On February 13th, an exhibition called: “Levi Strauss, a History of American Style” opened at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. It covers (and will cover, hopefully, post COVID-19) the history of Levi Strauss & Co, from its early beginnings as a dry goods business serving the miners during the gold rush of the 1850s until […]
GINGINHA – THE LOCAL FIX Waking up in the morning in Lisbon, I would open the double doors leading to the balcony and be mesmerized by the panorama that stretched down into the valleys and up into the hills again, above the orange tiled rooftops and out across the city of Lisbon. It was one […]
The One and Only PASTEIS de BELEM. A featured snippet from Trip Advisor: 10,000 reviews January 17, 2018 Pastéis de Belém — meaning Cake of Belém, named after the iconic pastry from the Belém district of Lisbon — received over 10,000 reviews from travelers on TripAdvisor in 2017 – more than any other food establishment in the world. There’s a thing!! One bakery specializing in […]
Rua Garrett in Lisbon is among the loveliest shopping streets, with a diverse assortment of vendors and a provenance reaching back to the 1700s. Every city has at least one outstanding street of elegant shops. London’s Bond Street, Florence’s Via Tornabuoni, Paris’ Rue Saint Honore. In Lisbon, it is the Rua Garrett. This is an […]
THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN TULUM, MEXICO Tulum has a long and interesting history as suggested by the breathtaking nearby Mayan ruins, dating back to the 13th Century. But skip ahead a few centuries from the Age of the Mayans and find yourself in the 1980s — more recent history. Backpackers came across this […]
This post is about finding an excuse to show some of the beautiful flowers that grow here in the spring. These were all flowers that were photographed growing on the side of the road, in shopping centers and gas stations and I never had to be invasive or get anyone’s permission to photograph. Nothing in […]
Pausing for a cup of coffee at Emilio, on Avenida Tulum, in the Riviera Maya. The Riviera Maya is anchored by Cancun in the North and Tulum in the south; the drive of seventy miles takes about one and half-hours. It is an easy drive along the well maintained Federal Highway 307, with a dense […]
PUERTO MORELOS,“The Jewel of The Caribbean” Part 2. THE NEW GATED COMMUNITIES I made my accommodation reservation through Air BnB and wanted to be in the old town ……. I did not know I was headed to a new house in a new gated community! I had no idea this new community existed and did […]
PUERTO MORELOS,“The Jewel of The Caribbean”. Part 3. THE PUEBLO One does not read about the Pueblo at Puerto Morelos in the guidebooks — it is totally overlooked. This is where local families live: it is Mexico undiluted with tourists. Most people living here are employed locally: in construction, in the hospitality industry or as […]
PUERTO MORELOS,“The Jewel of The Caribbean” Part 1. I am in love, Yes, I know you cannot wait to know who the object of my affection is — wait no longer. It is not a person, it is a town called Puerto Morelos on the Riviera Maya. A short twenty-minute drive heading south from Cancun […]