Friends, we have done it! After two months in the south of France exploring artists via their national museums and homes, we have reached the final one, at least for this trip. (You can find links to articles about Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-August Renoir, and Marc Chagall by clicking on their names.) Welcome to…
Toulouse, France isn’t exactly the first city that comes to mind when it comes to places in the world with interesting churches. Rome? Sure. (Click here to read about the churches of Rome.) But Toulouse? Not really. And yet, France’s pink city has some of the more fascinating - and huge - churches I’ve seen…
Sometimes, I get nervous about returning to a place. More often than not, it is because on an original visit, I did not enjoy the experience. So the thought of going back is a sort of dread, wondering how poorly my time will go on this next go around. (To be fair, my return trip…
I get it. I really do. The opulence of the tiny Principality of Monaco is alluring. Visitors come - typically just for a day or so as a novelty to add another country to their counts - and they are enthralled by the glimpses into lives they (we) will never have. $100,000+ cars are common…
Editor’s note: I spent three days in Bogota back before I started The Royal Tour, so I haven’t written about it. But I enjoyed my time, and while like Sam I agree that Colombia’s capital isn’t as touristic as other places in the country, I disagree with his assessment that it is less worth visiting.…
The wind is cold atop the Priamar Fortress complex. While the sun is out, making for a beautiful day, January sends a chilly breeze flowing over the stone battlements and down to the city below. I walk around slowly, alternating my view between the Mediterranean and the city of Savona, marveling at the vastness of…
Editor’s note: I spent two full weeks in Santo Domingo a few years back, and while the city wasn’t as well kept up as the historic portions of San Juan or Cartagena, I found my time there to be incredible. (You can read my guide here.) In this piece, Sam - in a way only…
This was a day that wasn’t supposed to happen. Today, I was meant to take the train from my base in Genoa to the town of Santa Margharita Ligure, a coastal city best known as the place one catches the bus to the luxury mecca of Portofino. I was going to remain in Santa Margharita…
Wandering the narrow alleys (called caruggi in Italian) of Genoa’s old city is magical. Tiny corridors open to small piazzas. Wider streets (though barely enough to fit a car, even if such things were allowed, which they are largely not) lined with shops, restaurants, and cafes host magnificent architecture, buildings with carved stone facades that…
Editor’s note: like Sam, I preferred the east bank of Prague to the west, but found value on both sides. Make sure to click here to visit Sam’s article on the eastern part of the city, and when you fall in love with his writing, click here to visit his index page. As a travel…