Text & photos © Catherine Nichols “Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns.” ~Condoleeza Rice On a recent trip to the UK, the tour guide...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul The Romulus Vuia Ethnographic Park, opened in 1929 as an outdoor museum, is beautiful. I recall going there on a class trip somewhere around 3rd grade. As opposed to many of my classmates, I didn’t have grandparents or other relatives living on farms in the Romanian...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul For this year, my plan is to go on as many road trips as possible. The first one this spring was to visit a few dripstone caves around Șuncuiuș village, about an hour’s drive from my city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. My boyfriend and I had never been to the Șuncuiuș...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul DURING SUMMER VACATION my boyfriend and I stayed in Budapest, Hungary, for a week. While looking for cities to visit nearby we realized Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, was only a two-hour drive away. We took the M1 motorway early in the morning and, without any...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul AS SOON AS I SAW this sign at Euphoria Biergarten, a lovely restaurant in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, I knew I had to take a picture of it (see feature photo, right). Knight on watch It is a quirky place overall, with sort of a medieval vibe to it, and I am positive that...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul AS MENTIONED in my previous travel article about the European city of Miskolc (Visiting Miskolc, Hungary during the winter holidays), I first visited the Castle of Diósgyőr in 2005, and it so happened that I revisited it every five years after that. Not much visible...

Text & photos © Estrella Azul LOCATED IN BEAUTIFULLY LANDSCAPED forestry and an area surrounded by high cliffs, the Bridal Veil Waterfall (or Răchiţele Falls) is considered one of the most beautiful smaller waterfalls in Romania. Snowy pine-lined forest road A large sign shows the map of the area...