When you think of travel to Bulgaria, what comes to mind first? For me, one of the cool things about visiting this fetching little Balkan country is its touches of exoticism, part of an ancient cultural heritage that stretches back to 5,000 BC, and of of the features which I find most noticeable is its Eastern Orthodox churches. As with church architecture in Russia, here you’ll find plenty of onion domes, but in Bulgaria you’ll also spot features you won’t find in Russia, such as arches influe
One of my very most prized travel souvenirs is a vintage kilim, about 75 years old, which I bought more than a decade ago in the otherworldly medina of Fez, Morocco – with its black-and-yellow zigzag motif, it evokes exoticism and the quintessence of travel whenever I look at it. I’m instantly transported back into that world of mint tea and mysterious narrow byways, the tannery where I watched young boys dying leather for shoes and Ottomans, the rooftop restaurant where I first tried tagines
Hidden away down a gravel drive in bustling Schaumburg, Illinois - some 28 miles northwest of Chicago's downtown Loop - lies an architectural masterpiece. Built in 1937-38 by an up and coming young architect named Paul Schweikher (1903-1997), the
Tourism and health have taken on two new meanings. Health tourism can be broken down into two components, people who travel to a particular spot for medical reasons, such as cancer centers or for specific operations such a coronary bypass, and people who travel to a location for medicinal reasons such as rest and relaxation. Medicinal tourism caters not to the sick but to those who seek new levels of wellness. Examples of medicinal tourism are spa or centers that cater to non-essential cosm
We began this adventure by purchasing a Porsche Macan S and picking the car up at the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen, Germany, near Stuttgart... and now our first post-purchase road trip is now officially underway! And here is our actual driving experience.
Start Your Engines…. We're Off!
We began our day with a breakfast feast at the Hotel Schlossgarten, then retrieved our car "Max" from his “special” underground, secure parking place reserved for hotel guests.
Stuttgart is the home of Porsch
The “Sweet Gulf” of Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica gets a lot of attention for being a refuge for migrating endangered Pacific humpback whales. The 31-mile (50-km) Pacific gulf is essentially a big watery “cradle,” - not only the birthplace for whales but also for dolphins and endangered hammerhead sharks.
The Costa Rican environmental organization Misión Tiburón (Shark Mission) is lobbying the Costa Rican government to protect Golfo Dulce as the first sanctuary for hammerhead sharks in the
Airplane travel, it’s no secret, brings with it unique conditions that can require a little bit (and sometimes a little more) adjustment on the part of passengers. With that in mind, here are a few pointers and travel tips that can help both new and veteran flyers improve their inflight experience.
Pressure Changes
- During flights, cabin pressure can change to the on-ground equivalent of 1,500 to 2,500 metres (4,900 to 6,500 feet) above sea level. With the lower barometric pressure, the partial pre
If you’ve got even a passing knowledge of history and/or Greek mythology, you’ve probably heard of the Minotaur, the monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, imprisoned in a labyrinth by Minos, king of Greece's island of Crete, and fed human sacrifices. Obviously the bull-headed thing is a little bit of a stretch, but on this island you can visit the spot where this legend may well have originated. On Mount Kefala, a couple of miles outside Crete’s capital Heraklion, lie the ru
The village of Clayton is situated on the St. Lawrence River where it begins converging with Lake Ontario in central New York State's Thousand Islands region. Seemingly untouched by time - not a chain outlet to be found among local shops in historically preserved storefronts along with grand Victorians in a walkable street grid - it's in this setting that an adjacent, long waterfront lot underutilized as a fuel depot was recently transformed into 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, a spendid, full-servic
Agadir is a mostly Berber city situated in the southern part of Morocco. Above all, it owes its interest to its location, as it is surrounded by the Anti-Atlas, the Sahara Desert, natural parks and isolated beaches of great quality, which can be easily accessed from the city. It has a miraculous climate and the sun shines an average 300 days per year, which makes it an ideal destination for relaxed vacations by the seaside, along the beaches to the north of the city..
