“Look,” my friend Wendy, pointed. “I wonder what they are!” We were strolling around the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey and among all the glitz and glamour of the gold shops we had turned into a tiny side alley which had only three small stalls, crammed full with antiques. At the entrance of one of them …
Sometimes, spontaneous decisions lead to the best experiences, as I found out when I decided to visit Salzburg on a whim last summer. After a cold night’s rain, a brilliant summer day was dawning over Munich’s rooftops. The leaves were polished and shining and when I looked out the window everything seemed to whisper to …
Since returning from Venice, Italy a few days ago, I have been pondering why my experience of spending four days at The Venice Carnival left such a deep and persistent impression – more than any other trip I have taken to numerous outstanding places throughout the world. I have come to the conclusion that Venice Carnival gets under your skin because for some …
On a picture-book, sunny Sunday in early September, I was on my way to visit Ludwig II’s castle, Herreninsel, located on an island in Lake Chiemsee in the south of Bavaria, Germany. To get there, I boarded the Ludwig Fessler, the only paddleboat which runs as a ferry from Prien to the Herreninsel. The Ludwig Fessler is …
“Essa…what?” my travel companion, Mary, asked. “Where do you want to go?” Essaouira “Essa—ouuu…rja,” I repeated, savoring every sound. I admit, I had secretly practiced. Everybody can say ‘Casablanca’ or ‘Marrakesh’, but to get your tongue around the name of this particular pearl in the necklace of Moroccan beauties needs some doing. Never mind, once …
You never know what treasures you might find when you travel off the beaten path in Bavaria. I was strolling around the quaint folklore museum in Prien am Chiemsee when I came upon a particularly beautiful and elaborate stove covered with tiles. As I was the only visitor at the time, the curator was happy to walk …
It’s very hot in July on the Turkish coast of the Aegean sea, so when my friend suggested a trip to Sinince, a ‘lovely mountain village’ as he put it, I was all for it, if only to get a bit of the sea cooled air. He wouldn’t say what else there was to see and do …
I have two confessions to make: a) I have a sweet tooth, and b) I skipped Knossos in favour of indulging my sweet tooth passion in Krousonas. I guess sometimes you just have to get your priorities right. My time on the Greek island of Crete was limited and I reasoned that Knossos has been around …
Can you believe this: the 6th best preserved temple and historical complex in the whole of Asia remains unvisited by many travelers to Turkey’s Aegean coast? Tourists just whiz past Euromos and Lake Bafa on their way to more famous sites like Ephesus or Miletos. So, let’s remedy their oversight by exploring the Zeus …
I could have flown from Bodrum, near the place on the Turkish Aegean coast where I live part of the year, to the Black Sea coastal city of Samsun in the province of Amasya. But, for some reason the air ticket would have cost a fortune, whereas the coach (bus) cost all of 35 GBP (2.36 …