Getty Villa Malibu California - The intimate Getty Villa is nestled in a canyon in Malibu just off of the Pacific Coast Highway. This museum houses over a thousand antiquities and other works of art from the Romans, Greeks and Etruscans. In addition to the unique works of art, be sure to visit the Outer Peristyle complete with a long reflecting pool, landscaped gardens and walkways. This museum is more intimate than its younger brother the … [Read more...]
Los Angeles, CA – Getty Museums
In addition to the Getty Center and the Getty Villa we have also visited 130+ Los Angeles area museums and continue to add and update this epic page here Getty Center is one museum well worth visiting during your time in Los Angeles and is one of the premier museums of Western European artwork in the Southland. It is located off of the 405 freeway at 1200 Getty Center Drive. As you are driving north on the 405 you can't miss it; it … [Read more...]
Los Angeles, CA – California Missions
California has a total of 21 Missions running from San Diego to Sonoma ranging in date of founding from 1769 until 1823. The intent with each mission location was historically to place each one approximately a days journey between each other. Greater Los Angeles and Orange County have three representatives of these, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Mission San Gabriel Archangel (the closest mission to downtown Los Angeles) and Mission San Fernando … [Read more...]
Los Angeles, CA – Chinatown
Chinatown is located just north west of downtown Los Angeles - take the Hill Street exit off of the 110 Freeway - across from Elysian Park. Chinatown is in the "backyard" of downtown Los Angeles and is easily within driving distance. Just take Hill Street and you will end up in downtown. The present location has not always been Chinatown's historical location. The current location along Hill and Broadway Streets used to be little Italy and … [Read more...]
Los Angeles, CA – Wineries
California's original planted grapevines date back to the early California Missions. Of historical note is the Ramona Vine at Mission San Gabriel (north of downtown). This vine was planted in 1774 - this mission was founded in 1771 and at one point was the largest winery in the state of California. Early wine was used for sacramental purposes at these area missions. Some of California's earliest commercial wine making dates back to the 1830's … [Read more...]
Italy
When I was young, I once asked my mother where paradise was located. She told me that it was not a specific place but rather a place that is spectacular according to oneself. I did not realize that paradise was essentially one's own ideal part of the world. At the age of 18, I was able to see my paradise. I had been looking forward to this trip for an entire year prior to graduating high school. When the day finally arrived, off I went, a little … [Read more...]
Franco’s Ghosts
November 4, 2003: Today in the news, Franco is still dead but you can still vote for him. Two weeks ago, I stood in front of one of only three still-remaining statues of the late Spanish dictator who died on November 20, 1975. A week later, back home in San Francisco, my Spanish partner cast his ballot: a ballot which still includes Franco's political party "Falange" - Spanish fascists. There's no escaping Franco. Astride his horse, with … [Read more...]
Going Cal-ing in Ibiza
Every now and then, I'll combine English and Spanish words and come up with something that truly annoys my wife, who happens to be from Spain. These "Spanglish" concoctions are usually pretty cheesy, but I must say that I'm not the only one guilty of this. Spaniards themselves do it. For bungee jumping, for example, they've invented the word puenting combining the ing ending from English with the word "puente" (bridge) in Spanish to form a hybrid … [Read more...]
Morocco – Touts of Tangier
Touts - are best defined as those who try to solicit something out of you often in a somewhat bold and brazen manner. I will add the words "highly persistent" to this definition. Tangier is a fairly unfriendly port town - tourists coming across on the ferry from Spain may find it quite difficult to escape its clutches, especially if you are not used to dealing with aggressive touts. The closest town I can think of to compare to Tangier is … [Read more...]
Dave’s Travel Photos Appear in Newspaper Insert
(3/28/02) Several of Dave's travel photos photos and travel descriptions recently appeared in a travel insert in the 2nd largest newspaper published in Israel. This newspaper has a publication of 850,000 newspapers per day. This travel insert was a piece to promote tourism to Israelites - highlighting select locations around the world. The particular photos used from Dave's Travel Corner were taken from one of his previous trips to Europe. … [Read more...]