Dubrovnik has had an interesting century or so. During most of that 100 years it was known for plenty of sun, steep geography, charm and low cost. Then came a war, in the early 1990s, and a generation later something far less serious, but perhaps more thoroughly advertised, the ultra-popular cable-TV series “Game of Thrones”, […]

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The Croatian city of Split is best-known for one big series of buildings: Diocletian’s Palace. Diocletian was the emperor of Rome from 284 to 305 AD when he stepped down and moved in to a “palace” that compares favorably with any vanity project dreamed up in the Western world. Diocletian’s Palace was built as his […]

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Sometimes vacations feel onerous. “You mean we have to get up at the crack of 8? To see important stuff? Again?” Originally, the main effort to scurry around Venice, one of the world’s great cities, was to have come today. But that was before the accidentally sublime night we had in the city the night […]

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Most every traveler loves Venice. Except, it seemed, me. Venice? Not eager to go, not on any trip I made to nearby Italian cities or to nearby Austria. But I apparently had been influenced by those who suggest the Queen of the Adriatic is overrun by tourists, or sometimes smells bad, or is too expensive […]

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If you are reading this in the U.S., brace yourself. In France, all employees get five weeks of paid vacation per year. Five weeks. More than a month. And that does not include one-day public holidays, which can reach double digits in a given year. We know about France and its summer vacations because we […]

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Two full days in Iceland, as well as one very long evening and one very early morning. Enough to have an opinion on the little island in the upper reaches of the north Atlantic? Of course it is. We all make snap judgments, some snappier than others, given on how long we are around a […]

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Seven of us are sharing a comfortable home near the port and downtown of Reykjavik, capital and biggest city of Iceland. On our first night there, I noticed an interesting, modern church that seemed to be made of large blocks of stone. The whole of it was painted white. And it was about 100 yards […]

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Some tourists travel to Iceland planning a lengthy stay. A week, or more, which probably includes outdoorsy activities. Climbing mountains and such. Hiking up dormant volcanoes. Deep-sea fishing. Or perhaps they want to take a leisurely drive around the edges of the world’s 13th-biggest island, spending nights in tiny hotels or under a tent. Waiting […]

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Always wanted to go to Iceland. And here we are. When flying to Europe from Southern California, on the great circle route, people can sometimes see Iceland from 35,000 feet, looking cool and inviting, and it seems a bit odd that we never went on down and landed and looked around. We finally did. We […]

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Yes, I am one of those guys who looks at some abstract art and says, “a chimp could do that.” Talking about paint thrown at a canvas … a couple of random shapes swimming in space … a bucket, a hammer and a broom entitled “Young Man”, or something of the sort. I readily concede […]

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