Esotouric offers a variety of tours in Los Angeles; their name is a twist of "esoteric" and all their tours have an element of this. We joined the founders, the husband wife team of Kim and Richard for their niche historic West Adam's "crime" tour which covers a part of Los Angeles most tourists will never visit - although this neighborhood is fairly close to Exposition Park and relatively close to downtown. As with other neighborhoods in Los … [Read more...]
Budapest: City of Change
There is a lilting quality to Budapest that changes to crashing crescendos as one visits different parts of this medieval city. Budapest has been prey to many conquerors...the Mongols, the Turks and more recently - the Germans and then the Russians. Now it has been restored to its own people, the Hungarians who arrived to create their first settlement early in the 9th century. This beautiful city straddling the Danube has much to offer to … [Read more...]
Spotlight on Raleigh North Carolina
Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina is named after Sir Walter Raleigh - despite his never setting foot in the city. However he did encourage the settlement of North Carolina and established the first British colony in North America on North Carolina's Roanoke Island. Raleigh is one of the few planned cities in the USA and was also created specifically to be the state's capital. It was planned in 1788 and officially established in … [Read more...]
Times Square, New York – October 2011
Times Square is an experience of bright neon signs, camera toting tourists, yellow taxis, tourist buses as well as significant noise including the NYPD & ambulances screaming through at random times. This experience is all packed into several blocks along Broadway. If you want to have your mug in many photos or videos from travelers from around the world, the sidewalks of Broadway near Times Square would be a great place to station yourself. This … [Read more...]
Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland
While flying somewhere in Europe last month on a short Wizz Air flight we happened to spot an article about the salt mines near Krakow in the in-flight magazine. Hey, an in-flight magazine on a budget airline and more leg room than say Ryan Air - we were happy. In any case, the article caught my eye - a salt mine that continuously operated for 700 years and over time contained huge man-made caves, tunnels and sculptures carved entirely from rock … [Read more...]
Visiting Auschwitz, Krakow Poland
Krakow is a significant cultural and historical center; there is much to see in and around the city. A visit to Auschwitz requires a full day, including the main camp and then minutes away by a free shuttle, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. During the hours of 10-3pm you must pay to join a guided tour (given in a variety of languages). Human genocides do not get any bigger than this and a visit here is a solemn and moving experience. Exhibits showing … [Read more...]
Villa d’Este in Tivoli
The first time I visited Rome a couple of years I stayed for over a week in one of the Rome apartments which was plenty of time to see the most important in the city, but also a couple of other monuments and sights that are outside of the city. My favorite sights in Rome by far were the Trevi Fountain, the Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel inside of the Vatican. We also did a few daytrips to take full advantage of the surroundings. My … [Read more...]
Select Highlights of South East Europe
These are some of the highlights of visiting select locations in Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia. This trip was totally unscripted and unplanned. All we had were our plane tickets to Europe. We used public transportation to get around - buses, trains, city trams and metros where available. Note that while distances on the map don't look that far from each other especially along the Dalmatian Coast, the roads are narrow, windy and very … [Read more...]
Hanging out in London
We arrived in London after a 2.5 hour flight from Split Croatia. We love the budget airlines in Europe - last minute prices are the same as reserving your flights ahead of time for a number of the airlines. Wizz Air, Easy Jet, Ryan Air etc. London of course is one of the world's major cities - its easy to get lost in the city and its historical attractions. One is never bored for things to do here! There are world class museums - the Tate Modern … [Read more...]
Along the Dusty Trail
I was on a back road leaving a dust trail behind me that startled rope-pegged donkeys out of their sullen afternoon doze, the way before me stretching into the distance as infinite space. I had traversed miles of nowhere, taking in the lowland marshes of rice paddies where egrets strutted in measured steps collecting minnows for lunch, and the high mountain passes bordered by cliffs where only shaggy wild goats were sure-footed enough to clamber … [Read more...]
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