Blogs

Starting to think about upcoming summer travel? Beach season in Europe presents an embarassment of riches. I've decided to start a series covering the pick of the bunch in various countries. Since there are in fact so many, here’s just a tiny sampling of some of the very best – keeping in mind that criteria on what constitutes a fabulous beach vary hugely and very much according to tastes – so if you have any favorites not mentioned here, please share in the comments below!

Croatia

The long Dalm

Milan is an elegant and cosmopolitan city proud of both its business importance and cultural heritage, and of course it's world famous for its fashion industry and shopping, 

Duomo

Few can be indifferent to the magnificent Gothic building that is Milan's cathedral - the world's sixth largest, holding more than 40 000 people. Located at the heart of the historic center, with all roads leading to it, the Duomo was built over the course of six centuries, from 1386 to 1965. 

La Scala

This famous

The fields of deep lavender (bleu lavande) stretch vividly toward the green hills.

Donkeys at the donkey ranch nuzzle their mistress, and the honey bees buzz about at the Miellerie Lune de Miel, the honey farm.

About 150 miles south of Quebec and maybe 90 miles east of Montreal, The Eastern Townships of Canada (Cantons De L'Est,)  are so French, you may have to brush up on your language skills.

The villages and hamlets are French Canadian enclaves, and while the 95 Cantons may bear English na

In Nayarit state on Mexico's mid-Pacific coast north of Puerto Vallarta, Chacala is an nearly unspoiled port town which makes its living through fishing and tourismjust. Its beach is one of the most beautiful bays of the riviera which gives the region its name, with white sand and multicolored waters, and it is also one of the best preserved. Surrounded by palm trees and a dense rainforest of mahogany, parota and rosa morada trees, mango and banana orchards, and animals such as the beaver, arma

The name “Jim Thorpe” may no longer be a household name in the United States, but in the early 1900s there was nary a child or sports fan that did not know of his legendary sports achievements.

Enrolled in the Carlyle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in 1904, the Sac and Fox Native American from Oklahoma was destined to become one of the most celebrated athletes of the 20th century.

Pop Warner and Company

Coached by the famed Pop Warner, a team led by Jim Thorpe from the little known Carly

From Hora, on Patmos, we could see the island of Lipsi on the horizon. It’s called the Island of Churches, because there are 42 churches serving barely 700 souls. That’s one for every 16.6 (recurring) people on the island … although some of them are too small to hold even half that number. All are immaculately kept, all regularly painted in white, picked out in pale blue and nearly always with a blue dome. But, the reason for that apparent ecclesiastical overkill isn’t religious fervour. When th

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6. Even if you're renting a villa, you'll want to dine out, too -- especially on St. Barts. A short list of St. Barts' best restaurants has to include...

• Le Gaiac at Hotel Le Toiny, a just-renovated Michelin-starred destination gastronomique atop a mountain with killer views, plus a picture window offering views of the kitchen.
• Bonito Saint Barth, which offers high-concept ceviche and tiraditos as well as chef-crafted main courses on a terrace overlooking

There's a new wrinkle, and a very nice one, regarding St. Barths. Sure, you already know that for 50 years this tiny island near St. Martin has been a Mecca for celebrities, models, and hedge-fund managers with a penchant for topless sunbathing. You also know that St. Barths, unlike many other islands, has restricted growth and maintained its ambience as a uniquely French outpost in the Caribbean.

Here's the new wrinkle, the one people aren't quite grokking: St. Barths is in the eurozone, and th

When it comes to this quintessential Alpine country deep in the heart of Europe, most people understandably think of it in terms of its Germanic and Francophone flavors. But way down in Switzerland's south, bordering Italy, the language and culture are Italian. Benvenuti (welcome) to Ticino!

Known in ancient Roman times as Ticinus, and connected to the rest of Switzerland by the Gotthard Pass tunnel through the Alps, the country's southernmost canton (equivalent to a state or province) is jus

Whether or not you can name the constellations or planets, it is always fascinating to look up at a clear night sky and get lost among the stars.

Anyone can enjoy stargazing. The best places to go, of course, are where the sky is wide open and very dark, with no distracting city lights. Up in the mountains, or in the desert, or out on the open ocean; it is breathtaking to stare upwards at night at millions and millions of twinkling stars and planets in a blue black sky.

Costa Rica is one of the

When many think of Peru outside Lima, what springs most readily to mind are the likes of the mighty Andes, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu. But nearly half the country is actually part of the great Amazon rain forest and ecosystem, with two main cities: Iquitos (considered the "capital" of the Peruvian Amazon) in the north and Puerto Maldonado in the south, near the border with Bolivia.

The latter, capital of the Madre de Dios region, is an hour and 40 minutes from Lima by air and just an hour from Cu

Of all the capitals in Central America, I’ve found perhaps the most cosmopolitan and interesting to be Panama's, a city with a greater metro population of 1.5 million (though Guatemala City is most certainly up there, too). 

Partially, this is a function of wealth – thanks to industries like banking, import/export, and retain, there’s a lot of dinero sloshing around this highrise-heavy metropolis on the Pacific Ocean end of the Panama Canal, which adds up to a multitude of cultural, dining, shop

by Marita Acosta


"It´s all about choices," say the English these days. And that's pretty much how many of us visitors feel when faced with a map of London and the daunting task of figuring out what to do (and not to do in this sometimes overwhelming city on the Thames. One thing we can be sure about the European Union's largest urban area is that it has a gift for never failing to surprise us.

And besides all the wonderful traditional sightseeing, another of this urb's major allures is the e

The web is full of advice for fearful fliers. Pilots say “knowledge is power." They believe, perhaps naively, that if a people understands how safe flying is, their fear will disappear. But this view ignores that fact that any situation where a person is not in control and escape is blocked causes huge anxiety.

Mental-health professionals aren't much better. They offer CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), a stock solution that works well for ground-based anxiety, but not for flight-based anxiety.

One of the most sought after tourist destinations in India, Jaipur, also known as the pink city, is immensely popular for its scenic beauty, historical monuments, royal history, great hospitality, camels, folk music, traditional dance, colorful clothes, lively city and hot climate. It is a perfect place to plan a vacation and spend a memorable time in a lovely city of Rajasthan.

It has a line-up of forts, havelis, and palaces which are of terracotta pink color (hence the name Pink City). There a

Beautiful Portland, Oregon has been getting a fair amount of attention in recent years for its restaurant scene. Each café and restaurant of Portland offers something special, whether it’s a special dish or the other point of interest. However, only several ones are considered to be the best in Portland, and they are included into the following list…

Pok Pok

This lovely restaurant specializing in Thai cuisine, run by its owner-chef Andy Ricker since 2005, is one of the most popular culinary es

Heading to Australia's second largest city, located in the southern state of Victoria, but not sure about what there is to see/do? An excellent place to begin is with a free drive on the Town Group Tram, which covers an oblong route around the town past many of Melbourne's major attractions, along with a dogleg into the Docklands; along the way, hop off to see whatever catches your eye. The same free Town Tourist Shuttle offers the same service of picking a different direction through the city,