Well, I’m still basking in the memories of my cruise experience aboard Holland America’s ms Veendam. At the end of each day’s illuminating tours of the ports of call – Lucca and Pisa, Malaga, Barcelona, Monaco and Gibraltar – I would excitedly rush back to the vessel to my favorite lounge, the Crow’s Nest, where I’d compile my notes over a crisp, full flavored Budweiser Budvar (circa 1245).
It’s almost impossible not to fall under the spell of this dreamscape where round, domed houses known as trulli rise from gentle hillsides. Alberobello will make you feel like you’ve stepped into the pages of a fairy tale, but this small town in Italy’s southeastern Puglia region is decidedly of this world, fashioned from limestone, surrounded by centuries-old vineyards and olive groves, and home to 11,000 residents.
Naturally we started our trip off with a glass of wine at lunch. After all, it was too late for breakfast… Deux verres de vin rouge – um, uh -- pas sec. Un peu… Finally I just threw my hands in the air and laughed. I meant well but it seemed unfair to make our poor waiter suffer for my lack of versatility with the language. Our waiter obliged with two glasses of wine and a hearty, Welcome to Provence!
How was your journey? The Gambardella family, several generations of whom are usually on the scene, have been asking this question ever since they began welcoming guests to their villa-like retreat on the edge of a cliff along the legendary Amalfi Coast of southern Italy in 1904.
I was about to begin a magical journey through 6000 years of history. And then accept the hard truth. How do you recapture 6000 years of history in 1200 words, the social media-inspired limited attention span requirement that travel editors now impose on their writers? Usually my articles weave a story; this one's not going to. I think all I can do is let you experience a little bit of Egypt the way I did.
Just a pleasure visiting the wayback, remembering my daughter’s first far-flung travel. And a chance to reprise it for Christmas and New Years wishes from the original Santa Claus. Many lay claim to the origins of the Santa legend, but St. Nicholas, of the ancient city of Myra in Turkey, is the real deal. Trace them back, most other countries’ Santa legends are spinoffs.
A cluster of five mountains like ancient trusting friends encompass Lake Como with tales to tell. They tower to the horizon in a domineering maze of peaks, deep irregular valleys, and crusted sheer-sided facings. Deeply sculptured from wind and rain, and often cloud-covered, they stand like faithful world-worn sentinels. Tagged the Pre-Alps, the mountains cast long shadows across the lake’s glacier-formed deep blue water creating a textured moment of sun and shade. Residents and visitors alike recognize that in only a few places on the planet are water and mountains in such remarkable intimacy and the recognition inspires soft expressions of awe and delight.
First things first. No waterslide at any waterpark will ever be the same again -- not after cascading down real waterfalls in the Dominican Republic. The waterfall escapade -- billed as 27 Waterfalls, though that's really a misnomer, as it's more like 12 waterfalls flowing into 27 pools of water -- is only one of a multitude of outdoor adventures offered by Iguana Mama, the ultimate outdoor tour operator in the Dominican Republic.
The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Château-Vieux: Old Castle) is considered a shining star in the Rayonnant (radiant) period of French Gothic architecture. Gradually built on the foundations of a medieval fortress; its overall architectural design consists of a pentagon with five walls, not four. Its portals and west wall, adorned by a large Gothic rose window, were easily noted. The inner courtyard and moats are spread over an area of 12,000 square feet.
For thousands of travelers, the summer of 2022 was a disaster: hundreds of cancelled flights, shortages of pilots, countless flight delays, a deficiency of ground crews and airport personnel, endlessly slow-moving security queues, and images of luggage piled sky-high, gave us plenty of reasons for all kinds of second thoughts about our upcoming trip to Europe. It would be our first major trip following the more than two-year lockdown. Researching airlines, including many we have flown in the past, we came upon Condor, a German leisure line based in Frankfurt, and the only major airline on the planet that did not cancel a single flight during the dreadful travel summer of 2022. Operating a fleet of over 50 aircraft, Condor also maintains their own maintenance facility, an additional bonus for sure.
