A BALTIC JOURNEY: Exploring captivating coastal cities from Stockholm to the Bay of Gdansk
Stockholm, the beautiful Swedish capital, is built on fourteen islands, looking out on the great expanse of the Baltic Sea. We journey southwards, via Copenhagen, to Lubeck and the colourful towns of the Hanseatic League, once a great trading confederation, before joining the Vistula, Poland's greatest river, taking us into a land rich in history and cultural heritage, of magnificent fortresses and castles, and the unmissable beautiful cities of Krakow, Gdansk and Torun. Also, of world famous names who made significant contributions to science, music and the church, finally touching on Poland's close ties with Ukraine.
** Booking now for 2025
TRAVEL TALKS
WHERE TRAVEL, HISTORY, CULTURE AND ARCHAEOLOGY MEET
LATEST TALK: The Mosaic Trail
Inspired by a mosaic in a villa in the UK, a search for Roman & Byzantine mosaics across the beautiful scenery and cities of Southern Europe
PETRA, JERASH, WADI RUM
A journey through Jordan along the King's Highway, visiting the Desert Castles and the most famous and dramatic sites of the Middle East
About me
I set up Travel Talks in 2017. I'd developed a keen interest in photography as a child when I came upon my mother's ancient Brownie camera and later learnt my skills on a manual Russian Zenit SLR before digital cameras transformed the world of photography. In parallel I began to travel, especially to Europe and have now visited 34 countries across the continent. My fondness for the people and customs especially of smaller countries like Estonia further increased when I attended Douzelage conferences, an EU twinning association comprising one town from each of the member states. I was fortunate to live in Sherborne at the time, one of the founder members of the organisation and very proactive in hosting regular events with our European friends.
Giving presentations at EU conferences led to travel talks more locally and at Guildford Travel Club where I was Chairman from 2013 - 2019. In recent years I have begun to travel to the Middle East and greatly enjoyed visiting Palestine and Jordan but sadly Covid led to a cancelled tour to Lebanon. My particular interest continues to be visiting ancient and remote sites away from the tourist trail with a focus on history, culture and archaeology.
Current Talks
Palestine: Beyond the Wall
Jordan: The Desert Highway
From Transylvania to Tallinn
From the North Cape
Secret Serbia & Albania
Prague & Mozart's Travels
The Mosaic Trail
