What is Macedonia?
I’m currently in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. And that simple statement is actually very complicated
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Tirana: A Becoming City
I’ve never been to a city like Tirana. At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Tirana was about 10,000. It became the capital of Albania in the 1920s and grew throughout the century, but growth slowed during the Communist era, from the end of World War II until 1991. Since the fall of…
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Gjirokaster, Butrint, and Berat: Albania does UNESCO
I stayed three nights in Gjirokaster. We took a day trip to Butrint, and we spent a few hours in Berat yesterday on our way to Tirana, where we are now. Gjirokaster, Butrint, and Berat are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I’ll mostly let the photos do the talking, and I’ll share some of what UNESCO…
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Dhoksat, Albania: A Day in the Life
One of the things I like about traveling with OAT is what they call “A Day in the Life.” They give us an opportunity to interact with a local family in a way that gives us a chance to understand what life is like in their community. Yesterday we spent the morning with Roland on…
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Ζαγόρι: Villages in Magical Places
I expected my travels to Greece to consist primarily of seeing ancient ruins and experiencing Greek culture. I didn’t expect so much scenic beauty. And then we came to Ζαγόρι (Zagori) and I was blown away for the third time in the past four days, but this time because the landscape is stunning. Some of…
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Meteora: Monasteries in Magical Places
I don’t know how to write about Meteora. Most places I’ve traveled in my life I’ve researched in advance. But I knew nothing about Meteora before I came here. So I was blown away by the amazing rock formations. And then I came to realize that they are topped by medieval monasteries that would be…
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Stories from Thessaloniki and Environs
Some of these stories are true. Some are mythological. I think they’re all interesting, and they all help understand a lot about Thessaloniki and the nearby places I visited over the last few days.
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Crete Part Two: Ηράκλειο and Κνωσσός
This morning I left Crete and flew to Thessaloniki, where we are spending three nights. Our last two days were spent traveling from Chania to Ηράκλειο (Heraklion) and visiting the Palace of Minos at Κνωσσός (Knossos). I’m finding more and more that photos tell my stories better than I do, so I’ll be brief here…
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Crete Part One: Χανιά
Χανιά is Chania, the city where I spent the last two nights. I just admire Greek for having one letter for sounds that the Latin alphabet requires two letters to spell. Χ (chi) represent the “ch” sound in German “Ach” or Scottish “loch.” Θ (theta) gives Greek its “th” sound with just one letter. It’s…
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A whirlwind visit to Athens
I had just about a day and a half in Athens. I arrived Sunday afternoon and left before dawn on Tuesday morning. It was a whirlwind visit. That’s okay. There was not really all that much to see. Athens is a one-trick pony. It’s a pretty damn good trick, but having seen it, I don’t…
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Eleven days in Rome: Random Thoughts
I’m back at the airport awaiting my flight to Athens. (I’m not going to finish this until later, though.) My time in Rome has come to an end. I’ve had a lot of time to do a lot of things, and still didn’t manage to do everything I would have liked. In the past I’ve blogged…
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Stories from Rome’s Jewish Ghetto
Yesterday morning I took a tour of Rome’s Jewish ghetto. I wanted to write about it while it’s still fresh in my mind, but the day got away from me yesterday. Today I have nothing scheduled until late this afternoon, so I’m going to use the time to catch up on rest and on writing.…
