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Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Paraguay

Asunción: Second Time’s the Charm

This was my second time to try to visit Paraguay. The first time was a failure. I wrote about it in a previous post. I was trying to fly from Brazil, and they would not let me board because I didn’t have the paper copy of my yellow fever certificate. Lesson learned. This time, flying from Uruguay, I made sure I had my yellow fever card in hand. Of course, no one asked me to see it. Anyway, I felt quite a sense of satisfaction to actually be on the plane headed to this country that had previously eluded me.

There is not a lot said about Paraguay as a tourist destination. It is a little under the radar and a little less appealing than its neighbours. Decades of war, corruption, and instability haven’t helped. And there are not a lot of big-ticket sites to see in Paraguay. Sure, you can cross the border from Iguazu Falls and technically enter the country, but beyond that, there are not a lot of very famous or appealing sites to visit. No problem, I wasn’t going for famous; I was just going to check out the capital: Asunción.

I landed and took a taxi from the airport to the city. No visas at all required and no hassles presented themselves. I arrived very early in the morning, but my hotel let me check in. I was staying at the Asunción Palace Hotel. A nice and moderately priced hotel in the city centre that I picked for its location and the fact that each room seemed to have its own balcony. It was nice but not fancy. My favourite thing was that when I left the key with the front desk every time I went out and came to pick it back up, they wouldn’t give it to me until I correctly said my room number in Spanish. I appreciated the push as I was being quite lazy with my language efforts.

I immediately set out to explore. Asunción Is not a particularly beautiful city. It has some beautiful things in it, and it has some pockets that are interesting, but the city centre itself is not the best. I enjoyed visiting it, but it had certain shortcomings. The main problem was that it was blisteringly hot when I was there. It was at least 40°C and most of the streets seemed to lack any tree cover. It was so hot that at one point I felt like I was going blind. Aside from that though, there are a lot of once beautiful buildings that have fallen into ruin. My favourite, but it meant that there were a lot of empty streets and not a lot going on in certain areas. Also, in a majority of the areas downtown the streets were quite broken and in poor repair with lots of garbage. It just didn’t feel like a super functional city. But then out of nowhere, I would be confronted with an incredibly well maintained and stunningly beautiful building. Surprising. There was beauty to be found but you had to look for it. There weren’t rows of interesting or cute little shops or cafes, and the market, when I went, was mostly empty, but there with some decent street art and the all the people I encountered seemed very friendly.

And this is where it should be said again that Paraguay has had a bit of a rough go. It got its independence from Spain in 1811 but following that it had a series of dictatorships and military rule, followed by a war in the 1800s that left more than half of its population dead. In the 20th century, the instability continued. The first 54 years of the 20^th century saw Paraguay have more than 30 presidents, most of whom were removed through coups or violence. In 1954 they got a new leader, Alfredo Stroessner, who lasted until 1989, however he was a dictator, apparently good for the economy, but bad for human rights. Violent oppression, torture, et cetera. After he was overthrown in 1989, things moved in a more democratic, though conservative direction. So, Paraguay had a lot going on for a long time and tourism wasn’t really the focus.

Notwithstanding that I was kind of underwhelmed by the centre of Asunción, there were some delightful things. I found at least one good cafe that was pleasant and had vegetarian things for me to eat.

At night, there were lots of little bars and restaurants that appeared seemingly out of nowhere on more quiet side streets and I found them all quite appealing. Of course, the question arose: was it even safe to be walking around Asunción at night? All the information that I had suggested that it wasn’t really that safe to be walking around late at night, but I wasn’t going to stay in my hotel. So on that first night, which just so happened to be Valentine’s Day, I went for a walk and tried to stick to the slightly busier streets, but on an otherwise desolate side street I came across a cute little bar and restaurant that was all decorated for Valentine’s Day and had good music and I decided to have a cigar and a bite to eat there. They were not happy about giving me a table given that I was there by myself, but I was not to be deterred. My sense is that it’s not really that dangerous to walk around the centre at night if you stick to the streets where businesses are open, but I would probably avoid the streets where it’s dark and everything is closed. I guess this is a situation is of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

Another thing I liked about downtown Paraguay was an area called Loma San Geronimo. It was a little neighbourhood just a short walk from the centre of the city and is notable for its colourful buildings and public art. It seemed to be primarily residential, but tucked in here and there was the odd little restaurant, perhaps operating out of someone’s house, a church, and possibly a few other little small businesses, though none of them were open when I was there. It was delightful. The buildings were all painted bright colours and there were narrow walkways with tiled stairs and plenty of murals. Cobblestone streets and flowering bushes made it even prettier. Aside from one police officer and one guy on a motorcycle, I didn’t see anyone as I was walking through the neighbourhood, which was a little bit strange but all the better for taking selfies. The walk there was a bit odd as it led me down many streets with derelict buildings and dilapidated storefronts, but it was well worth it.

I didn’t stay only in the centre of Asunción; there were a few things that I wanted to see that were in different areas. One of those things was a chair museum. I don’t know why there’s a chair museum or why it would be interesting, but I wanted to go to it. Unfortunately, when I got there it was closed.

I also wanted to visit the Museo del Barrio. It is a museum with Paraguayan and South American artifacts as well as contemporary art. From the outside, it looks like it is going to be very small, but inside it had a multi-layered almost catacomb feel and I was surprised by how much it contained. It is a really good museum. The items they had were so unique and interesting and a lot of the art was legitimately creepy, which I really enjoyed. There was no admission fee (or I accidentally walked in without paying anything) and very few other visitors when I was there. It was a bit of an Uber or bus ride from the centre, but once in that neighbourhood there were more modern malls, hotels, and restaurants and I ended up on a rooftop of a hotel having lunch and a cigar.

Of course, I was very curious to check out the local cigar scene in Asunción. As best as I could tell, there was only one cigar lounge, which was a La Casa Del Habano in the fanciest neighbourhood of town, called Villa Morra. I decided to walk there but got halfway and realized it was much farther than I thought and so I called an Uber. Yes, there were lots of buses, but I didn’t feel like at that point like waiting around in the heat for one. I just wanted air conditioning and speedy transportation.

It’s hard to believe the Villa Mora is even in the same city as central Asunción. It feels like South Florida or Los Angeles. It’s very fancy and everything is new and well-manicured and there is a lot of security. It’s not particularly appealing, especially as a pedestrian, but if you want to sit down and have a fancy meal or a cigar this is the place to go. Upon arriving, I was surprised because there is no La Casa Del Habano anymore; it is now simply called “Cigar Shop.” I went there on both of my days in Asunción. They had a decent selection of cigars, mostly non-Cuban and reasonable prices and then they had a couple of lounge areas; one for regular people like me and then one for VIPs in the back. It was busy both times I went in. It had excellent air conditioning cold water and strong coffee. I was quite content. The first time I went everybody in there was speaking Spanish and I sat there trying to understand their conversations with my limited knowledge of the language. The next time I went in I ended up chatting with an American guy who lives there. He was astonished that I had come there voluntarily. He told me his story, which was that he was from Los Angeles but met a girl from Paraguay and fell in love, so he came down to spend time with her and then the pandemic hit and he couldn’t leave. And then she got pregnant and they got married and now he lives there. He hates it. I mean he loves his family, but he really hates living there and leaves as much as he can. His disdain for the city was amusing to me. There was also a group of American guys that were there going on a fishing expedition, and I talked with them a bit as well. So, I wasn’t the only tourist in the city. As usual, cigar lounges saving the day and giving me a bit of respite and camaraderie.

