My Travel Blogs, 2009-2017, Preserved in Book Form

Moon over magnificent Luxor Temple, Egypt

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”

Mary Anne Rachmacher

Moon over the Parroquia, 
San Miguel de Allende, MX

Travel changes you. It opens your eyes, your mind, your heart to whole new worlds, different cultures, different geography and architecture, magical sights and sounds, wonderful people, awesome beauty.  It has changed me. "I'm not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world."

That's why I decided to gather my travel blogs from 2009-2017 into book form so they could sit next to my bedside table and remind me of the wondrous adventures I've had. Remind me of what I have seen and learned, and how much more there is to see. I called on talented friend Sue Dessner once again to help me with the handy dandy Blog2Print program. She had helped me with my Peace Corps Blogs, and we were both happy with the results.  So now it was onto the travel blogs, and Sue was there to help. She's a traveler, too, and a traveler's angel.

The hardest part of the process is identifying the blogs, reviewing text and photos, and getting them all in some order. Sue did the hard work, but of course any problems, typos and errors are solely my fault. I wrote an introduction, and voila! "Fran's Travel Adventures, 2009-2017."

INTRODUCTION
       It's amazing where live takes you if you take life as it comes. That was one of my favorite sayings when I lived in Ukraine as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This collection of blogs covers my travel adventures in different places from 2009, when I started blogging in Chernigov (www.fran-ukrainian-adventures), to 2011, when I returned to the US, and then from 2011 to 2017, when I continued blogging from Sylvania, Ohio (www.lifeafterpeacecorps and www.lifeafterall).

Living in Ukraine for two years was a travel adventure every day. There was so much to see and discover, everything new and exciting, intense and thrilling, that I was moved to write about it. Once I started writing I couldn't stop. Nor could I escape an eastern European worldview that changed me. 

I don't consider myself a world traveler, but I've been to some fascinating places in the USA and abroad. I think "travel" is any place you go away from where you happen to be living. Whenever you go away from home, you are an explorer.

“Only one who wanders finds new paths,” a Norwegian proverb says. I have loved and I savor my wanderings. I have been fortunate to find new paths.

I had traveled some before blogging, enduring memories in my mind, in journals, photos, scattered postcards. There were amazing trips to Australia and New Zealand (my kids remember this special time); to India (astounding); to and around London (with grandkids Tony and Julia on two of those visits); Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence and western Europe (thrilling, all of them). San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, remains a favorite R&R spot, and I've experience it with Julia and Tony, and later with sister Andy, daughter Elissa, and grandson Joshua. Mexico City and south to Oaxaca, Puebla, San Cristobal are fascinating too. I treasure a trip to Costa Rica with brother Loren. One late night in Arenal, over the volcano, we caught a full moon and jumped two feet off the ground for joy. We travelled together the Southwest, Grand Canyon and Utah, those beautiful canyonlands, to upstate New York, New England, North Carolina, around DC, from one end of Florida to the other, and lots of great towns, beaches, and sites along the East coast. My sister Andy covered the same ground. We were in our glory. I had hoped to go to Mexico with Loren after Peace Corps, but it was not to be.

When I was directing NEH state programs in DC and Florida, I loved going to regional and national meetings in cities across America. I usually took a few days at the beginning or end to do some sight-seeing.When we met in Portland, I traveled along the Oregon coast. When in Phoenix, I drove up to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Salt Lake City opened up new vistas, and San Antonio, Texas, provided history and fun along the Rio Grande River. A meeting in Jackson, Mississippi, affirmed the pioneering role of that state council in addressing race relations, and another in Nashville featured the Southern Festival of Books and Al Gore in one of his early talks on the environment. One meeting took place in Sitka, Alaska, from which one could certainly see the Russian heritage, as well as Alaska's indigenous heritage. It meant a side trip to Seattle, too.  The US will always beckon, maybe a train trip across the country and visits to more of our exquisite National Parks and historic sites.

Ukraine was the travel adventure of a lifetime.Transformative. Living in one place for two years, getting to know it intimately.  I travelled mostly by train across and around the country, east and west of the Dnieper River, north to Kiev and Chernigov, west to Lviv, Slavsky, Uzegorod, Mukacheva and the Carpathians, south to Odessa and Crimea, lovely Crimea.

There were also vacations and wonder-filled trips to cities in eastern Europe and south to Turkey and Egypt. I'm still in awe that I saw the pyramids near Cairo, and the grandiose temples along the Nile. Archaeologists are still uncovering ancient tombs near Luxor, the Valley of the Kings. 

When I returned to the States and moved from St. Petersburg, Florida to Sylvania, Ohio, to be closer to Elissa and Michelle and my grandchildren, a new life chapter began. I returned to the place I had left in 1985. I came full circle. Closing this circle has been an adventure in itself, emotionally, geographically, spiritually, in every way, this return to where I started as a young mother working on finishing her PhD dissertation.

