“The place is quiet and so alone. Pretend there’s something worth waiting for” – Richey James Edwards. In December 2015 I finally made the sad and solemn trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The accident at Chernobyl which occurred in April 1986 shocked the world and was one of a few controversial blemishes during Soviet era-USSR.…
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“It’s a radiation vibe I’m groovin on” – Fountains of Wayne. It had been a truly incredible day of travel and to a place with a sad history – the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. It’s a day I’ll remember for a long time, but after this final part of the story, it’s time to close the…
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This ain’t no “Friday’s Featured Food” for yousens so it’s not. But to keep with the alliteration, I’ll rock it out on a Friday and it is food, I’m just not “featuring it.” You may not have built up an appetite reading my previous Chernobyl Exclusion Zone posts. So after visiting Reactor Number 4 (ouch)…
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While backpacking in Ukraine I was able to go on a free night tour of Kiev, the country’s capital city. I was staying bang in the centre of the city at Tiu Kreschatik Hostel. I heard about a free tour starting daily at 12 noon outside the earth monument in Liberation Square (Maidan Square) so…
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“There’s silence in the air, there’s silence in the ground. A presence moving through the rivers in the moonlight. Desolation all around. The wind blows through abandoned buildings, photos scattered on the floors, possessions of a vanished population. Safe haven for my soul.” – Tim Wheeler (Ash) Of course, it wasn’t the song from my favourite Northern Irish…
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It doesn’t get much more crazy than heading on a backpacking journey to “Reactor Number 4”. Indeed, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone attracts less tourists per year than Antarctica, North Korea and Iraq. Here there are 13,000 tourists per year. That’s only 35 people per day on average! And I mentioned in parts 1 and 2…
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“Your joys are counterfeit. This happiness corrupt political shit” – Richey James Edwards. So in the fourth installment of my trip to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, I report on the journey driving down a Soviet built “road” through a dense forest to a radar system, often known as DUGA 1. This part of the tour seemed less…
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The fact that Lviv Ukraine is brimmed full of wacky themed bars is enough to make any keen pub go-er enjoy this thriving nationalistic city with some style and panache. And let me tell you, it ain’t no glammed up pretentious place either. Italians, leave your Ferraris behind; mainland Brits, forget trying to be a…
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As with most of my journeys, I go to places without a huge amount of advance research. I find it clouds my method of thought and gives me an opinion of what to expect before I arrive. Sometimes, we go with the flow. I headed to Chernobyl with a clear head and the memory of…
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When you are out travelling the world you never know where you will end up next. Every new city or town I arrive in, I do little research. It’s only when you get to these places that you get extra ideas. A couple of my blog followers, Laura and Kyle alerted me of Cafe Masoch…
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