With hip fashion boutiques and stylish vintage shops, organic cafés, candy stores and laid-back pottery studios, Stockholm’s SoFo is where innovative and eclectic meet and creative and kitsch collide. Located on Södermalm south of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s Old Town, the seven-block square area is a short subway ride or walk … Read more
The Highlands cover the upper third of the country of Scotland, some 10,000 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts. Undulating moors, framed by mountains and etched by rushing rivers are roamed by herds of wild Scottish deer and Highland cattle, lumbering beasts with pointy horns and shaggy coats. Driving … Read more
If you like the hustle bustle of big cities, you’ll love Glasgow. But if you’re someone who prefers smaller cities with quaint tearooms, trendy cafés, and cozy music clubs, you’ll be equally charmed. Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city, though relatively compact and home to just 600,000 people, about the same … Read more
After sailing Maine’s sparkling seas, kayaking and canoeing its pristine lakes, hiking its lofty mountains or schussing down its snow-covered slopes, what could be better than an icy-cold beer—especially a hand-crafted ale or lager from a local microbrewery or brewpub? Maine now ranks fifth in the nation for the number … Read more
Maine and lobster go together like wine and cheese or bread and butter. You really can’t have one without the other. The state and its signature crustacean are practically inseparable. Just as you can’t have New York City without hot dogs, Boston without baked beans or New Orleans without gumbo, … Read more
Maine’s coast, lakes, woods, and mountains have inspired countless American artists including year-round residents like Winslow Homer and three generations of Wyeths. Even the list of artists who visited Maine or summered there reads like a Who’s Who: Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, … Read more
Ernest Hemingway came to the Peruvian Coast in 1956—partly to fish for black marlin, partly to oversee the filming of his monumental novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Almost 60 years after his visit, I, too, am heading to the Peruvian Coast. None of my magazine articles have been … Read more
It was like a magic carpet ride. Except that I was riding a rolling blue tapestry of three mighty waterways in Norway – the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. Heading south along the coast from Kirkenes near the Russian border to the old Hanseatic city of … Read more
Think Norwegians are reserved? Just head for one of the country’s summer festivals and you’ll change your mind. When the weather turns warm and the sun beats down on those clear blue fjords, the beat goes on and on. From the capital of Oslo to the Arctic Circle, and clear … Read more
Cruising through Norway’s narrowest fjord, navigating more than a dozen dizzying switchbacks on a drive down one of the country’s steepest roads, hurtling through innumerable tunnels on Northern Europe’s highest railway and speeding past gushing waterfalls and icy tongued glaciers. Sounds like an advertisement for an adventure expedition, right? Actually, … Read more
Snug by Oslo’s downtown harbor, it was once the city’s most disreputable corner. In the 18th century, Tjuvholmen—meaning Thief Island—was a shadowy haunt of rascals and reprobates. The quarter’s only redeeming feature was its site: several small islands jutting into the broad blue Oslofjord. But, for smugglers, that splendid waterway … Read more
Sprawling over 5,200 square miles and with upwards of 35 million residents, greater Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolis. Scores of museums and attractions, parks and gardens, restaurants and nightspots tempt visitors. New attractions, like Tokyo Skytree, the world’s tallest freestanding tower, keep Japan’s capital on the cutting edge. But … Read more
Mention “Galilee,” and, for many, miraculous tales of Jesus Christ and his disciples come to mind. But this legendary destination, about two hours’ drive north of Tel Aviv, is also where Jewish “Men of Deeds” performed miracles in ancient Roman times, and where rabbis developed the Kabbalah, a branch of … Read more
For decades, Antwerp has scored high for its coolness quotient. Situated in Belgium’s northwest province of Flanders, its second-largest city put itself on the map in the late 80’s when a group of fashion school graduates threw their designs into the back of a rented truck and headed to … Read more
If you’ve been to Flanders—Belgium’s northern reaches—chances are you’ve explored Brussels, from its gourmet restaurants and chocolate shops to its Manneken Pis, or Petit Julien, one of the world’s most beloved statues. Possibly, you’ve toured Bruges, where mists rise moodily over canals plied by flat bottomed barges and lined with … Read more