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Zadar, Croatia May 29, 2025 As it is to be expected in a place overpopulated with tourists, the stores run the gamut between the usual kitsch to the usual mass-produced apparel to bags to handcrafted items like lace and crocheted tablecloths. More interesting was the open air market for fruits and vegetables. Apparently it is … More As Fresh as it Gets
Zadar, Croatia May 27, 2025 Sheltered from the open seas by the parallel lines of islands is the port of Zadar. An important port from the earliest times, it has seen the march of many peoples and plenty have left their marks. Vestiges of a Roman Forum from 2nd century BCE still lie scattered to … More On the Adriatic Shore
Zagreb, Croatia May 24, 2025 The center of Zagreb is compact and cozy and one can go from one end to the other before realizing it. But for a small city, it has an astonishing number of museums. Better yet, many are decidely quirky. The city planners get a thumbs up for that in my … More From the Earliest Days
Zagreb, Croatia May 22, 2025 I had surpassed myself this time around in sheer unpreparedness with absolutely no excuse! Arriving minus a sim card or a map or downloading maps.com or even recalling the name of the street where I needed to go, I accosted arbitrary strangers on the streets at random. And found a … More Quaint and Cozy
New York May 19, 2025 Irresistibly drawn to parts of the globe that are less traveled, I have for the longest time ignored central and eastern Europe. But that big blank on my travel map is about to change. This summer I am off to wander through a large swathe of countries in Central Europe. … More Wandering Through Central Europe
Mombasa, Kenya Aug 11, 2024 Manbasa as the Arabs called it, was in a prime location for all the spice traffic along the sea routes between Asia and Europe. From its beginnings in the 10th century CE, it flourished on the edge of the Indian Ocean. In Mombasa there is still a building that was … More From the Days of the Spice Trade
Maasai Mara, Kenya Aug 5, 2024 The thousands upon thousands of wildebeest that dot the plains of the Maasai Mara had me feeling deflated. Oh no, I thought, the migration must have already happened. Although typically taking place in the first week of August, it is subject to Nature’s whims. This year it started in … More A Heaving Seething Stampede
Maasai Mara, Kenya Aug 4, 2024 The sun is barely over the horizon as we enter Maasai Mara at the Sekenani Gate. This time around, I was not on a tour like I was twenty-three years ago but had chosen to camp near the gate and hired a jeep and driver instead. Henry, the driver … More An Orgy of Feeding
Elsamere, Kenya Aug 1, 2024 Born in 1910 to a wealthy Austrian family in Troppau, Silesia (present day Czech Republic), she broke the mold before it was considered a mold. Intelligent, feisty and creative, she had studied fields as diverse as music and medicine. A talented artist, her paintings of African flora and fauna were … More The Joy of Elsa
Fisherman’s Camp, Lake Naivasha Kenya July 30, 2024 I hear a snuffling noise close by and get out of the tent to see. A giant bottom stares me in the face. The hippo snoozing centimeters from the fence is startled as well and gets up faster than I thought an animal that size could. I … More Thank Heavens for the Electric Fence
