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Istanbul. What an INCREDIBLE city. I have spent a considerable amount of time there, although it’s never enough. With 4 trips there in the last 4 years, I have many places still on my list to discover in Istanbul. But one place that never disappoints is the Galata District....

Essaouira. I knew I would love her for the simple reason that she is a coastal town on the west coast of Morocco. What I didn’t expect was to be absolutely smitten with her and her old medina charm, that even though there are travelers coming through her streets, she retains her...

I had first met Shyamala via email, her inquiring about an upcoming Turkey Travel Experience I had planned. We then met at a Starbucks with a number of others interested, but it was evident she was the spear head of this meeting. Being a firstborn myself, I already liked her. 🙂...

 In October the harvesting of olives for oil is well on its way! We were in Umbria in Italy and our wonderful Italy Team Max , took us to Feliziani’s Oil Factory in Spoleto. With a long line of oil making in the family, the owner showed us a wall full of vintage photos –...

I’m so excited to start my new weekly blog series, LITTLE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT. On all of my travels both locally and internationally, I always find things about the places that I just LOVE! I wanted to start sharing some of these with you – so you could try them for...

I remember when I first wandered this quaint village. It was autumn and we had scarves on and the fallen leaves from the trees crunched as we walked down the rugged paths that led through the village homes. “This place would be ADORABLE to visit, or stay, in the summer!!...

It’s iconic. We also see the canals FULL of tourists in their gondolas. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful. But….I tend to go with the less “typical” ways to experience local life.   That’s why I was all about finding the traghetto station on the Grand Canal and try it out for...

The perfect travel experience. We all want it. And there are endless ways to get it. A backpacking trip. A luxury cruise. A well planned out itinerary. Seeing highlights and sights of your destination. The list is endless. But when we think of small group travel, some of us think...

You can smell it several shops away…this yumminess of scents from fruity, to musks, to florals. Kind of like when you know there is a LUSH store in the mall ahead somewhere – you can smell it in advance! La Botica de la Abuela Aladdin doesn’t have a website, but it really...

In countries where wine is made, there is always a place that is called “wine country”. Turkey has one, off the Aegean coast, outside of Kusadasi. Sirince (prounounced, sheh-ringe-eh) is a small village of about 600 in population. The name used to be Cirkince which meant “ugly”,...