We arrived at our hotel in Oslo at 1030pm in broad daylight, and discovered we were surrounded by pubs joyously celebrating Pride week. Nearby parks were set up with tents for big events, rainbow banners lined the streets in the city center. Our taxi driver encouraged us to join the celebrations, but we opted to … More The Opsahl Expeditions to Norway
The Orthodox religion celebrates Easter based on the Julian calendar, which this year was the week after other Christian faiths, so we were on Chios for the holiday weekend. The Greeks travel to get their families together for Easter and Christmas, and we imagined even more traveled since doing so during the pandemic was difficult. … More The Orthodox Easter Celebration
Chios was actually the primary reason for visiting Greece again, which created the opportunity to see other islands. Sharon needed to return to Chios (you may recall that I cut my trip short in March 2020 and did not go with her to Chios, but rather returned home as the pandemic was spreading), to revisit … More Introducing Chios
Watching the PBS series, the Durrell’s of Corfu, I developed an interest in visiting the island. And it wasn’t only because the driver — Spiros, in the show — was so damned handsome and charming and wore suspenders with his long sleeved shirt cuffs rolled up — but that might have played a role. It turns out that this … More The Durrell’s of Corfu
Rhodes has a rich history and, as is so common in this part of the world, so many influences over the years. The most notable of which was the Knights of St. John in the 14th century, who established Rhodes as a bastion of Christianity and a fortification against pirate raids (and other ne’er-do-wells). Amazingly, … More Rhodes Scholars
Travel blogging….it’s hopefully coming back to me now…… It’s the first international trip since I returned to Honolulu from Petra on March 3, 2020; cutting the trip back a little early after spending time watching the pandemic spread on CNN. I have felt totally safe most everywhere — except on a packed Aegean Air A320, … More Greece, revisited — April 2022
The original plan was to spend 4 days in and around Athens, 2 days in Petra, and 3 days on the island of Chios. Chios is a Greek Island off the coast of Turkey (just west of Izmir), missing from most Greek Island itineraries. Sharon needed to go to Chios because the Hawaii artist who … More CNN and the Coronavirus
Petra, Jordan. The wonderfully “Ancient Rose-Colored City”. So many of you reading this (the idea of “so many” readers may be an overstatement) have been here, so I thought I would put a slightly different twist on this one. I became aware of lithographs of Petra done in 1839 by a Scotsman named David Roberts. … More Sketches of Petra
A long day trip out of Athens involved a 4-hr train ride each direction but was well worth it. It was a visit to Meteora, north of Athens in the center of the country. Meteora, a UNESCO World Heritage site, meaning “suspended in mid-air”. Game of Thrones did some filming here, which has contributed to … More Suspended in mid-air
Honestly, Greece had never been high on my list. Not sure why exactly, but maybe I figured I had seen a lot of other ”similar” places, like Italy and Croatia, and had seen Roman ruins just about everywhere in Europe. Hadrian did get around. But they had me at the first sight of the Acropolis. … More In Greece
MY TRAVELS 