As the lights came on at the Teatro Nacional in Habana, I wasn’t sure if I was in Cuba or the U.S. The audience was Caucasian, well dressed, with an air of sophistication and worldliness. I had just seen excerpts from Giselle, performed by the famous Cuban National Ballet, and again the dancers were all […]
Budapest, the Paris of Central Europe
The first and last time I visited Budapest was in1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I remember spending time each day taking the tram to the Szechenyi mineral spa in the City Park. At that time the entrance fee was minimal, the massages were rough ups, and men and women had separate areas to […]
Once Upon A Time in Cuba 2013
I wonder if it’s better to leave a place with great memories or to return and be completely disenchanted with what it has become. I would soon have an answer to this question. After a nine year absence and ten trips to Cuba between 1995-2004, my curiosity finally lured me back. I was on my […]
Albania.. the third visit 2019
The sky was very dark when the hydrofoil from Corfu docked in Saranda, Albania. The trip took 30 minutes; so close to Greece but before 1991, a world away. Albania had been ruled from 1943-1985 by the Soviet style dictator Enver Hoxha, who closed the country off from the world. The first time I visited […]
Return to Corfu 2019
Amsterdam for a day… Corfu Greece revisited The day we flew to Amsterdam, I made myself one of the worst cappuccinos and regardless of me being a worldly, educated and independent woman, I am superstitious. Before we even left Schiphol airport, I had lost my designer prescription sun glasses and left my iPhone, I hoped, […]