The cradle of the American Revolution, Boston is full of history, charm, and cosmopolitan sophistication all wrapped up in this approachable, walkable, compact metropolitan city. One of the oldest cities in the United States, and its largest that is manmade, you’ll find cobblestones, monuments to freedom, diverse neighborhoods including a vibrant Chinatown and historic North…
Continue reading →Castles, moats, knights, and gods may be the stuff of fairytales, but in Rhodes, Greece, the fantasy is alive. Inhabited since about 4,000 B.C. this island in the southeastern Aegean Sea, is at a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, creating a rich mosaic of different cultures and civilizations, including influence from the…
Continue reading →There is, arguably, not a more instantly recognizeable image of the Greek Isles than the silhouette of an azure blue church dome against steep cliffs and the sapphire Aegean Sea below. This image is from the stunning volcanic island of Santorini, where even the small, scenic town of Oia (pronounced “Ee’-ya”), with only a population…
Continue reading →Because of its vulnerable geographic exposure, Sicily was much dominated during its history, by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Normans, Germans, Arabs, French, Spanish, Bourbons, and Italians, each leaving their architectural and cultural footprints, but never conquering the fiercely proud and independent spirit of its people. While Sicily has only been part of Italy since 1861, the…
Continue reading →Raw beauty, extreme seasons, luminous summer night skies, dancing northern lights, and snow-capped mountains has, for centuries, drawn explorers, adventurers, royalty, and the curious to the northernmost tip of Europe. Standing atop the mysterious North Cape, the gusty winds, lingering fog and rain, and icy water are all that lie between this 1,000 foot-high steep…
Continue reading →In 1584, access to the Baltic Sea was mostly controlled by Sweden, so the Russian Czar, Ivan the Terrible, founded Archangel (or Arkangelsk) as Moscow’a almost sole link to the sea, even though the navigation season was limited to just seven ice-free months during spring and summer. When Peter the Great arrived a hundred years…
Continue reading →Russia is a land of contrasts. In the Solovetsky Islands, six islands in the forbidding waters of the White Sea, just 100 miles from the Arctic Circle, the Solovetsky Monastery was founded in the 15th century as one of Russia’s most famous and holy monasteries and became a major pilgrimage destination. Conversely, in the 20th…
Continue reading →Our dear friend, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, told us about her time stationed in Iceland, when they were occasionally on alert for Russian military planes flying out of Murmansk, Russia. The largest city north of the Arctic Circle, this port remains ice free year-round due to the warm North Atlantic drift ocean current…
Continue reading →Hammerfest, Norway claims to be the northernmost city in the world, although the title is disputed by the same country’s city of Honningsvag. I think the validity of the claim depends on the definition of a city, which by Norwegian law requires a population of 5,000 to achieve town status. Though Hammerfest qualifies, to most,…
Continue reading →South African wine has a history dating back to the mid-1600’s. Later decimated by phylloxera, the end of apartheid sparked a new wave of interest and innovation in the vineyards of the Cape, but for much of the 20th century, it received little attention on the world stage. Now, access to international markets has unleashed…
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