My latest trips abroad have been special. To Barcelona and the Italian and French Rivieras, including touring Monaco and Cinque Terra. To Sicilia, beautiful Sicily, with my sister Andy, a  heritage tour filled with meaning. To green and lush Ireland with daughter Elissa, around the Circle of Kerry. Most recently, I went to Amsterdam and Cologne with granddaughter Alli, a college graduation present, and met up with my sister and niece Kaaren, Jeff and Parks, who live and work in Amsterdam. Looks like Alli's catching the travel bug, a new generation on the road, and the rest of the grands behind her!

"Life takes you to unexpected places. Love brings you home."  I'll continue to travel as long as I am able, to learn about new places, to have those special people-to-people encounters that make the world smaller.  I'll return home and be content. Who knows, my grandkids might get to travel all over the world one day, and they might remember their dear old grandmother gushing over this place or that.

Full Harvest moon over Amsterdam,

October 5, 2017

Sue Dessner and my Peace Corps Blogs Booklet.
Accessible and all in one place. Thanks, Sue!

Introduction to My Travel Blogs

Moon over magnificent Luxor Temple, Egypt

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”

Mary Anne Rachmacher

Moon over the Parroquia, San Miguel de Allende, MX

It's amazing where live takes you if you take life as it comes. That was one of my favorite sayings when I lived in Ukraine as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This collection of blogs covers my travel adventures in different places from 2009, when I started blogging in Chernigov (fran-ukrainian-adventures), to 2017, when I continued blogging from Sylvania, Ohio (www.lifeafterpeacecorps and www.lifeafterall).

Living in Ukraine for two years was a travel adventure every day. There was so much to see and discover, everything new and exciting, intense and thrilling, that I was moved to write about it. Once I started writing I couldn't stop. Nor could I escape an eastern European worldview that changed me. 

I don't consider myself a world traveler, but I've been to some fascinating places in the US and abroad. Travel is anyplace you go away from where you happen to be living. Whenever you go away from home, you are an explorer. “Only one who wanders finds new paths,” as a Norwegian proverb says. I have loved and savor my wanderings. I have been fortunate to fine new paths.

I had traveled some before blogging, enduring memories in my mind, in journals, in photos, still fresh, still moving. There were amazing trips to Australia and New Zealand (my kids remember these special times), to India (astounding), to and around London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence and western Europe. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, remains a favorite R&R spot. I treasure a trip to Costa Rica with my brother Loren. One late night in Arenal, over the volcano, we saw a full moon and jumped for joy. We travelled together the Southwest, Grand Canyon and Utah, upstate New York, New England, North Carolina, from one end of Florida to the other, and lots of beautiful towns and sites along the East coast. My sister Andy covered the same ground. In our glory.

When I was directing NEH state programs in DC and Florida, I loved going to regional and national meetings in cities across America. Often I'd take a few days at the beginning or end to do some exploring. When we met in Portland, I traveled along the awesome Oregon coast. When in Phoenix, Arizona, I drove up to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Salt Lake City opened up new vistas, and San Antonio, Texas, provided history and fun along the Rio Grande river. A meeting in Jackson, Mississippi, affirmed the pioneering role of that state council in addressing race relations, and another in Nashville featured the Southern Festival of Books and a talk on the environment by Al Gore. One meeting took place in Sitka, Alaska, from which one could almost see Russia, and certainly the Russian heritage, as well as the indigenous heritage of Alaska. It meant a side trip to Seattle, too.  The US will always beckon, maybe a train trip across the country and visits to more of our beautiful National Parks.

Ukraine was the travel adventure of a lifetime.Transformative. I travelled mostly by train across and around the country, east and west of the Dnieper River, north to Kiev and Chernigov, west to Lviv, Slavsky, Uzegorod, Mukacheva and the Carpathians, south to Crimea, lovely Crimea. There were also wonder-filled trips to cities in eastern Europe and south to Turkey and Egypt. 

When I returned to the States, and immediately moved from St. Petersburg, Florida to Sylvania, Ohio, to be closer to Elissa and Michelle and my grand- children, a new life chapter began. I returned to the place I had left in 1985. I came full circle. Closing this circle has been an adventure in itself, emotionally, geographically,  spiritually, in every way, this return to where I started as a young mother working on finishing her PhD.

Full Harvest moon over Amsterdam,
October 5, 2017

My latest trips abroad have been special.  To Barcelona and the Italian and French Rivieras, including a visit to Monaco and to Cinque Terra and Tuscany. I went to Sicily with my sister Andy, a  heritage tour filled with special meaning. To Ireland with daughter Elissa, around the Circle of Kerry. And recently, I went to Amsterdam and Cologne with granddaughter Alli.  What precious trips, what memories!

"Life takes you to unexpected places. Love brings you home."  I'll continue to travel as long as I am able, to explore, to wander. Then I will return home, and be content.  

Amsterdam and Cologne with Granddaughter Alli

Alli loves Amsterdam! At Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh; around the Dam, the town center; walking the neighborhoods; having pancakes and great food, with Andy and with Kaaren, Jeff and Parks, our fabulous hosts, having the time of our lives. 

What a special trip this was!  Alli's first trip to Europe, beginning in the beautiful cities of Amsterdam and Cologne.  A college graduation gift, to open her eyes to the world. And she was ready. "The advance team for your next trip, and many trips thereafter," I said to her as she jumped with joy in front of the Rijksmuseum. "I'm ready to go back, Nana!" she exclaimed, after a few days in Amsterdam and a train trip to Cologne. She was already thinking about an itinerary.