I left Asunción after two and a half days and was satisfied with the time that I spent there. I have no doubt that if I spent more time I would have explored deeper and found more interesting and hidden places, but I was happy to carry on. It was time to return home via a long flight through Sao Paulo and Montreal to Vancouver. Every time I go to South America I am astonished by how far away it is.

And so ended my trip to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Asunción. My next trip would keep me a little closer to home. 10 days in Belize.

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

The Quiet Charm of Montevideo

I had arrived in Montevideo by boat from Buenos Aires. I covered that journey in the previous post. From the boat I walked just a few minutes and found myself in the heart of the city. Montevideo was a place that I was visiting because it was there, not so much because I had a particular interest in visiting it. Montevideo is one of those places that one probably doesn’t know very much about and isn’t likely to end up unless you’re either collecting countries or just fancy a boat ride from Buenos Aires. I’ve always had good luck with trips to places that I didn’t have a burning desire to visit. Maybe it’s because I entered those places with low expectations. How can I possibly be disappointed when there is nothing in particular that I want to accomplish? Montevideo was one of those places. I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed two perfectly pleasant days there.

Like its capital, Uruguay is a place that I didn’t know a whole lot about, aside from the fact that it was the first country in the world to legalize cannabis. (I’m not a cannabis user but I did spend years working on cannabis legalization files as lawyer in Canada and so this is just one of the facts that seeped into my consciousness.) Aside from that, Uruguay is pretty progressive. It was one of the first countries in the world to legalize homosexuality, it has one of the most stable democratic governments in South America, it relies completely on renewable energy and has institutionalized secularism, which in South America is kind of a big deal. It is also the second smallest country in South America so it’s easily overlooked.

So what does the capital city if such am unusually progressive country look like? It is pleasant and chill. It doesn’t feel like a rich city, but it’s quite pretty. Lots of well-maintained colonial buildings and some newer buildings as well. Big squares with statues and palm trees, small pedestrian streets, and parks with cafés and markets. The whole place has kind of a relaxed vibe that I enjoyed.

It is also fairly touristy, as cruise ships dock there as they are making their way down the East Coast of South America. There were certain streets that during the day were simply flooded with cruise ship visitors, but they all seemed to disappear at night.

As far as attractions, Montevideo didn’t have much that I was interested in, so I simply wandered the city. There were lots of pleasant murals and I visited the National Museum of Visual Arts. I made the decision to walk to the art gallery from the centre of the city, which turned out to be a little bit far, but it was nice to walk through both the commercial districts and residential ones before arriving in a park. And if I hadn’t walked, I wouldn’t have seen this spectacular mural of four film directors: Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, and Lucrecia Martel.

The art gallery itself was pretty nice, but they were doing work on the floors so I could was only able to visit a very small part of it. Fortunately, there was a nice café outside where I took refuge from the heat. I wanted to avoid the walk back I took the bus which turned out to be relatively simple provided you have the cash to pay for it.

I was staying at the Hotel Palacio, which wasn’t anything special except that the price was right and it was centrally located. It was a nice hotel with friendly staff but it didn’t have any particular charm.

As a lover of hanging out in charming cafés, I was delighted to find that Montevideo has (at least) two wonderful historical ones. Café Brasilero is the oldest café in Montevideo, having been open since 1877 and has a history of being popular with artists and intellectuals, like all the best cafés. There is also La Farmacia Café was a former pharmacy from 1980 in a historical art nouveau building. It is so charming, maintaining a lot of its historic features and pharmacological items. Also, they take their coffee seriously and it is excellent.

Probably the one thing that I was most excited to visit in Montevideo was the museum dedicated to the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Probably well known to most, this plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. On board were 45 people including twelve members of the Uruguay and rugby team and their friends and families. Many people died on impact but not all. Some survived the crash but succumbed to their injuries not long after. The rest of the survivors remained in the snowy Andes waiting for help or trying to find it for over two months. Famously, they succumbed to cannibalism of the dead bodies of some of the passengers before being rescued – They were not found per se, rather, they went looking for help and found help. The museum is a small one that tells the story of the crash the aftermath and their survival and includes artifacts from the event. Nothing is said of the cannibalism in the museum. It’s not meant to be sensationalistic. I, being a bit of a ghoul, wanted to hear about the cannibalism, but I didn’t really care that it wasn’t included because the museum was so inspiring. One of the stories they told in the museum was that the survivors had a radio that worked for a while and at some point, they heard on the radio that efforts to rescue them had been called off. At that point, one of the survivors said to his son that it was great news because now they got to rescue themselves. That’s a kind of positivity that I aspire to. And they did rescue themselves. That’s too long talking about a museum, but it is really worth going into.

Apart from the museum and the gallery and cafés and generally walking around the city. I didn’t do much in my two days in Montevideo. I enjoyed a few cigars. (there were no cigar stores or lounges in Montevideo. Previously there had been a La Casa del Habano and I found it but it was boarded up and closed.) I drank coffee and chatted with anyone who would talk to me.

I marveled it the ubiquity of yerba mate in Montevideo. It’s like the national drink or something. It is a tea that I had never had before going to Montevideo and having already gone there I can tell you it’s still a tea that I haven’t tried. I couldn’t find it for sale in any of the cafés that I went to. It seems that it’s something that people largely make it home for themselves and then drink throughout the day. And they don’t just drink it throughout the day; they transport it with them in specially designed bags. Everywhere I saw men and women walking around with these leather bags specifically designed to hold both a thermos of the tea and a specific little gourd with a metal straw that they drink it out of. I saw people in the city selling these bags and devices, but nowhere did I find anyone selling the drink itself. I probably could have tried harder. I have a feeling that it is not something that I would have enjoyed but I am still curious to try it.

Just as I had met up with someone from Vancouver when I was in Buenos Aires, I also met up with someone from Vancouver while I was in Montevideo. A casual friend from a travel group that I belong to in Vancouver happened to be in the city at the same time as I. He was doing a driving trip down the length of Argentina to the bottom to scatter the ashes of a friend who had died. We met up for dinner and drinks. It was a terrific evening of swapping travel stories and also a bit of a moving one, hearing about his deceased friend, and their history together, and the tale of a trip that they never completed. It was a good reminder of the importance of friendship and the fact that all of this will end, which for me means it better make the most of it. Between that and the visit to the plan crash museum, Montevideo left me inspired and full of self-reflection. Not bad for a country I didn’t know much about.

In the spirit of making the most of things, the next morning, after my two days in Montevideo, which was exactly the right amount of time, I caught a flight to a new city in a new-to me country: Asunción, Paraguay.

Cyprus Cyprus Christmas trip 2024

Nicosia: the Divided City’s Southern (Greek) Side

I left Larnaca for Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, was the reason for my trip. The last divided capital city in Europe, it is bisected between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. When Cyprus got its independence from the British in 1960, conflict simmered between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. It boiled over in 1963 in the superbly named “Bloody Christmas” (not to be confused with the very entertaining horror movie Christmas Bloody Christmas) when Greek Cypriot policeman killed two Turkish Cypriots. Violence erupted and over about four days, and ending on Christmas Day. 538 people were killed, with the Turkish Cypriots taking a little more of the casualties. Following that, more conflict until 1974 when the Greek side tried to take over the Turkish side and the Turkish side in turn invaded the Greek side. So a proper demilitarized zone (officially the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus) was set up between the two states and dividing Nicosia in half. And that is what I wanted to see.

