Birdwatching at Għadira Nature Reserve

Last Sunday was the day of 40 birds in Lithuania, which means, according to traditional wisdom, that 40 species return from the South by that day. Some say that due to climate change the list of species changes, but their number remains roughly the same. I trust one of my favourite Lithuanian photographers, Marius Čepulis, for the species count. Meanwhile, …

Drawing on mini canvas

I bought a few mini canvases from Nanu Nana on my last trip to Germany. I love using them outdoors in Malta. #Pleinair #painting with @outdoor_artists at #sananton gardens, thanks to @clive_angelo_gerada_artist & co. #minicanvas by @mein_nanunana #miniatureart #minipainting #minipics #Malta #3d #perpective #paintingsofinstagram A post shared by Daiva Repeckaite (@daivarep) on Feb 24, 2018 at 12:34pm PST In San …

Reducing plastic waste in Malta

A local blog entry on living plastic-free a whole month has been on my mind for a while. Being in the Mediterranean makes me more aware of plastic waste. In Egypt, gorgeous observation points and splendid buildings were often marred by piles of plastic waste accumulating around them. In Israel, all vendors insisted on packing everything in plastic. I collected …

Lake Vištytis: natural wonders and border tourism

I discovered Vištytis in March while carrying out a project on borders. Everything was covered with snow and the little houses on the campsite by the lake seemed lonely and as though they were spending winter in hibernation. But I was interested in everything: the mysterious landscape, conversations with locals who speak both neighbour countries’ languages, and the legends about …

Following the Beaten Path: Part 5 – Yodfat instead of Masada

My friend, Israeli writer and public intellectual Yuval Ben-Ami set off to see what it is like to re-examine his country′s main tourist attractions with a critical native eye (all posts here), and I decided to virtually follow his path.  In my blog posts I share my memories on what it was like visiting those places as an expat in …