[OBIDOS, PORTUGAL] — Here’s an overview of Obidos Portugal a beautiful castle town featured in Game of Thrones. One of the best Portugal hill towns. And one of the best castles in Portugal. About an hour south of Porto is the small castle town of Obidos. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, which I’ve never really seen, you may recognize this place. But if you’re just a normal castle-loving gypsy, you can stay in the nice pousada inside and get an extra use out of your traveling Glastonbury/Burning Man/Coachella flower bonnet and feel like a queen. Óbidos– A Picture Perfect Castle The castle looks straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They charge extra for swords, I hear, but available. Ravens on
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[SANTA CRUZ, PORTUGAL] — Here’s my hotel review of Areias do Seixo boutique design hotel, one of the coolest design hotels in Portugal. And I would say the best design hotel in Portugal. When looking for a cool boutique hotel outside Lisbon during my second first tour of Portugal, I saw an article on Areias do Seixo, full of pictures of crazy looking, organic rooms with stained stone, wooden log furniture, swings, and just amazing details. Every room was a revelation. That’s when I had to go to Areias do Seixo. _________________________________ After pulling into a sparse car park, no sign of life. You walk up to the huge, heavy wood doors — all big and Asian-y and intimidating, makes you feel like a bible
[TOURRETTES-SUR-LOUP, FRANCE] — Here’s an overview of the best things to do in Tourrettes-sur-Loup, a stunning hilltop village over the Côte d’Azur, and one of the best villages Alpes-Maritimes. And a review of the delightful Histoires de Bastide guesthouse. ______________________________ I was on my way back from nine blissful days in Greece and heading toward the southwest of France. Having already done most of the coast, I wanted to find a new place to explore. I opened a new travel website I kept hearing about i-escape.com and started scouring pictures for something that grabbed my eye. And then BOOM. I saw a the picture above. That was all it took. This is in France? Looks more like Italy, or maybe Corsica. An ancient village perched
[FOLEGANDROS, GREECE] — A review of Anemomilos Boutique Hotel the best hotel on Folegandros, Greece. An amazing cliffside hotel on Folegandros island Greece. ___________________________ 20 hours, three planes, long layovers and a zippy ferry straight from Santorini, I arrived in the port of Folegandros after 9pm, in the pitchdark. The owner of my hotel, Dimitris was waiting for me at the port and drove me the short 3kms up to the town of Chora in his Jeep Cherokee. In minutes we were zig-zagging through the crooked streets of Chora, headed for my home for the next couple of days — the Anemomilos Boutique Hotel. A slow cool breeze, a couple of Mythos and music from the local tavernas conked me out for twelve straight hours. Set the
[FOLEGANDROS, GREECE] — I spent an amazing week on the Greek island of Folegandros, here’s my post of the best things to do on the under-the-radar Greek island of Folegandros. I think it’s the best Greek island. Where to eat on Folegandros. What to do on Folegandros and where to stay on Folegandros. And an overview of the best beaches on Folegandros. __________________________ On the quiet island of Folegandros, there are no cruise ships. There’s no airport. No big hotels. No hoards of tourists. They only got electricity a about 30 years ago. It wasn’t until the last 20 years that the island’s one road was paved — all 18 kilometers of it — and the first gas station arrived. There’s only one bus driver. Only
[FOLEGANDROS, GREECE] — A video and music overview of the best beaches, hotels and restaurants of the under-the-radar island of Folegandros. For more details, visit the Folegandros page on my website.
[GORGES DU VERDON, FRANCE] — I wasn’t planning on this hike. It was all innocent, really. I just stumbled on the signs and kept going. I had no water, no backpack, no raingear, no flashlight, no map, no guidebook. But the Scope-colored water and steep canyon kept pulling me “just a little farther.” The path descends to follow along the water, then climbing up ladders, dodging between stone arches then, disappearing into cool dark tunnels, emerging on the other side. When I say tunnels, I mean pitch black tunnels. Signs warn you should have a headlamp. Not having one, I mumbled to myself “Hahaha, we don’t need no stinking torchiers” as I entered that last… and longest tunnel.” Well, they were serious. Unbeknownst to me,
[SARTÈNE, CORSICA] — Here’s my overview of Domaine de Murtoli a luxurious secret hideaway on the French island of Corsica. The best luxury hotel in Corsica. The best luxury villas in Corscia. ______________________________ I was having dinner by myself the first night in Corsica at Domaine de Murtoli — one of the most exclusive resorts in France — and sitting back and grinning at all the natural wonder before me in this candle-lit treehouse of a restaurant hidden under the maquis trees. Barefoot waitresses in linen frocks darted under the leaves, bringing drinks, appetizers and cute smiles. Around the corner came a vision, the most perfectly tanned specimen on this planet. Valérie, the proprietress of this magical haven (and a former model and mother to four
