Islam lives peacefully with the […]