The Concertgebouw, the famous concert hall, near the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh.

Our base was the modern urban home of my niece Kaaren and Jeff, creative geniuses both of them, and their precious son Parks, right on Saphatipark. Up several flights of stairs, way up, like almost all Amsterdam houses, unless you live on a houseboat on a canal. It's a lovely part of town.

From there we walked or took a tram wherever we wanted to go, seeing the sites and the highlights, experiencing the spirit of the Netherlands, absorbing the culture, avoiding determined bikers, the major mode of transportation in this bustling city. I love the canals, the Museumplein area, and the Dam, the center of town where the Royal Palace and the Nieuwe Kerk dominate. I went to a wonderful exhibit at the church, "We Have a Dream," featuring the lives and messages of Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, Jr., so needed once again in our times. The exhibit seemed to come alive in the spiritual glow of the church, with its vaulted gothic ceilings and stained glass windows.

We also took a train to Cologne to spend a few days in Germany, a small but tantalizing taste of this diverse country. Getting off at Central Station, after an interesting ride through German countryside and small towns, we were immediately greeted by the enormous, towering 13th-century gothic Cologne Cathedral with its intricately carved weathered facade and twin spires reaching to the heavens.  We went inside the next day to see its fabulous craftsmanship, art and architecture. It's the tallest Cathedral in Europe, and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It inspires awe and hope.

In Cologne, we stayed in a small but nice hotel, the Mauritius Komforthotel. From there we strolled to a nearby square in search of adventure and dinner. That's how we happened upon Heumarket Square and the historic Malzmuhle restaurant, famous for brewing the Cologne beer known as Kolsch since the 1800s.  We enjoyed an authentic German meal of wiener schnitzel and bratwurst, along with many glasses of Kolsch, of course.

We were happy campers by the time we left the Inn, conversing with a group of guys who were as jolly as we were! They were happy to meet Americans and joked about Trump. Actually, just about everyone we met joked about him. "How could this happen? What a buffoon! What an embarrassment!"  Yep, the USA is now the butt of lots of European jokes. But people to people? No problem at all. Wonderful as ever.

So we walked leisurely through Heumarketplein, relaxed at one of the many colorful and lively cafes around it, and people watched. The night sky was cloudy, but we were filled with wonder and joy.  Alli liked the German beer, and even my sister Andy and I, not usually beer drinkers, joined her to salute Cologne, the largest city on the Rhine river. The next day we took one of those City Bus Tours, getting off and on to explore the sights, including the Chocolate Museum where we had espresso and rich dark chocolate cake. Yum. We also took an enjoyable and relaxing boat tour on the Rhine, the river that starts in the Swiss Alps and ends in the North Sea in the Netherlands. It all seemed connected. I have lovely visions of strolling the promenade along the river.

Bikes and public art near Kaaren's neighborhood.

Full harvest moon over Amsterdam
October 5, 2017

Then it was back to Amsterdam to explore more of the Netherland's capital city. Alli spent more time with Kaaren and Jeff, taking long walks along the canals and enjoying the special places around the town that is now their home. Andy and I went at a more leisurely pace, stopping often to have a drink, sit at a corner cafe, enjoy good coffee and sisterly talks.

On our last day, Alli and I went to the large Amsterdam Market (one of the largest in Europe we were told) to browse and shop and enjoy. We walked between the rain drops and rejoiced when the sun broke through. We bought souvenirs, scarves, hats, tee shirts, whatever caught our fancy. Alli was practical and wise in choosing gifts, while I went for the magnets, shot glasses, and trinkets. I could see she was thoughtful and open to learning new things, to having new experiences. My lovely Millennial granddaughter, confident, tolerant, upbeat, a pragmatic idealist, optimistic about the future. Every once in a while she'd give me a big hug and a big smile. "I love it. So Awesome. I love it!"

It was thrilling to watch Alli on her first European tour, to see my granddaughter absorb the adventure of a lifetime, knowing in my heart that she will cherish the memory and that there will be many more travels to come.

Sister Andy, granddaughter Alli, and niece Kaaren

Egypt Unveiled: Form Cairo to Luxor- July 21, 2017

Egypt Unveiled: From Cairo to Luxor

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We were up at 6:00 am to catch the 8:00 am train from Cairo to Luxor. We chose a day train because we wanted to see the Egyptian countryside. We wanted to see Egypt unveiled. And we did.

The train station is behind a lot of rubble, I think because it's under construction. Lots of things are hidden from Western eyes, like the veiled women in burkas. We stood bewildered, bogged down by baggage and void of our morning coffee fix. Fortunately an elderly man offered to help carry our luggage and get us to the station. There was no path but the one he made. It was good enough. We tipped him 5 pounds and agreed that it was the most worthwhile tip we'd given so far. Sometimes Egypt provocative is just what we needed!