Getting to Nicosia

Unless you’re driving, the easiest way to get from Larnaca to Nicosia is by bus. It’s just a regular city bus that runs between the two cities and costs about €7.00. They leave about every 30 to 60 minutes from a bus stop on the main road in Larnaca that runs parallel to the sea. You can’t pre book and I recommend getting there early because the day that I went there were so many people that the bus filled up with not everyone getting on board. Also being the first person there doesn’t necessarily guarantee a seat, so I recommend arriving early and having sharp elbows. The ride was pleasant and dropped me off right in the town, on the Greek side.

*bus stop in Larnaca & bus stop in Nicosia*

Where I stayed

I made my way to my hotel, Kipros Accommodation. It was an odd little place but with some charm. It was a good location, and I had a room with a private bathroom sort of upstairs from a tiny little reception area. It didn’t have much in the way of amenities, but it had everything that I needed and when I arrived until the room was ready they immediately offered me coffee which I appreciated. I had decided that I would spend my two days in Nicosia spending one night on the Greek side and one night on the Turkish side so I could have the best of both worlds.

Exploring Nicosia

I went out to explore.

The main attraction for me in Nicosia was really the border, but other than that it was a delightful town with attractive old streets and some old churches and occasionally a bit of street art. There were a couple of streets lined with busy restaurants and shops. (There was much more to the city outside of the more historical centre in which I spent most of my time but I didn’t venture into the other part of the city except to find the odd cigar store.) It doesn’t rank as one of the most charming European cities that I’ve been to, but I absolutely liked it and I think it was a good place to spend a day and a night. Also, I was happy to be there at Christmas as they were nice Christmas decorations and occasionally people playing live music and it had a good festive atmosphere.

I visited the Cyprus Museum, which was a small to medium sized museum of antiquities, which was excellent. Given the age and geography of Cyprus and the fact that Nicosia itself has been inhabited for 5500 years, the artifacts on display were impressive. The museum itself feels kind of old and rough around the edges, but the displays were wonderful.

I also visited the excellent Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, better known as the NiMAC, which is the largest contemporary Art Museum in Cyprus. It was also enjoyable and filled with new and unusual art and installations.

I wandered around and explored the area, which was interesting because occasionally I would be walking down a street and then suddenly come to a dead end, not because the street ended but because it would be the green line border between the city’s halves. There were two places that had checkpoints, but other than that the streets would end with barrels stacked high and barbed wire with a patrolman on a little platform of above, or sometimes it would just be another wall cutting the street in half with video cameras on top monitoring activities. It was very peculiar. I was so curious to crossover but that would wait until the next morning.

*walls to block traffic before the border wall*

Smoking Cigars in Nicosia

One of the best surprises about Cyprus was that it is an excellent place for cigars and cigar smoking. There were several cigar stores on the Greek side, and I visited about three of them including a La Casa del Habano. All of the stores had wonderful selections and tremendous prices. I bought a box of Ramon Allones Specially Selected and it cost about the same as what you would pay in Cuba. (And, no, they weren’t counterfeits.) The first store that I went to (Cigar Haven) was a tiny store with a little humidor and a couple of chairs. It also had a lounge, but I opted to sit in the store and chat with the owner. A delightful guy we chatted about cigars and life in Cyprus, and he played Tom Jones music nonstop. Tom Jones actually became sort of the unofficial soundtrack of my time in Cyprus because people everywhere seem to be playing his music. I learned that he had recently performed there and lot of people had (re)discovered his music and were digging it. I can’t complain.

I enjoyed my visit to that cigar store, but I also smoked at the lounge at the La Casa del Habano, which was on a residential street in a yellow house and I went to another store with the lounge (Tobacco House Cyprus) and chatted with the guys there as well. The best thing was smoking cigars outside of the shops wasn’t really a problem. Occasionally a restaurant would have a no smoking sign on their patio but for the most part smoking on any patio was fine.

My greatest smoking experience there though was when I saw this adorable little cafe, and I wanted to go there for breakfast. They had a few seats outside and I thought it would be perfect to sit outside and have my morning cigar (a Davidoff); it was raining, but there was an awning over the patio. I went inside and asked the fellow if I could sit outside and he said “why don’t you sit inside?” And I said “Because I want to smoke.” Her replied, “You can smoke inside.” I said, “Can I smoke this?” And I held up the cigar, thinking that surely that would be a deal breaker, but he smiled and said, “It is no problem, you are in Cyprus.” I melted with warmth and happiness. I ordered to show my appreciation I ordered more food and coffees than I would have normally and I sat there enjoying my coffee and my cigar in this charming cafe, which had several cats in it by the way, and no one even looked at me sideways. How civilized.

All in all, I had about a day and a half on the Greek side of Nicosia. I was satisfied with that amount of time, but I also wouldn’t object to going back. I think I would like to see more of the country and I would certainly go back and avail myself of the hospitable cigar culture there.

But after a nice sleep, I awoke the next morning had my cigar breakfast and prepared to cross the border to the other side of the city. More on that in the next post.

Germany Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

Layover in Freising

I was flying back to Vancouver from Bucharest and I had a five-hour five-minute layover in Munich. Whenever possible I like to go into the cities where I have the layovers, and if I had five hours in Frankfurt, I would have gone into the city, but Munich is a different story. Munich is a little too far from the airport for that length of a layover. I waited for a moment and thought I could go in have a coffee and immediately come back, but that seemed a bit stupid, so I looked at other options and I found one 15-minutes away: Freising, Germany.

Freising is a small medieval city, founded in 739AD, apparently the oldest in Bavaria, and it’s very near to Munich airport.

I landed at about 7:15 in the morning and immediately made my way to a bus stop just outside the airport. There is a train that goes from the airport to Freising, but on this particular day or this particular time the train wasn’t a convenient option. The bus was super convenient and quick. It was just before 8:00 when I arrived in the city. It was cold and it was misty and pretty much everything was closed. I saw only one or two other people out on the streets. It felt kind of magical. The city apparently has a population of close to 50,000 but arriving in the historic centre that seems hard to believe. The centre is very medieval and picturesque.

I did a little research later and found out that over the years Freising has been at the centre of all sorts of misfortune, from being sacked during the Thirty Years’ War, to being bombed during the Second World War, to inadvertently harbouring a key member of al-Qaida. Of course, my favourite historical tidbit was that it was a site of witch hunts, during which time they executed several witches. Between 1590 And 1722, at least 47 people were executed for witchcraft in the town of Freising, most by either burning or beheading. The batch of witch trials in the 1700s were primarily against beggar children who were accused of witchcraft, several of whom were ultimately beheaded. Children. Did you know that German has a word specifically for witch trials against children? It does and it is Kinderhexenprozesse. Excellent.

Of course, I didn’t know any of this when I was in Freising that day because I picked the town and went there spontaneously. All I knew is that it was a charming little town shrouded in mist. I had a very pleasant walk around and eventually a café opened up, and I had coffee before heading back to the airport by the bus.

I would be happy to have another layover in Munich just long enough for me to visit Freising, but hopefully a little later in the day so I could see what the town is like when things are actually open, and people are about. Plus, I believe there is a museum there that focuses on the witch trials, and I would like to visit that. It was a delightful end to a wonderful trip to Romania and Moldova, and which allowed me to be able to say that I have now visited every country in Europe.

Back at the airport in Munich, they had a proper Christmas market outside, which was delightful.

It was late November, but my travels for 2024 weren’t over. As I had a Christmas trip to Cyprus coming up next.

Moldova Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

Transporting to Transnistria

On my second day in Moldova I left Chișinău and took a tour to Transnistria.

