Julie H. Ferguson

Food is a great way to learn about a culture, but learning how to cook at a Moroccan cooking school with a local is something you’ll never forget.

Russian River Cruise: Arriving in St Petersburg Read Part I of My Very Russian River Cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg here. The Zosima Shashkov slipped into her berth at St. Petersburg, the northern Russian capital, during the night. The St Petersburg cruise port lies a few miles outside the city center but on the …

My Very Russian River Cruise – Part I My adventure in Russia in 2017 began many decades ago as I began to read about Peter the Great, the famed tsar of All the Russias in the 1600s, and Catherine the Great, a century later. Their autocratic rules and visions for their vast empire captivated me. …

Like the first monks and today’s travelers, I first glimpse the holy Isle of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides from the sea. This birthplace of Celtic Christianity has attracted the faithful for nearly 1500 years and I wonder how Iona has drawn so many pilgrims and tourists to such a remote spot. Its enormous appeal …

Since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of time-travel— never into the future, always to the past — but the closest I can achieve without magic is traveling amongst history. The Outer Hebrides of Scotland, the Western Isles, proved one of the best destinations to feed my dreams. . They are empty of soaring Gothic …

The Twin Otter banks hard and within seconds is skimming low over the sea. The fat tires bounce on hard, still-wet sand, and I breathe again. I step onto the biggest runway I’ve ever seen — the Cockle Strand — and my romance with the Outer Hebrides Isle of Barra, Scotland begins.  The airport on …

I ripped open my package from the Isle of Harris. As I pushed my nose into the fabric, it smelled of lanolin and scratched my face. I had chosen it a month before because its color would forever remind me of the heather, sky, and rock that cover this Hebridean island. The fog was thick …

Brittany, located in northwestern France, stole my heart a decade ago and I’m still returning to discover more of its coastline and countryside. Visitors tend to start and stop with St-Malo, which admittedly is a must-see, but there is more to explore and enjoy: Dinan, for instance. “I’d like to cruise up the River Rance,” I …

Saint Malo – Venture through History in Brittany I glimpse Saint Malo from the sea just as her intrepid seafarers did over the past five hundred years. The old town is encircled by medieval ramparts and towers, behind which rise stately granite mansions built in the 17th century and the cathedral’s graceful spire. It’s hard …

Vauvenargues is a small French village strung out like washing on a line along the valley lying parallel to the north side of Mont Ste-Victoire. Its “main road” has front doors of stone houses opening right onto the street; the café tables along its length leave little room for vehicles. Across the valley from the village …