We met a lovely couple as we boarded the train, Leo, from Austria, and Lucia, from Melbourne, Australia. They were a 50ish couple who had known each other 25 years ago, met up again in Cairo, and are on their way to Ethiopia. How wonderful is that?! We chatted off and on during the train ride. I hope I hear from them again. We also met some friendly English-speaking travelers who were curious and helpful. One woman asked where we were going and when we said Luxor she told us how beautiful it is. "You should go to Aswan, too," she said. "We're thinking of a day-trip," Jud said. "You should make it a 2-day trip!" Ah boy, we don't have enough time to do all we'd like to do.

The train was clean and comfortable; a waiter or steward came through our first class car from time to time offering tea and coffee and biscuits. The whistle, however, never stopped blowing, so if sleep came it was interrupted by the constant announcement of the train going through one Nile river town after another. I caught a name every once in a while, first in Arabic, which is such a beautiful script, and then in English. A darkening sky and gray haze followed us for several hours from a small town called Matti to another larger city called Assuit. And then the heavens opened up and the rain fell.

People on donkeys, which are still the predominant beasts of burden and main source of transport in rural Egypt it seems, rushed hither and thither. A man stood with his hands outstretched, as if welcoming the rain. At one point it hailed, large stones almost the size of golf balls, falling hard on the dry ground. How odd to see hail, or rain for that matter, in the desert! At one point it rained so hard water came pouring through my window and I had to move.

We were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow in the Eastern sky as the rain subsided and the sun set. It seemed to start in Cairo and end in Luxor, the end of the rainbow! The eastern landscape glowed in stunning golden light. Oh how I tried to capture the magic, but rain-streaked windows on the moving train made it difficult!

From the windows of a train, the Cairo countryside along the river and canals looks very green and pretty, miles of fertile fields, of what I'm not sure. Fields of wild grasses, some corn, alfalfa, other vegetables, herbs maybe, some sugarcane. The means of farming looks pretty traditional, sythe and sickle, but the irrigation systems, canals and ditches carrying water from the river to fields seem to be effective. We learned only later that some of the canals are polluted and we were warned not to put even a finger in the water. Except for the donkeys and minarets, the Egyptian countryside looks a lot like Florida, with many varieties of palm trees.

After being in the bustling and chaotic city of Cairo, the rural scenes seem calm and serene. The palms compete with the minarets in reaching for the sky, lovely pastoral scenes in pastel.

Stacks of hay are bundled into humps with stalks reaching out from them, making them look like camels sitting in the desert.

And yet poverty is evident too. People live in stick huts, dank hovels and crumbling buildings along the canals and the railroad tracks. Donkeys, cows, goats, and chickens run around muddy yards. There's little to no protection against the elements, or the harsh sun. Nothing in the way of material possessions, which seems ridiculous even to note. Material possessions? For people living in huts, tents and stick structures with only a few palm fronds for a roof? It's survival.

Still, women did laundry and hung it out to dry on posts and falling fences. Boys kicked a soccer ball around a muddy field. Young children in ramshackle buildings next to the train tracks smiled broadly and waved as the train passed, so close to windows without glass that I could almost touch them.

Sometlmes Jud's side of the train had the prettier views, while mine filled with the gray-brown of poverty and slum dwellings. Sometimes I had brilliant green fields on my side, with swaying palms, while Jud had row upon row of brown brick dwellings surrounded by brown dirt paths and fields.

You have to look out of both sides of the train to get the whole picture, to process all the images, the conflicting views and visions, the beautiful and the ugly, the rich cultural overlays and the gray-brown underbelly.

On the train from Cairo to Luxor I could see both sides of Egypt.

The train was almost three hours late and we arrived in Luxor in the dark, the lights of the city shining brightly after the unusual rainstorm. We found that out later: how rare the rain and how welcome, no matter the damage it may have caused or the activities it slowed down. Rain in the desert is a gift, like the huge clear rainbow we saw over the landscape of Egypt, a sign of good luck I thought.

The train ride from Cairo to Luxor shows daily life over the patina of antiquity. It’s Egypt in the now, an unfolding panorama of rural and urban landscapes, grace and poverty, green and brown, palms and minarets reaching for the sky, people going about their business, farming, buying and selling, seeking tips and advantages wherever they can, heeding the Call to Prayer, heeding the call to survival and daily life. It's Egypt unveiled.

New York, New York

What a wonderful town! New World Trade Center; panoramic views of lower Manhattan from Jersey City; reconnecting with Natalya,visiting her son Ivan; her beautiful beaded artwork, a loving gift; being with friends; at the Guggenheim. Then wonder of wonders, Natalya and Ivan came to visit us in Sylvania, Ohio (collage at bottom)! Life's an amazing adventure! 

My daughter Elissa and I had a great trip to New York City November 17-21, 2016, to see my dear friend Natalya, from Starobelsk, Ukraine, who was visiting her son Ivan, who works as an IT expert in NYC.  I lived with Natalya on Kyrova Street for the last six months of my PC service. So you can imagine what an exciting reunion it was! We toured and ate and reminisced.  Natalya gave me a beautiful beaded artwork she had created, a treasure of the heart.She now lives in Kyiv, closer to her grown children and grandchildren, away from the war zone of eastern Ukraine.

