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Mount Vesuvius: Italy’s Sleeping God of Fire
After an eye-opening visit to the incredibly preserved ruins of Pompeii in southern Italy’s Campania region, we decide to climb that city’s destroyer five miles away, Mount Vesuvius. A popular activity for tourists and locals alike, hundreds of climbers make the trek daily to peer into the volcano’s caldera.
An Italian Coastal Town Commands Sweeping Views
Every year I make a calendar with my favorite photos from a recent trip, and 2022’s subject is Southern Italy–the Amalfi Coast, City of Naples, Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. January features the church dome and spire of the town of Vico Equense’s Chiesa dei Santi Ciro e Giovanni.
The Brothels of Pompeii: “May I See a Menu, Please?”
Standing in the narrow hallway of Lupanar Grande, Pompeii’s once “official” brothel, I feel as if I’m witnessing a 2000-year-old conversation.
Traveling from Here to There:
March of the Sikhs
November 2021 “Down with Air India! Down with Air India!” The crowd of forty outraged, frustrated, turbaned men chant loudly as they march up and
The Statue of Milyo: A Bulgarian Statue Celebrates Eccentricity
“Why does he have his hand jammed into his pocket,” I ask our guide Georgi. I stare at the bronze statue of Milyo, perched on a low wall in the center of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Behind him, large, blocky, metal letters in primary colors announce “TOGETHER––Plovdiv 2019 European Capital of Culture.” Every year, the European Union selects a city that will serve this role five years in the future. Plovdiv is preparing to show off its best to visitors in two years.
Varmints Are the Unwanted Garden Perennials
January 2021 Gardeners are patient people. We can’t really hurry nature, so we learn to orchestrate the selection and placement of plants to best suit
These Showstoppers Dazzle and Sway
Ahh! Crocosmias. A stand of crocosmias in full bloom can stop cars. Bicyclists make U-turns, and pedestrians cross streets to get a closer look. Admirers
Guatapé, Colombia Embodies an Explosion of a Crayola Crayons Box
Originally a farming town, Guatapé’s future changed forever with the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the 1970s that catapulted the town’s importance as the chief electric production center in the country. The dam created an endless network of interconnecting lakes, with hotels, exclusive homes, marinas and other recreational facilities. At the same time, it secured Guatapé’s prominence as a tourist destination.
Medellín’s Poor Comuna 13 Neighborhood Surprises as a Colorful Tourist Attraction
I crane my neck to catch an opening through bobbing heads peering over the railing. I’m on a broad concrete ramp that snakes up the steep hillside community of San Javier, an impoverished jumble of brick houses known locally as Comuna 13, located in the west side of Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city. Suddenly a young man springs into
Traveling to Villa de Leyva in Colombia: A Trip Back in Time
I stand at the northwest corner of cobblestoned Plaza Mayor, central square of magical Villa de Leyva, Colombia, population 17,000 inhabitants. Plaza Mayor measures a third of an acre. It’s empty, except for a small sixteenth century mudejar-style fountain in its center. Also, as if to elevate its noble purpose, a heart-shaped wire mesh recycling bin for bottles and cans sits off towards one corner
From Colombia to the Philadelphia Flower Show: An Industry is Blossoming
Our first morning in Colombia. We arrived in Bogotá yesterday late afternoon, and we’re ready to explore this capital city with our guide Tomás Vargas. Eleven-and-a- half million metropolitan residents fill an eastern Andean plateau at an 8600-foot elevation, and oxygen-sparce air challenges breathing for us sea level dwellers. Our driver deposits the three of us at the entrance to Paloquemao Market.
Traveling to Portugal: Medieval Towns and Monasteries
At the end of the last Portugal episode, the Fiat and its two passengers left Porto in heavy rainfall as we headed south towards the country’s central region and some of its oldest cities, most with Roman connections and one dating to pre-historic Celtic period. Bad weather made driving the Fiat and exploring two significant destinations challenging.
“The Clark” and Mass MoCA––Two Outstanding Art Institutions Along the Mohawk Trail
After Olana, we headed east on NY-Route 66 towards Western Massachusetts in the Berkshire Mountains to peep at the changing leaves of the deciduous forests. I covered that extraordinary experience at the beginning of this series. We didn’t expect to also enjoy impressive and provocative art as well at two lauded art institutions along MA-Route 2, also known as the Mohawk Trail.
Olana State Historical Site Captures America’s Idyllic Nineteenth Century
After spending time with the Roosevelts in the early mid-twentieth century, the next day we drove north along the Hudson River and stepped back further in time to the mid-1800s at Olana State Historic Site.
I confess I wasn’t familiar with the Hudson River School art movement before this trip. Yet the river’s mist that envelopes the Hudson Valley’s towns, vistas, and historic places, especially in the evening or after a rainfall, evokes the dream-like landscapes created by artists of
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Earmarks Critical Time in American History
Some of you might be wondering, “Why would he go there? Sounds boring.” Museums that open my eyes to a greater understanding of why my world is the way it is, and manage to entertain me at the same time, capture my attention. History geek that I am, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Museum and Library located in Hyde Park on the river’s east bank, fascinated me with its interpretive and interactive exhibits about
Storm King Art Center Embodies Monumentality
Back to the beginning of our week-long road trip that began in New York’s Hudson Valley, the Storm King Art Center set a high bar for our expectations over the next six days. Located near West Point Military Academy on the river’s west bank, this 500-acre pastoral landscape of woodlands, wildflower and native grasses…
Eye-Popping Fall Scenery Dazzles Along the Mohawk Trail
Red maples, red oaks, sugar maples, sweetgums, sassafras trees, and ashes are among the most colorful October show-offs. The 69-mile Mohawk Trail now Route 2, winds its way from the New York border in northwestern Massachusetts east to Millers Falls on the Connecticut River. Indeed, originally the trail was a major east/west footpath for the Mohawk and other Native American tribes.