The terrible earthquake w
We recently toured the USA's second oldest military service academy, a 338-acre campus founded in Maryland's capital in 1845, learning about its history of the academy and what life is like for those who have the honor of attending. The tour starts in the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center where there are several interesting displays. The fee is $10.50 for adults, less $9.50 for seniors and $8.50 for children. The number of visitors in each tour is limited so reservations are suggested and those 16
With its long and sometimes tumultuous history, through the ages Spain has proved to be about as spooky and haunted as any place on earth, with lore ranging from Galician meigas (witches) to ghostly Moorish damsels. And Madrid may have the only public statue of Lucifer in the world (the Fallen Angel, in Retiro Park). Here are a few key haunted spots you can visit, if you dare!
Famous Fantasmas (Ghosts)
Starting off in Madrid, right on downtown’s Plaza de Cibeles, the grand 19th-century Palaci
It felt as though the day couldn’t get any hotter – but this is India, always ready to turn the tables on you after a cool morning. It had been a short drive from Jaipur in northern India to the sleepy village of Samode. We had cut away from the main highway. where the lanes were packed with a mass of humanity travelling by bike, cart, car, rickshaws and trucks all jostling for space in a relentless dance to get the wherever. There are many moments of ‘just shut your eyes and hope for the best’,
We began this adventure by selecting and purchasing a Porsche Macan S for our road trip of a lifetime; developing an inspired travel itinerary for the entire month of September; and hanging out in Stuttgart, Germany before the trip begins.
This installment of the series is focused on actually picking up the car at the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen. This is where the plan meets reality.
The Big Day – Meeting Max
We had a very early breakfast and hailed a taxi around 8:00 AM to get us to our 8:30
A fun day trip from the beach resort town of Santa Teresa on Costa Rica's Guanacaste coast is to visit the waterfalls near Montezuma waterfalls.
A 40-minute drive from Santa Teresa, Montezuma is another picturesque beach village on the southeastern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The bohemian village is known for its artsy community, beautiful beaches, jungle covered hills, and waterfalls and pools. The local geography also tips most of the rainwater near the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula tow
by Doug Bardwell
More and more people leave home without it – their camera, that is. But, let’s face it, people seem to be pretty happy with the photos they can get from a smartphone, so let’s get into it and make them the best they can be.
The Smartphone Itself
Just a few hints to make sure you get the best photos possible from your smartphone:
1) Clean the lens. When was the last time you wiped down that little speck of glass? That’s where all the photo glory starts, and smudges, smears and
Ever since first visiting Morocco more than a dozen years ago, I’ve always marveled that this North African country manages to pack such a whole lot of interesting into such modest dimensions (it’s a little bigger than California, less than a third the size of Quebec, and merely a little over a quarter as spacious as the U.K.). I mean, here the fascinating destinations just keep on coming – Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes, Rabat, Tangier, Casablanca, Ouarzazate, the Atlas Mountains, Tetouan,
The Kingdom of Bhutan does not necessarily make it hard for a traveler to visit - it's just hard to get there. When I first started reading about traveling to Bhutan, I was led to understand that only a certain number of visitor visas were issued in a year, and that you had to go with a government approved guide service while you were there. The second part is true, not the first. However, the number of visitors to Bhutan per year still could not fill the Rose Bowl. This is the last Shangri-La i
As with most of our family weekend trips, we were up well before the sun. The aroma of coffee filled the back of the house as I went to the kitchen to begin making sandwiches for the day. It was a broad menu to choose from, Nutella or peanut butter. Chips and snacks were put in a plastic bag and drinks were piled into a medium cooler. Everyone was looking forward to going somewhere new and the kids were looking forward to learning how to navigate using a map and compass.
For the most part, th
When you visit the local towns, museums, and awesome Mayan ruins on the Riviera Maya and the rest of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula (or for that matter in Honduras and Guatemala) you’ll see and hear all sorts of strange names and phrases – chaac mool, popol vuh, k’atun, kukulkan, and so forth.
Well… strange to you, maybe.
Millions of people in Mexico and Central America today speak variants of that same language, including around a million in the Yucatan. There are actually more than 20 dialects
