To us the question was “why not”? We have each been to Italy quite a few times but as Puglia gained traction as a destination for travelers our curiosity grew and we began to plot a trip to the region. When Go Ahead Tours offered to host us on their Puglia and Southern Italy tour we accepted with unseemly alacrity. So why did we want to go there? The beautiful coastline … [Read more...]
Two non-touristy places to experience nature in Southwest Florida
People visit Southwest Florida (SWFL) for many reasons including enjoying the beaches, freeloading off relatives with spare bedrooms and experiencing the area's nature attractions. This part of Florida offers a nice selection of nature preserves that are untainted by commercial interests. Most of them are educational and fun places to learn and experience the unique species … [Read more...]
Zagreb’s top attractions
As our Go Ahead Tours bus drove into Zagreb and our guide extraordinaire, Tamara, told us its history and we saw the beautiful architecture we couldn't wait to see Zagreb's top attractions. The fact that Zagreb was on our itinerary had been one of the tour's compelling features. As hackneyed as it is to say that somewhere is an undiscovered gem it feels fair to say that Zagreb … [Read more...]
Enjoying Ljubljana – the Green Capital of Europe
Ljubljana, Slovenia is a small (272,000 person) city where, thanks to extensive initiatives which earned it the moniker of Europe's Green Capital, you can truly breathe in the city's beauty. Ljubljana's mayor for the last 10 years, Zoran Janković, has implemented an aggressive environmental plan for the city and the payoff is impressive. One of his early moves was to … [Read more...]
Our Montenegro road trip (with Mitt Romney, sort of)
When we made our plans to go to Croatia and Slovenia we saw a chance to do a Montenegro road trip before joining the tour group. We may never know why Mitt Romney was in Montenegro but he was and we tailed him for a brief while. Good thing we remembered how to drive a stick shift so we didn't end up in the car with him... At luggage claim in Dubrovnik Blonde stood beside … [Read more...]
There’s something for almost everyone in Dubrovnik
We just returned from Go Ahead's tour of Croatia and Slovenia and were happily reminded that there are things to see and do in Dubrovnik for almost anyone. This was Blonde's third trip and our second together to this ancient, romantic, busy, UNESCO city on the sunny Adriatic coast. Entering the city's gates on your own can be confusing at first so we were glad to be coddled … [Read more...]
St. Petersburg Russia – A drama in several acts
St. Petersburg - a hot mess worth knowing After being there twice this summer with Viking Cruises we are sharing our suggestions of things to do in St. Petersburg Russia. Keep in mind that you need to have an appreciation for high drama to really absorb this city. The royal intrigues and various revolutions have left the city a glamorous, slightly exhausted grand dame who … [Read more...]
Our advice for seeing Stockholm
What we learned and did in Stockholm We hope our Stockholm travel advice will help you make the most of any time you get in this friendly, clean city. We only had 3 days but made good use of our time without overdoing it. Although we did walk over 7 miles a day so bring comfortable shoes! Buy a Stockholm Pass Our first piece of advice is to buy a Stockholm … [Read more...]
The Charms of Holland
The Charms of Holland with City Discovery tours City Discovery and their Charms of Holland Tour gave us the perfect opportunity to experience a sampler of The Netherlands when we were visiting Amsterdam. Amsterdam is easy to navigate but getting out into the countryside on our own had a degree of difficulty that didn't appeal to us. A coach tour with a private guide was … [Read more...]
Our suggestions on how to spend a day in Bergen, Norway
How to spend a day in Bergen, Norway We spent a day in Bergen at the end of our Viking Homelands cruise with Viking Oceans. We had taken a short walking tour with Viking the previous day which gave us overview information and our bearings so we knew what we wanted to do with our full day. Bryggen When you see these colorful, iconic buildings along the harbor they may … [Read more...]