Travel stories

Glendalough, “the valley of two lakes,” is a popular tourist destination in Wicklow County, just a stone’s throw away from Dublin. If you google Glendalough, you’ll see tons of pictures of an old monastic site with a tall pointed tower, gray roofless buildings, and a graveyard with Celtic crosses. The site, which dates back to the 6th century, is absolutely out of this world. Ancient. Mysterious. Picturesque. But Glendalough has more to offer. In this post, I want to share our 2-day trip to Glendalough (which should have lasted longer!). First, the monastic site. A picture is worth a thousand words. Enjoy. Classical photo of the monastic site. This is what you see when you enter. Leaning tombstones Celtic crosses More tombstones and crosses, with spectacular landscapes in the distance Another classical photo of the monastic site Priest's House (12th century) Most tourists come to Glendalough for 30 minutes, walk among the tombstones and leave....

Don't get me wrong, Tallinn has an amazing old town worth a trip by itself. But if you have already been to Tallinn and/or don’t like walking among hordes of people (the old town is teeming with tourists), there are some places off the beaten track you can wander through and enjoy this city. In this post, I want to share my day in Tallinn off the beaten track. The day started from looking for 41 Vabriku Street , where the writer Sergey Dovlatov lived for 3 years. I needed a picture related to Dovlatov for my other blog , so I thought, “Since I’m here, why don’t I go and take a picture of the commemorative plaque on the house.” Dovlatov's house turned out to be located in a cute neighborhood, called Kalamaja , with pretty houses and deserted streets. We enjoyed a nice walk there on our way to the next destination. The next destination was Patarei prison , which I stumbled upon when I was scrutinizing the city map in search of places to visit (I have a penchant f...