We lived in Bratislava (B’lava) for 27 months. And while it is not as touristed as nearby Vienna or neighbors Prague or Budapest, it is beginning to attract tourists dutifully following a flag that looks like it’s suspended from a … Continue reading From Blava with Love
While we were walking through Bratislava’s St. George Courtyard, I looked up and saw a familiar face. “Mickey!” He looked at me blankly but then noticed Suzi and a light went on. Suzi has changed less than I, I no … Continue reading A Tinker by Trade
Throughout history Slovakia has been in the shadow of a larger, more powerful, neighbor. It was under Austria, Hungary, a puppet German state and then the junior partner in Czechoslovakia. Yet Slovakia has its own history and a rich cultural … Continue reading Bratislava’s Master Craftsmen Days
Austrian Airlines is bureaucratic. Although my CPAP machine fits into my carry on Austrian needs to know the make, model, weight, dimensions and for a while I was afraid they would ask for the serial number. I also had to … Continue reading Getting to Bratislava
Conversation is one of the joys of the Belgrade Coffee Culture. One of the things people are talking about is the elections that may or may not happen in October. Politics are never far from the surface in Belgrade. While … Continue reading Belgrade Conversations
Бeoгрaд (Belgrade, Serbia) has lost none of its edge. When we were first there during the 1997 demonstrations the streets were alive with edgy humor and a party atmosphere, even with the serious intent of the demonstrations (to bring down … Continue reading Бeoгрaд!
I went into this cruise with two questions. Would we like back to back collector cruises as much as we like the longer world cruises? And. How appropriate is HAL cruising for our multi-generational family ranging in age from 7 … Continue reading A Family Cruise Coda
This is a final post from Athens designed to show off some of the more colorful and curious aspect of our visit to Athens. We will start off at the Athens Acropolis Museum. If Greek history or mythology will not … Continue reading Athens’ Colorful Curiosities
On our third day in Athens, we took a day off from the heat to take a day long cruise around some of the Saronic Islands in the Aegean close to Athens. We were on the sailboat Angelique, although we … Continue reading A Mini Aegean Cruise.
Athens is where our cruise ends, our final port of call with a 6 night port stay, at least for for most of us. For Kevin, Shannon, and Elias, a 4 night port call. The Grandkids are into Rick Riordan … Continue reading Our Final Port of Call, Athens
My experience living in Montenegro is that sometimes things don’t work. We got off the ship and the van I booked to take all nine of us to the Lovćen cable car was not waiting. I texted and called. It … Continue reading Flying Low in a Cable Car.
In my last post I referred to our retreat from Kotor before the NATO bombing campaign. From 1998 to 2004 we spent part of our summers in Kotor either running or teaching at a journalism summer school that had attendees … Continue reading Summer Memories, Kotor
Tuesday was another sea day where Brian, Liam and Fiona were recovering. Liam went into quarantine while we were in Rome. Both Fiona and Brian were out of quarantine Tuesday. On Wednesday we arrived in Bari, Italy at 11 AM. … Continue reading Bari, Pasta Town
Our next stop on this cruise was Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. Rome is a bit far from the post, up to 90 minutes with traffic. Kevin, Shannon and Elias went into Rome and took the hop on hop off … Continue reading We Pass on the Vatican so Lightning Strikes.
Had Napoleon been born any earlier he would have been Italian and not French. Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital, in 1769. Corsica had been ruled by the Italian state of Genoa from 1284 to 1755 when it became … Continue reading Corsica, Can We Claim a New Country?
We are in Barcelona for two days. On day on Kevin, Shannon, Elias and Fiona went to the beach. Brian and Liam stayed on the ship. The pace of their travel around the world caught up with them. Suzi, Liz … Continue reading Barcelona Walkabout
Our first day after Lisbon was a sea day where the family got together for meals, conversations and lectures on the coming eclipse. A highlight was cruising between the Pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar. The next day … Continue reading Alicante Redux
Lisbon is where our kids and grandkids joined us. It was not a smooth reunion. We planned to be back to the ship by about 1 PM to greet the kids if they came in early. We were about 15 … Continue reading Chaos, Reunion, Sail Out, Sunset.
During a visit to Lisbon, the author finally explored the Fado Museum after two failed attempts. Fado, a poignant Portuguese musical style, is historically tied to themes of loss and longing. The author was particularly fascinated by the unique Portuguese Guitar. Post-museum, they enjoyed pastel de nata and a short tuk tuk ride through Alfama, admiring street art and tilework. Continue reading Fado and Tuk Tuks
But if you try sometime, you just might find… When the astronomer asked for a show of hands of how many people had experienced a total eclipse almost three quarters of the hands went up. When he asked how many … Continue reading You Can’t Always Get What You Want
And so does the cat, in Tangier. As we were waiting to get on the bus to take us to the Medina, or old town in Tangier, an unhappy woman was getting off the bus. “There are no stores open.” … Continue reading The Market Comes to You
The Nasrid Palaces where the center of power for the Granada Emirate. They are designed around rectangular interior courtyards and flowing water. The decoration looks inward rather than outward, and is made of stucco, and stonework. The courtyards are surrounded … Continue reading The Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra
The Alhambra, or in Arabic “The Red One” is a complex of fortifications and palaces on a hill in the Sierra Nevada Mountains overlooking Granada, Spain. It is the best preserved bit of Islamic medieval architecture in the world, and … Continue reading The Alhambra, Granada
The first leg of this cruise had two sea days. We needed them after an intense time in Barcelona and two very hot port days. I think they were created to give us a break more than from the necessity … Continue reading 9 Knot Sea Days