Peregrinations

At long last comes a bright shining day, and I am finally on the road to Ephesus. The highway to Selcuk (Seljuk) lies over the hills to Kusadasi (Kushadasuh), where new houses are stacked like bee hives, and cypresses rise like exclamation points through the olive trees. Canan leaves me at the gate, while she drives to Izmir to shop for roof tiles. The Marble Way stretches from the great theatre – it is still used for concerts – past the sign of the brothel to the Library of Celsus and the Augustine Gate. Read more about The Road to Ephesus, Part IV

Crested larks the color of roadside dust fly at our approach on the drive to Didyma the next day, site of an Oracle of Apollo and my first official ruin. Early morning rain gives way to blue skies. My sister goes shopping while I pay the Oracle a little visit. Read more about The Road to Ephesus, III

Herodotus wrote: "I have been all around the world and realized that the most beautiful part of the earth and the most beautiful sky of the universe are in lonia.” Strabo, in the 1st century BC, insisted that the most beautiful city of Ionia was Smyrna. I try to keep this in mind as we land in Izmir, the modern city that once was Smyrna, whose initial settlements date back to the third century B.C. Read more about The Road to Ephesus, Part II

Dive into Belize
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A cozy night in Belgium

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Surreal housewives of Belarus:

REAL housewives of Belarus:
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Do you know how hard it is to distinguish one picture of a Caribbean Island from another? That's why I'm picturing the Sandy Lane Resort on Barbados. Hoping (but not knowing) that it is unique. The rest of the place seems to be nothing but palm trees and sandy beaches. Ho-hum?
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Just a few more inches of ocean rise, and this culture could be washed away.
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Come sail away
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It's February. Who else is thinking Bahamas?
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