Category Archives: TRAVEL

Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples, with a Pit Stop in Noto

Posted on April 3, 2019 by

Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples is the most amazing place you’ve never heard of. At least I had never heard of it, until I began planning a trip to Sicily a few months back. Turns out Sicily’s south coast has … Continue reading →

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My Kind of Place: Syracuse’s Ortygia Island

Posted on April 1, 2019 by

I’ve found a spot I could make my base for a period of time some winter, when I’m not rushing through Sicily as fast as I can in the time allotted: it’s the island of Ortygia, a labyrinthine medieval quarter … Continue reading →

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Central Sicily in a Day: Hill Towns, Mosaics and Unbeatable Views

Posted on March 28, 2019 by

We were reluctant to leave Palermo without visiting its renowned archaeological museum, below, so we squeezed in an hour there on our last morning. Seeing the magnificent sculpture and decorative arts of millennia past always helps put things in perspective. … Continue reading →

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Palermo: Byzantine, Baroque and Beyond

Posted on March 25, 2019 by

Among my files and folders at home is a yellowed New York Times clipping from 2008, “36 Hours in Palermo,” saved toward the end of the era when we clipped newspaper articles and filed them in folders. I’ve wanted to … Continue reading →

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Day Tripping In and Around Calabria

Posted on March 21, 2019 by

There’s plenty of natural beauty in southwestern Calabria, at the tippy-toe of Italy’s boot. Views from on high of dramatic green hills dropping into the glittering Tyrrhenian Sea are a dime a dozen. As for man-made beauty, not so much. … Continue reading →

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First-Timers in Calabria

Posted on March 18, 2019 by

Italy’s wildest, southernmost region remains a mystery to most Americans. Browsing a bookstore before the trip, I noticed that one of the main guidebooks — Frommer’s or Fodor’s, I can’t remember which — doesn’t even include a chapter on Calabria. … Continue reading →

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Wanted: A Car that Sparks Joy

Posted on January 18, 2019 by

FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS, I’ve been engaged in an activity that has me questioning my own mind. In recent years, at least, I’ve thought of myself as a fairly decisive person, a person who knows what she wants and … Continue reading →

Posted in ROAD TRIPS, TRAVEL | 16 Comments