"We should arrive in Venice in time for dinner," Ron said as we left Corfu on our early morning flight to Milan. True to his word, we stepped off the train in the Venice station at 5:30, found a room, and were exploring the city by 6:30. Just enough time to see the city, the canals, the square, and the harbor before heading off to dinner. It has been several years since we visited this charming city and we were pleased with how good it looked. The streets and the water in the canals were quite clean. St. Mark's Basilica restoration [View Full Entry]

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For 2 decades we have sat on the island of Corfu and wondered about the little country of Albania, just a short ferry trip across the Adriatic. Now that it is finally allowing visitors, we decided to take the day trip and check it out. Before going, we read Tony Wheeler's account of it in his book entitiled "Bad Lands". What a strange little country it is! We were only able to visit the coastal resort town of Agio Saranda and the Roman ruins of Butrint. Our time in the city was very limited due to the hour long drive to [View Full Entry]

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You never know who you might run into when traveling. But, to meet up with friends on the little Greek island of Paros would seem to be statistically impossible. They were heading south on the ferry and we were heading north. But, our paths managed to cross on the same day in Paros. It was fun to share dinner and travel stories while making plans for future destinations. The best part of Paros, was our day trip to Antiparos. It is a short 15 minute ferry ride to a very quite and picturesque island. It is so small and quiet that [View Full Entry]

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Astyapalea was delightful and Amorgos was as beautiful as ever. We are continuing our travels through the islands and these two stops were especially nice. Both islands are a bit off the beaten path and exhibit a more traditional Greek life style. Astyapalea is shaped like a butterfly and has a fabulous castle ruin above the town of Pera Yialos, where we stayed. We hiked up to the Chora and walked through the ruins several times. The upper area of the Chora is like a ghost town, with doors slamming and hinges creaking as the wind howls through the deserted pathways. [View Full Entry]

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Island hopping through the Greek islands, it's a dirty job but someone has to do it! We are struggling through this task with our first stop in Rhodes. It remains pretty much the same from visit to visit. This stop was most pleasant with lovely spring weather and reduced tourist crowds. The Old Town is charming and the New Town seems to be growing. We did all of the standard tourist stops to the Avenue of the Knights, the Palace of the Grand Master, the Square for the Jewish Martyrs, and the main Plaka. We ate lots of Greek Salads, Moussaka, [View Full Entry]

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Tucson got gobs of rain and Mt. Lemmon turned white. This is always a wonderful sight in the desert. The saguaros are plumped up with water and the desert is green and beautiful. But, best of all, the mountains surrounding the city are covered with snow. It is just lovely! The rain has continued to follow us on our trip west, but it hasn't been too bad. Our first week in Tucson was spent hiking and going to U of A basketball games. The hiking was a bit chilly and the basketball games were both terrific wins for the Wildcats. From [View Full Entry]

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It takes some nice weather, some exploring, and some time to see all that Maui has to offer. In the past, this wasn't one of our favorite Hawaiian islands. With our first soggy week of weather we were still feeling a bit down on the island. The past 2 weeks of lovely weather and cool activities has changed all that and now, Maui is looking rather Marvelous!! The major attitude change started with the helicopter tour over the volcano, Haleakala, and then along the southern coast near Hana. The skies were quite clear when we started the flight, and we were [View Full Entry]

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We're always ready for an adventure, so we traveled almost 6000 miles to experience a FL style hurricane in Hawaii! Here, in Maui, it's called a Kona Low and did it ever pack a punch. The locals are saying that it was the worse storm that they have had in 30 years!! A Kona Low is basically the reversal of the jet stream and causes some horrific weather systems. This one proceed to travel over all the islands, hang over the Big Island for a day and then come back and hit all the islands again. It rained for 6 days [View Full Entry]

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After 8 gallons of paint, numerous shopping trips, and 6 weeks of clean up and remodel work on the condo; the 5 days we spent in St. Thomas and St. Johns was pure heaven! The flights were good, the hotel was beautiful, the weather was lovely, and the water was divine. On top of all that, we were there with friends who knew the islands well. We got to see the places that the average tourists miss. Our rather beat up rental car took us to beaches around the island and to mountain top lookouts with spectacular views. We ate island [View Full Entry]

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Crossing the border from Portugal to Spain must have been very traumatic for my camera. When we arrived in Sevilla it started acting like an impressionistic artist and then it just died!!! This is the first time I have ever traveled without one and it has been a new experience, both good and bad. Sorry that your view of the sights will now be limited to my meager descriptions. Seville was as pleasant as ever. There were lots of tourists and lots of trolley line construction in the old town. The walks along the river were more peaceful and beautiful. [View Full Entry]

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