Welcome to Matt’s Travel Blog!

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page

Author: Matt Reynolds

  • Beyond Yerevan: Beware Greeks Bearing Temples

    Beyond Yerevan: Beware Greeks Bearing Temples

    The Yandex driver arrive earlier that I had expected, and the pick up point we drove to in record time; it was early and the traffic was non existent. This tour would take me to Geghard Monastery and Garni Temple. Being early I decide to wait in the park across the road, where I’d finally…

  • Beyond Yerevan: Oh hey Noah, there’s monasteries, wine, and a shoe here

    Beyond Yerevan: Oh hey Noah, there’s monasteries, wine, and a shoe here

    I had already decided when planning out the trip that my best option to see sights outside of Yerevan was to either take a tour, or go wild and pay a taxi driver to take take me everywhere. But the tour groups would be significantly cheaper, and ticked the boxes. And so, the first tour…

  • Yerevan: books and museums

    Yerevan: books and museums

    Putting behind me the horror show that was the prelude to this holiday, I found myself in a new hotel that is really fantastic, and closer to the centre of the city. Arriving just after 9am, it was too early to check in, so I dropped off my bag, had some breakfast, and a wandered…

  • Flight outta hell

    Flight outta hell

    A year ago I rushed through rain drenched suburban sidewalks, only to find myself in a slapstick comedy slipping spectacularly onto my ankle, spraining it for the welcome to my Baltics holiday. This year I was determined not to start the trip off with any drama. I slowed my walking pace down with sheer mental…

  • Šiauliai: OCD Edition – Obsessive Cross Disorder

    Šiauliai: OCD Edition – Obsessive Cross Disorder

    The Hill of Crosses is 12km out of Šiauliai, and its literally in the middle of country bumpkin nowhere. There’s no buses that go directly there, unlike Rundāle Palace, and the closest bus stop is 2km from the site. I didn’t fancy that walk on a 26 degree day, and what I would see later…

  • Trakai: There is a Castle on an Island

    Trakai: There is a Castle on an Island

    On the train to Trakai, a woman on across from me had what I thought was ASMR playing out loud on her phone. If you don’t know what ASMR is, count yourself lucky. Take a gross sound, like someone eating, record it really close so it picks up all the slurps and plops, now fetishise…

  • Vilnius: Leafy and Dreamy

    Vilnius: Leafy and Dreamy

    Four hours from Riga to Vilnius, on a mostly full bus. I didn’t note anything obvious to let me know we’d crossed the border, until my phone went off with an SMS – Telstra welcoming me to Luthuania, and kindly letting me know I can’t get roaming here. Thanks! The first notable difference from Tallinn…

  • Rundāle Palace: Ostentatious in the Countryside

    Rundāle Palace: Ostentatious in the Countryside

    Originally built in for 1736 for the Duke of Courland, Rundāle Palace sure had its ups and downs. From the opulent halls once filled with aristocrats conversing in room after room of sitting rooms, great balls full of dancing and frivolities, to being used as a bunker for allied forces in WWII. It was painstakingly…

  • Sigulda: Castle Estate and Moving House

    Sigulda: Castle Estate and Moving House

    The train is an hour ride from Riga, and this train is not in a hurry. It slowly puttered it way forward, and I had assumed half the train was going to alight in Sigulda too, as a group of about 50 people had appeared at Riga station and my brain immediately convinced itself this…

  • Riga Part 2: Sports Day in Old Riga (and Museums too!)

    Riga Part 2: Sports Day in Old Riga (and Museums too!)

    Visiting the Old Town of Riga, I picked a spectacularly wild day. As I approached from the city centre just about everyone walking by had a marathon bib on, and steady stream of kids were adorned on medals. At the freedom monument, marking the entrance from new to old Riga, it seemed like the entire…