A town in Romania that is easily accessible by train and then lets you travel to Hunedoara and Densus and to the Dacian and Roman ruins.
If you do nothing else then visit Densus Church. This is a church built out of ruins with real purpose and out of this has come something fantastic and moving. The man (priest?) in the house next door to the church will let you inside.
I stayed at Hotel Deva and ate at the Restaurant Castelo by the Citadel.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva,_Romania
Google map: tinyurl.com/34kd49n

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The cathedral of Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John.

Trust me. If you go nowhere else in Malta then go here.

From the gravestones on the floor to the gilt ornamentation of the chapels. It is absolutely awesome. On a par with St Marks.

There is a chapel for each country in the order (other than those countries that adopted the Protestant faith).

And then there is The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608) by Caravaggio.

Fantastic.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_Co-Cathedral

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Be aware that Sighisoara train station does not have a sign so you need to have counted the stops and/or noticed Dumbraveni at the prior stop. Short walk to the citadel. Go out of the station turn right onto the main street and then left down the first junction. Keep on walking down here to the bottom past the Russian War Memorial and through the flats. Then across the footbridge over the river.

You can now turn right and walk up the steps - steep. Or turn left and walk into the old town and enter the citadel through the easier main entrance at the clock tower.

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Nice bar, old, that shows the sports channels and serves a very fine burger - real mince and wholemeal roll. And a half-litre bottle of beer at 5 LEI.

Bottom of the old citadel, on past Jo Bar in the direction of the river. On your left just before your turn right for the bank of shops that includes the CFR.

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Just a tip about buying a ticket and recognising the train. This site is ace for planning times reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e.

Worth writing down the journey details and the Romanian for 'first-class ticket' and handing it over - no English spoken at the train station when I was there. But the Lonely Planet guide came to the rescue.

Once you have found the platform watch out. The noticeboard flagged two separate trains - one to Targa Mures and one to Bucharest. The Bucharest train stops at Sighisoara.

But the trains appear to arrive joined as one - late. So it can be confusing.

What seems to happen is that the first-class carriage is always carriage three.

If you are on the same train as me be prepared for 50 year-old rolling stock in first class.

The scenery is fantastic. Ranging from the awesome pollution of Copsa Mica to shepherds and their flocks.

Str. Garii 1-3

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Nice looking restaurant on one of the main streets in Cluj - just up from the cathedral.

Lovely meatball soup - through be warned the meat balls are in fact strips of meat. But the best was to come - hare chop. Strongly recommended.

Washed down with a large bottle of Ursus Black. And all-in including tip at 60 LEI. Awesome.

21 Decembrie 1989 nr. 22

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Friendly and cheap local restaurant. The chicken soup was brilliant. And the wraps of meat with polenta for a main dish were not too bad as well. And with a bottle of beer the whole thing came to less than 40 lei.

Al. Ciura, nr. 6A

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What a find on the drive from Les Baux de Provence to Tarascon. An ancient city with a triumphal arch and cenotaph. The cenotaph is fantastic - so different from the other Roman relics in the area. You can see these two relics any time but the excavations are not open on a Monday.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glanum
Glanum is around 12 miles from Avignon.
Map: tinyurl.com/2tummh

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The basics are in place in a small way - bar with snacks, Hertz, and a newspaper shop. But nothing much opened until 11:00. Hertz opened eventually to take the keys back. If you are catching RyanAir then turning up 90 minutes before flight time should be fine!

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There are three fantastic sights in this area - Torre de Belem, Monument to the Discoveries and for me the best was Mosteiro dos Jeronimos.

Get the 15 tram from Praca de Figueira and get off after Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. You need to walk up aways and take the footbridge over the road to get to the Torre de Belem, and the Monument to the Discoveries.

www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/belem.html

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Sintra is awesome - even more for the views than for the fantastic architecture. Get the train from Sete Rios (Rossio was closed at the time of writing) to Sintra. Exit the station and catch a bus or turn left for a taxi to Palácio da Pena. Try going around the battlement running outside this palace. Then taxi it back to Sintra for Palácio Nacional.

www.manorhouses.com/unesco/whsintra.html

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This ancient church is one of the few places where you can see original byzantine iconography. The Haghia Sofia notwithstanding.

It is small but perfect and well worth the treck out to see. May be best combined with seeing the Golden Gate in Yedikule Castle and then taxi up passing the Theodosian walls.

www.guideistanbul.net/chora.htm

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Beyoglu District, is the most cosmopolitan area of Istanbul. Full of shops, bars and restaurants. Definitely the best area to stay and then get taxis out to the various sights like the Haghia Sofia and Topkapi Palace.

See this link for a taste of the district www.turkeytravelplanner.com/WhereToGo/Istanbul/Sights/Beyoglu/

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