Peloponnese: Nemea and Mycenae
Posted April 27, 2015 by twj
Argos
The Peloponnese
Greece
April 27, 2015
Time to review a bit of Greek Mythology and Ancient History?
My visit to two sites on the Peloponnese: Nemea and Mycenae.
Travel Letters
Athens: The Fun Ride
Posted April 26, 2015 by twj
Athens
Greece
April 26, 2015
Hello,
My friend Ralph Velasco is a professional photographer and tour guide. He recently published a book called Essence of a Place.
The subtitle of the book is A Travel Photographer's Guide to Using a Shot List for Capturing Any Destination.
http://ralphvelasco.com/products/essence-of-a-place-photography-ebook/
Ralph suggests more than a dozen categories including “Customs and Traditions.”
May I add a sub-category? “Recreation.”
Athens: Museums
Posted April 26, 2015 by twj
Athens
Hellenic Republic
Sunday
April 26, 2015
I need a drink every time I visit a place like this.
Housed in a small, lovely building, displaying a variety of secular artifacts and religious icons, the Jewish Museum of Greece carries the appropriate name - a museum - the lifeless panorama of history.
Jews lived in Greece for more than two thousand years. But in large numbers, Jews arrived in Greece following their expulsion from Spain and Portugal in the late Fifteenth Century. For more than four hundred years, communities thrived here, especially in the northern city of Thessalonica, known as the “Little Jerusalem.” In 1940, the Jewish population of Thessalonica exceeded 53,000 children, women and men.
Cartagena de Indias: "Placid Sea, Pastel City"
Posted November 14, 2008 by Jan
Cartagena de Indias
Bolívar Department
Colombia
November 14, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
From time to time, my curious friends ask, "Jan, how are the ladies there?" (Wherever "there" is.) So their "inquiry" regarding "Las mujeres Colombianas" was no surprise.
How shall answer the question about Colombian women without exacerbating my own proclivity for hypertension and without interfering with any cardiac control devices out there? I'll do my best:
{C}
Medellín: "A Unique Travel Adventure"
Posted November 18, 2008 by Jan
Medellín
Antioquia Department
Republic of Colombia
November 18, 2008,
Dear Family and Friends,
Now here's a unique travel adventure:
My Avianca flight from Cartegena to Medellín left on time at 08:00. Ten minutes into the flight the pilot made an announcement. Since my Spanish is improving day by day, little by little, poco a poco, I understood the pilot to say that the airplane had a technical problem and we had to return to Cartegena. We made a sweeping 180 degree turn and in a few minutes we were on the ground.
The gate agent estimated that our waiting time would be about an hour, mas or menos (more or less). "Mas or menos" I figured out is the Spanish equivalent of the Arabic "Inshallah."
Vientiane: "Visa Run"
Posted January 16, 2009 by Jan
Vientiane, Laos
January 12-16, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Sabai Dee,
Here's a good one:
"The reason I didn't recognize you, Jan, is because when we met six years ago, you were fat. Now you are slim and younger looking."
So said my friend Kia, a lovely Laotian woman, who with her husband Wisai, runs a small restaurant in Vientiane.
So what am I doing in Vientiane?
{C}