Spanish Steps Offers Camino Tours and Beyond

When in doubt, just take the next small step. –Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage Whether wanting to explore Spain (and other countries’ roads that lead there), pursue a personal dream, ponder in peace, practice wellness through hiking or yoga, learn language, hear stories from travelers around the world, Spanish Steps leads the way in offering options.  I fell in love with Spain last year, and experiencing…

Seven Secrets Venice Shared

And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.–Rainer Maria Rilke I preferred one waltz with a beauty to a lifetime with someone less rare.–Marlena de Blasi, author of A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance I wondered if I’d feel the same after seven years, Venice. Were the times proof that you are my first love or…

Auld Lang Syne…Best Part of My German Holiday

Age appears to be best in four things: old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. –Francis Bacon It began as a house swap inspired by one of my favorite Christmas films, The Holiday.  My friend, Amy, would stay at my apartment in Marrakesh while I would stay in her apartment in Hamburg, Germany….

Cologne, Germany Christmas Markets

I am still with my friend’s family at their home in Idstein. Earlier this week I spent 48 hours in Cologne. In this city in 1709 Giovanni Maria Farina, an Italian perfume maker, created a fragrance he named after his new home. He described to his brother the concoction called Eau de Cologne: “I have found a fragrance that reminds me of an Italian…

In Cologne but Never Alone: Reminded by Christmas to Fear Not

  Christmas is charged with nostalgia. I’m in bed looking out my window at the Market of the Elves in Cologne, Germany. Under tents and trees all lit up, replicas of funny bearded men beckon below. Elf statues are more numerous here than in pictures of Santa’s workshop in the book Mama Lou read to my sister and me when we were kids. I…

In Marrakech Locals and Expats Gather at Kosybar

I spent a perfect Marrakesh afternoon recently with Brigitte, owner of Kosybar and Dar Beija, with Andrena, her longtime friend. Andrena and I were off from work for Moroccan Independence Day so we were thrilled to enjoy lunch in the sunshine. Later we walked it off through the  newly refurbished Jewish Quarter to Brigitte’s beautiful boutique hotel. Day or night the three-story restaurant is…

Paradis Plage Perfect for Solo Travel on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast

Here guests ride waves, climb camels, salute the sun as it rises…then watch it set from private homes with terraces opening to the sea.

Worldwide Photo Walk

Last Saturday over 21k people were involved in a worldwide shooting.  From my home in Nashville to my residence in Marrakech, participants grabbed cameras and celebrated life on photo walks in 1000 locations.  To learn more about Scott Kelby’s Photo Walks go here. Ours was scheduled in the medina to begin at 9:30 at the Café de FRANCE on Jemma El Fna square.  Jon–a friend, pro…

Jardin Majorelle…My Backyard Blooms

The earth laughs in flowers.–Ralph Waldo Emerson Flowers are restful to look at.  They have neither emotions nor conflicts.–Sigmund Freud I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses.–Charles A. Miles Had Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé not fallen in love with Jardin Majorelle on a visit to Marrkech in 1966, one of the most famous gardens in…

Girona Gem for Solo Travel, Romantic Getaway, or Group Retreat

When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused. —Rainer Maria Rilke When drowned by stress, I go to one of my Happy Places which is often the ocean.  In my 2015 travels…

My Nashville

Roots and wings. Nashville has and is (for me) both. This progressive place with a legendary past is the 7th fastest growing city in the US. Friends told me of new restaurants and music venues, of more traffic in the year I was away, but I was still surprised by all the change. Growing up in Kentucky, I romanticized Nashville and its icons.  As…

St. John’s Eve in Vigo: Midsummer Night’s Dream

He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.–Isaiah 61:3 Trust your heart if the seas catch fire; live by love though the stars walk backward.—E. E. Cummings Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second…