It took almost four hours to make the trip from Medellin to Jardin (pronounced Har-deen), a distance of just 130 km; passable by the only available route that links the two cities – a twisty mountain road high in the Andes. We have traversed similar roads on mini-buses with poor suspension, hurtling over potholes by … More Peaceful Jardin: Coffee and Cowboys
While all of Colombia was impacted by the decades-long armed conflict and Pablo Escobar’s drug empire, Medellin was Ground Zero, earning it the notorious title in the 80’s of being “the most dangerous city in the world.” You can take Escobar Tours and even buy t-shirts with images of Pablo’s blood-stained face, but most Colombians … More Medellin: Escobar is a Dirty Word
This is the oft-repeated marketing blurb that precedes a visit to Barichara; and without having visited the dozens of other small towns in Colombia that might lay claim to a similar boast, I would say that Barichara lives up to the hype. Barichara was founded in 1705 and was declared a National Monument in 1978 … More The Prettiest Town in Colombia
Strolling the streets of Villa de Leyva is like entering a magic kingdom, with its whitewashed houses, red-tiled roofs and cobblestoned streets. so it is only fitting that on the outskirts of this photogenic little village, lies the Casa Terracotta. This home took environmental architect Octavio Mendoza almost 20 years to complete. It is a … More The Largest Clay House in the World
Well, we are here in Colombia and with jet lag, altitude adjustment, and attitude adjustment behind us, we feel as though the journey has begun. So far, the altitude has not been a real issue, other than occasional shortness of breath, but our (my?) attitude adjustment took a little longer. Stories of express kidnappings, the … More Bogota: A City in Transition
One of the many attractions of Oaxaca is discovering art on almost every corner. Mexicans are master craftspeople and Oaxaca offers an intriguing balance between adherence to tradition and innovative design. The result is the same – a walk in any direction is a feast for the eyes. Look up. Look down. Look into doorways. … More Looking for art in all the right places
…Oaxaca to be exact, and we’ll be here for seven weeks. It’s not long enough to totally escape winter, or Covid, or the lasting effects of Trump, but it’s a very welcome change. It’s not even really travelling, since we’ve been here before, but we knew what to expect – sun, warmth, colour, gorgeous architecture, … More We’ve moved to Mexico…
It took us such a long time to decide to make the trip to Greece, that even when we were on the plane, we were still questioning ourselves. We didn’t really feel comfortable until we had been in Greece for a few days and the sun, the people and the normalcy of life there calmed … More The highs and lows of travelling during Covid
We have not encountered one single Canadian during our entire trip and when we told people where we were from, they often repeated, “Ca-na-da” as if we were curious specimens from a long-forgotten tribe. In Hydra, we feel redemption. We have a Canadian brother, Leonard Cohen, who bought a house here in 1960 for $1500 … More Hydra: From Cohen to Covid.
Most marketing material bills Nafplio as being one of Greece’s prettiest and most romantic towns. It is not an exaggeration – perhaps a little more care went into this town as it was the first capital of the new Greece state, between 1823 and 1834. Nafplio was the last stop on our tour of the … More Nafplio: Greece’s Most Romantic Town
Leaving Ourselves Behind 