SPAIN | Friday, 24 Mar 2023 | Views [190]
THERE IS NEVER A LACK OF THINGS to do when you are with Connie, especially if there are birds around. Recent sightings posted on E-Bird led us to Finca Sol Real whose trails are popular with hikers and runners—and birds, too. We spotted a flock ... Read more >
SPAIN | Wednesday, 22 Mar 2023 | Views [150]
IF MALLORCA HAS 3000 WINDMILLS IT HAS AT LEAST that many bicycles—and they were all on the road today! Single peddlers, small groups, biking tours and entire pelotons line nearly every road—it is they, not the speed limit signs, that set ... Read more >
SPAIN | Sunday, 19 Mar 2023 | Views [223]
MALLORCA IS NOT SICILY! Of this I am certain. Mallorca is tiny compared to Sicily with one-fifth the population. Drivers are courteous—most of them obey most of the rules most of the time. People don’t shout in Italian. Here they speak Spanish ... Read more >
SPAIN | Friday, 17 Mar 2023 | Photo Gallery
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SPAIN | Thursday, 16 Mar 2023 | Views [186]
IF YOU ARE A LONG-TIME FOLLOWER of our journals—like back to 2011—you might recall our fascination with the unique architectural style of Antoni Gaudi. On our first visit to Barcelona we were able to track down 11 of his buildings in our ... Read more >
SPAIN | Wednesday, 15 Mar 2023 | Views [163]
IT ISN’T EASY TO FLY FROM SICILY TO MALLORCA. Most flights require a change of planes in both Rome and Madrid and the cheaper ones have long layovers. Instead we flew to Barcelona for a few days and will continue on to Mallorca on Friday. And with ... Read more >
SPAIN | Tuesday, 14 Mar 2023 | Photo Gallery
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ITALY | Monday, 13 Mar 2023 | Views [176]
TRAPANI IS FARTHER FROM PALERMO than I first realized and too far from the airport for a morning flight. We shortened our Trapani AirBnB reservation by a day and booked a hotel nearer to the airport, giving us a full day to spend in Palermo. Palermo ... Read more >
ITALY | Sunday, 12 Mar 2023 | Views [176]
TRAPANI IS BEST KNOWN FOR SUMMER TRIPS to the Aegadian Islands of Favignana and Levanzo. We never had any intentions of swimming and the stormy seas would keep us ashore but we thought Trapani would make for a good stop before Palermo. If we had known ... Read more >
ITALY | Thursday, 9 Mar 2023 | Views [196]
YESTERDAY WAS A PERFECT DAY for sightseeing around Agrigento. The sun was shining, the almond trees were starting to bloom and our puffy coats remained in the car. But first we had to survive the drive from our AirBnB at the tippy-top of town down the ... Read more >
ITALY | Monday, 6 Mar 2023 | Views [174]
WITH APOLOGIES TO CROSBY, STILLS, NASH and Young, “Our house is a very, very, very fine house” . . . with three cats in the yard, a three-footed dog, two horses, a mule and a flock of chickens.
... Read more >
ITALY | Wednesday, 1 Mar 2023 | Views [177]
WITH SYRACUSE OUT OF THE WAY and heavy snow making Mt. Etna out of the question, we decided to drive to Taormina for the afternoon. We weren’t particularly interested in another 3 rd Century Greek theater but rumor has it Taormina is famous ... Read more >
ITALY | Monday, 27 Feb 2023 | Views [224]
TIME WAS RUNNING OUT ON OUR SCHENGEN VISAS forcing us to rush through Sicily our first time here. Four days wasn’t nearly long enough—this time we have 2½ weeks! Coincidentally, it was late February when we first visited so we won’... Read more >
ITALY | Sunday, 26 Feb 2023 | Photo Gallery
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VATICAN CITY | Friday, 24 Feb 2023 | Views [164]
YESTERDAY’S SIX MILES SEEMED LIKE A STROLL in the park compared to today. Vatican City is three miles from our hotel and we added another four miles—yes four!—just walking around the Vatican and through the museums, a total of ten miles.... Read more >
ITALY | Thursday, 23 Feb 2023 | Views [192]
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. And so do many airline connections. Rather than endure a long layover on our way from Istanbul to Sicily we decided to spend a few days in Rome. His Holiness couldn’t fit us into his busy schedule but we were still able ... Read more >
ITALY | Wednesday, 22 Feb 2023 | Photo Gallery
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TURKEY | Monday, 20 Feb 2023 | Views [310]
IT’S A CHURCH. NO, IT’S A MOSQUE. WAIT, WASN’T IT A MUSEUM? Today’s Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque has been all of these! Back before Constantinople became Istanbul, sometime around 325AD when the city was still called Byzantium, ... Read more >
TURKEY | Sunday, 19 Feb 2023 | Views [167]
IN EGYPT THEY CALL IT A SOUK, in Morocco it’s a Medina. Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar has been in business since 1461, steadily expanding to cover 45,000 square meters—about eleven acres— spread out over 64 streets with 4000 shops, ... Read more >
TURKEY | Friday, 17 Feb 2023 | Views [152]
. . . AND JUST LIKE THAT, OUR MAGIC CARPET flew us to Istanbul! Actually it was Etihad Airlines and it took eleven hours in the air plus ten on the ground in Abu Dhabi. But we are indeed in Istanbul, the city formerly known as Constantinople and before ... Read more >
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