Magellan's story is one instance where the old adage "the victor gets to write history" rings true. The PBS History website and Spanish movies like "1898: Our Last Men in the Philippines" depict the Filipinos as uncivilized thankless primitives. From Western perspectives, the Spaniards were the cultured benefactors who came to save the Filipinos from their ignorance. From the Filipino's viewpoint, the Spaniards were the oppressors. The Spanish monks sworn to celibacy were notorious to have families on the side.

Just because we can’t travel during the Covid-19 pandemic, doesn’t mean we can’t still explore the culinary traditions of various countries from the comfort of our own kitchens.

Since ancient times, new beginnings – that’s carnival. It’s our craving to shuck memories of the slings and arrows that paralyze us. New Year’s resolutions disappear in the first head wind, but carnival has been serious about new beginnings since the Greeks partied to praise Dionysus and the Romans thanked Bacchus for wine and flora, fertility heavy on their minds.

Can you imagine enjoying a foreign destination not only for its scenery and inherent natural beauty, but also for stunning, eye catching “Artworks” that are painted and installed on, so it seems, almost everything you can see? It is one of the many joys of a vacation in Portugal where you’ll discover a profusion of Azulejos. What, you might say, are Azulejos?

Standing on the ship’s deck felt like being on the stage of an ancient amphitheater, rugged stone walls ringing hillsides rising steeply around me. But these walls didn’t hold seating for toga-clad spectators awaiting some amusement. They lined row after row of grape vines, terraces tumbling down the banks of the Douro River flowing across northern Portugal.

Postcards from the Edge of the Continent Three countries the easy way: you don’t have to drive, you don’t have to schlepp your suitcase around, you get picked up at your hotel each morning and you get as many days as you’d ever want in Morocco – and you don’t have to spend a lifetime learning to speak Moroccan Arabic! Insight Vacations, …