The Spanish love their sweets. And, they are delicious. In fact, later in this article I will commit the unforgivable sin of putting a Spanish treat ahead of a similar French one (at least unforgivable to the French). But, remember, you’ll order these sweet treats for breakfast, not after a meal for dessert. So, here’s…

About Tapas There are plenty of high-end and Michelin starred restaurants in Madrid. But the best way to get inside the city is to sample the countless traditional tapas bars. Look for restaurants with a plaque in front of them. These are awarded by the City of Madrid to restaurants that have been in operation…

Accordion player in the piazza (Photo: Brent Petersen) Excerpt from a larger piece I’m working on: Ortigia is a maze of winding, narrow streets.  Three story limestone buildings fill the island, blotting the sun from most of the interior streets, barely wide enough for a Fiat 500 to pass.  Pedestrians step into doorways to avoid…

Completed in just 2005, the Ravenel Bridge (technically, the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge) has become one of the iconic sites in Charleston. That’s because of the striking diamond-shaped towers with cables stretching hundreds of feet make for a beautiful vista above the Cooper River.

First thing we saw when setting out was a rainbow. Must be good luck! Winter is whale watching season in Hawaii. Humpback whales travel from the waters around Alaska, where they feed in the summer, to Hawaii, where they give birth and feed their calves, in winter. Humpback whales were hunted to near extinction, but…

Ljubljana, Slovenia Photo: Brent Petersen November 11th is St. Martin’s Day, a feast day celebrated throughout Europe to commemorate Saint Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a monk.  Saint Martin is known for giving away all his possessions except his cloak.  One day he saw a beggar in snowstorm…

Guest Blogger – Vesna Plakanis Vesna Plakanis and her husband Erik are certified naturalists and owners of the outdoor backpacking and tour company A Walk In The Woods. Her guest blogger post about some mystery meat in Costa Rica will make you laugh. Or gag. Photo courtesy of Vesna Plakanis Guest…

Rick Kaempfer, guest blogger Rick Kaempfer is an author and publisher based in Chicagoland. He’s also lived in Germany and has traveled extensively with his family. Check out Rick’s blog for more of his writing including the many books he has authored, all of which are highly recommended. His labor or love, Just One Bad…

Rick Kaempfer, guest blogger Rick Kaempfer is an author and publisher based in Chicagoland. He’s also lived in Germany and has traveled extensively with his family. Check out Rick’s blog for more of his writing including the many books he has authored, all of which are highly recommended. His labor or love, Just One Bad…

Vertine, Italy Photo: Brent Petersen Tuscany is perhaps the best known region of Italy and is quite crowded with tourists. But, there are still some hill towns whose cobbled streets aren’t jammed with daytrippers from Florence or Siena. That’s usually because they don’t have blockbuster artistic and architectural attractions or the…

Graffiti in Palermo, Sicily Palermo has some great street art. Here are some of my favorite pictures. (Photo: Brent Petersen) (Photo: Brent Petersen) (Photo: Brent Petersen) (Photo: Brent Petersen) (Photo: Brent Petersen) (Photo: Brent Petersen)

Records for sale Photo: Brent Petersen Photo: Brent Petersen Photo: Brent Petersen Whenever I see a street market or flea market I always stop and browse. You’ll always find the coolest gadgets and junk.  A couple folks are usually selling old albums and…

Graffiti in Turin, Italy (Photo: Brent Petersen) I have not idea what the literal translation of “Straw the Police’s Noise” is because I don’t think there is a real Italian verb “Straw.” But, looking at the picture, I think I can guess the meaning,

Photo: Brent Petersen Recently, I discovered that Hank Williams made his final public appearance at the Skyline Club in Austin on December 19th, 1952. Hank would be found dead in the backseat of his Cadillac less than two weeks later. By the end of his life, Hank was in bad shape. He was popping pain…

Photo: Brent Petersen At Custer Meadow in Pease Park in Austin is a new piece of artwork, a series of sculptures called Stickwork. Artist Patrick Dougherty created the structures using branches and saplings from local trees, tying them together and making them into the shapes you see in these pictures.

An excerpt from my novel “Truffle Hunt,” about why so many people trudge into the woods looking for truffles. My novel Truffle Huntavailable for download There must be a pretty stong motivation for hundreds, maybe thousands of men and women to get up before dawn every morning and chase their dogs through the Motovun Forest…

Photo: Brent Petersen Less than an hour from Catania’s international airport in Sicily is one of my favorite towns in the world, Ortigia.  Ortigia is a small island connected by two bridges to the city of Syracuse. There are lots of reasons to visit Ortigia, the warm weather and sparkling water, incredible Sicilian baroque architecture,…

(Photo: Brent Petersen) Glasgow’s west end is only a couple miles from George Square, but in some ways it’s a world away.  Here, Glasgow University rules and students are everywhere, and therefore, so are cell phone top off shops and greasy Chippies (fish and chip fast food restaurants.) (Photo: Brent Petersen) The west end is…

Paprika Chips Photo: Brent Petersen One of my favorite things about travel is discovering new foods.  Everywhere little town or region in Europe has its own cuisine or, at least, its own dish that makes it famous. I enjoy regional cuisine so much, I centered much of my novel, Truffle Hunt,…

Photo: Brent Petersen Photo: Brent Petersen Photo: Brent Petersen Photo: Brent Petersen Torino’s Piazza Castello really goes all out for Christmas.  There’s a massive cone of spectacularly colored lights that create a Christmas tree on the piazza.  There’s also a giant Advent calendar…

Vegan currywurst from Curry at the Wall, Berlin (photo: Brent Petersen) Currywurst might be the most popular fast food in Berlin.  It’s cheap, it’s filling, and it’s delicious. Currywurst stands are all over the city, little booths with a tiny, open kitchen where the sausage is steamed and then fried.  There’s usually a couple stand…