Archive

Leaving Istanbul, we had a short stop at the Greek island of Mykonos.  We boarded one of the ship’s small boats, or tenders, and rode to shore. I hadn’t heard much about the island before, but Mykonos was quite a pleasant surprise, featured on many postcards and calendars — tightly packed whitewashed houses, blue roofs, […]

Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul — I’ve wanted to see this place since I was a kid reading adventure stories…the epitomy of exotic lands.  Photos of the jaw-dropping Blue Mosque on the harbor with its piles of domes and fairy-tale minarets inspired a lot of my fiction, particularly recent books like Crystal Doors: Sky Realm and the Terra Incognita […]

    It was an early morning — Rebecca and I left for our tour of Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri at 7:15 AM (after a rushed breakfast in the buffet).  We boarded one of eight buses and rode from Naples to Pompeii, where we wandered the astonishing ruins in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  The […]

THE MEDITERRANEAN   I’ve been keeping a journal of the last week’s travels, but haven’t had a chance to post a blog until now.  The cruise ship’s internet connection is much too slow to upload photos; I’ll post highlights when we’re back in the US.   ITALY Writing this initial report on our first evening […]