Athens to Paris in 2010: A web travelogue

It always fascinates me to read or watch other people’s tourist impressions of places I live in or frequently visit. The novelty of a place fades quickly, replaced by the routine of daily chores. Tourists rushing past my house or workplace to the next attraction on their bucket list offer a different perspective, a unique viewpoint.

It’s great when the travelogue deviates from that overused template that most modern YouTube “influencers” stick to. Even better, when the website is hand-crafted and belongs to that dying breed of classic personal homepages about everything that interests their webmaster.

For me, the “Athens to Paris by Train” series provides a rare glimpse into the massive number of tiny little changes that have happened in Bulgaria and Romania over the past fifteen years. The locals often tend to focus on the negative aspects, unaware of how much the years of gradual improvements transform the place for the better.

I’ve tagged this link “retro”, but honestly there’s nothing retro about Bob Cromwell’s website except for its unequivocal old-school charm. It is still being updated regularly and adheres to HTML 5 standards.