Author: Brian Ogle

.…. WHILE BRITISH VISITORS TO REPUBLIC MUST QUARANTINE

BRITISH holidaymakers are now subject to a 14-day quarantine in the Republic as the UK was excluded from the country’s travel ‘green list’ announced today. 

… COULD THEY STILL BE PART OF PUTIN’S WORLDWIDE ARMY?

ASKS BRIAN OGLE

WHEN visiting Crimea just a few months before Putin’s ‘Little Green Men’ took over and annexed the peninsula for Russia, I was lucky enough to take a tour of what had been a Russian nuclear submarine base under the cliffs in the port of Balaclava, just a short drive from the site of the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War.

CYPRUS BY NATASHA WARCHOLAK

WHAT unites countries in the north of Europe is the craving for sun and warm seas. Cyprus has the reputation of having it all.

ASHFORD Castle has been voted the number one resort hotel in the UK and Ireland by readers of the iconic Travel & Leisure magazine, one of the most acclaimed travel publications in the world for discerning travellers.

BRIAN OGLE recalls the days when a USSR built transistor radio opened new horizons and even brought a gift from Chairman Mao

I’VE always had a passion for travel, but as a teenager I travelled the world without leaving the comfort of the family living room.

… 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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