The Unrecognized Country

One of the coolest things about visiting Moldova is that it gives you the opportunity to visit the territory most commonly known as Transnistria. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1990 and Moldova became its own country, Transnistria declared itself an independent state and it has remained that way, although it is technically part of Moldova it is not recognized as a sovereign country. So for those of us that are counting UN countries, we can’t include it in our country count, but it’s certainly a place worth visiting and is a bit of a political and geographic curiosity.

Throughout this post I’m going to refer to it as ‘Transnistria’ although its full name is the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic or PMR. About two months before I visited it became illegal to refer to it as Transnistria and the requirement is to refer to it by its full name or as Pridnestrovie, but It is still commonly known as Transnistria so that’s the name I’m going to use. (Although I do really enjoy pronouncing Pridnestrovie with a Russian-sounding accent.)

Getting There

You can absolutely visit on your own from Chișinău driving or on a bus, but I had only one day and I wanted to learn about the region, so I hired a guide for the day. I booked for a company called PMR Tours, and I would highly recommend them. They have a vast array of tours of Transnistria ranging from half a day to multiple days and the tours can focus on micro topics like mosaics or beer or Jewish history. I picked two half day tours and combined them. I did a general history tour and a Soviet tour.

I was picked up at my hostel by a driver, Zhenya, big and stern-looking (but nice) who spoke no English, and we drove across the border into Transnistria. You need to bring your passport with you to cross into Transnistria and they will stamp a piece of paper and put it in your passport. It feels a little bit intimidating crossing the border, as there are armed Russian soldiers and proper checkpoints, but I get the feeling that it’s just for show more than anything. The drive took about an hour and a half, maybe a little less.

Bender

We drove to a city called Bender, where I was joined by my English-speaking guide Valiery. Bender is an old town dating back to at least the beginning of the 15th century and was a great place to start our tour as it is a place of a lot of historical significance. It is home to the medieval fort called Tighina Fortress, which we toured, and I learned a lot of history about the region.

Also enjoyable was that the fort had a small museum of instruments of torture. While I will seldom pay anymore to go into a torture museum, I’m always happy when I get to look at the instruments of torture. I just can’t get over how cruel we are and the lengths to which we spent time and energy coming up with new and innovative ways to be cruel. It’s so awful that I can only find it amusing. There was one other fellow who was there as a tourist, and we were both in the torture museum at the same time. We hadn’t spoken to each other, so finally I just blurted out to him, “So, what’s your favorite form of medieval torture” And it turned out to be a great conversation starter. Since then, I have used it at two separate business networking events to start conversations with strangers when I was bored. Give it a try. People will think that you are a weirdo, but it really does get the conversation going.

*instruments of torture – and conversation starters*

From the fort we drove a little more into the city and made stops to visit tanks and monuments and memorials to battles, fallen soldiers, and Holocaust victims.

sights of Bender

Outside the Cities

The owner of PMR Tours (I think), Andrey, joined us and we drove through Bender to visit some churches outside of the city. On the way we passed and stopped at some excellent Soviet era monuments and a couple of mosaics. I love that in the Soviet times they would do these elaborate mosaics not just for government buildings or art galleries, but to commemorate industry. That was the case on this company that made electrical cables, and still does.

We visited a massive monument to the two World Wars, which also gave a wonderful view of the countryside, misty and green.

We stopped to visit another building, and I can’t recall what the significance of the building was historically, but it had an enormous Lenin head out front, and as some well-preserved Soviet paintings inside.

During the drive and all the stops, I got to ask lots of questions about Transnistria today. Transnistria in most ways does function like a sovereign territory. It has its own border controls and currency. It has its own police and soldiers and ambulances and government. It’s just that it’s under the umbrella of Moldova.

Tiraspol

We got to a river, with a car ferry. It was a very simple operation. We drove onto the ferry which crossed the river using some sort of chain under the surface. A man, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth used a large lever and winch to pull us across the river. He had a friendly dog as his companion.

A short drive later and we were into Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria. The history continued, but much of the visit to Tiraspol was focused on taking me to Soviet era buildings and statues of Lenin. I thought Minsk had the most statues of Lenin, but Transnistria is a contender for the most Lenins I’ve seen in one country.

Tiraspol is a nice city. It had a beautiful park, lots of public statues, and the sort of broad streets and big buildings that you would expect from the Soviet Union. The public statues were particularly impressive, not only of Lenin, but of people who fought in the wars, of the celebrated cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who died at 34 in a MIG crash, and of…Harry Potter. Yes, there is a statue of Harry Potter just outside of the local university. The reason for it, allegedly, is that Harry Potter stood up against the prevailing forces and was brave and fought for justice and freedom. I suppose this resonates with the people of Transnistria as they have been oppressed and fought for independence from the Soviet Union and from Moldova and that fight carries on. In 2024 this seems a little bizarre, but I can imagine that 50 or 100 years from now Harry Potter will just be a historical literary figure, and it will be less bizarre that he is depicted in marble.

A lot of accounts of Transnistria describe it as quirky or bizarre, and I think the Harry Potter statue is one example that could warrant that description, but I didn’t find Transnistria to be weird. It is just a small territory striving for independence with a strong connection to its history. There is a lot of pride there and I think it’s a bit demeaning to write it off as just a quirky roadside attraction.

*a monuments to students and faculty who fought in WWII*

We wrapped up the tour with lunch at a local restaurant, and I chatted with my two guides. This was one of my favorite things about the trip because unexpectedly, the conversation took a turn from the history and contemporary politics of Transnistria into semi-professional arm wrestling.

One of my guides is incredibly passionate about arm wrestling. I think it came up because I told him that I was from Canada and there was some arm wrestler from Canada, but I can’t quite recall the origins. But once he started telling me that he was involved in arm wrestling I could not stop asking questions. At first I thought it was just a group of guys that got together to arm wrestle in someone’s garage once a week, but he explained that it’s much more organized than that and that they have arm wrestling equipment and specific exercises, and they have matches, and it’s a whole community of people that are passionate about this activity. I’m not a documentary filmmaker, but I would like someone out there who is to make a documentary about the men of Transnistria and their experiences around semi-professional arm wrestling, because it sounds like a fascinating tale of masculinity, competition, and personal identity in state struggling for recognition. Seriously, somebody please make this movie.

I rejoined with my original driver and was taken back to Chișinău, Moldova. It was such a wonderful day. I really wish that I had spent or could have spent more time there, and I would absolutely consider going back to spend a few days in one of the villages of the countryside.

That evening, I went out for dinner at a surprisingly good Italian restaurant (Little Napoli) for pizza and a glass of local wine and then back to my new favourite Moldovan cocktail lounge, Marlene, and had another cigar and cocktail, shivering in the night air. It had been a great day.

I still had one more day in Moldova before I would return home. On to the next day…

Romania Romania-Moldova Trip 2024

On the Dracula Trail in Romania

There was no question that I was going to do a day trip to visit Bran Castle (popularly known as ‘Dracula’s Castle”) from Bucharest. The question was how best to get there.

Setting Out

It is possible to get there by public transportation, but it seemed like a bit of a tight journey to do in a day. It would have involved taking a train and then a bus or taxi and it would have been a little bit too much to do in one day. So, I found a small tour where they take you to the castle for the day and back again; however, the night before I received an email from the small tour company saying they didn’t have enough people to run the tour, so they had moved me onto one of those big bus tours. I was disappointed. I didn’t want to be in one of those big buses, led around by a person with an umbrella, but at this late hour, I didn’t have a choice. So the next morning I got up early, grabbed a coffee, and went to the bus stop.

