Seraglio Point in Istanbul is dominated by the magnificent, sprawling structures of two of the world’s architectural masterpieces. These are Haghia Sophia, the Byzantine Church of the Holy Wisdom, and the Ottoman Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Camii. They’re like prize fighters sizing one another up across the park that separates them, champions of two great civilizations and the city’s top tourist attractions today.
A vacation truly made up of the stuff of dreams must happen in faraway corners of the world with musical, exotic-sounding names. Immediately, Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia spring to mind.
The Erie Canal is a New York State treasure. In the early 1800s when New York governor DeWitt Clinton proposed building a canal that would connect the navigable Hudson River to Lake Erie by a 300-mile canal through the wilderness, Thomas Jefferson said,
In Brenham, Texas, about halfway between Houston and Austin, there is an old carousel in the city’s Fireman’s Park. I can remember my father taking me for a ride on that carousel about sixty-five years ago. Recently, I had a chance to revisit the park and it brought back many vivid memories.
Where in the world would you find a transatlantic journey that once offered a lounge, a formal dining room, a white linen table setting for up to 35 passengers, a menu of shrimp cocktail, turtle soup, steak, fresh vegetables, peach Melba, and a wide choice of drinks? This was not a transatlantic cruise, because ships took seven to nine days to cross the ocean. No, this was a transatlantic flying boat, which in 1939 took 25 hours and 40 minutes to fly one way.
The faint sound of a harbor bell tolls in the distance as an early kayaker glides his oars through a shimmering river embraced by towering trees. Down the road, an ancient stone fence curls its way through a 19th century whaling village. A town of proud people eager to share their storied history, Mystic, Connecticut welcomes guests with open arms …
Plan on spending a long day in Europe’s other canal city, Bruges. Some say it’s prettier than Amsterdam. Start early on the train from Brussels; they leave every hour or so from Brussels Central Station. Walk from the Bruges Train Station across the river onto the narrow cobblestoned streets, and you’ll soon get a strong impression of what it was like in a medieval town hundreds of years ago …
The Cordillera Blanca Mountains are what trekking is all about. Beautiful views, friendly natives, and the optional comforts of guides, porters, and cooks make trekking these mountains a delight all around. Get a day-by-day peek into what you’ll find in one of the few places on earth with such natural, unspoiled landscape …
Ireland’s wealthy Georgian and Victorian landowners developed a taste for erecting architectural oddities known as follies. Here are five places open to the public where you can admire (or perhaps despair over) their romantic visions …
I have now gone fishing twice in my life, both in the past three weeks, and I’m happy to report that I still haven’t caught anything. When it comes to food, my philosophy is: the further away I am from the "how" it arrived on my plate, the better …
