Category Archives: Uncategorized

Ephesus is an excavated ancient harbour city founded in 10th century BC on the Aegean Sea. It was one of the largest and most important Greek cities. It is now located in western Turkey about an hour south of Izmir (5 hours south of Istanbul). This area has remains of human habitation as far backContinue reading “Ephesus Ruins”

Istanbul has nearly 4,000 mosques with the country of Turkey having over 82,000. So domes are a dominant architectural feature for that reason alone. We visited The Hagia Sophia, which means “holy wisdom,” was originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D. Over time it has been usedContinue reading “The Domes of Istanbul”

In Istanbul we stayed in the area known as Old Europe which is where the Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar and Blue Masque are all located; it’s where the tourists stay and it is wonderful! As we looked over our tiny balcony and walked the streets the colors and sounds are what stood out. Mostly redsContinue reading “Vivid Colors and Tantalizing Sounds”

The city of Istanbul, Turkey straddles the Bosphorus Straight which divides the continents of Europe and Asia. Therefore you can be in one city and easily travel between the two continents by water or bridges. The European side is separated by the Golden Horn estuary which runs between the areas known as Old Europe andContinue reading “One City Two Continents Three Distinct Areas”

We didn’t have much more time in Portugal but we enjoyed everything bit of our short stay. Traveling along the coastline before turning inland on our way to Amiais de Cima we saw a lot of what Portugal has to offer from beautiful beaches to mountains. Delicious food from seafood to meat. And of courseContinue reading “Portugal PDQ”

In the morning mist fisherman were out on the lighthouse jetty at Figueira da Foz, Portugal working as a team to move along the boulders to get to the prime spot at the end. There were about ten men fishing; they would bait the hook with worms or small shrimp and clime the on theContinue reading “Cooperative Fishing”

Figueira da Foz is the city known for being the middle of Portugal’s Atlantic coastline. Supposedly one of the reasons for the name is for the fig tree which boats tied up to along the mouth of the river. This is a vacation area for the Portuguese. The beach and beach front restaurants are busy.Continue reading “In the Middle”

We were able to have a short stay in Vigo which is a fishing and port city in the Galician region in the northwest part of Spain above Portugal. Galicia is an autonomous community which has its own language, a mix of Spainish and Portuguese which we did not do well with even when theContinue reading “Vigo, Spain”

Delicious snack served with drinks and before meals! I first remember this custom in Costa Rica, where in bars you would be served small bites of food with your drink “Boca” and they were so good! We have enjoyed many boca here in Spain. Chips and olives are most common and it seems to dependContinue reading “El Bocadillo”