It was one of those big buses crammed full of people. I wanted to feel like I was too cool for that sort of tourist transportation, and maybe I am, but it actually turned out to be okay. This tour was little more than transportation. They shuttled us from stop to stop and as we approached they told us a few things about the place we were visiting and then they set us free to wander on our own. So it was fine.

*a couple of pictures i took from the bus window*

Magical Peleș Castle

The first stop was at Peleș Castle, just outside of Sinaia. The castle is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so we would just be making a stop outside to wander around the grounds. The castle was built in the late 1800s by the then King of Romania, Carol I, in a neo Renaissance Gothic-Revival style. It is beautiful. It has the look of a castle that you might draw when you were a little kid, with tall, pointed turrets in a relatively small footprint but rising high in the mountains. It is surrounded by forests just outside of the town. What made the stop at the castle my favourite thing that I did in Romania though, was that it was snowing. This was in November, so it was chilly, but everywhere else on my trip the temperature stayed above zero and usually closer to 10°. But as we were a little higher in the mountains, the temperature dropped, and the snow began to fall. Even as we reached the town and castle, the trees were dusted with snow and flakes were falling. I was giddy. I love snow. As we walked around the castle, the snow was falling heavily and everything looked magical. I can’t imagine a prettier setting.

Bran Castle

From there we drove to Bran Castle. Dracula’s castle. Bran Castle is about 25 kilometres outside of Brașov, in the town of Bran. This castle was built from the late 1300s by the Saxons, so it has a more medieval kind of look to it. It is dramatic. it’s situated on top of a rocky hill looming over the town. It is famous for its association with Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, although the basis for these connections is tenuous at best. Bram Stoker never visited this castle and there’s nothing to suggest that he even based the castle in Dracula on Bran Castle. Vlad the Impaler is believed to have stayed there occasionally or at least once, but it was never his residence. The whole Dracula thing is largely just myth and marketing – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t cool.

Bran Castle is imposing and impressive, and Vlad the Impaler was a bloody and malicious ruler so, Dracula or not, it’s still a great place to visit. There are lots of Dracula representations around the castle, from the souvenirs sold in the town to the depictions of Dracula and Romanian spooky folklore figures like werewolves and ghosts in the castle. It’s a little bit cheesy, but I loved it I love anything monster and horror related so this was right up my alley. Plus, Vlad the Impaler? What a monster. What a badass. Impaling your enemies on stakes and a warning to others. That’s an impressive level of cruelty and drama.

I walked through the castle and then took a couple of moody selfies wearing my most goth sunglasses next to a gravestone at the bottom of the castle. Maybe I listened to a little Bauhaus on my headphones. I had a goth moment and high school me was proud. Who am I kidding? 48-year-old me was delighted.

Dale Raven North, elder Goth

I had a coffee and a pastry and we were back on the bus headed to Brașov.

Brașov

Brașov is a historical city with its own dark history. The pretty town square was once used to burn witches. Really.

We had an hour or two in Brașov. It was getting dark, and it was cold as a little snowy. I visited the Black Church (paid entrance; it was only ok), enjoyed a coffee at a cute café, wandered around. My favorite things (apart from the witch history) were the narrow alley way that was covered in graffiti and the town’s emblem, which was a crown with the roots of an oak tree.

Back on the bus, we headed back to Bucharest. I had a small cigar and headed back to my hostel for the night. I had an early flight to a new destination: Moldova.

Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Impressions of Vientiane, Laos

I flew direct from Ho Chi Minh City to Vientiane. Vientiane is the capital of Laos. I arrived in the morning and took a taxi to my hotel after routine passport stamping at the airport. Sailomyen Cafe & Hostel (aka Sokdee Residence) wasn’t quite as central as I would have liked, but I didn’t find anything that was more central that was in my price range. This hostel was good though I had a private room and it had a nice café with a good free breakfast. It wasn’t a fun, social hostel though. The people that were staying there seem to really keep to themselves no matter. I had what I needed.

Sightseeing

Vientiane doesn’t really have much in the way of exciting things to do. It is sleepy and small and doesn’t feel like a capital city. Usually capital cities are bustling, or they at least have national museums or impressive art galleries. Vientiane has none of these things, but it does have a nice vibe. It’s pleasant for walking. It wasn’t too hot.

Laos is primarily a Buddhist country. Every few steps there was a glittering stupa, temple, or statue. Laos is a Buddhist country, and they seem to have made an effort to cram in as many gilded religious sites as possible into the capital. I have an astonishing number of photos of palaces and Buddhas and their glittering detailed interiors, but after an afternoon of popping into various temples, I kind of felt like I had seen enough.

The city itself also sort of lacks inviting restaurants or shops. I did find a couple of nice cafés that were good for a visit, but that took a bit of looking. There was good food, but I did not feel spoilt for choices.

I visited the night market, which had a nice energy with lots of people stretched out along the waterfront along the Mekong with rows of booths selling…mostly junk, but it was still fun to browse, and then there were food tents and a ferris wheel. It was fun for an evening wander, but it wasn’t extraordinary.

Really, if it weren’t for the Buddha Park and the COPE Visitor Centre, both of which I’ll get to you momentarily, I think Vientiane would be kind of skippable. I feel bad saying that, but it’s true for my perspective. On the plus side, it does feel like a real city; not at all touristy and fully authentic.

That said the two things that I liked, I really liked. I’m going to write about the amazing Buddha Park is a separate post.

COPE

The COPE Visitors Centre is a small museum and fundraising endeavour for the victims of land mines and unexploded bombs in Laos. It is located at the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation. And if I took away only one thing from Laos, I think it is this: the sheer numbers of people that were killed and named from land minds. It’s something that I was aware of already but as with many things, it doesn’t resonate unless you have some in person experience with it.

To put it in perspective, about 270 million sub-munitions from cluster bombs (aka ‘bombies’ – how cute for something so terrible) were dropped over Laos between 1964 and 1973 in between and they estimate that about 80 million of those failed to explode. It is estimated that about 50,000 people have been injured or killed since that time from these unexploded bombs. About 40 people are still injured or killed every year by happening upon them.

The museum is very small and relies on donations. It is free to enter, but they invite you to donate some money, which, of course I did once at the beginning and once at the end. It has films and information about the land mines and Laos, but it also has these arresting visual displays of bombs and rudimentary prosthetics that are made for these people who have lost their limbs or appendages. There were displays of objects that people have made out of munitions that they find in the fields, often with disastrous results.

I’ll say now that Laos is very poor and was devastated during the 1960s and 1970s by war and bombing, but it is also landlocked and communist and faces other challenges. That’s why Vientiane isn’t a Bangkok or a Ho Chi Minh. So the COPE centre raises money to help people with prosthetics and support after they’ve lost limbs due to bombs and land mines. How poor do you have to be to risk your life to try to salvage scrap metal from a live munition. It is upsetting but at least there is some help.

And now for the most awkward of transitions…

Smoking Cigars in Vientiane

Surprisingly, for a city as sleepy and smallest Vientiane, there were two cigar lounges. There was a newish one called “K2” owned by a foreigner whom I chatted with a bit. It was a decent little spot. It had a decent bar and some seating inside and on the patio. He also sold some cigars, but honestly, the quality was very poor and the selection limited. I smoked my own cigar and had a coffee. No one else was there when I visited, but I could imagine it being a nice spot when it’s busy if it’s busy. [2025 Update: According to Google maps it has closed.]

