The southeasternmost point the Italian Stiletto, Otranto has been a target for invaders and crusaders both. Otranto is a great day trip from anywhere in the Puglia region with charming shops, fascinating history and (very important!) many reasonable restaurant choices facing the crystal, azure waters of the Adriatic just south of Brindisi. Otranto is as wonderfully appreciated by its amazing cathedral with its medieval mosaic floor as by its azure …
Along the heel of Italy’s famous boot, in the region of Apulia you will find Paestum. A major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia in the Province of Salerno. Very different from Pompeii, Paestum’s ruins are smaller, older, more Greek and – crucially – a lot less overrun. Take time for reflection as you walk among the giant Doric columns of this once …
At first glance, this community of conical dwellings looks like the predecessor of our modern day “tiny homes.” Situated in the Puglia region of southern Italy, the city of Alberobello houses the largest collection of homes built in the trullo architectural style. The original trulli date back to prehistoric times. But the most ancient trulli in Alberobello date back to the fourteenth century when this uninhabited land was assigned to the …
The Wieliczka Salt Mines. A thousand feet deep, 200 miles of passageways first dug with hand tools by salt miners beginning in the 13th century when salt was precious as silver. Magnificent carvings in grey salt rocks. Chandeliers carved from salt crystals. There are over twenty separate chapels in the mine dating from the 17th century. I expected the salt to be white, but it varies from all shades of …
This is a difficult post to write. It should be. The inconceivable horrors that took place here, and in over 450 other concentration camps in Poland alone, are memorialized on a scale equal to the evil of their complex, messianic perpetrators. The people of Poland and the Baltic countries do not doubt that this evil still governs. Putin’s armies patrol their borders. NATO membership is cherished. It is estimated that …
Easter Sunday just outside of Krakow in Europe’s most Catholic country. This most important holiday is a celebration of food, family and worship. No shops are open and even the picnic tables at the monastery of Jasna Gora have been removed. Bells peal from the towers as we enter the small sanctuary where the Madonna is housed. Mass is being said but we have received permission to pass through to …