Blue skies, although in true tropical fashion they do give way to a brief rainstorm before returning immediately following. Azure waters. Green iguanas and brown pelicans. A ruined colonial fort, and one of the region’s leading historians and archaeologists to explain the intricacies of it to me. Yeah, in my world, this qualifies as a…
Sometimes my only plan for a day in a cool city is a nice walk in the sun. I might have a building or two in mind that I’d like to see and to photograph, a restaurant I want to try, or something else that draws me to a particular walk in a particular area,…
At the turn of the 20th century, Toronto was booming. Mining in northern Ontario, shipping on the Great Lakes, and a huge new financial sector led to rapid growth both in the city and in the money found there. With that came a new elite class, one that could make its money locally in addition…
It dominates the skyline like few other buildings in the world, standing head and shoulders above the rest of what has become one of the meccas for skyscrapers. Toronto would look unnatural without the CN Tower, and though it isn’t the city’s official logo - that honor belongs to the “new” city hall building -…
Sunset in Essaouira, Morocco is not to be missed. Here on the country’s Atlantic coast, the orange glow lights up the ocean and the small island outcroppings standing between the city and the vastness of eternity. Pinks hit the clouds, and the very stone of the walls of the city seems to light up. A…
I’ve stared at this screen for three days now, debating what to write about Fes, Morocco. How does one distill even a single day in this city down into an article? What’s the angle? The city is overwhelming, with more than a thousand years of history as an imperial capital, as a place of learning,…
For all of my explorations of the Roman Empire, and the dizzying number of Roman sites I’ve visited, somehow I never cease to be surprised at just how far Rome extended its territory, and just how much has survived the nearly two millennia since its fall. And yet, here I am, just outside of Meknes,…
Editor’s note: Iceland is a place that has long been near the top of my travel wish list. And now, after a gap, TRT writer Sam Spector finally fills in his experience in this awesome country with this piece about the capital. He had previously written about the Golden Circle, and about southern Iceland. For…
“I love it when a place is so unexpected,” I tell Saad. “This city is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” The second part of my statement to Saad Jaidi, a young law student from Chefchaouen, Morocco who gives tours of his city on weekends to help make some money, is true. Chefchaouen is, indeed, unlike…
I have to admit not having high hopes for Tangier. When I decided on my Morocco itinerary, comparing multiple tour options, and I ended up choosing one that spent a day in the northernmost Moroccan city, I was less excited and more resigned. Tangier has the reputation of being chaotic, overwhelming, confusing, and not the…