Author Archives: kirkphillips

Afoot in Flanders

Posted on December 12, 2019

YearTripper is not a food blog, but Belgium begs the exception. Where Belgium’s rivers drain into the North Sea, mussels are both plentiful and popular. Over sixty thousand tons of them are consumed annually. Most restaurants sell them by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium | 5 Comments

Ruins and riches

Posted on November 26, 2019

The Americans arrived in Dresden at five in the afternoon. The boxcar doors were opened, and the doorways framed the loveliest city that most of the Americans had ever seen. The skyline was intricate and voluptuous and enchanted and absurd. … Continue reading →

Posted in Germany | 3 Comments

Streets of Berlin

Posted on November 13, 2019

In late September I joined forty-four thousand fellow visitors for a rainy tour of central Berlin. As participants in the Berlin Marathon, we circled the inner city clockwise and, over the course of a few hours, passed several historical landmarks … Continue reading →

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment

A ramble through Dingle

Posted on August 13, 2019

The rain was steady, as I strained to see the next way-marker on the climb up Mount Brandon. The black marker posts did not identify an obvious footpath but, instead, indicated the general direction upward through a steep marshy rubble-field. … Continue reading →

Posted in Ireland | 1 Comment

Coasting through Croatia

Posted on July 24, 2019

(I’m touring Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. To read about Slovenia and Bosnia, please see the previous posts, “Breaking free” and “Building bridges.”) To sleep in the hill town of Motovun, Croatia, a steep hike is necessary, either a short one from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Croatia | 1 Comment

Building bridges

Posted on July 3, 2019

(I’m touring Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. To read about Slovenia, please see the previous post, “Breaking free.”) The region now known as Bosnia-Herzegovina is a melting pot that never melted. The country has three major ethnic groups, three self-governing territories and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bosnia-Herzegovina | 2 Comments

Breaking free

Posted on June 15, 2019

The Slovenian city of Ljubljana (yoob yee AH nah) spent most of World War II in solitary confinement. In 1942 Fascist Italy imprisoned the city, encircling it with nineteen miles of barbed wire. On the perimeter, 206 watchtowers and bunkers … Continue reading →

Posted in Slovenia | 11 Comments