I was in Provence just a few weeks shy of lavender season. (In case you’re counting, this is the second time I’ve been in Provence in the spring and the second time I’ve missed the lavender season. First world problems, I know.) While in Italy, I got to experience lilac season. Okay, it’s not...
I wanted to use a picture from Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland for this week’s Friday Photo, but I couldn’t. The weather was awful (surprise!) and I couldn’t afford a fancy DSLR back then. By the time March rolled around, I’d been in Galway five months, so I’d just about given up on taking...
This is Carrer dels Mirallers in El Born – a great example of the dark, puzzling, narrow alleys that wind around one of Barcelona’s most popular neighborhoods. As you can imagine, this stone alleyway has a haunted history. One of the buildings on this street was the home office of a local exorcist. Another...
When people tell me they want to drive around Ireland on their vacation, I show them this picture – or any number of pictures I have that look exactly like this. This is a typical small-town, two-way Irish road. Oh sure, there are some highways throughout the country and much wider roads in popular areas....
One of my favorite parts of London that the average visitor never gets to see is Brick Lane. The area’s industrial, working class roots led to its reputation as one of London’s rougher areas. What started as worrisome has now morphed into street cred. These days, the historic grit is accompanied by trend chasers eager to...
Saint Tropez was simply a fishing village on the French Riviera at the start of the twentieth century. Like many coastal French towns, it has a very peculiar allure – a je ne sais quoi if ever there was one. This is a town that needs to be experienced more so than toured. Its...
At first glance, Newgrange makes very little sense. It looks like nothing more than a dome overgrown with grass. The stone etchings surrounding the building appear too perfect to be truly ancient. The entire structure seems like it was modeled after a flying saucer. You can’t help but feel that you’re intruding on a...
If you’re lucky enough to visit on a warm and sunny day, the picturesque Irish town of Cobh (pronounced “Cove”) might seem downright tropical. This harbor town boasts pastel-colored buildings, palm trees, sailboats, outdoor seating, and nautical motifs in abundance. Cobh is situated along Cork Harbor, in the very south of Ireland. Since Cobh’s section...
The city of Kilkenny is the type of place most people expect to see when they visit Ireland. It has ancient stone walls, medieval alleyways, arched bridges over the River Nore, a stunning cathedral, and one of the nicest castles in Ireland. Although Kilkenny has been maintained and modernized over the years, it has...
Monaco brings to mind three very different things – royalty (Prince Rainier and Princess Grace), car racing (the Monaco Grand Prix), and gambling (Le Grand Casino). You’d think these different identities would create a circus effect given Monaco’s small size, but this principality manages to combine all of its aspects almost seamlessly. This is a...