By Rich Grant America is going through a period of uncertainty in 2025, but one thing is clear. Exactly 250 years ago, in March and April 1775, two individuals uttered sentences that changed world history. They were not presidents or generals. One was a preacher, the other a silversmith. But as we approach the 250th…
By Anthony Prodis Imagine Africa as if it were the head of a magnificent animal—its Saharan skull in the north, a Somalian horn-like-a-rhinoceros to the east, and its lips nearly embracing the island of Madagascar in the south. The Nile River, like a pulsing, pumping, central artery, flows over 4,000 miles from the headwaters of…
By David DeVoss It was a beautiful autumn day in 1887 when Mac McGillivray and his young fiancée Sarah climbed into a freight wagon loaded with gold ingots and left the California mining town of Bodie, headed to Bridgeport 18 miles away. The county seat had an elegant hotel, built only ten years before called…
By Sharon McDonnell The Polish city of Krakow is full of marvels, from its gorgeously preserved Old Town with Europe’s biggest medieval market square and a castle where the Kings of Poland lived for centuries, to the factory of Schindler’s List fame. But Poland’s second-biggest city also houses priceless art treasures by Leonardo da Vinci…
By Charles Cecil It was 5:25 AM when the voice of the muezzin from the mosque next to my hotel woke me. I lay there, listening, waiting for the line I knew was coming: “As-salaat khairin min an-nom.” “Praying is better than sleeping.” I lay there, momentarily debating the issue. I had arrived the night…
By Teresa Bergen Rows of glass jars stand on shelves on the back wall of the Wilderton distillery in Hood River, Oregon. “You’re more than welcome to take the lids off and sniff any of the herbs and botanicals,” says Isabella Hanreiter, tasting room associate and our tour guide. My husband and I open jars…
By Richard Varr It doesn’t take long for a sense of history to overwhelm you when walking through the narrow passageways of Bryggen’s wooden warehouses. Yes, the building facades are immaculate, swashed with muted red and brown earthen hues, but every step on wooden plank floors and stairwells seemingly comes with a creak or two,…
By Riley Pratt If you spend a lot of time in the sky, it’s important to consider the quality of your travel experience. If your airport adventures are always bustling, harried, or nerve-wracking, you’ll burn out on flying before you even reach your destination. To remedy the chaos of air travel, airports provide lounge spaces…
By Cynthia David My first Turkish coffee arrived dark and steaming hot from an electric coffeemaker at Espressolab on Istanbul’s historic Istiklal Avenue. The Espressolab had a long, curved marble bar, high ceiling beams and an Art Deco espresso machine. The 20 and 30-somethings around me chatted and sipped their cappuccinos and pumpkin spice lattes…
The Black Forest got its name from the Romans, who found the woods so dark and dense that they named it Silva Nigra, a “black forest” that suggested otherworldliness. After serving as Germany’s biggest source of lumber during the Industrial Revolution, the Black Forest’s 2,320 square miles have thinned to a shadow of their former impenetrability. Today, the area is a mix of forested mountains laced with river valleys, vineyards, lush meadows, streams, and towns with ubiquitous flower boxes overflowing with geraniums, says writer Beth Reiber. Measuring just 100 miles long and up to 25 miles wide, the forest is a cathedral for solitude that conveys feelings of contentment and remoteness as shafts of sunlight settle upon fern-lined pathways that spiral down from the summits past vineyards and orchards to medieval villages dating from the mists of time.