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
I remember when I last rode a horse — it was more than 10 years ago. In other words, I am an almost-novice on horseback, but my 2017 trip to the Atacama Desert included a half-day outing sitting a horse. The horse and I were traversing a unique environment. The
Twenty-five French kings were crowned in Reims. These crowned heads included Charles VII with Joan of Arc at his side in 1429. The city’s cathedral, a gothic confection built between the 13th and 15th centuries, was the setting for 19 of those coronations; a stone on its floor identifies its
Over a period of decades, I have made three side trips, from Dubrovnik, to the village of Cilipi in Croatia. In 1976, I was one of a handful of press accompanying the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) to a meeting held in Dubrovnik. Some of the agents and press
Some travel experiences leave a warm glow long after the event, and an evening spent in Georgian wine country last fall is in that category. The setting was a cozy restaurant in a hill town named Sighnaghi, and the after-dark hours spent there involved dinner, a wine tasting and an
