UNESCO says that Siena’s historic center “is the embodiment of a medieval city. … The whole city of Siena was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape.” I couldn’t have explained it better myself, the reason I found Siena so appealing during a long-ago
In my 2018 holiday letter to friends, I described my funniest travel experience for the year as follows: <<I visited Assisi in Italy and its Basilica of St. Francis. A sign at the basilica entry said, “no photos,” so tourists were sneaking shots like crazy. Near the altar, I watched
It was dumb luck that, this year, my sister and I alighted in Washington state right at peak season for the lavender crop. Lavender? When we started planning our trip, we had no idea lavender was a “thing” in Washington state. But it is, specifically in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley on
Hamburg boasts an exotic new concert facility, opened in early 2017. It is a huge modern glass structure that sits atop a former warehouse. It is popularly known as the “wave” because its roofline is indeed wavy. And this wave-sitting-on-a-warehouse is perched right at water’s edge in Hamburg’s harbor, on
The following is a blog I wrote for another site in 2012. Except for the sighting of the queen, which I could not have planned, everything in the narrative below remains valid for a visitor today. # # # I went to London to visit friends, but I cannot be
Two friends and I, during a driving trip to Sicily, visited Taormina on the island’s northeastern coast. The severely perched Taormina is approached via roads (good roads, BTW) that swirl and sweep in daring arcs as one climbs into town. Dramatic view from the perched Taormina takes in parts
One of the top tourist attractions in Palermo, Sicily, isn’t in town. It is the suburban UNESCO-protected Monreale Cathedral, a medieval structure boasting interior walls literally encrusted with mosaics and a lot of gold. I had to see it. On arrival in Palermo, my hotel’s manager, Giuseppe, recommended restaurants (it
When I arrived at the Santiago, Chile, airport nearly a year ago, I was witness to a scam. Men with fake IDs claimed to be cab drivers, led arriving passengers to their cars and charged two to three times the normal fare to downtown Santiago. Officials from TurismoChile and the
Sicily’s hilltop town of Erice is one of those places that has retained much of its medieval appearance, plus it has great views of Sicilian farmland, hills and the sea off Sicily’s western coast. Besides, it offers charming hotel choices and numerous restaurants with good food. The hilltop Erice
My recent all-too-short (one day) visit to Shanghai focused on the oldest section of the city in the morning, then shifted to the modern in the afternoon. I was traveling with a group of U.S.-based travel sellers who had participated in an industry conference in nearby Suzhou. This was our