The other cigar room was the Smoke & Oak Cigar Lounge at “The Beer House”. They had a little side entrance with a decent cabinet humidor that was well stocked, and you went upstairs to a couple of small adjoining rooms that were decorated with local art and pictures of cinematic tough guys and leather sofas. They basically left you up there to smoke your cigars in peace, but you could press a little button and request some assistance if needed. It was kind of an odd place, but I was the only one there again and it allowed me to at least get some work done.

There was another one called Club DPlus, which is just an objectively terrible name for anything. This was in a building that was either a mall or a casino very near the COPE visitor centre. I approached its opulent looking entrance but didn’t go inside as there was a sign that stated that it was strictly for members. I don’t know what one has to do to be a member but I’m certain I didn’t qualify.

*a cigar and a lemonade at a local restaurant*

That’s largely how I spent my two and half days in Laos, just walking around aimlessly and exploring and then doing my little day trip to the Buddha Park, which I will write about in the next post. It was a bit underwhelming, but decent for a short time. Fortunately, there was lots to look forward to in Laos, starting with the weird and wonderful Buddha Park.

*That Dam Stupa, a* *16th-century Buddhist stupa*

Memphis long weekend 2024 USA

Graceland

I’m an Elvis fan. Not the sort of Elvis fan that has a house decorated in memorabilia or Elvis tshirts, but the sort of Elvis fan that owns all his music and has attended Elvis impersonation festivals more than once, and has seriously considered getting an Elvis tattoo. I love his music, I think he’s cool, and probably the best looking man ever. Going to Graceland was not a question of if I would go, but a question of when. It was the thing I was most excited to do when I went to Memphis.

*me with various Elvis tribute artists & DJ Fontana, Elvis’ drummer for 14 years*

I don’t need to explain who Elvis is or why he’s important or iconic because I think that’s understood. If you’re reading this and you don’t understand that, please go listen to some music.

Graceland is the mansion that Elvis bought in 1957 in Memphis TN for himself his wife his parents and his grandmother. The house was built in 1939 on farmlands, and it was a fairly rural property when Elvis bought it, but since that time it has become more surrounded by neighbourhoods, so it’s properly a part of Memphis now. After Elvis died there in 1977, his grandmother and other members of the family continued to live there. It opened to the public as an attraction in 1982.

Visiting Graceland can be a little bit overwhelming because there are so many options for tickets and experiences. There are the regular tickets, VIP tickets, and other special package tickets. You can even stay at a hotel on the grounds if you want to. I didn’t want to go crazy with all the luxury add-ons, but I did want a good package. I went with the ultimate VIP package. It was a little over $200 US and gave access to pretty much everything. I don’t regret a penny of it.

I took an Uber from my hotel to Graceland. (As a side note this was the first time I had taken Uber. In 2024. I was a late adopter.) Graceland is busy and the tickets are timed. You want to plan and not miss your time slot. I bought the earliest ticket that I could get to give myself lots of time and avoid some of the crowds. It was definitely more crowded when I left them when I arrived.

Arriving at the gates of Graceland I felt very excited. I went inside and picked up my commemorative badge, lanyard, and map and was taken on a little trolley over to the back of the Graceland mansion. We went into a small room that contained memorabilia, and we first watched a short movie about Elvis. Maybe ten minutes or so. By the end of the movie, I was already fighting back tears.

From there we were allowed to walk through Graceland mansion. This wasn’t a guided tour, this was just walking through at your own pace, which was perfect. There are options to take guided tours but that didn’t appeal to me.

The upstairs was off limits, but the main floor and the basement were open to us. The mansion is surprisingly small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in garish opulence. It’s incredible. It is ostentatious and tacky and over the top and amazing. I took a million photos. I just kept looking at these rooms thinking, oh this is the kitchen where Elvis would have made a sandwich, and this is the sofa where he sat and used that ashtray to smoke his tiny cigars, and this is the piano that he played, and on and on and on. It was incredible.

From the mansion you walk outside, and you see the fields where there are still a couple of horses. You go into his private racquetball court building and walk past the graves where he is buried alongside his parents and grandmother and, most recently his daughter.

And then, if you have the right ticket, you can also visit his private planes. There are two of them on the grounds and you get to go inside. They are the height of 1970s private jet opulence and still smell vaguely of stale cigarette smoke.

All of this alone would have been enough, but once you’re finished with the mansion, you go back to the complex where there are seemingly endless excellent high quality exhibits of Elvis’ clothing, his cars, his movie memorabilia, his gold records, bizarre artifacts like badges that he got from police forces across the country, the TV that he shot a bullet into, his jewellery, his karate gear… It’s a lot. And yet it didn’t seem like enough.

When that was over there was lots of time for exploring the many many Elvis themed gift shops. There are also Elvis themed diners and snack shops on the grounds. I bought my mom’s boyfriends a couple of T-shirts and myself a pair of socks because I’m not one for souvenirs, but I wanted something to remember the day.

I’m not going to say that going Graceland was the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it absolutely lived up to my expectations and exceeded them. I can’t explain why I got emotional multiple times on the visit. I fought back tears and I had a lump in my throat. I was just genuinely moved and amazed by everything that this person accomplished and brought to music and culture in his relatively short life. It really hit home as I was in Graceland that I’m older than Elvis ever got to be.

I feel like even if you’re not an Elvis fan, Graceland is worth visiting because it’s such a unique, American, pop culture attraction.

If I ever go back to Memphis, without hesitation, I will return to Graceland for another homage to the King.

After Graceland, I still had another day or so in Memphis. I’ve written about my trip to Memphis in a different post. After Memphis, I flew home and had a brief visit to Charlotte, NC.

Memphis long weekend 2024 USA

8 things I loved about Memphis (and 2 I didn’t)

Down in Memphis

I had a long weekend at the end of June. It came about a month after my trip to Europe that took me to Andorra and Lithuania, amongst other places. I wasn’t supposed to go away, but I had the yearning to travel. I didn’t think that I could wait until my next planned trip at the end of July, so I looked for a cheap trip for the long weekend. An inexpensive flight to Memphis, Tennessee was the winner and with about a week’s planning, I was Memphis bound.

I had not been to Tennessee before, but I wanted to go. I wanted to see Graceland and I was generally curious.

The flight to Memphis was cheap, but the hotels were not so. Hotels in the centre were all pricey (especially when paying with my meagre Canadian dollars) but I would only be there for three nights, so I booked the best of the lower-priced options (and dismissing from contention and of the budget motels the reviews of which were full of stories of late night parking lot gun play). A funky little Moxy Marriot that had pinball machines, was walkable to everything, and had a trolley stop out front.

I took the Friday off work and left Thursday night, which meant that I arrived in Memphis Friday morning and I left early Monday morning. Three terrific days. I haven’t stopped talking about how much I loved Memphis. Here’s why…

Music

If my Memphis famous for anything, it’s for music. It has a pretty convincing claim to being the “birthplace of rock’n’roll and the home of the blues.” Even aside from the fact that Elvis is from Tupelo, Mississippi, not far away ,and built Graceland in Memphis, it seems that pretty much every early rock performer got their start in Memphis. The town is filled with monuments and memorials and markers for these early rock pioneers.

As someone who grew up loving 1950s rock music I was very excited about this. Of course I went to Graceland (more about that later), but I was very excited to visit Sun Records (aka Sun Studio), the original record label and recording studio where artists including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison recorded. You can visit the actual recording studio which is connected to a building next to it that has a good collection of memorabilia and information. It’s not possible to visit Sun Records without a tour, and you need to book ahead, but the tour is excellent. Even if you don’t know a lot about early rock music, it gives you a lot of context, and it ends in the place where all these amazing records were made. I’m not going to lie; I got a little emotional standing in the place where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and the like recorded their early records.

