This is an arbitrary selection from my first weeks in Greece. There is so much more to taste, so much that I don’t have photos of; all I can say is that every single day this country surprises me with a new delight. A special treat has been my first visit to Peloponessus, to see […]
Athens for Digital Nomads – Where to write your masterpiece or edit your film, best wifi cafes, poolside cafes & more
On many days during my stay in Athens last summer, I went out on a quest to find the perfect coffee shop to do some work on my laptop. Because August was so unbearably hot in the city, at some point the search mutated into a quest for the perfect hotel pool, one that allowed day passes. […]
I was an Athenian last Summer, and like any good Athenian, I used to take weekend trips to islands near Athens. My favorite escapade was to Hydra, The island famous for the absence of motor vehicles (you can choose between walking or riding a donkey) is extremely chic, with stylish shops and luxury accommodation. The […]
Two nights ago, I had a dream about Siegessäule, the magnificent monument made famous by Wim Wenders` Himmel über Berlin (Wings of desire) and Bono´s music clip for one of the song´s in the sequel´s soundtrack. The only difference between this and the previous times this icon has captured my imagination is that this time […]
Nine fabulous things to do on a Spring Break cruise
I have been lucky to be able to do my fair share of traveling and cruising. Although I have never been much of a “tourist,” I have had many near-paradise experiences over the years. Much of my cruising was actually done during Spring Break, so, I came up with the idea of suggesting some fabulous […]
I have only been to Istanbul and Kusadasi, two coastal, tourist spots that are hardly representative of the complexity and diversity that is Turkey. My Armenian family comes in fact from a region called Marash, which is part of Turkey today, but was in fact once Armenian territory. My knowledge about the “real Turkey” comes […]
The math is pretty simple, when there is an economic crisis, people do anything, in order to close sales. Spain is not the exception to the rule, and, on top of all the beauty and relaxation this beautiful land has always offered, prices today are really convenient, when compared to other summer holiday destinations in […]
Romantic escapades – Fabulous places to fall in love
Lake Como “This shore of the lake is one continued village, and the Milanese nobility have their villas here. The union of culture and the untameable profusion and loveliness of nature is here so close that the line where they are divided can hardly be discovered.” Percy B. Shelley A favorite spot for the most celebrated Romantic […]
I heard a lot about Cyprus growing up. I went to an Armenian school, and I would often hear about Cyprus, mostly in history class. The population in Cyprus is mainly Greek, but there is also a small Armenian community, and the Armenian language is considered one of the minority languages of the island. Like […]
Fascinating Gibraltar: Mysteries of a Mediterranean beauty
As things are, I am probably the only person I know who has been to both Gibraltar and the Falkland islands. These two special places have one interesting thing in common: they are much contested UK territories outside of the UK, people are bilingual Spanish-English in both of them, and they seem to have a […]
The first time I was in Athens, I wanted to see and do everything. I was coming from Korfu, which I had reached via Bari. I have told many times before on this blog the story of how it was Henry Miller´s THE COLOSSUS OF MAROUSI, in a German edition, read under the delicious Ibiza […]
I have already talked about my delicious experiences in Istanbul extensively on this blog. Yet I have only recently come across these photos of one of my best Istanbul nights ever. This was the night we had dinner at the top of Galatha Tower, from where our random new best friends came to pick us […]
Firenze from the Duomo – A perfect day´s (fairy) tale & video blog
One of the greatest pleasures of traveling is being able to see friends from different parts of the world. Nothing compares to meeting a friend from Spain you haven´t seen in years at the top of the Eiffel tower or running into an old German friend you met in Uruguay while strolling the streets of […]
Nothing beats that old world charm of Europe with its majestic ancient buildings and museums full of wonders. I have many favorite places all over Europe. Here are some iconic images from some of them. When I think of Portugal holidays, unlike most travelers, I think of the bucolic relaxation of Sintra. In Spain, I´d […]
Though I wouldn't call myself adventurous, I have a flair for the unexpected,
for wandering down strange alleys and deserted beaches and going to the other side of the sand dune
to see what lies behind.
As soon as I saw the sunflower fields far as the eye could see, I knew we had entered Tuscany. No other place could be this beautiful, so green and inviting to all the pleasures of the world.
Whichever form of the paradise may fit your taste, the island of Ibiza, famous for its discos and pumping party scene, remains a paradise for all. An account of my trips and evolving perceptions of it from 1997 till today.
Messina, Sicily is forever linked in my memory with a rather peculiar character I met there. To add to my list of " random people met on trips" meet Carlo.
The Greece I found; after a train to Bari and a ferry to Korfu, was different from Miller´s untrodden paradise. Still, I fell in love with it forever; I fell in love with its musical language, its delicious food, its people, its traditions, and the sheer beauty of its perfect little white towns overlooking the blue Aegean sea.
Formentera: once a hippie paradise, still a killer vacation spot
She would always speak of crystal-clear waters and untrodden paradise beaches, but, somehow, though we lived only a few kilometers away from the port of Sant Antoni in Ibiza, where one could take an inexpensive boat ride to the island, over 10 years went by before I saw Formentera with my own eyes.
Anyways, after this colorful ride, we were in Herculaneum. The differences with Pompeii are directly apparent on arrival. This is like looking at a whole city from above, only the roofs have been removed. Buildings here are much better preserved than in Pompeii, as Ercolano inhabitants were killed by the tremendous heat, and not by the ashes.
Herculaneum used to be a beach resort for rich Romans, so the ruins, located below ground level, are looking at an imaginary sea, as the water has long ago retired. Pompeii is huge, while Ercolano is rather manageable and, provided you have a good guide, you can get a pretty clear picture of it in one day.
An Egyptian mirage: Mayhem in the land of the pharaohs
In a country where a blogger goes to prison for four years after criticizing the president, it is no secret that freedom of expression has been a standing concern.
After 30 years living in an ipso-facto dictatorship under Hosni Mubarak, it seems that Egypt has had enough.
However, when I saw images of an Egyptian museum after it had been ramsacked during protests, I felt a sense of terrible loss.
It is very hard to connect the images of charming little Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast; with its cliffs overlooking blue seas and the perfect beige buildings with their orange roofs scattered across the hills, to Croatia´s violent past.
Making wine and building mansions hardly seem to be activities to carry out next to a time bomb like Vesubius, but, since this type of volcanoes can stay calm for a couple of thousand years, people tend to feel safe there, and so did I, as you can see in my video.
(Top photo by Kris de Curtis)
Venice is a labyrinth of canals. It is easy to get lost on its narrow meandering streets, no matter how many maps you are carrying. The good thing about Venice is that getting lost there is a bliss.
The Med is one of my favorite places on the planet. Since Europeans decided to switch to Euro and the dollar went downhill, European travel has become very expensive. Coming from Uruguay, some of the local prices seem outrageous, considering the exchange rate with the Uruguayan peso. In any case, I have been around the […]
