For most of its history, Grand Bahama Island only had a few hundred people and no development. In 1955, a Virginian named Wallace Grove, eyeing the tourism of nearby Cuba, created the planned city of …
April 3, 2015
Travel: Eat & Drink
True-blue Bahamas
Switzerland's Jungfrau
Riding the train up to the 11,371-foot Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest point accessible by railway, I fell in love. I first glimpsed her after departing Grindelwald station, when the cogwheel stopped briefly at Brandegg and she …
March 23, 2015
Sevilla goes to Seville
Like a call from a muezzin when it starts, the tone grows gradually more profound. Rhythm gets stronger and more intense – now accompanied by the powerful stamping of feet from a dancer, whose long, …
March 10, 2015
Refined South: Charleston, SC
What comes around, goes around. Charleston was one of the most renowned, prosperous cities in colonial and antebellum America. Gone with the Wind’s character Rhett Butler was ostensibly from Charleston, to demonstrate how sophisticated, well-born …
March 8, 2015
Savannah's got flavor
Savannah was established as Georgia’s first city – a working port – in 1733. It’s been welcoming people and trade for over 280 years, adding a global, cosmopolitan flavor to its Deep South traditions. Really, …
February 5, 2015
Matera: no longer the "shame of Italy"
In what is the instep of Italy’s boot, the first forays into Italy from North Africa came to settle in Matera 10,000 years ago. Living quarters were fashioned in both the limestone caves and built …
January 20, 2015
Bangkok's kitchens
The sounds of a kitchen are like conversations. In the beginning, you hear the fracas of so many people speaking to each other, sometimes over each other. It’s the repartee against the quick pause and …
January 1, 2015
Luck and fate in Mexico's Tepotzotlán
Hidden in Mexico City's northern outskirts is the town of Tepotzotlán. Despite how close they are to one another, Tepotzotlán is about a two-hour drive from Mexico City due to havoc traffic. When I arrived, …
November 22, 2014
Finding the roots of American music in North Louisiana
As a former musician myself, I shake my head sadly at musicians who think they’re getting the folk zeitgeist of a given genre just by listening to records. You learn folk music by listening to …
November 11, 2014
Off the beaten path in Leuven, Belgium
Leuven, Belgium, might look like a small town on a map, but visiting, we found a captivating city filled with students, rich history, and great places to eat and have a locally brewed beer. For …
October 23, 2014
The bounty of Arizona
Until this year, the only part of Arizona I had ever seen was my grandparents’ retirement abode near Camelback Mountain. I remembered that people would emerge in the cool of the night with headlamps to …
September 24, 2014