We stayed across the river from the gleaming World Trade Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. Easy to take a ferry to and from lower Manhattan, where we toured, explored, and reconnected with my traveling friend Christine Comerford, last seen in Sicily.

We also met with Elissa's friend Eric Blakney at the Guggenheim, a great Frank Lloyd Wright building. Eric was a schoolmate from her high school days at the Maumee Valley Country Day School. We had another great reunion with friend Alice Twombly from my days as a graduate student in Madison, Wisconsin. Oh the stories! We were hoping to see David Britsch, son of our dear friends Jim and Barbie Britsch and brother of pianist Marty, but he couldn't make it. Sadly, David died suddenly a few months later.  If only...

There is something special about being in NYC, a place David loved, a bustling spirit, a wonderful diversity. It embraces you, makes you feel alive and joyful.

50+ Years Later: A Joyous Reunion with Old College Friends

Lovely Dataw Island, Cathy's adopted home where she lived with her husband Tom and is an Island historian, preservationist and community leader, so Sarah and I had the best tours of the Island and surrounding Islands around Beaufort. We had an expert tour of the Sams PlantationTabby Ruins; boarded the Santa Elena tall ship that anchored in Port Royal, a reminder of the 16th-century Spanish history of the Islands; walked on the beach under a clear blue sky; visited the pretty town of Beaufort and the Point, a neighborhood of Antebellum mansions and grand Victorians; enjoyed a fantastic "Lowcountry Chamber Music Concert" with Cathy's friend Ann at the Art Center; shared wonderful lunches and dinners with the best conversations imaginable; savored a meal of fresh shrimp right off the boat at Dobson's, which looked like Forrest Gump's shrimp boat! What a special time, a walk down memory lane. 

What's it like seeing your college roommates and closest friends after 54 years? I was nervous about it, but it turns out I didn't need to be at all. It was wonderful, kind of like watching a home movie in fast forward, traveling over time from the innocence and curiosity of young girls at the beginning of life's journeys, to the vim and vigor of old ladies with lots of experiences under our belts and the humor to match.  We reminisced, shared memories, remembered some things differently or not at all, got updated and recharged, laughed a lot, and created new memories to warm our days.

After graduation from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass, where we spent four years together learning, experimenting, and exploring, Cathy and Sarah went off to New York City and I to Madison, Wisconsin. They kept in touch with each other and several mutual friends then and through the years, while I disappeared off the planet.  God knows why I seemed to never look back over a period of my life that was so important, why I neglected to stay in touch with friends who meant so much to me.  I confess to a terrible failing. I'm guilty of inconsiderate and selfish, unkind behavior. Thoughtless youth, yes, but really so incomprehensible. I got into my graduate student days to such an extent I left the past behind.  How could I? Still, Cathy and Sarah were kind and forgiving, and we were happy we finally came together after all these years. I'm reminded of a blessing for old age: "May the light of your soul give you wisdom to see this beautiful time of harvesting..."

And harvesting is what we did. From the seeds of our individual choices and our shared experiences we harvested the gems of our years.  We reminisced under towering and ancient Live Oaks dripping with Spanish Moss, felt the winds of time sweeping across Dataw Island and over the replica of the old cargo ship, Santa Elena, and enjoyed the culture and special beauty of the South Carolina lowcountry around Beaufort. We were all history majors at Wheaton, remembered our wonderful professors and the high caliber of our education, and we understood the complex history and heritage of the place we now shared. Cathy is active in preserving Dataw Island's history and a leader in her adopted home, so we had an expert and knowledgeable guide. We were on the same page politically, too, which made for some great and hilarious conversations.

It was a magical mystery tour on many levels adapted to the aging spirits of three old college friends. We were "red hat" ladies in purple, like in Jenny Joseph's famous poem, making up for "the sobriety of our youth," letting the inner sparks fly freely and with gay abandon.  There's an energy and freedom that comes with age, not to mention some experience and wisdom about life, and we three shared in them with great pleasure.  I tend to go light on "the wisdom" factor, and a bit more heavy on the "life's a daring adventure" side, and Sarah and Cathy do, too. When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine I used to say, "It's amazing where life takes you, if you take life as it comes."  I still think so.  Life took Sarah, Cathy and I full circle to Dataw Island, SC, and we just let the winds of time fly over and around us, our red hats sailing off into beautiful sunsets and beyond an orange full moon into brilliantly starry nights.

Magical Ireland

I'm back from a magical mystery tour of Ireland.  What made this travel adventure all the more special was sharing it with my daughter Elissa. We're both wrapped in green now, and the luck of the Irish, so coming back to emerging Springtime in Sylvania seems like coming around and completing a sacred Celtic circle.

DUBLIN! Dublin music, dance, architecture, culture, from street life to Trinity College Library and Book of Kells. Elissa with the Sylvania Advantage, where she is the graphic designer; the president's house, St. Patrick's Cathedral, celtic cemetary; the Taylor pub (at least one on every corner), and Searson's restaurant. 

Elissa on a Dublin walk.

