ITALY | Wednesday, 1 Mar 2023 | Views [413]
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 [621]
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
See all 89 photos >>
VATICAN CITY | Friday, 24 Feb 2023 | Views [443]
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 [444]
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
See all 32 photos >>
TURKEY | Monday, 20 Feb 2023 | Views [694]
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 [524]
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 [395]
. . . 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 >
TURKEY | Wednesday, 15 Feb 2023 | Photo Gallery
See all 41 photos >>
MALAYSIA | Sunday, 12 Feb 2023 | Views [491]
THE SQUEAKY WHEEL MAY GET THE GREASE but it’s the bitchy passenger who gets his stateroom changed. A week of daily appearances at Guest Services coupled with attempts to go higher up the chain of command finally bore fruit. A couple of passengers ... Read more >
MALAYSIA | Sunday, 5 Feb 2023 | Views [388]
THIS IS HOLLAND AMERICA’S FIRST CRUISE to SE Asia since “The Pause,” the cruise industry name for the Covid-19 plague that put the industry in dry dock. I guess that explains Westerdam ’s sold-out status—cruisers are a ... Read more >
MALAYSIA | Friday, 3 Feb 2023 | Photo Gallery
See all 27 photos >>
SINGAPORE | Thursday, 2 Feb 2023 | Views [367]
SINGAPORE IS EVERYTHING INDIA ISN’T. It is a city and an island and a country, not a “sub-continent.” It is sparkling clean—spitting carries a hefty fine—and traffic jams just don’t happen. It even rains here! ... Read more >
SINGAPORE | Tuesday, 31 Jan 2023 | Photo Gallery
See all 19 photos >>
INDIA | Tuesday, 31 Jan 2023 | Views [374]
SOMEONE ONCE TOLD US THAT YOU had to have a reason to visit India—a yoga retreat or a meditation seminar—maybe a hip replacement. I had to keep reminding myself our reason was birding—especially amid the dust and squalor, 4AM wake-ups, ... Read more >
INDIA | Monday, 30 Jan 2023 | Views [535]
THE “FOREST OWLET EXTENSION” was a logistic nightmare requiring three-hour drives each way from our plush hotel outside Mumbai to the Tansa Forest area where we picked up a local guide. Connie, Richard and I were actually outnumbered by guides ... Read more >
INDIA | Tuesday, 24 Jan 2023 | Views [432]
RAJ OWNS DESERT COURSER ECOLODGE and drives like a lunatic but seemed to know where every bird in Little Rann of Kutch could be found—he should since his father started the place 40 years ago! Even before we dropped our bags he lead us to a pair ... Read more >
INDIA | Saturday, 21 Jan 2023 | Views [655]
AFTER A FREEZING MORING IN OPEN jeeps Bablu’s sharp eyes spotted a pair of Great Indian Bustards in the tall grass of the Thar Desert. At 150 meters they were difficult to see and impossible to photograph. We found another pair—or possibly ... Read more >
INDIA | Tuesday, 17 Jan 2023 | Views [497]
INDIAN TRAINS ARE AN EXPERIENCE, even if you travel inside, not on the roof! After a 3:30 AM wake-up, Rob from Rockjumper and our local guide, Bablu, herded the eight of us to Delhi station in the dark and wrangled several porters to carry our bags up ... Read more >
< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Next >
