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Around scotch distilleries (2023 edition)

Around scotch distilleries (2023 edition)

As previously mentioned, the recently concluded trip was larger in scope and time than its predecessors – we visited 20 distilleries over the course of a week-plus, of which 15 were first-time visits. Following my traditional approach, I will start the series of trip retrospections with a quick round of…

Back from Scotland

Back from Scotland

The third tri-annual Scotch-centric buddy trip – actually, #4 for me, counting a much earlier and much shorter foray when I lived in the UK – has been a resounding success. The itinerary was more ambitious than usual, taking us to farther outposts than we have been before. 1,300 miles…

Foreign language study resources

Foreign language study resources

This article was first posted in February 2020 and is updated at intervals with additional or corrected information. In our connected times, an aspiring student of languages can find tons of different tools online and elsewhere that each promise to get one to speak a foreign language in no time…

A few crosc and road shots

A few crocs and road shots

Whenever we venture outside of the major urban centers on our travels, I drive. Not having to depend on strangers for transportation and enjoying the unconstrained ability to stop and explore something of interest along the way are a couple of reasons that always tip the scales toward getting behind…

Around Manuel Antonio

Around Manuel Antonio

The pattern established in Arenal continued on the Pacific-coast leg of our Costa Rican trip. We went on a number of excursions in the Manuel Antonio National Park area – beaches, surfing, driving ATVs, dipping into the waterfall cascades – and in almost all instances my camera remained at the…

Around Arenal

Around Arenal

I doubt that anyone would ever expect surpassing nature photography from me. Therefore, you will not be overly disappointed by the realization that I have little in the form of exceptional from our stay in the Arenal National Park area in Costa Rica. We went ziplining, dipped in hot springs…

San Jose, Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica

Hardly anyone budgets time for San Jose beyond an overnight stop on the way to other destinations in Costa Rica when the flight schedule dictates so. Spending time in the capital city in a country that is famous for its sun, sea, rainforests, and fauna sounds a bit wasteful. That…

A few more from Panama City

A few more from Panama City

To state the obvious, you can only see so much of a place when time is limited. While in Panama City on a layover that spanned two nights and one full day, we managed to set foot in three major locations of interest. Casco Antiguo and the archaeological site of…

Chasing World Heritage: #165 (Panama City)

Chasing World Heritage: #165 (Panama City)

The World Heritage site in Panama City, inscribed for being the oldest continuously occupied European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, comprises two components. Both somewhat confusingly have the moniker “old” in their names. Casco Viejo (or Casco Antiguo) is the historic heart of the city but is…

Back from Central America

Back from Central America

For the first time in recent memory (and only the third time overall, if I recall correctly) we have greeted the New Year away from home. It was our first time in both Costa Rica and Panama, the first time in Central America overall, and by the nature of the…

And a few more from Riviera

And a few more from Riviera

Our trips frequently include boat rides of different varieties, and this stay on the French Riviera was not an exception. On one of the days in the area, we planned to spend a few hours on a sailboat going up and down the coast between Nice and Monaco. For reasons…

A few from Monaco

A few from Monaco

The Principality of Monaco is among the more curious countries. It is a constitutional monarchy whose ruler, while not being styled “the King”, has probably the most powers over his domain than any other remaining monarch in all of Europe. It is the second tiniest sovereign entity in the world.…

Sainte-Agnès

Sainte-Agnès

The village of Sainte-Agnès sits in the mountains high above Menton. It holds the designation as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France. That entitles it to a separate look in our travel recaps. As with many such villages, there is not much in terms of defined points of…

Menton

Menton

Menton was one of the places we had not been to before and specifically targeted for a brief exploration this time. Literally “the last” point on the French Riviera – you cannot move eastward of Menton without crossing the border into Italy – it is a resort town famous for…

Nice, as a city on the Riviera

Nice, as in “a city on the Riviera”

The capital of the French Riviera may enjoy continuous fame as “the playground for the rich”, but it is in essence a big city with big-city attractions. Certainly, there are plenty of visual highlights to be found in town, and yet its cultural offerings – museums, theaters, varied cuisine –…

St-Paul-de-Vence

St-Paul-de-Vence, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Èze

This visit to the Riviera included a number of places that we had never managed to visit in the past. One was St-Paul-de-Vence. It is both a picturesque hilltop medieval village and one big art gallery. A large percentage of commercial establishments in the village core are contemporary-art boutiques. Makes…

Villefranche-sur-Mer

Villefranche-sur-Mer

I am starting this post with the same panoramic vista of Villefranche Bay that has already been posted a few weeks ago. Utterly mesmerizing! And then, somewhat gratuitously, here are a few other shots taken from the same spot on our apartment balcony, differing by the time of day, lighting…

A handful more from Israel

A handful more from Israel

While in Israel this past August, I ended up with an unusually small quantity of travel pictures to share. Between visits to relatives, the Bat Mitzvah ceremony (for which we hired a professional photographer), beach outings, and chilling in Tel Aviv, I only used my camera in a handful of…

Tzippori National Park, Israel

Tzipori National Park, Israel

Israel’s national parks system deserves many superlatives, encompassing over 70 historical and natural sites across the country. That includes all non-urban World Heritage sites, so on my first visit to Israel, I purposefully stopped by quite a few of the national parks. Tzipori was one that I haven’t been to…