In ancient Greek mythology, a jealous competition arose among the gods to become the patron deity of the beautiful and prosperous city of Cecropia. The story tells of Poseidon, who presented the gift of water to persuade the citizens to choose him. They were at first thrilled, until they realized that, as god of the…
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 →I don’t need to say exactly how many years ago I was last in Italy, but there were still remnants of scaffolding in Florence then, from the long reconstruction effort after the great flood of that beautiful city. When I arrived this time, at Leonardo Da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport outside of Rome, I was glad to…
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 →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 →In Norway, it is said the locals believe that “Without Trondheim, all that would be left of the history book of Norway is the cover.” My longtime, dear friend once gave me a book she thought I would enjoy about medieval history set around the Trondheim region. It has since become, arguably, my favorite novel….
Continue reading →When you think of the most expensive cities in the world for expats, the usual suspects that come to mind are places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Zurich. Certainly not Luanda. Yet, this capital city of Angola trumps them all. For years, the city drew attention for its bloody civil war that racked the country from…
Continue reading →Cartagena has gotten a bad rap from years of misinformed media, suffering from a past reputation for drug trafficking, kidnapping and violence. While, as in every destination, one must be alert and take precautions, it seems the bad guys here have pretty much killed each other off, and left behind a charming and breathtakingly beautiful…
Continue reading →The sun was shining on “America’s Finest City”, as San Diego is fondly referred to, when we approached its port, as if the city was flaunting it’s own reputation for its glorious and mild year-round climate. San Diego is also ranked as the fifth best place to live in the United States, the fifth wealthiest…
Continue reading →As culturally, historically, and even visually interesting Asia is, there was a collective readiness onboard to reach the shores of Australia and relax a bit in its western familiarity. However, Darwin, named after the famous evolutionist, Charles Darwin, is still a diverse mix of Asian culture and Australian heritage and, while my geographically-challenged mind thought…
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