Vienna to Rome by way of Zagreb
Welcome! This website began in 2016 with a nine week journey from Vienna to Rome, hence the name of the website. The self-directed leisurely itinerary wandered through eight countries. Stops along the way included well known cities and many less well known but enchanting places such as Pécs, Zagreb, Lakes Bled and Bohinj, the Istrian peninsula, Mostar, Kotor, Bari, Ravenna. It was a travel dream come to life.
Over the years I added other trips to the website — Romania, Norway, England, several trips to Italy, Malta, Bolivia, as well as travels in the US and photos closer to home in Hartford. This year, however, troubles arose. Photos migrated aimlessly across the website: images from Bolivia appeared on pages dedicated to Romania, photos from Malta on a page on Lincoln Cathedral. The mess was too daunting to right. The best solution was to start over.
Travels are organized by year. Click on the year below my photo (below) or one of the categories below that and select a destination, or scroll down for posts arranged from most recent; click the date on the post to view images. In time I hope to restore some of the lost pages of the earlier website. Enjoy what is here and may these travels inspire travels for you.
Joseph Pace
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The small village of Viscri is typical of countless small villages and cities across Romania: picturesque with an air of “almost unchanged.” Viscri is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site that benefits from its proximity to Bucharest. Many of the…
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At the top of the list of places I wanted to see in Romania were the painted monasteries of the Bukovina. These stone buildings are painted with images of saints, last judgments and biblical scenes both inside and outside. Most…
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Icons are everywhere in Romania, especially in the Orthodox and Uniate churches. Many are of what might be called a naïve, primitive style, but closer inspection reveals considerable sophistication. Unique to Romania are icons painted in reverse on glass (églomise),…
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Among my more vivid memories of Romania are the mountains. I hiked in the Carpathian Alps, and marveled at the Transylvanian countryside. My heart, however, was claimed by the beautiful rolling hills of the Bukovina, or Moldavia, in the northeast…
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We spent almost a week on our own at the beginning of the trip in Bucharest. The city, in spite of being a bit ragged and rough at the edges after years of Soviet domination, is a city of wonders…
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Our sibling trip just before the arrival of COVID was to Norway. My sisters and I, one niece and one brother-in-law met in Bergen where we spent a few days enjoying the city. We then boarded a Hurtigruten ship (a…
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My sister Abby took most of these photos. Just when we thought we were going to miss the aurora borealis completely we had several nights of magnificent sightings.
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There was expected disorder at the Catania airport as we searched for our rental car, but after directions from five or six people, we claimed the car and set off for Ragusa, a delightful city perched atop a steep hill.…
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It was good to be back in Malta. My first trip was in the early 1990s, when I was on my way to Tunisia. Much has changed, as the island is more prosperous and certainly far busier. My hotel had…
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Ely is a charming, small cathedral town atop its hill in the midst of largely now-drained fens. I had expected a hill more like Mont St Michel, but was pleased to find a knoll instead, especially as the train station…