Welcome to “Pura Vida” ! Costa Ricans (Ticos) use this term to say hello, to say goodbye, to say everything’s great, to say everything’s cool. It means ‘ simple life’ or ‘ pure life’. Pura Vida is a lifestyle. When you see the phrase in the USA, you know where the marketeers stole it from….
View MoreWe love Montenegro! It’s almost the end of our travels and we are road weary, but when you have a rental car, its a great excuse to explore a different country. Montenegro is less than an hour from Dubrovnik and is a bit more laid back and not as touristy. Cruise ships have started to…
View MoreWe spent 10 days in a vacation rental above old town Dubrovnik. https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g295371-d2144698-Apartment_Laura-Dubrovnik_Dubrovnik_Neretva_County_Dalmatia.html. We could get use to this view. The apartment had a large, three sectioned, floor-to-ceiling window that could fully open, creating an opening that took up 3/4s of the wall. We had chairs in front of the opening, coffee mugs in the…
View MoreA Room With a View…How important is a view to you? This is what we saw from our window or front door at each of the places we have stayed during our three month adventure. Life is good. We often make it hard. Surround yourself with beautiful Friends, Family, Art and be GRATEFUL for every…
View MoreA half hour drive from Mostar is the Catholic pilgrimage town of Medugorje. In 1981 a group of 6 teenagers were hanging out on Križevac hill behind a church smoking (maybe drinking) and acting like teenagers when they claimed the Virgin Mary appeared and spoke to them. The Virgin’s message asked for peace in the world,…
View MoreWar. If you think you can see a clear cause, a clear result, and a clear set of engagement rules, then you are wearing one side’s blinders or the other side’s. In 2003, there was a documentary released called, The Fog of War, in which former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is engaged in a discussion about…
View MoreWe arrived in Dubrovnik after 10pm and bleary-eyed, picked up our rental car, paid the extra money to be able to drive in Bosnia as well as Croatia, fired up the GPS on the phone and drove through the black night to our hotel. We need a few days of recovery time before we start…
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Barcelona It was the first time that we met Barcelona How can I forget The moment that you stepped into the room You took my breath away -Freddie Mercury This is not our first time in Barcelona (pics from our 2003 trip are here https://www.travelerblues.com/uncategorized/spain-trip-2003/ but we’ve got a bit of a layover in Barcelona in…
View MoreWe’ve been sharing the narrow streets of Marrakech with motorbikes, donkeys, bicycles, hawkers, and sometimes kids playing kickball. We’ve seen more Grannies on motorcycles than we’ve seen anywhere else in the world! After living in the medina for 5 days we are feeling a bit of culture shock. Are women still treated as second class citizens…
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Marrakech is a surreal experience. We arrive around 2 p.m. and after a 15 min taxi ride, our driver drops us in the Medina (old city). It’s 109 degrees outside, our luggage is loaded in a wooden push cart and we are led through the DJemaa el-Fnaa (The Central Square) full of snake charmers, fortunetellers,…
View MoreWe are now in Morocco where drinking alcohol is forbidden by the Qur’an, so Muslims don’t drink and we are abstaining as well. But 3 weeks ago, we were in Champagne country… Champagne is the drink of choice for Kings, Emperors and soldiers toasting victory. It’s the drink of brides and grooms, new parents, graduations and…
View MoreThree small islands float out in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea just south of Sicily and east of North Africa. The biggest island is Malta, next comes Gozo and finally, the tiny island, Comino. Gozo is about 1/3 the size of Malta and is more laid back with only 300k-ish full-time “locals.” Our taxi…
View MoreI’ve just had The Best Meal of My Life… is a very strong statement and something I’ve never said before. Well, maybe when I was 16 and stayed out all night, then had breakfast at Brennan’s in NOLA. Just to clarify, Douglas does not necessarily agree with this statement. We’ve eaten at some amazing restaurants…
View MoreWe are back in Paris after 2 months of travel in France. There is no other city in the world quite like Paris. The art, the food, the architecture, the ambiance, the energy from tourists from all over the world create a cultural melting pot … a playful zone of continuous aliveness. ‘A playful zone…
View MoreIs the village of Belfort German or French? In the past 350 years the territory has changed hands several times. The architecture looks German but the food is French with a bunch of ethnic restaurants thrown in for a nice change of pallet. It is also very close to Switzerland so it is common to…
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