Old Bamburg, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a time capsule — a stunning open-air museum of architectural styles. Bamburg’s collection of beautifully preserved Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance buildings, all located in a conveniently compact area ideal for strolling, transports a visitor back to pre-war Germany. During World War II, Bamberg was largely […]
Last week, as day time temperatures in Toronto reached a balmy 18 degrees celsius, Denver was walloped by a freak snowstorm. I counted my blessings as I lounged on my sun deck and gazed contentedly at a clear blue sky. Admittedly, my deck didn’t do very well over winter and isn’t in the best condition. […]
Holland presents its prettiest face to the world in April and May, when it’s ablaze with a spectacular profusion of flowers. After a long and dreary winter, spring finally arrives as Holland’s pancake-flat fields release beautiful blooms in hues ranging from red and yellow to violet and white. This enchanting annual rite of nature is […]
Buttenheim, population 3,000, is a speck of a town in southern Germany. Normally, you would drive through without paying it the slightest heed. Set amid the green pastoral countryside of the Regnitz Valley in Upper Franconia, between the historic cities of Bamberg and Nuremberg, it’s quiet, rustic and almost quaint. Despite its obscurity, Buttenheim has carved […]
The novelist Arnold Zweig succinctly described the old quarter of Erfurt, a city in eastern Germany, as “a picture book of German history.” It was a fair assessment. Martin Luther, the theologian whose ideas gave rise to Lutheranism, studied and worked here as a monk in the 16th century. The Kramerbrucke, the longest covered bridge […]
Quedlinburg, a somnolent town of 28,000 in the foothills of the Harz Mountains, is caught in something of a time warp. Quedlinburg’s historic 1,300 half-timbered buildings are its chief claim to fame, attracting visitors from all over Germany, the rest of Europe and from around the world. For that reason, Quedlinburg has been a UNESCO World […]
Cuba is an open-air museum of vintage American cars. On a per capita basis, no other country on the planet has as many. At last count, 60,000 of these clunkers from the pre-1959 era were still plying Cuban roads. It would not be an exaggeration to say that old American cars are as synonymous with […]
Havana, Cuba’s capital, has seen better days. A gleaming, modern, hip city more than 60 years ago, Havana fell on hard times following the 1959 revolution, when the new left-wing government, headed by Fidel Castro, deposed the corrupt pro-American Batista regime. Subjected to a U.S. economic embargo after the Cuban government nationalized private property, Cuba […]
I‘ve visited Israel numerous times since the summer of 1967, both in a private and professional capacity. As a wag once quipped, Israel has too much history and not enough geography, which is precisely why it’s so interesting and accessible Even seasoned travellers who know what the Jewish state has to offer usually discover something […]
It was freezing cold in Toronto and I yearned for the heat. Weary of the January weather, my wife and I decided to book an all-inclusive package to Cuba. We chose Cuba because it offers what far more expensive destinations in the Caribbean also offer: great weather, nice sandy beaches and comfortable hotels. We had read […]