Author: Joseph
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Sevilla, 2017
Seville was my introduction to Andalusia, and a wonderful introduction it was. The Alcazar and cathedral were fabulous. I was enchanted with mosaics and decorations in the Alcazar, plus the beautiful gardens, which were a lovely retreat in the heat of the day. we also visited the Bull ring, the Plaza de Espana, site of…
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Avila, 2017
Avila was an excursion I took on my own to visit the home of St Teresa. Her house is attached to a church — or rather, the church attached to the house. Avila is also famous for its walls which completely encircle the city. The interior of the cathedral is sandstone giving the building a…
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Bruges, 2017
What an amazing small city! I took the train to Belgium at the end of the family trip and spent several days in this small city. The city is a trove of art (van Eyck), chocolate, moules frites, medieval buildings and the beautiful bell tower in the center of the city — I kept 5hinking…
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The Hague, 2017
My sister Tricia, her husband and I visited The Hague during the family trip to Amsterdam. We wandered around the historical center, visited the Mauritshuis, which has an exceptional collection of Dutch paintings including Vermeer and beautiful still lives from the golden age of Dutch painting. We were particularly lucky to visit during the brief…
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Kuekenhof, 2017
My sisters and I enjoyed a sibling trip to Amsterdam in 2017. The highlight of the trip was a day spent at Keukenhof, the amazing spring gardens outside Amsterdam. Each year after the blooms have faded, the gardens are plowed under and replanted for the next spring. Even though we spent a full day in…
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Croatia, 2016
I am writing this almost ten years after this journey, and sadly have lost names of many of the places we visited along the Croatian coast. We spent time in the two major cities: Split (home of Diocletian’s massive palace) and Dubrovnik, a massively fortified city. Dubrovnik is enormously popular with tourists and, should you…
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Istria, 2016
We came to the Istrian peninsula via Trieste and Koper, and drove down the west coast of the peninsula to Rovinj, our base for several days. On the way we stopped in the beautiful small town of Porec, which boasted a small basilica rich with mosaics, reminding me of Ravenna (which we visited at the…
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Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina, 2016
Leaving Split, Croatia we drove due east across the mountains making a brief detour to Medugorjie, a dusty Roman Catholic pilgrimage site, and then on to Mostar. I immediately regretted our time in Mostar was limited, as the city fascinated me. Evidence of the 1990s civil war which tore Bosnia and Serbia apart was everywhere.…
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Pletvice Lakes, Croatia 2016
On the border with Slovenia, Pletvice Lakes is an extraordinary valley filled with lakes, small rapids and the occasional waterfall. The national park is large, but in half a day one can walk around the lower lakes and manage boat ride on the upper lakes. we drove into Croatia from Slovenia, very close to the…
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Slovenia, 2016
On this very hot day in 2025 I am thinking of Slovenia’s lovely countryside, especially Lakes Bled and Bohinj in the shadows of the Julian Alps. Lake Bled is the better known and more popular, but I found Lake Bohinj, further in the mountains, exceptionally beautiful.