Our Gate 1 tour around the Emerald Isle, with informative, awesome and entertaining guide Doug, started in James Joyce's Dublin, where we took in statue-lined O'Connell Street, rows of Georgian houses with colorful doors, Phoenix Park, where the president resides, St. Patrick's Cathedral, dedicated to Ireland's patron saint, and then to Oscar Wilde's famed Trinity College and Library, which houses the magnificent 8th-century Book of Kells, an illuminated Gospel book in Latin, a lavishly decorated masterwork of western calligraphy. That evening we enjoyed an Irish feast with Irish whiskey, wine and beer, and Irish music and dancing, at an Irish pub, all enthralling and fun.

We got into the spirit of Ireland that day, even though Elissa and I preferred walking about central Dublin's streets to paying a visit to the Guinness Storehouse, which occupies several city blocks and bolsters the Irish economy! But before our first pint, as they say in Dublin, we did learn the Irish toast "Slainte" (pronounced Slahn-che), to your good health, which stood us in good stead to the end of our visit.

A bookstore displays books
on the 1916 Rising.

Galway street poster

We were in Dublin on Easter Sunday, 27 March, when the country commemorated the 100th anniversary of "The Rising" of 1916 and the massacre of its now-revered freedom fighters seeking Irish independence. England's brutal response increased support for Irish republicanism, leading to the rise of Sinn Fein and

Our itinerary

the Irish Republican Army (IRA).  It also laid the foundation of what the Irish call "the Troubles" of the late 1960s to 1998, a violent period of nationalist and sectarian revolt that resulted, at last, in peace and an independent Republic of Ireland. A part of Northern Ireland (in white in upper right on map) continues under British tutelage with its capital in Belfast, but a sense of cultural unity also persists among the Irish people.

Waterford, Kilkenny and nearby landscapes. An excellent 
local tour guide, Patrick, lead us around his hometown of Kilkenny. 

Killarney by Elissa. She loved the gluten-free fish & chips, and onion rings!
We also had a great Thai dinner. 

From Dublin our trusty bus driver Barry, who navigated the winding roads with ease, took us to Waterford, home of the famous glass makers; the Blarney Castle en route to Kilkenny; around the famed Ring of Kerry through Killarney National Park on the Island's southwestern tip, and also past the remote Michael Skellig, the dramatic location of the final scene of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Who can forget that scene of Rey hiking with determination up those rocky green slopes to meet Luke Skywalker and present him with the magical lightsaber that belonged to his father and grandfather. 

From County Kerry in the southwest we headed north to Bunratty Castle and an interesting "Folk Park" of 19th-century reconstructed or rebuilt Irish homes, then to the fabulous Cliffs of Moher with its Henry Potter feel, and onto beautiful, bustling Galway. 

Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park, an outdoor museum of 19th-century Irish homes. Our tour group  (there were 40 of us from all over the US ) had a nice guided tour of the castle.  We missed the popular 'medieval banquets,' but got a good sense of the place.  

Iconic Irish Images

Doug's Irish "gift of gab," so eloquent and so rich in humor and insight, entertained us all the way as we drove through one iconic landscape after another.  Near the town of Limerick on the River Shannon, Doug read us several limerick poems. Elissa, so creative and clever, such a dear, added a wonderful limerick of her own to the travel festivities, which Doug read with pleasure. I hope she posts it! We learned Irish history, about the language, about farming, about Irish gypsies. So many fabulous stories! We had a wonderful overview of a lovely country with bustling towns and modern cities, beautiful countryside and farms, and gentle landscapes dotted with ancient ruins and fences made of thick shrub or ancient stone. Our Ireland tour enveloped us in the warm, soft feel of Irish wool with a overlay of sparkling emerald green.

Galway, once a small fishing village, is now one of the fastest growing cities of Europe, according to our tour guide Doug. It's on the Shannon river, which is now full of rushing water at a very high level and turbulent.  Our hotel, Jurys Inn, was on the river and in walking distance to the heart of the city. Wish we could have stayed longer but we got a great feel for the city. 

Cliffs of Moher, a mystical landscape.  George Bernard Shaw called it "a part of our dream world."

More Sicily

From Antiquity: The Landscape of Ancient Greece in Modern Taormina

     To Modernity: Modern Times Sicilia 

Tile and Mosaics,
Monreale Cathedral

Above are some headlines from La Sicilia, the newspaper I can't read. My parents were bilinqual but thought we should only speak English. Some guy left it on an empty seat at the Catania airport. I picked it up and browsed through it out of curiosity. At least I recognized the format, which is like the format of most newspapers everywhere: front page banner headlines, a large political section, sports, culture and shows, the economy, and ads.  Lots of ads. "That's a good thing," I said to my sister Andy.  

"Geez you like the ads?" my sister Andy asked, incredulous. 
"Yeah, I know, not like me, but it shows all kinds of businesses in Sicily. This is modern Sicily."  The above collage includes an ad for IKEA, promoting a new collection (nuovo collezione).  Yep, there's an IKEA in Sicily, in Catania. The ad is colorful and upbeat. Ads for cars, retail stores, industrial companies and tech companies also fill the pages. Just like in our newspapers, and online. Sicily is no backwater.

