By Mary Bergin Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but the original St. Nicholas was very different from what we know today. His home was on the Mediterranean Sea, not the North Pole. More pious than jolly. Wearing a cleric’s miter hat, not a festive stocking cap. For much of the world, St. Nicholas…
The Mediterranean seaside playground of the Cote d/Azur has long been known for its exclusive nightclubs, pricey restaurants and tanned and toned beach bodies. But 190 miles west there is another Mediterranean coastal paradise – Sète. The city often is compared to Venice because of its canals, which are lined with houses, shops and restaurants serving fresh tuna and oysters. Beyond the canals and central business district are dreamy lagoons and 12 km of protected beaches
By Mary Bergin New Glarus, Wisconsin, is a village of 2,247 residents that takes pride in being known as “America’s Little Switzerland.” Located 30 miles southwest of Madison, the community supports a männerchor (men’s choir), kinderchor (youth choir) and jodlerklub (choir of yodelers). The mournful sound of meters-long alphorns (used long ago by the Swiss…
Romania conjures mysterious and sinister images of Count Dracula and the Transylvanian forests. The foreboding Bran Castle high in the Carpathian Mountains certainly looks like the location of Irish writer Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker’s story of vampires rising from their coffins is an invented tale. But in autumn when twilight comes early it’s easy to imagine ghostly spirits of the undead lurking in the shadows.
Yet the Bucharest I saw was a bustling metropolis with museums and traffic jams, wide boulevards and cobblestone streets, good restaurants and late-night clubs. And a handful of lakes and gardens.
By Tom Adkinson A farmer’s work never really ends, but there are a few breaks in the action, particularly when autumn harvest season winds down. The harvest season is a time of celebration – both literal and psychological – and today’s literal celebrations go way beyond the farmer and his or her family. Autumn means…
By Beth Reiber I went to Japan some 40 years ago to write travel articles but ended up staying a couple of years, first as editor of a travel magazine published in Tokyo and then to write the first of several guidebooks on Japan. My Frommer’s Japan guidebook alone ran more than 600 pages and…
Tennessee has two products that are famous around the world – country music from Nashville and Jack Daniel’s Whiskey from the tiny town of Lynchburg about 80 miles south of Nashville and 25 miles north of the Alabama state line. The story of how country music blossomed in Nashville is well documented, but the origin story of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey has been one that few people even thought about – until recently.
By Ramaa Reddy Diversity Plaza, in Jackson Heights in the New York borough of Queens, is a landmark that celebrates the diversity of America. In 2011, the city created the Plaza by cordoning off traffic and furnishing it with tables and chairs to provide South Asians inhabiting the multilingual neighborhood a space for families to…
Who are all these people who turn down wine in Italy, sake in Japan, cerveza in Mexico and ouzo in Greece? According to Expedia’s research, one out of every four travelers hopes to decrease alcohol use while on vacation. This increased emphasis on nondrinking is starting to influence the sorts of cocktails bartenders are pouring, the nature of hotel wellness activities and the growth of the entire travel industry. Indeed, in one recent study half of respondents said they wanted to stay in hotels that offered easily accessible alcohol-free options like mocktails and nonalcoholic beer. Read More
In Lhasa’s Barkhor Square, the weathered Tibetan woman softly intoning a Buddhist mantra fell to her knees, looked fervently skyward and then lunged face down on the pavement, oblivious to the commercial life surrounding her. After a few seconds of prayer, she rose stiffly, moved two steps forward and repeated the process. Shoppers flowed around her with scarcely a sideways glance because Lhasa residents are used to prostrate pilgrims