You could also do a similar tour of Stax Records which recorded more of the soul artists from Memphis, including personal favourite Otis Redding. I didn’t have enough time to get to Stax, which is just one of the reasons why I wish that I had had four days in Memphis instead of three.

But the music is not just in the history books and museums in Memphis, it is alive and well in the city today. Beale Street, which calls itself the Home of the Blues, is a pedestrianized street lined with live music venues and bars. You need to show ID to enter the street, as police control either end, but once you’re in, you can get a drink and wander around from venue to venue, and each venue has terrific music. Mostly blues with some R&B and funk. It’s just terrific. Most of the places didn’t even have a cover so you could just wander in and order a drink and watch for a bit. Best of all for me, many of the places allowed smoking. Some of them only allowed smoking of cigarettes not cigars, but that’s OK, I still managed to smoke a cigar indoors in a couple of places on the patio or a couple of others, but the idea that I could smoke a cigar while watching excellent live Blues music was incredible.

And it wasn’t just on Beale Street; there was live music throughout the city, with buskers and music at lots of other scattered venues.

On Sundays, you can take in a service at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church and, if you are lucky, the founder of the church, none other than soul legend Al Green will be there preaching and singing.

If that isn’t enough proof of Memphis’ musical importance, there are over 1000 recorded songs with lyrics about Memphis.

Cigars

Memphis was a tremendous cigar city. There aren’t an abundance of cigar stores and lounges, but there are good cigar stores and lounges. What makes it a great cigar city is the combination of people in the lounges and the loose smoking laws. I already mentioned how I was able to smoke indoors at one place while watching live music (incredible), but I spent a lot of time smoking at lounges. On my first day I went to the Tinderbox on South Main Street, which had a great selection of cigars. I bought a bunch and chatted with the guys working there before taking a seat in the lounge. It was one of those lounges that wasn’t super fancy but was comfortable and had a collection of guys who were all regulars. Sometimes in those situations you can feel like the outsider, but in this place, everybody was chatting with me and were so friendly. One of them even asked me what I was doing later. I said I didn’t have any definitive plans, and he said, well why don’t you come back in the evening because when the store closes they bring their chairs and sit out in front of the Tinderbox smoking and drinking. I did go back later that night and I hung out with them; some of the guys had met earlier in the day and some new guys. They had folding chairs and rocking chairs, a portable speaker playing music, and bottles and bottles of whiskey and bourbon. They were so welcoming. I felt like I instantly had a group of buddies to smoke with.

Cigar prices were very good in Memphis. Much cheaper than in many other states. Of course there are no Cubans, but there is an excellent selection of non-Cubans.

I also went to another lounge called the Havana Mix, which was a fancier lounge, but at the time that I went it was a little bit quiet so I didn’t chat with anyone, but it was still a comfortable place to smoke cigar and have a drink.

And just generally in the city you could smoke on most patios and in some of the restaurants and bars. It just felt very free.

Trolleys

By far one of the most charming public transit systems I have encountered is the network of trolleys in Memphis. They don’t have the broadest range, but they do go to some useful places. What makes them charming however is the fact that they are 100-year-old refurbished trolleys. Right down to carved wooden interiors and antique light fixtures, they are unbelievably charming. Even if you’re not taking them to go from point A to point B, a ride on one is a must. There’s even one route that takes you on a scenic journey through downtown Memphis and along the Mississippi river. Best of all, a ride is only $1.00, or you pay $2.00 for unlimited rides for the entire day.

Even better, on the last Friday of the month during the summer they have what’s called Trolley Night. On Trolley Night, all the trolleys are free and all along the routes there is sort of a street party. The businesses all stay open late and provide live music and cocktails and special arts events. It’s terrific. I was just lucky that I happened to be arriving on the last weekend of the month, so when I read about Trolley Night, I made sure to arrive on Friday morning as opposed to Saturday morning so I could enjoy the evening. I rode the trolleys, stopped off at various galleries and shops, and hung out smoking cigars in front of the Tinderbox.

Civil Rights Museum

I wouldn’t tell people what to do when they go to a city, but I think that if you’re going to Memphis you must visit the National Civil Rights Museum. Yes, I know about the civil rights movement, but I don’t know about everything. And this museum does such a good job of not only giving you the overview of what happened but giving you very specific stories about people that you may have not heard of. And seeing all of the photos, and spending time with it, was very moving. There were several times where I put sunglasses on in the museum just to hide the fact that I was starting to cry.

The museum is attached onto The Lorraine Motel, which is where Martin Luther King was assassinated on 4 April 1968. The motel looks as it did in the day, but there is a small monument in front of the balcony where he was killed. In the museum, your journey takes you to the exhibit about the Memphis sanitation workers protests, which brought Martin Luther King to Memphis in April 1968. You then walk to his motel room where the wall has been replaced with a window, and you can look in and see it as it was. It is a very moving experience.

Lucky Ducks

The “South’s Grand Hotel,” The Peabody, was built in 1869, and it’s an impressive building. It is probably lovely to stay in, but it was well out of my price range. But the reason that you need to know about the Peabody is because of the ducks. In the 1930s, the manager of the hotel and a friend had been hunting and they were drunk and they thought it would be funny to put their live duck decoys in the fountain in the middle of the lobby. This started a tradition that carries on to today.

From the 1940s to 1991 bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal worker, provided ducks to the fountain every day until he retired in 1991. Since then, there is still a Duck Master who is in charge of ensuring that there are ducks in the lobby from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day. That’s a bit quirky and fun right? It gets even better.

In 2008, the hotel spent $200,000 US to build a “duck palace” on the roof of the hotel. I didn’t view the duck palace myself, but I understand that it includes a replica of the hotel and a swimming pool. Each day at 11:00 AM, the Duck Master, who wears an elaborate outfit with tails, a top hat, and a black cane with a silver duck head on it, walks the ducks from the roof into the elevator and on a red carpet to the fountain in the middle of the lobby and does so to Sousa march. At 5:00 PM, the Duck Master escorts the ducks back to the rooftop.

If you plan accordingly, you can be there to witness the duck procession. And I think you can make some special arrangements to view the ducks on the roof. I arrived at the hotel just after the ducks were brought to the lobby, but I saw the Duck Master in the lobby talking to some families. I stayed and had a cocktail and watched the ducks splashing about. This is one of the most charming and whimsical things I’ve ever heard of. And it’s in Memphis.

*the luckiest ducks in the their fountain*

Cooper-Young

I’m sure Memphis has a lot of cool areas outside of downtown, but I didn’t have time to visit a lot of them. But I did visit Cooper-Young. It was a short bus or taxi ride. I went first to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, which was in a park just outside of Cooper-Young. It was good museum with excellent permanent exhibits and, when I was there, it had a really cool fashion exhibit.

From there I walked down the street into Cooper-Young. The neighbourhood is just kind of a funky, hipster-y, historic neighbourhood with lots of cool independent bars and restaurants, book and gift shops, and beautiful houses. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours looking around. It made me curious what other neighbourhoods of Memphis there were that I didn’t have time to get to.