I definitely caught our Gate 1 tour guide Flavia's enthusiasm, and that of our local city guides for all things Sicilian. That includes exploring and celebrating its ancient past, its history and culture, and its present and future. From BC to AD.  From antiquity to modernity.

Some Sicily souvenirs,
ceramics and glass.

It all started in Palermo, with panoramic views of the hills and the sea, historic cathedrals, fountains and plazas surrounded by multicultural architecture and art, and some of the best cuisine, wine and restaurants in Italy. Like the sweep of its landscape, Palermo is breathtaking in the sweep of  its history, which encompasses successive conquests by the Romans, Normans, Byzantines, Arabs and others over the centuries.  A side-trip to Monreale, just outside of Palermo, was our spectacular opening to Sicily. Together, these cities are the heartbeat of its historic and modern culture.

Palermo's famed Cathdral and old city city center, showing eons of architecture and art, incredible overlapping cultures.The domes on top of the Norman Church of San Giovanni (lower right), for example, were added by Islamic craftsmen. These addiions and changes are so typical of Sicily.

 

Monreale, the hilltop town outside of Palermo, with its lavish Cathedral, a masterpiece of Norman architecture(built 1174) embellished with Arab, Byzantine,Romanic and Sicilian baroque art, all coming together to create an incredible melting pot of cultures. The interior tiles and mosaics embedded in classic columns, walls, floors, everywhere, are amazing.  

Maybe the only thing that is not as central to Palermo as to other parts of the island is the Greek influence.  For the rest of our tour, however, with Flavia leading, we were steeped in Greek Sicily, the ancient heritage that remains a vibrant core of Sicilian identity to this day.  

I think of beautiful Taormina, nestled in the hillsides winding up to towering Mt. Etna and down to the blue Mediterranean. From the Teatro Greco to the lovely alleyways, winding streets, and artfully decorated stairways, to the shops and cafes, spectacular views (and photo opportunities) greet you at every turn.

How lovely to walk, talk and linger over wine or beer in
Taormina, as we did with our new friends. We were lucky to have a friendly, well-travelled group, as enthusiastic and enthralled as we were. Several fellow travellers were exploring their Sicilian roots, like Andy and me. Some of us wished we had had a more in-depth guided tour of Taormina's hidden byways and treasures.  Taormina is more than just shopping, Andy and I thought.

Same with Siracusa, a once-flourishing Greek city state that still glistens and beckons. Amazingly, some of the most illustrious names of the ancient world--Livius, Plutarch, Pindar, Cicero, Virgil and Thucydides--described it with enthusiam in their writings. I probably read about Siricusa in my 4th year Latin class at Harley School in Rochester, New York, when I read Cicero and Virgil with Mrs. Bulloch, although the implications didn't register.

Today, Siracusa is an elegant archeological gem, glistening with white limestone buildings from different ages.  It's described in Sicily: Art History and Nature (2010), each chapter written by different scholars, as "a harmonious and interesting mixture of remains from the ancient past, medieval essentiality, and baroque exuberance." For a while it looked like petrochemical plants and power stations would take over the beauty of its coastline. Today, thank goodness, efforts are being made to preserve the historic sites and the coastline.

Sicily is trying. It's had to deal with its economy, with social setbacks, with those damned stereotypes. But today's Sicily is full of hope and energy.  It is one of the most ancient and most beautiful places on earth. The tourism potential of Sicily is not yet fully realized, even though this land has been visited for centuries by famous travellers, all of whom have extolled it's beauty.  I'm discovering them online-- artists, writers, playwrights, scholars, all enthralled by Sicily.

"The Sicilians have inherited from the Greeks a sacred sense of hospitality," my guidebook put it. It was evident everywhere we went. The people, the built environment, the breathtaking natural beauty combine to make Sicily one of the best places to experience.

SICILY TODAY: Here are some recipes, links, and a neat article about what makes Sicily so special today.  First food!

Pasta alla Norma (recipe in Sicily Times, July 2015)
Andy and I had this in Palermo, with linquini, or maybe it was a version of it, because it had some fish in the sauce. It was delicious.

Ingredients
500 gr. Peeled tomatoes or 4 cups of tomato sauce
400 gr pasta of your choice (spaghetti, pennette, rigatoni, etc.)
2 medium-sized aubergines (eggplants)
2 cloves garlic
Basil leaves
Salted ricotta cheese (not sure what to do with this?)
Olive oil and salt

Slice the aubergines, lightly salt them then place in a strainer for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the sauce, sauteeing the peeled garlic cloves in 4 Tbs olive oil. When the garlic becomes golden, add the peeled tomatoes or sauce. Add half a teaspoon of salt and cook at a low temperature. Fry the aubergine slices in olive oil. Cook the pasta al dente, strain and mix with the tomato sauce. Add grated cheese, basil leaves, the aubergines and serve.

The question now may be what wine to match with such a delicious plate, with aroma, flavor and sweet tendencies? Sicily offers a great variety of wines but it is best to choose within the territory of the dish. Why not an Etna Doc, either Red or Rosè, a blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio grape varieties? What’s important is the serving temperature of the wine, let’s say 16 – 18° C.Buon Appetito!

