Continue reading "Dos and Don’ts When Exploring the Former Eastern Bloc"
Do schedule a date during the Moldova wine festival Chișinău is a great place to start a former Eastern Bloc tour. It’s a charming city. But the first weekend in October, which coincides with the end of the grape harvest, is its annual wine festival. More than 100 wineries – of the estimated 200 in …
Russia Looms Large in Former Eastern Bloc
Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland It’s been nearly a year since our trip through several former Soviet and Eastern Bloc countries. Despite that, the region’s overriding concern remains what we witnessed firsthand: the quickly escalating threat of the Soviet Union’s corpse and former KGB and current Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intent to violently resurrect …
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Americans Are Descending On Greenland
When Pittsburgh started direct flights to Iceland in 2017, everybody and their brother went to Iceland. Stop a Pittsburgher in the street and if they haven’t been to Iceland, they know someone who has or they're planning to go. Average traveling Americans typically won’t go through the hassle or have the vacation time for multiple …
Travel in amazing Africa: transported to the golden era of train travel
If you want an incredible anniversary experience, we have a very good suggestion: Rovos Rail. This was our 20th wedding anniversary celebration and we wanted it to be very special. So how does this grab you: A steam engine and rail cars perfectly restored to their pre-1940s-era splendor taking you from Zimbabwe through Botswana and …
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Egypt Travel: majestic monuments, incredible hospitality
The Americans are back in Egypt – and the Egyptians are thrilled. The Arab Spring of 2010 onward scared U.S. tourists off and it really hurt these people, who rely very heavily on tourism. The unrest scared us off for years from experiencing this country and seeing the only remaining wonder of the ancient world, …
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Travel to Morocco: splash of color, taste of mint, kiss on the cheek
We’ve stopped off the Kingdom of Morocco’s National-8 road, traveling through the Middle Atlas Mountains. N-8 – alternately paved, dirt, gravel and two, four and ONE lane – is an experience. In some areas, cantaloupe-sized rocks are used like traffic cones and are strewn randomly to restrict traffic, which occasionally includes donkeys and horse carts. …
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Journey through Jordan: amazing views, challenging viewpoints
He is first, and foremost, Arabic. That’s what this middle-aged man tells us. He is secondly Jordanian and Muslim. We are talking to him over cups of the gritty, oily Turkish coffee that everyone in Jordan seems to drink all day, every day. At first, this man is smiles and pleasant jokes and his English …
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Goodbye to a Culinary Legend at a Landmark New Orleans Restaurant
Five days before Christmas 2018, Leah Chase grasped my hands between her warm, papery palms. Her long fingers, steady and strong at then 95 years of age, one missing a tip, gripped mine for minutes. A beatific, genuine smile lit her face as we entered her kitchen at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant in the Treme area …
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New Orleans: The Garbage Can Serenade, and other Quirks of the Quarter
I’m writing this a few minutes after some dudes decided to serenade us with the sound of garbage cans being kicked around under our balcony at the Royal Sonesta. In any other place, I’d be on the phone yammering at the manager. But not here … we loved it. We’ve been to New Orleans a …
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Sweden Travel: The stunning Vasa Museum should not be missed
The first view of the Vasa as you walk through the doors is arresting and breathtaking. The massive Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628 looms stunningly overhead, shocking in its towering majesty, and makes you feel that you have been transported into the past. If you have the slightest interest in history, you could …
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