Anyone who has been to Türkiye usually swoons when you mention the whimsical fairylike land of Cappadocia, located in the Central Anatolian plateau. The entire region is blanketed with fairy chimneys, conical wizard hats, gnome-like domes, and Smurf-esque spectacles, which have served as churches, monasteries, tombs and dwellings for centuries. The landscape of Cappadocia has significant stretches of soft volcanic…
En route to one of Turkiye’s most magical places, we stopped in a place a little less magical, but certainly worthy of a stopover…the cosmopolitan capital of Ankara. We were also fortunate to arrive in this thriving city of 5.5 million people on the 100th Anniversary of a date which helped sealed the deal for Turkiye becoming a republic: Victory…
Where we Lived In August 2022, we gratefully put down roots and unpacked our clothes for a month in a third story seaview apartment on the outskirts of Istanbul in a community called Dariča. The "c" is pronounced as a "j" by the way. Since we had already experienced staying in the city, we splurged on amenities and comfort over…
Ahh….Par-ee!!! Mandy couldn’t have been happier to finally be “dragging” her husband to the City of Lights. Like so many young dreamers, icons of Paris had bedecked her walls from an early age and held a perpetual vision of romance and passion. Although she got most of that dreaminess (and quite frankly, over expectation) out of her system in 2008…
We loved living in Mur-de-Barrez for two weeks because it allowed us the opportunity to explore one of France’s wild corners…the lesser explored, but still discovery-packed Aveyron and Auvergne regions. We were also incredibly fortunate because we had fabulous guide in our hostess, Laura, who arguably has an explorer gene that rivals ours. She even liked seeking out weird rocks…
We are 100% convinced that the true beauty, the true essence of France is far from its cities, far from its historical sites, and far from its beaches… The pulsing heart of it instead lies in its provincial villages where the well kept heritage remains. We were grateful to get to spend four weeks in such villages, and even more…
Little town, little quiet village. ? Far off the international tourist trail, this is what we chose to represent most of our time in France. This first took us to a 13-day housesit in Le Dorat, in Nouvelle Aquitaine, aka “Little Britain” thanks to the heavy influence of British expats, who in large part moved down to France to escape…
From Andorra, we hopped into a rideshare through BlaBla Car with two French girls to traverse into our next country. Greg had used BlaBla back in the “olden days” when rideshares were posted on hostal message boards and it took 10 minutes to write a text message. Today, of course, there is a easy-to-use app which matches drivers and riders…
