by Lucy Gordan | Mar 13, 2018 | Travel, Travel blog
Italy’s national newspaper, La Repubblica, has published guidebooks about Italy’s many regions since 2003. Its first and only guidebook in English is Roma Maxima: Stories, Places, and Secrets, Guidebook to an Eternal City. The first guidebooks to Rome, written for the...
by Lucy Gordan | Feb 18, 2018 | Travel, Travel blog
I’ve lived in Rome for almost half a century but my connection to Italy goes back another ten years to 1957, when I boarded the SS Saturnia to travel to Naples, Pompei, Paestum, Rome, Turin, the Val Pellice, and Venice. My close friend Marjorie Shaw’s connection goes...
by Barb Harmon | Dec 17, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
The email said to meet where rue des Petits Carreaux and rue Réaumur cross…under the green arch…9:30 am sharp…rain or shine. Upon arrival, a young man approaches and introduces himself as Romain, my guide for the food tour of rue Montorgueil. To be...
by Susanna Gaertner | Dec 12, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
Earlier this year I spent several days in the historically rich capital of Jalisco, but I arrived in the middle of a national holiday, which brought a traffic tsunami that began taking its toll on the long, loud, dusty drive in from the airport to my hotel in...
by Lucy Gordan | Oct 19, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
The United States and Italy have always shared only three holidays: New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, and Christmas, and one festivity Mardi Gras, not-to-be-missed in New Orleans and in Venice. Then, about two decades ago, for no apparent reason, but maybe because...
by Bill Marsano | Oct 11, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
I wouldn’t want to say that French trains and I don’t get along, but certainly our relationship has had something of the hit-or-miss about it. The first miss occurred before I even boarded a train. A Rail Europe agent had crowed about the ease of using an...
by Adam Jacot de Boinod | Oct 11, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
“The hills are as alive” as ever. The residual summer snow on the crest of the mountains made it easy for me to envisage the winter season. A guaranteed white Christmas though snow has to be manufactured at times to satisfy the skiers. After a vigorous day out, be...
by Lucy Gordan | Sep 27, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
That’s a good and still unanswered question. Most people think that cappuccino is an Italian drink, but few know that, yes, it may have been invented by an Italian, but definitely not in Italy, where it wasn’t even mentioned until the 1930s. Its birthplace was Vienna,...
by Adam Jacot de Boinod | Jun 14, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
Mauritius is really a very unspoiled island and I highly recommend it whether for a honeymoon, a young family or in retirement. The hotels are excellent. The service is wonderful, the rooms thoroughly thought through and the food local, fresh and delicious. My...
by Lucy Gordan | Mar 7, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
Born in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci on April 15, 1472, the oldest illegitimate son of a promiscuous wealthy notary and a peasant, Leonard was a polymath. His interests included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music (both performing and...
by Adam Jacot de Boinod | Jan 7, 2017 | Travel, Travel blog
[raw]Kúpa-mandúka is the local phrase for one who never leaves his home, one ignorant of the world (literally, a frog in a well). But, for me, I knew Sri Lanka would be enriching and had to visit. I came first to the Wallawwa (www.thewallawwa.com). It’s just outside...
by Catherine Hedge | Dec 28, 2016 | Travel, Travel blog
A Caribbean Delight When you step onto the Caribbean island of Aruba, you will hear the warm welcome, “Bon bini!” Aruba is like a fine host whose greatest pleasure is making sure that you feel at home, are well-fed, entertained, and satisfied. Whether you come to...
