When I prepared my Last Will and Testament some years ago, I included specific provisions that I wish to be cremated. I promised my sisters that if they put me in the cold, hard ground, I’d come back to haunt them. But a recent visit to the Monumental Cemetery in Milan, Italy, had me reconsidering … Read more
My guide for the day, Valery Brady, began my tour of Chisinau, Moldova, at the Pushkin Museum. Alexander Pushkin, considered to be Russia’s greatest poet and the founder of modern literature, angered Emperor Alexander I with his poem, “Ode to Liberty,” which was critical of the regime. As a result, in May of 1820 he … Read more
Throughout its history, Santorini island in Greece has been shaped by volcanism. The island first appeared about two-million years ago when volcanic craters emerged from the Aegean Sea. Initially, the craters united into a small round island with a caldera in the center. Herodotus tells us that the island’s first name, Strongili (meaning “the round … Read more
I turned my nose up at the offer of a map. The narrow, stone-paved streets of Mykonos begged to be explored randomly. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. So far, my Greece tour with Collette had explored authentic sites on the mainland and the Peloponnese peninsula, but there were whispers among our group that … Read more
I stood upon the rugged flanks of Mount Parnassus and turned slowly, soaking in the 360-degree panorama. Behind me, pockets of fleshy pink limestone peeked from beneath the mountain’s gray shroud. Before me, a cluster of stately stone columns, carved from the pinkest stone, stood on a crumbling foundation. Giant blocks that once formed the … Read more
