Notice I didn’t say cheap. Cheap is for twenty year old back-packers and nomadic unemployed bloggers. Cheap is not for a senior solo female traveler who thinks the journey is a very important part of traveling to the destination. Or at least has its profound effects. Say no to airline hop-scotch, before-dawn over-sold flights from out of the way regional airports. Be airfare wise but not trip foolish. Based on …
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 …
This highly visited African attraction is the world’s largest inactive, unbroken and unfilled volcanic caldera. So what’s a caldera? A caldera is a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses. During a volcanic eruption, magma present in the magma chamber underneath the volcano is expelled, often forcefully. National Geographic One of the Seven And more than that. The Ngorongoro Crater is listed as one of the seven natural wonders and is …
The Dead Sea is a place of riveting natural beauty and murderous weather extremes. Ragged cliffs, arid canyons where dust storms flare and blur the landscape in a palette of opaque cobalt and shadow for hours. Leaving the visitor feeling coated in a layer of finely ground glass. It’s the Lowest. Place. On. Earth. A fact you can’t miss given the signage. It’s also the place humans have somehow inhabited …
It’s not about the castanets. Before my trip to Seville, I misunderstood the art form of Flamenco. I had visions of elaborately ruffled women clicking those little plastic gizmos in a face off with brooding matador-types in mock Andalusian ecstasy. It’s not. Flamenco is an art like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It’s raucous, joyous, passionate and great entertainment. Fun fact: castanets were not part of the original flamenco dance but …
Ireland in the off-season is magical. Brisk, windy, often wet but still green and lively. Dublin is a great walking city and you can use the River Liffey as a handy navigation tool. Here are five places not to miss! Temple Bar Established in 1840, Temple Bar is one of the most famous pubs in Dublin but also because it offers over 450 different kinds of rare whiskies (Ireland’s largest collection). Easy …