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 I FIRST VISITED Miskolc in 2005, and it just so happened that I re-visited this city in Hungary (approx. population 160,000) every five years after that. I don’t recall as much from my first visit as I do from the following two. I guess seeing the city with the...

Story by Milli Thornton. Photos Copyright © Milli Thornton. ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ First published five Christmases ago, this story is being republished by popular demand. The Village Pantry still holds open house every year, and this year it was again held on December 3. ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ SINCE 2003, in...

Text & Photos Copyright © Estrella Azul ONE MORNING LAST DECEMBER, when two bank holidays had us enjoy a long weekend off from work, my boyfriend and I decided to go on a road trip to Hunedoara (Hungarian: Vajdahunyad) and see one of the seven wonders of Romania, Corvin Castle (Hungarian: Vajdahunyadi...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols WHAT I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT OF as a one-time, frivolous trip to the East Coast has become a necessary part of my year. The trees in all their colorful glory call my name. By the time October rolls around, the whispers become shouts, and I find myself packing my suitcase...

Text & photos Copyright © Estrella Azul AT THE END OF OCTOBER our firm took us on a haunted castle-themed, weekend team building trip to Piatra Fântânele in Tihuța Pass. Tihuța is a high mountain pass in the Romanian Bârgău Mountains (Eastern Carpathian Mountains) connecting Transylvania...

Text & photos © Catherine Nichols Imagine a place where it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic for the better part of most days and evenings in the summer. The tourists have descended on your city and there’s nowhere to escape. It takes you 30 minutes to get anywhere (at a minimum), and you just want...