“If only I could be in Africa and Europe at the same time… Oh, wait! I can! I can go to Melilla!” I’m a fan of the odd, the unusual, the out of the ordinary, but when you combine that with some history, I’m hooked to the point of obsession. North Africa, or alternatively the southern…
There are trigger words on brown road signs that always spark my interest. Foremost among them is “fortification.” Anything big and old, I find fascinating. Yesterday, while driving from Sighișoara back to Brașov (this time via the highway) we past brown sign after brown sign that said “fortificata,” but we were on a timeline, so without a…
Not to be confused with the city of Agadir that was destroyed by an earthquake and later rebuilt into a tourist destination, but rather, the traditional buildings that gave the city its name. Throughout southern Morocco are the remnants of what was once a thriving Amazigh (Berber) culture that extended over most of North Africa. Before the arrival…
One of the definite advantages of living and working in southern Morocco is that any trip north toward greater civilization, be it for leisure or work, generates an opportunity to be creative with the route by which one arrives there. On this particular occasion, being needed in Rabat, I took the opportunity to swing around to the right…
Admittedly, I knew very little about Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish). The United States played a negligible role in that particular theater during World War I, so our history doesn’t pay it much mind. Most of what I know about its significance comes from the popular Australian ballad, And the band played Waltzing Matilda. The song is…
Our first stop in Spain after a long travel day from Morocco, was the home of our dear friend Candace, Llançà. It’s a small, quiet village near the border of France along the Mediterranean coast. Idyllic? Absolutely! And, she was kind enough to not only host us, but drive us around the beautiful Costa Brava region.…
“Without cafés and newspapers, it would be difficult to travel. A paper printed in our own language, a place to rub shoulders with others in the evenings enable us to imitate the familiar gestures of the man we were at home, who, seen from a distance, seems so much a stranger. For what gives value…
Salvador Dali was born in the town of Figueres, Spain which lies near the Spanish border with France along the Mediterranean coast. It is also the site of the Dali museum, the place in which he spent his last few years, and the place he is buried. It’s a wonderful little town quite proud of its…
Gibraltar is an odd place. It’s tiny and most of the space is taken up by a massive rock in the middle of the peninsula, namely the Rock of Gibraltar. “The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq (جبل طارق), meaning “Mountain of Tariq” (Wikipedia). It’s a British Overseas Territory,…
A quick video of the Hungarian Changing of the Guard ceremony – my new fascination of sorts – at the Presidential Palace in Budapest, Hungary. This one is different than most, in that it also includes drums.
