There are a lot of things to do in Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates. It is the most populous city in all of the Emirates at over 3.6 million of which only 15% are UAE nationals the rest being expats mostly from Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Philippines). There …
We arrive in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, in the morning and opt for a tour of the city on the Hop On Hop Off bus which is conveniently located at the cruise port. The day is sunny and warm so we scramble up to the open air top.The first stop that we …
After many flights and long hours, we arrive in Doha is Qatar’s capital city and main financial hub, a country founded from an offshoot of Al Bidda in the 1820s before gaining independence from the British in 1971. The winter temperature of twenty-five degrees Celsius that greets us at the Hamad International airport in Doha is pleasant—a far cry …
This is the jewel in the crown of our travel stops. A full day in St-Émilion, a small wine village and area within the wine region of Bordeaux. Our guide René whisks us from our apartment to spend a day learning about Bordeaux and its wines. It isn’t long that he explains to us that …
We leave Porto behind to catch a flight to Bordeaux, France. The arrival at the airport in Porto is different than when we left North America. No masks are required in the airport nor on the plane. It has been the normal for our trip so far. Evidence of COVID restrictions are mainly gone in …
It’s an early morning rise to meet our driver Marta who is taking us to Porto, a coastal city in the northwest of Portugal and a 3.5 hour drive from Lisbon. Porto, or O Porto in Portuguese, is the second largest city in Portugal and is also synonymous with the Port wine. But first we …
Early September marked our first return to Europe since the start of COVID. Crystal blue skies and warm air greeted us as we exited the airport. As we drove to our Airbnb, our driver Pedro explained some of the areas we cruised by. Fortunately, our accommodation in the Bairro Alto (meaning upper quarter in Portuguese) …
We love the shows Mighty Ship and Mighty Cruise Ship. On one of their episodes, they featured Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship called the Norwegian Epic. At 4,100 passengers, it is the second biggest ship in their fleet and at the time of its build in 2009, it was the third largest in the world. We’ve …
There’s lots to see and do today so the plan is to do two towns; Volterra and San Gimignano. Now for the diehard Twilight fans out there, Volterra is featured in the New Moon movie. The truth though, is filming actually took place in the nearby town of Montepulciano. In Volterra, no vampires were sighted …
Today we did a day trip to Siena about 15 minutes from the country house. Another UNESCO World Heritage site, Siena doesn’t disappoint with its medieval buildings and the famous piazza known as Il Campo. In July and August every year, The Palio takes place. It’s a horse race like none other and done right …