Returning from the truly remarkable setting of the small church of Agios Ioannis, which is precariously placed on top of a large rock at the weatherbeaten Northern shore of the Sporadic Island of Skopelos, I was sitting over a beautiful traditional Greek dish of octopus with herbs in olive oil and vinegar, when my …
Author Archives: The Blue Vet
Spying felines, an encounter with the Mahatma and a race against the sun in Athens
Track shoes ready for another early morning run… And this time for a change one that will include a case of potential espionage and a visit of the American Embassy…. I am in Athens, in the middle of September. It’s by far not the first time I am here and I just love this city: …
Nesslau
It was the beginning of the summer, I was back in Switzerland and this time I was in love… It was a clear case of “Love at first sight”, if this term can be applied to a veterinary clinic or to a place of work in general. By now, I have had a number of …
No 5
There was no point to scream, as there was no escaping from it anyway… With some surprise I realised, how many nerve endings could be found on the surface of a human body, while several layers of my skin were removed by a bearded stranger I had never seen before. I just tried to dig …
Tbilisi Vets
I was in a bad way….for a whole day and for a couple of nights I had been struggling with abdominal pain and none of the painkillers I had thrown at it, had made much of a difference. Declaring defeat, I had managed to get a last minute flight with a Ukrainian carrier out of …
Fresh mutton and a Caucasian shepherd
Driving along the Georgian Military Highway, leaving behind me the world heritage site of the castle of Ananuri, and heading North towards the town of Stepantsminda, I had to cross the over 2000m high Jvari Pass, where the green meadows of an Alpine plateau offers an ideal pasture for large herds of sheep. Crossing the …
Mt Kazbeg and the night at Jonny’s court
Not for the first time, I had to throw common sense over board and break all the rules. I was standing at an altitude of 3200m above sea level at the bottom of the Gergeti glacier in the Georgian part of the Caucasus, not far from the border to Russia, about to do something really …
Berat
The sun had not even risen behind the towering Tomorri mountains far in the East, when I crossed the town square of Berat, Albania’s “White City”. A small gang of large, but benign stray dogs was happy to see me and a couple of them came running towards me in the hope for some …
Tirana….the return
Abdominal wounds had been opened and closed for the last 8 hours and the sharps containers beside the operating tables were starting to fill with used needles and scalpel blades….. I was coming to the end of my demonstrations of common suturing techniques and despite my feeble attempts to engage my students with the application …
Coffee in the Garden of Dreams
“One moment in annihilation’s waste, one moment of the well of life to taste – the stars are setting, and the caravan starts for the dawn of nothing – Oh, make haste !” Once again I was enjoying a quiet moment at the “Garden of Dreams” – one of my favourite places in Kathmandu. Sitting …
The Blue Vet Diary 