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…
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…
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…
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.…
There are four Romes. I’ll elaborate in a minute. I started out writing a detailed blow-by-blow account of my first full day in Rome. Sleep overtook me, though, and now I have two full days under my belt. So instead of describing my activities hour by hour, step by step, church by church, sight by sight,…
I made it to Rome! After a long journey (I left the house on Monday evening at 6:30 and I arrived at my Airbnb at 3:30 this afternoon), I am finally here! But more aptly put, I am finally here after many fabulous trips to many other places, including two prior visits to Italy. So here’s a…
If you didn’t already read about how I went about planning for my trip to Rome, go ahead. I’ll wait. Now, just over a week before I leave, I think I’ve got all the planning settled. I’ve identified a lot of churches, museums, and other sights I hope to see. I’ve pre-booked tour for certain things,…
My next OAT tour is called “Ancient Lands of Alexander the Great.” It includes Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia, all countries I have not yet visited. I already wrote about my plans for Rome at the beginning of October. These are actually all the same trip. From Rome I will go to Athens to begin…
I may be overdoing it. I think in the year ahead I will be away more than I am home. I’m excited about all the trips I have planned between now and the end of 2025, but also worried that I’m going to wear myself out. Here’s what I’ve got scheduled. Tell me if you…
Believe it or not, I’ve never been to Rome. I’ve made two trips to Italy, but not to Rome. I’m making up for it by spending ten full days in Rome at the beginning of October. But planning for my Rome visit has been more challenging than any other trip I’ve ever taken. This is the longest…
Saturday, August 10, 21:00 Nairobi to Nanyuki In spite of the long delay, we made it to Nairobi and slept in a very nice Crowne Plaza Hotel near the airport. Yesterday morning we had a driver (Stephen) take us to Nanyuki, and here we are at the home of our friend Tom and his daughter…
Wednesday, August 7, 16:00 What can I say about our time in Rwanda? First off, I can say we made it here! We arrived Monday morning at 07:00, sailed through immigration thanks to a very helpful representative from Wilderness who installed us in the Radisson lounge while he got our luggage. Then he brought us…