Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul IN ROMANIA, we recently had two bank holidays fall during the same work-week: May 28th celebrated the Orthodox Pentecost Monday and June 1st was Children’s Day. For the Children’s Day holiday we planned for a bathing-suit kind of day, so we headed...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul IF YOU ONLY HAVE one day to visit the capital of Serbia, Belgrade (also called the White City)—and if it’s a sunny one—make sure to go for a walk downtown, but also explore the fortress. Hotel Moskva We visited Belgrade on our drive back home from...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul In my last travel article about the capital of FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), entitled 6 Essential and 7 Practical Travel Tips for Visiting Skopje, FYROM, I mentioned that while it’s a very good place to take long walks, one may need...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul The 18th-century Alba Carolina Fortress (also known as Alba Iulia Fortress) has over time slowly but surely become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Romania. Arrowed signs guiding you through the fortress With a fascinating “change of the...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul AS MENTIONED IN MY previous travel story, Discovering Skopje’s Ottoman Influences, I have never visited a city quite like Skopje. I learned so much about the capital of FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), most of it while walking Skopje’s...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols I’VE TAKEN PHOTOGRAPHS of some of the funky signs I’ve stumbled across in various countries, and even one in the U.S. The thing I love about the signs in other countries is how visually descriptive they are. During my travels in Scotland, I loved this funky...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul SKOPJE IS THE CAPITAL and also the largest city of the Republic of Macedonia (which is often simply referred to as FYROM, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.) After his brother visited the country and said it was very beautiful, my boyfriend and I...