With travel to Russia prohibited for the foreseeable future, I’ve been reflecting on my own experiences in this most culturally diverse, complex, fascinating and unique collection of countries. Russia is just that: a collection of regions, towns and cities. Each with its own language, foods, traditions and sadly united under another despot. With singular devotion to the arts: performance, architectural, sculptural, pictorial. In metallurgy and mosaics, in marble, frescoed and …
People are often curious about my solo travels. After all, I have a wonderful husband so why not travel as a couple? The simple answer is, we often do. I’m just more interested in exploring the world and am comfortable with foreign languages, long plane flights, and logistical challenges. And he’s fine with that. I’ve been traveling solo for most of my business career and now, as a retiree, I’m …
As a university student, I lived in nearby Fribourg and often visited this city and returned a few months ago. The Bernese are proud, enlightened and open-minded. Bern is the de facto capital city, political seat and gateway to the Alps. The city is built around a bend in the Aare River and traces its origins back to the 12th century, with many examples of medieval architecture preserved in the …
You’ll never open another bottle of wine or champagne again without thinking of this. Cork is one of Portugal’s biggest and most important exports. In fact, Portugal is the biggest cork producer in the world and produces more than 50% of the world’s cork supply. The vast majority of this is made into those forgettable or collectable wine bottle stoppers but increasingly, more and more cork is being sold to …
Traveling solo to distant lands and want to make sure you capture your adventure with some great pictures with you in them? Here are my five top tips : What’s Your Share Method? How are you going to show off your images? Facebook? Instagram? Your Blog? None of the above, you’re just going to text randomly to friends or put them in a Shutterfly book when you get home? You’ll …
There are a million things to love about Lisbon and Portugal in general. But a recent visit introduced me to the city’s interesting and largely unheralded status as a jewel in the crown of the food and wine culture. Sure, Spain in general gets the nod but Lisbon deserves to be singled out for special distinction. I love this capital city and I’d call it a major player in the …