Beyond Barcelona: Montserrat, Figueres and more
It’s hard to top Barcelona, Spain’s most cosmopolitan and fun city. But it’s still worth considering at least one of several temping, scene-changer day trips from Barcelona: the mountaintop monastery of Montserrat, the Salvador Dalí museum at Figueres, and the seaside towns of Cadaqués (with Dalí’s home) and Sitges (great beaches).
Sin City scares: a guide to Las Vegas’ most haunting attractions
LAS VEGAS — Just what are Vegas’ most haunting haunts?
A lonely desert fire station, the only lifeline for millions of Vegas travelers
The rain was pounding in the Mojave Desert on the Saturday before Easter when the first call came in about a crash along Interstate 15. Details were sketchy: head-on collision, Mercedes versus another car, a 7-year-old not breathing, a nurse on scene performing CPR. San Bernardino County Fire Protection District Capt. Dan Tellez and his crew were more than a half hour away. The next closest responding ambulance was more than 70 miles away, and the nearest trauma center was more than an hour away by road — if there was no traffic.
Wrecks, rafts, and replicas: Scandinavia’s remarkable maritime museums
Scandinavia’s Viking days may be long gone, but its legacy of maritime exploration (and plunder) continues to capture our imagination. Tap into the region’s seafaring heritage by visiting excellent museums in Stockholm, Oslo, and just outside Copenhagen.
History, harbor sights and fun make for perfect Bay State family adventure
BOSTON — When you are a grandma, you want to really hit it out of the park when it comes to giving the grands great experiences.
Tropical Gardening: Tomorrow is Mother’s Day
You still have time to shop today at the Old Kona Airport Kona Orchid Society Spring Show and Sale. It starts at 9 a.m. and runs to 2 p.m. Not only will there be orchids, but a great variety plants that may be used to beautify the home.
Reasons you won’t recognize Las Vegas on your next trip
LAS VEGAS — The most common refrain you’ll hear from anyone who’s been to Las Vegas — besides “what happens there stays there” — is how it’s nothing like it used to be.
Slovakia’s capital makes a remarkable comeback
Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and once a nearly desolate ghost town, is one of Europe’s great urban success stories. Its compact old town bursts with colorfully restored facades, lively outdoor cafés, and swanky boutiques. Its ramshackle industrial quarter, just east of the center, is rapidly being redeveloped into a forest of skyscrapers. The hilltop castle gleams. And even the glum communist-era suburb of Petržalka, right across the Danube, has undergone a Technicolor makeover. It’s arguably the fastest-changing city in Europe.
Tropical Gardening: Mother’s Day celebration predates Christianity
Next Sunday is Mother’s Day and there is still time for last-minute gifts for the ladies in your life. Before you run out to pick up the flowers and Hawaiian chocolate, let’s ponder on the origins of this special holiday.
Beyond the Paris Olympics: Other intriguing events set throughout France this year
France is hot, and we’re not just talking about the catwalks in Paris or the yacht clubs on the Riviera. There is no denying that 2024 will be a huge year for travel in The Hexagon, with so much going on across the country. Plenty has been said and written about the Paris Summer Olympics (and will be in the coming months), but here I will set that massive event to the side and focus instead on other reasons to visit France this year.
Why did more than 1,000 people die after police subdued them with force that isn’t meant to kill?
Carl Grant, a Vietnam veteran with dementia, wandered out of a hospital room to charge a cellphone he imagined he had. When he wouldn’t sit still, the police officer escorting Grant body-slammed him, ricocheting the patient’s head off the floor.
Tropical Gardening: May Day is Lei Day
May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii but we celebrate flowers of all kinds all year long. Traditionally, everyone should consider wearing flowers more often. Fellows, let’s get back to wearing aloha shirts and ladies, what about revisiting mu’umu’u. These unique expressions of our culture are coming back in style as part of the Hawaiian renaissance movement.
Istanbul’s old soul lives on in the Grand Bazaar
Dodging four men pushing a cart full of honeydew melons, I step out of the noisy traffic of Istanbul, pass through the horseshoe-arched door, and trade one commotion for another. Suddenly the air — heated by millions of watts of electric bulbs — is several degrees warmer. Like carnivorous flowers, merchants seduce from glittering shops. They say “Welcome to the Grand Bazaar.”
SeaWorld at 60: It survived ‘Blackfish’ and COVID. Where San Diego’s biggest theme park is headed now
SAN DIEGO — When SeaWorld San Diego marked its half-century anniversary 10 years ago, it was enmeshed in a public relations quagmire following the release just a year earlier of “Blackfish,” the searing anti-captivity documentary that threatened to upend the theme park’s identity as the home of Shamu the beloved killer whale.
Tropical Gardening: Celebrate Hawaii Island chocolate this week
As the Hawaii Island cacao industry continues to expand, it is time to celebrate with the 11th Annual Big Island Chocolate Festival from Thursday, April 25 through Saturday, April 27. According to Fern Gavelek, the event culminates with the “Mystical Chocolate Masquerade” gala offering everything from sweet to savory.
Fast horses, tasty bourbon, stylish boutiques, even a castle are found in this one Kentucky county
Where can you taste the world’s best bourbon, make the acquaintance of the world’s most famous Thoroughbred, tour the home of the “Paul Revere of the South,” shop for high-end antiques in a converted schoolhouse, and spend the night in a castle — all in the same small county?
Nice: Laid-back capital of the French Riviera
A hundred years ago, bigwigs from London to Moscow began flocking south to the French Riviera and the sun-drenched city of Nice. They came to socialize, gamble, and escape the dreary weather at home, and ended up creating Europe’s first tourist boom. Today, this classy resort town is a popular fun-in-the-sun destination that caters to everyone.
Tropical Gardening: April showers to bring spring flowers
As the sun gets stronger, many shrubs, trees and especially vines can grow at a rapid pace. This makes vines great for covering unsightly fences like concrete or chain link. Good fences and hedges make good neighbors goes the old saying, and maybe in the old days it was the case. Stone walls are traditional and impressive, but expensive. Today, we have so many choices that an unattractive fence or hedge might create all kinds of neighbor problems depending on type of material used.
Global wine glut compounds headaches for struggling California vineyards
LODI, Calif. — Times are getting increasingly tough for many of California’s wine grape growers.
The Hawaiian steel guitar changed American music. Can one man keep that tradition alive?
KAILUA — Quincy Cortez plucks at a slim black box laid across his legs, his fingers flashing silver.