Recipes: from www.AmericaninSicily.com  THIS IS A GREAT BLOG FOR RECIPIES and all things Sicilian. I copied and pasted these recipes, so the format came through in various styles and fonts, but the recipes sound delicious! 

GRILLED EGGPLANT SALAD

Ingredients:

– 1 large or 2 small eggplants, sliced, grilled and cut in small pieces (…I used my famous ol’ trusty stove top grill pan…love the thing!) Just brush the pan with a bit of olive oil before you lay down the slices on the pan and turn them over for a few minutes on each side. 

 2 large garlic pieces, grated (…I use a hand held small cheese grater)

– 5 to 6 cherry tomatoes, quartered

– 3 large basil leaves, chopped

– 5 to 6 mint leaves, chopped

– 1 Tsp dry oregano

– 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

– Olive oil

-Salt, to taste

In a salad bowl, place the eggplant, tomatoes, and herbs. Add the vinegar, olive oil and salt. Toss well and let sit for at least 1\2 hour for the flavors to infuse. That’s it! Serve alongside fresh baked Italian bread.

CRUSTED BREAD (the kind my grandma Curro made!)
-500 grams of flour (In Italy, I use an organic type of “semola rimacinata” flour)
– 1 tablespoon of olive oil
– 1 pkg of instant yeast
– 1\2 cup of yogurt (I use low fat)
– Salt, to taste

In a bowl, place your flour, and salt, Mix. Add olive oil, yeast, yogurt and 1 cup of warm water. Mix. Add more water until everything is well incorporated and STICKY. Yes, you want it sticky. Let rise for 1 hour. Then, using a wooden spoon, dump the entire mix onto the baking tray (forming a log with your hands or the spoon). Sprinkle some flour on top and bake at 200°C \ 400°F until nice and golden. 

AUTHENTIC SICILIAN PIZZA MAGHERITA

For the dough:
-500 grams (1 pound) of organic whole wheat flour….read your flour label carefully for mixed flours or fillers!

-1 pkg of instant yeast
-WARM water
-2 tbsps of olive oil
-Salt, to taste

Mix by hand until you get an almost liquidy consistency. Cover and let rise for about 2 hours.

For the pizza:
-1 medium jar of tomato sauce (or you can make your own here) If you want plain tomato sauce, just omit all the additional ingredients I listed in that recipe.
– 8 to 10 fresh basil leaves
– 4 pieces of garlic, sliced.
– Fresh mozzarella cheese  (quartered, sliced, or however you like)
– Olive oil
– Salt, to taste

Now here is how we do it…..
Using a spoon, place huge dollops  of the dough all over a baking tray covered with oven paper. Spread the dough using the back end of the spoon so that it evenly covers the tray (not too thick, though). Mix a bit of olive oil in the tomato sauce and spread it oven the dough. Add the cheese and fresh basil. Drizzle some more olive oil all over the pizza and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C \ 400°F for 15-25 minutes (depending on your oven). 

Some interesting articles I found while browsing the internet looking for Sicily news today: 

http://www.timesofsicily.com/days-of-awe-in-siracusa/ About revitalizing the once-substantial Jewish community in Sicily, and in particular Siricusa. Fascinating.

http://www.timesofsicily.com/a-great-small-victory-for-the-sicilian-language/  About the Sicilian language.

www.Sicilyonline.com, a very nice article, which really resonates after my visit.

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            "God would not have chosen Palestine if he had seen my kingdom of Sicily."

Frederick II of Hohenstaufen

Perhaps every country has a dark horse - a region whose praises are sung by few, so that almost all who go there come away pleasantly surprised. To our minds, Italy's dark horse is unquestionably Sicily, cursed by an unfair stereotype that vanishes almost the minute your plane sets down or your boat touches the shore. It's the kind of place where, when you ask for driving directions in a crowded, frenetic city, the person you stopped on the street will walk alongside your car until he thinks you're past any intersections that might confuse you. Speak to anyone about anything and you will be met with a smile that manages to be shy and dazzling at the same time.

Then take a look around you, at some of the most spectacular nature Italy has to offer: miles and miles of vineyards rivaling any in Tuscany or Piedmont, endless olive groves sprouting from emerald-green carpets of grass, veritable forests of shiny citrus and fruit trees, rugged silver mountains, all against a backdrop of the deep blue sea. Sicily has a massive amount of world-class art, ranging from Greek to Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, French, and Spanish, and some of it enjoys the most astonishing setting, abandoned on a hillside or nestled into a deserted cove where you can come upon it so naturally that you almost think you've stepped into a time machine.
    Yes, there is something very ancient about Sicily, more than in Rome or Ravenna or Pompeii, and the thing we like the most about it is its unpretentiousness, the matter of fact, day-to-day atmosphere that turns all this history into a landscape as natural as a prickly pear blooming alongside a country road. If you had discarded the idea of visiting this fascinating region up to now, we hope our stories and unique lodgings will provide some very good reasons to change your mind. The only warning we have for you is please don't plan to whip over there for a two-day stop. You'll need at least a week to make the trip worthwhile, and even then you'll wish you'd been able to stay longer!