I‘m not much of a wine drinker, but I jumped at the opportunity of visiting the fabled Wine Route in the Alsace district of France. Winding past immaculate wineyards and quaint villages and towns beautified by bright potted flowers in windowsills, the route traverses the eastern side of the Vosges mountain range. Fine wines have […]
I remember that deliciously surreal moment with piercing clarity — the day I walked into Nicolae Ceausescu’s former bedroom and, on a whim, bounced up and down on the late Romanian dictator’s bed. It might have been the firing squad for me had I been caught doing that before his ignominious downfall and execution in […]
Toronto Island Park is so near, yet so far from the hustle and bustle of Canada’s largest city. An archipelago of small, partially wooded islands connected by footbridges, the park is a few kilometres from the downtown core and one of the finest recreational areas in Ontario. Once you’re in the thick of it, […]
The British playwright, composer and singer Noel Coward wrote in jest that only “mad dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun.” His amusing lyrics came to mind during my last visit to Masada, the ancient Jewish rebel fortress conquered by a Roman army in 74 CE. Under a broiling sun in the Judean Desert, […]
Weissensee, the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe, contains the remains of some of the most illustrious figures in German Jewish history. Covering an area of 42 hectares in northeastern Berlin, Weissensee is the final resting place of 115,000 souls in 120 sections. Prominent German Jews ranging from Leo Baeck and Hermann Cohen to Rudolf Mosse and […]
Tel Aviv, a cosmopolitan, fun-loving Mediterranean city, has discovered something new but old — cycling. In the past decade, cycling has become all the rage among Tel Avivians. The increasing popularity of cycling here coincides with the introduction of a bike rental program launched by the municipality in 2011. Cycling is now regarded as chic, […]
The Ottoman era in the Middle East has been resurrected thanks to the creation of a popular tourist attraction in Tel Aviv near Jaffa. HaTachana, known in English as The Station, is a charming complex of shops, boutiques, cafes and restaurants in the southern part of this lively Israeli city. Originally an Ottoman Turkish railway station, […]
The Dead Sea, a lifeless lake bereft of fish and aquatic plants, has attracted an endless stream of visitors since time immemorial. Shared by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, this hypersaline body of water in the Jordan Rift Valley is 67 kilometres in length, 18 kilometres in width at its widest point and a […]
Cole Porter’s jaunty song, I Love Paris in the Springtime, came to mind as I strolled along Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris’ signature thoroughfare. It was early spring, the weather was still cool, and a pale sun shone as I savored the sights and sounds of a great European city pulsating with vitality. I had been in […]
Georgia Turner, a year-round resident of Daytona Beach, a resort in central Florida, was talking about its passion for stock car racing. “Racing is a big part of our heritage,” she said. Although Daytona Beach has miles of scenic beaches, fine museums and a host of eco-tourist attractions, it is still primarily known as the […]