Monique Burns 
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
The first time I visited Nova Scotia, I stayed three weeks, the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place in all my travels. It wasn’t just the natural splendor of this Canadian maritime province—an idyllic landscape of wide sandy beaches, towering bluffs, lush forests, and rolling green meadows lapped by … 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
Sauna is more than a stress-buster, more than a medical miracle – it’s practically a religion