The winding streets of Nice’s old town

The French Riviera city of Nice is a beautiful place to visit. I especially loved wandering Vieux Nice, where I could be forgiven for thinking I was back in Italy. The old quarter used to have  a reputation for being dangerous, but today it’s a beautiful area to wander and enjoy the views into the…

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Athen’s spectacular Acropolis Museum

I’ve already written about visiting the Acropolis on your next visit to Greece’s capital, Athens. Just at the foot of the ascent/decent is the spectacular, newly restored and absolutely-not-to-be-missed Acropolis Museum. The museum has been planned since the 1970s, since the earlier museum was hardly impressive enough for all the splendors it contained. The new packaging…

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Autumn colors in Vitorchiano, Italy

I was staying outside this pretty medieval town in northern Lazio, north of Rome, for work for a week earlier this month. Unfortunately, we weren’t out of the conference structure much, but I did sneak out for an early morning jog each morning so that I could enjoy the town as it was waking up.…

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Hanging out with Athena. The Acropolis, Athens

Last year I went with my family for a few days to Athens, Greece. We had a great time exploring the city and its impressive history. We obviously couldn’t miss a visit to the Acropolis during our stay. We’d spent so much time admiring it from all angles around the city – including from our…

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Surrounded by the Atlantic, in Vigo, Spain

Earlier this month, I was in Galicia, Spain for the first time. Although I’ve traveled quite a bit around beautiful Spain, I’d never journeyed to westernmost points before. I was in the port city of Vigo for work. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to explore this interesting city, but I did manage to do…

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Admiring Prague from a paddleboat on the Vltava

This past summer, I was with my family in Prague, Czech Republic. On a beautiful, sunny day, my kids wanted to rent a paddleboat out on the Vltava River to float along and enjoy the city from a new perspective. Back when I lived in this city, two decades ago, it seemed a ridiculously touristy…

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Silver mining wealth in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Only 60 kilometers southeast from the Czech Republic’s capital, Kutna Hora is an easy day trip from Prague. I can remember visiting here in the days when I lived in Prague over (gulp!) two decades ago. Once, I missed the ‘fast’ train and had to take the milk train – it took four and a…

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Hiking the Graukogel in Badgastein, Austria

I posted last week about my summer holidays in Mitteleuropa. The first place we stopped on our travels is the picture-perfect Alpine village of Badgastein, located in the Gasteiner valley in the Salzburg province. There are kilometers and kilometers of beautiful hiking trails in this pretty Alpine perch. The first day there, we decided to…

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