RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Saturday, 15 Aug 2015 | Views [293]
ACTUALLY IT’S THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, not the USSR. But the old Beatles song has a better ring to it, don’t you think? We flew in yesterday from Kiev, not totally trusting Aeroflot enough to arrive the same day our cruise begins.... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Friday, 14 Aug 2015 | Photo Gallery
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UKRAINE | Friday, 14 Aug 2015 | Views [375]
[✔]RUSSIA VISA; [✔]BELARUS VISA; [✔]AIRLINE TICKETS. It seems that our work in Kiev is finished and we are booked solid until the end of the month. Now it’s time to explore a little. We booked into the Stan Gret Hotel which is ... Read more >
UKRAINE | Saturday, 8 Aug 2015 | Views [378]
“LOVING” MIGHT BE OVERENTHUSIASTIC, but I can get behind “liking Lviv.” Six days is twice as long as the city warrants but staying in this World Heritage town makes as much sense as waiting in Kiev for our Belarus visas.... Read more >
UKRAINE | Wednesday, 5 Aug 2015 | Photo Gallery
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UKRAINE | Tuesday, 4 Aug 2015 | Views [438]
WE SACRIFICED THE DAY TO THE WINGED and oh so capricious goddess of travel, arising at four for our six-thirty flight to Kiev. We hardly expected to leave on schedule — Ukraine Int’l Airlines is batting 0 for 4 for on-time departures ... Read more >
ARMENIA | Monday, 3 Aug 2015 | Views [256]
UNLESS YOU CLAIM ARMENIAN ANCESTRY, have a fascination with Eastern Orthodoxy or, like us, are running short of new countries to visit, there is little to recommend Armenia. There’s nothing wrong with Yerevan per se , but like, say Dayton ... Read more >
ARMENIA | Sunday, 2 Aug 2015 | Views [362]
BEFORE THERE WERE CHRISTIANS IN ARMENIA there were pagans. Their Hellenistic influence can be seen in the First Century AD Temple of Mihr in Garni, the only Greco-Roman colonnaded structure in the former Soviet Union. After Armenia’... Read more >
ARMENIA | Saturday, 1 Aug 2015 | Photo Gallery
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ARMENIA | Saturday, 1 Aug 2015 | Views [342]
ARMENIA IS THE OLDEST CHRISTIAN NATION in the world, having adopted Christianity in 301 AD. But its Biblical heritage goes back much farther. One story has Noah floating somewhere near current day Yerevan when he spotted Mt. Ararat poking ... Read more >
UKRAINE | Friday, 31 Jul 2015 | Views [374]
THE CLERKS STUDIOUSLY IGNORED ME while Connie waited in the taxi. "Bye-em-bye" Vladimir sauntered up and passed our visa’d passports through the window, nary a word spoken except my half-whispered “Dosvedanya.” Good-bye.... Read more >
UKRAINE | Wednesday, 29 Jul 2015 | Views [364]
HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THE LESS DESIRABLE the destination, the more difficult the visa process? This is especially true of the former Soviet Republics — letters of introduction, detailed itineraries, hotel reservations, financial data —... Read more >
GEORGIA | Friday, 24 Jul 2015 | Views [365]
THE NIRIKALA FORTRESS, SO SCENIC FROM BELOW, in reality is just some crumbling walls high above the town. But it affords the best view of Tbilisi — the Old Town and Peace Bridge, the hammam and Mother Georgia. The cable car ride up ... Read more >
GEORGIA | Thursday, 23 Jul 2015 | Views [253]
MTSKHETA WOULD HAVE COME AS A SURPRISE to westbound travelers on the Silk Road, a Christian outpost in the Muslim world. Its strategic location at the intersection of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers attracted the likes of Alexander the Great and ... Read more >
GEORGIA | Monday, 20 Jul 2015 | Views [372]
THE WAITING OFFICIAL AND THE BIG RED STICKER on Connie’s bag explained why it was the last one off the carousel. A scan had exposed her stash of over-the-counter ibuprofen and multi-vitamins so customs officials had to go through her luggage ... Read more >
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