Author: Brian Ogle

… AND THEY’LL DRAW YOU BACK TIME AND TIME AGAIN

AS July 1 is the anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme, it reminds me that another of the places I will be heading back to when things return to normal, will be the battlefields of northern France, and the area around the village of Pozieres on the Bapaume-Albert road, close to the valley of the Somme. 

LONDON: CITYBREAK SPECIAL

LET’S face it! You either love London or loathe it… When working in the capital or just flying over for a business meeting I usually can’t wait to catch the flight back to Belfast – but as a tourist I could easily spend a month there!

BY NATASHA WARCHOLAK

THERE comes a time in everybody’s life when one is overpowered by an urge to do something special. The realisation of adulthood can take different forms – it could mean revamping your wardrobe, swapping vodka shots for knowledgeable wine sipping or becoming an avid Radio 4 listener at the expense of the X Factor. 

BY BRIAN OGLE

ONE of the first places I will be heading back to when international travel resumes is to the town of Ypres in Belgium – right in the middle of the First World War Battlefields.

GOING FOR A SONG…….!

I AM not at all embarrassed to say that I am a fan of Eurovision, and seeing re-runs of Euro oldies and the performances of this year’s disappointed artistes does not in any way compensate for the real thing.

However, I can’t believe it’s 18 years since I decided, almost on a whim, to go to Eurovision to see what all the fuss was about.

The contest in 2002 was in the intriguingly named Saku Suurhall, an 11,000 capacity concert/ice rink/baseball arena on the outskirts of Estonia’s beautiful capital, Tallinn.

It was everything I expected it to be, colourful, crass, nationalistic, but above all entertaining – and that was just the audience…. It was like a football match with 24 different teams instead of two, all waving their banners, scarves and national emblems.

But unlike many football matches it was hugely entertaining and exciting from start to finish no matter now bad and over the top the songs and dance routines, but above all it was a great example of international camaraderie and sportsmanship.

The amazing atmosphere was replicated in Tallinn city centre, in the town hall square, where many thousands watched the proceedings and celebrated one of the biggest events marking Estonia’s transition from the old Soviet Union to an individual nation state in the European Union.

As I have written in this blog just a few weeks ago Tallinn is one of my favourite cities in the whole world, stunningly pretty, almost fairytale like, and it was no problem spending another four or five days there after Eurovision.

I can’t even remember who won that year in Tallinn, but it was such a great night it really didn’t matter.

I do remember my ticket cost about £200 and that the UK entry was a song called ‘Come Back’ performed by a 21-year-old called Jessica Garlick, star of the then highly ranked TV series Pop Idol.

Needless to say she didn’t win……

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FOCUS ON BAVARIA

NOW that I’ve introduced readers of this Blog to my passion of visiting wartime sites of significance on my travels, (recently The Bridge at Remagen and the Bridge on the River Kwai), an obvious addition to interesting WWII sites is the Kehlsteinhaus, otherwise known as the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain retreat in Bavaria.

BRIAN OGLE unearths an article from 2001 on his first visit to Tallinn….

EVERY so often you come across a place so pretty, so authentically medieval and atmospheric, the people so helpful and friendly, and a city so remote from the main European tourist trails that it poses a dilemma.

ACCORDING to a survey last year, only five per cent of people in the UK know much about Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and even where it is situated.

You can get there and back in a day for that university interview……

WITH around 2,000 students from Northern Ireland travelling to University in Dundee, a lot of them – and their parents – will be delighted to hear about the new Loganair direct service from George Best Belfast City Airport which begins in May.

DESTINATION SPOTLIGHT: CROATIA

SOUTHERN Croatia’s famous walled city of Dubrovnik is a ‘must see’ destination, but has now become a victim of its own success, writes BRIAN McCALDEN.