People

Without a doubt, the people that I met in Memphis were some of the friendliest people that I’ve met anywhere. From the cigar people who felt like instant friends, to the trolley drivers who chatted with me, to people I met in bars and restaurants, everyone was so friendly. This isn’t a place where people are minding their own business; people are engaging in conversation, they’re curious and talkative, and they are polite. I’m not always someone who wants to talk to other people, and truth be told, when I’m at home in Vancouver, I have my headphones on constantly, but the people in Memphis were just so charming and genuine that I was won over and couldn’t help but engage in conversation.

Atmosphere

Memphis is interesting. It’s not polished and perfect. It’s not a Charleston, for example. It feels like a city that’s been through some rough times. Parts of the downtown feel a little rough around the edges. While I never felt unsafe, I understand that it’s not a good place to be out late at night. (The latest I was out was about 11:30 PM and I didn’t have any problems but I can’t necessarily recommend it.) It’s not super beautiful, although it does have some nice old buildings and great street art, and away from places like Beale street, this streets don’t feel necessarily lively and welcoming. And parts of Memphis, like when I walked to Sun Records, felt quite economically depressed. But it is very interesting and I feel like it’s a city that is on the rise, economically. I feel like in 20 years, Memphis could be one of those places that everyone is going, like Nashville. But right now, it feels like a place that is kind of an insider destination. I’m not saying Memphis is a secret; clearly, millions of people go there, drawn by the music and Elvis and history, but it still feels a little like you’re getting in early on something that’s going to be great again. I like that about it.

The two things I didn’t like about Memphis

Not everything is perfect and I wouldn’t want it to be. There were two things that I did not like about Memphis.

The Heat. I was there in the middle of summer, and it was fucking hot. I’m used to heat. I traveled to some of the hottest countries in the world and I used to live in Miami, so I usually deal with that thing that sort of thing okay, but something about the heat in Memphis at the time that I went was insufferable. Even the locals couldn’t stop talking about how hot it was. It was over 100° and really humid. Walking around, I had to buy a handkerchief just so I had something to mop the sweat off my face. Even at midnight, there was no relief. This might have contributed to the streets feeling kind of empty during the day as nobody wanted to be sitting outside. It didn’t stop me from walking everywhere, but it did mean that I was constantly overheated and uncomfortable.

The Food. If you like BBQ, you’re all set. But I don’t eat meat or fish or fried things, so Memphis was kind of a disaster for eating. There was one restaurant I found in Cooper young that was a vegan restaurant, and I had some vegan collard greens and cornbread, which was delicious, and there was a Caribbean restaurant downtown that had a vegetarian curry that was very good. But other than that, there were not a lot of options. I went to this one classic diner, The Arcade, for breakfast and there was really nothing on the menu that I would eat apart from a very lacklustre veggie burger. (I also don’t eat pancakes or waffles or eggs. I know, annoying…) I kind of expected this, so I’m not really complaining, but I have said so many glowing things about Memphis I just wanted knowledge the couple of things that weren’t the best.

Summing up

I loved Memphis. I want to go back. I want to smoke more cigars and see more music. I want to revisit Graceland. I want to do the things that I didn’t have time to do and just generally hang out. This is high praise from me because I don’t usually want to go back to places, but Memphis was a good vibe and close enough to Vancouver that I think it’s worth a revisit.

This post is really long, so I have put Graceland in a separate post. Read on here…

Andorra-Lithuania trip 2024 Latvia Lithuania

No Vampires at the Hill of Crosses

How to reach the Hill of Crosses from Vilnius

Apart from visiting Vilnius, the thing I most wanted to do was visit the Hill of Crosses. I had to figure out how to get there. The Hill is a couple hours from Vilnius, close to the border with Latvia, but close to little else. There are bus tours from both Riga and Vilnius, but they are long days and didn’t seem worth it, to go all the way there and back in a day. So what if I didn’t go back? I found a car & driver for hire that offered transportation from Vilnius to Riga, stopping at the Hill of Crosses and Rundāle Palace en route. Perfect. I had been to Riga before and loved it, so I was happy to return.

My driver picked me up early on the morning of May the 16^th. A young, skinny, rocker-looking dude who smoked cigarettes and didn’t have much to say. I enjoyed his company and appreciated that he answered any questions that I had about Lithuania.

The Hill of Crosses (Lithuania)

If you’ve seen pictures of the Hill of Crosses you’ll know it immediately by the name. It is a small hill in an open field covered in and surrounded by crosses of varying sizes. It’s unusual, even a bit eerie looking, and beautiful. I wanted to visit it as soon as I became aware of its existence.

The Hill of Crosses is not really a religious site; it is a site of protest. In the 1700s, Lithuania and Poland both became parts of the Russian Empire. On two occasions in the mid 1800’s there were wars of rebellion against the Russians by the Polish and Lithuanian people. The rebellions were put down, but the Hill of Crosses started as a response. Families of lost soldiers who did not have bodies to bury started putting crosses down in the middle of a field as a marker of their loss. During Soviet times, the Hill of Crosses became a place of protest, to assert Lithuanian independence against the Russians. From time to time the Russians would bulldoze the site, but the crosses returned – this, even though the Soviets declared placing crosses on the hill to be a crime punishable by imprisonment.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the hill of crosses has grown. It became a popular place for locals to put crosses to remember last soldiers or celebrate their national identity or hope for peace. And it has become a tourist site. The only rule about what sort of crosses may be placed there without a permit is that they must be less than three meters tall. Other than that, anyone can place a cross. And in walking around you will see crosses dedicated to certain soldiers, armies, or wars. But many have no such distinction and are just handcrafted, beautiful crosses of varying sizes.

It is a stunning sight. Even if there were no crosses there, the landscape is beautiful; fields of green, covered in yellow flowers, under the blue sky, and ringed with trees. The fact that these crosses are there in the middle of that landscape is a truly breathtaking sight. And it is a little creepy. Even in the light of day there’s something about eerie about walking in silence through these thousands of crosses. Because I’m an idiot who’s obsessed with horror movies, I started to imagine a horror movie in which vampires were attacking and the Hill of Crosses was the only place that people could find refuge from them. That’s a free idea if anyone wants it. Just give me a note in the credits.

The thing that I also found amazing, is that there is no business associated with this site. There is no entrance fee or guards and no people selling souvenirs. It is just there by the side of the road for anyone who wants to visit it. I’m so happy I made the journey.

Into Latvia

From the Hill of Crosses we drove across the border into Latvia. My second time there, but my first time visiting anything outside of the capital.

The next stop on the trip was visiting Rundāle Palace. Honestly, I wasn’t too interested in visiting the palace; I’ve seen palaces, and they are lovely but I don’t find that they vary too much from one to another. Nevertheless, I was happy to visit this one because it was effectively included in the trip. As it turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Rundāle Palace. It was exceptionally beautiful and filled with period furnishings and surrounded by beautifully manicured gardens. There were only a few other people there at the time so I felt like I had the place to myself.

Rundāle Palace Was built in the Baroque style in the 1700s for Ernst Johann von Biron, the Duke of Courland, and who was also briefly the Regent of Russia in 1940. It’s not my style of decor, but it is undeniably impressive.

From Rundāle Palace, we drove further north and stopped briefly for a view of Bauska Castle, a castle built in the 1400s but mostly rebuilt in the 1800s after it was blown up during a war with the Russians in 1706. Another nice stop. If only just for a photo.

From there it was a short drive to Riga, on the shores of the Black Sea.

If you drove directly from Vilnius to Riga without stopping, it would be about a three and a half hour drive. With our stops it turned into more like a 7-hour day, but it was perfect. I got to Riga just in time to check into my hotel and enjoy the rest of the day.

Tag: history