10 Jun

Posted at 13:52h in Uncategorized

BY: JANET STEINBERG Along with the big cities like Juneau, Anchorage and Sitka, many cruise include calls at some of the smaller, yet more colorful, ports in Alaska. The town of Skagway is one of them. VINTAGE FRONTIER SKAGWAY, ALASKA This vintage frontier town, with its wooden sidewalks, false-fronted buildings and unpaved main street,...

28 May

Posted at 17:50h in Uncategorized

BY: JANET STEINBERG ANCHORAGE, a sophisticated metropolis with frontier Alaska in its backyard, is a fascinating mixture of human cultures and a rich natural history carved out by glaciers and volcanoes. Alaska's largest city, with a 2011 population of 295,570, contains approximately 50% of the entire state's  population.              Alaska's birth and boom is directly related to its...

13 May

Posted at 13:31h in Uncategorized

With its fabulous Balboa Park, Old Town, and Heritage Park, San Diego is quite a town! The world-famous San Diego Zoo, located in the northern section of Balboa Park is home to more than 4,000 rare and endangered animals representing more than 800 species and subspecies.  The San Diego Zoo is a world famous conservation organization where visitors view exotic animals in...

22 Apr

Posted at 14:32h in Uncategorized

BY: JANET STEINBERG Brush up your Spanish before heading to this coastal California town for dinner.  La Jolla is pronounced La HOY-uh, meaning “the jewel” in Spanish. La Jolla is a many-faceted, picture-postcard jewel hugging seven miles of California coastline some 25 minutes north of San Diego.  Sunny days and legendary sunsets are a daily occurrence in this picturesque village.   SOMETHING...

08 Apr

Posted at 17:43h in Uncategorized

BY: JANET STEINBERG WELCOME TO VOLOS, GREECE "Kalispera" (kal-ee-speh-ra).  Good afternoon.  It’s a beautiful day in Volos, a popular cruise port on the Pagasitic Gulf.  Volos, nestled beneath the majestic Mt. Pelion, is a lively, little city of approximately 71,000 people.  A city of ancient and modern contradictions, Volos passed from Turkish rule to that of Greece...

25 Mar

Posted at 13:23h in Uncategorized

BY: JANET STEINBERG From castles to cable cars, big surf to Big Sur, the California Coastline is one of the world’s most celebrated coastlines, and the liberating drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco is one of the most spectacular drives in the world. Starting our trip in the Greater Los Angeles area we chose the...

11 Mar

Posted at 15:23h in Uncategorized

BY: JANET STEINBERG While locum, the sweet jelly-textured confection may be officially known as Turkish Delight, it is the bold pulsating patterns of the Turkish carpet that truly dazzles and delights the shopper in Turkey.  While reflecting the culture of its people, the attractive colors and designs of the Turkish carpet also convey...

25 Feb

Posted at 15:19h in Uncategorized

                              By: Janet Steinberg  Dobry den.  (Good day.)  Welcome to Bratislava. A SLOVAK WELCOMING COMMITTEE BRATISLAVA, the powerful capital of Hungary for more than three centuries during the Middle Ages, is now the bustling modern capital of SLOVAKIA.  This picturesque city, situated where the Danube River meets the Carpathian Mountains, borders Austria...

11 Feb

Posted at 14:45h in Uncategorized

BY JANET STEINBERG Manaus is the premier port city put on the map by the landed aristocracy in the 1800s. At that time it was one of the richest cities in the world. For many years Manaus, carved out of the very heart of the Amazonian wilderness, was a...

28 Jan

Posted at 17:33h in Uncategorized

“Emotion has a name: Brazil.”  -Pele                                 The Amazon River!  O Rio Mar!   The River Sea! The world's largest river, that fires the imagination of all who dare to dream, dominates the land and the people who come in contact with it. The muddy and mysterious Amazon is a majestic presence. To...