[CORSICA, FRANCE] — Here’s my driving tour of the best hilltop villages of Northern Corsica. What to do in Northern Corsica, where to eat in Northern Corsica, best boutique hotel in north Corsica and driving all around the famed Cap Corse. ____________________________________ You know when you’re in a rental car in a foreign land and you’re on a steep impossible skinny one lane road with dropoffs of hundreds of feet and wondering “what the hell am going to do if another car comes the other way???” I was in exactly in that situation, on a steep rocky road, barely wider than my car, pointing downdowndown on my way to the a sleepy fishing village I was told was a gem. The crazy road was a bunch of
[CORSICA, FRANCE] — Here’s my overview of the best things to do in central Corsica mountains. The best things to do central Corsica. The best things to do in the gorges of Corsica. Canyoning in Corsica, Gorge de Restonica. Where to stay in central Corsica. __________________________________ “Emmm, Monsieur Dan, please be careful. The water is deep enough, but there ees a big rock down there. So you must jump out from the cliff to not hit it, but not too far. Or you will hit the beeg rock.“ That was my super-cute young French guide, shouting above the roar. I was canyoning in Corsica for the first time. We were standing on top of a huge stack of elephant rocks, a swift stream was zooming under our
[CORSICA, FRANCE] — Here’s my overview of the best beaches of Southern Corsica. What to do in southern Corsica. The best things to do Southern Corsica. Smack in the middle of the deep blue Mediterranean Sea are two big islands, Sardinia and Corsica. Almost like twins, ripped apart, both jut out of the sea like breaching whales, with huge mountains in the middle and some of the best beaches in all of Europe ringing their rocking shores. Corsica, known as Corse in French, is a magical adventure land, with an infinite amount of sporty things to do. Hiking. Climbing. Canyoning. Snorkeling. Sailing. Boating. Or just sit on the beach. The middle is spiked with enormous shark-toothed mountains, some as high as the Alps, often dotted
[GÈDRE, FRANCE] — This is an overview of three great hikes in the French Pyrénées with details on three of the best cirques in the Hautes-Pyrénées: Cirque de Troumouse, Cirque d’Estaube and Cirque de Gavarnie. Here’s everything good I found. _______________________________ I always wanted to go on some great hikes in the French Pyrénées, but I could never figure out where. As I finally figured out after all these years, the Pyrénées aren’t just a single group of mountains, but a bunch of groups of Pyrénées spread all along the French/Spanish border. So when you think, as I stupidly did, “Oh I’ll just go hike in the Pyrénées” you’re instantly in over your head when you finally try to Google it and figure out where to go.
[PRAGUE] — This is going to be a pretty easy post for you, more of a postcard travelogue. I think I am the last guy to visit Prague, but I slapped it on to an over-Christmas trip to Brussels just to see what it’s like and have some beer. Pretty city. Too many tourists for me. Granted, it was a holiday, but I feel sorry that it was so overrun. But it definitely is a beautiful city. These are the best things I’ve found to do over a winter weekend in Prague. Especially during a Christmas holiday weekend in Prague. Click to open the slideshow and follow along. There are other, better, already-done guides to Prague, a million of them. Just think of this post
[BRUSSELS] — Trying to do a Mileage Run at the end of the year to top off the tanks, I found a cheap flight to Brussels, perfectly timed between Christmas and New Years, back by the end of the year. Just a couple of days before flying on to Prague. These are the best things I found over a Christmas weekend in Brussels. It was Christmas in 2015. The sad massive terrorist attacks in Paris had just occurred the month before and I wanted to show my support but not letting those acts change our world. Plus, my hunch was right that the airfares and upgrades would be cheap with a lot of cancellations. I left on Christmas Day, went to Brussels, a day trip
[ANTWERPEN, BELGIUM] — Here are some cool things to do on a day trip to Antwerp from Brussels. The best things to do in Antwerp. Cool things in Antwerp. What to on a day trip to Antwerp on a Sunday, when most everything is closed. ___________________________ So I was posting live pics of Brussels on my Instagram and someone who follows me shot back “You should go to Antwerp.” Hmmmm, never thought about going there. And this whole trip was a last-minute. “It’s a quick train ride and cooler, smaller and more artsy. Not boring like Brussels.” Really? “You should go to Antwerp.” my Instagram friend said. “It’s a quick train ride and cooler, smaller and more artsy. Not boring like Brussels.” I’d never even
Here’s a quiet little video summary I made of a fabulous two week trip in Morocco in April 2015. I tried to capture the sights, sounds and incomparable experiences of all of Morocco. Marrakesh, the High Atlas Mountains, the desert oasis of Skoura and camping in the Sahara. If you want more detailed information of all the sights in this video, check out the Morocco page on my website. Lots of great pictures, information, maps and links to other resources to help you plan your trip. Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to comment below.
[KEARNEY, NEBRASKA] — I’ve come to Kearney to see the great migration of the sandhill cranes twice now, once in Mid March 2016 and again in the first week of April in 2023, which was the tail end of the migration. Here’s an overview of what to see and how to plan your visit to see the great migration of of sandhill cranes in Kearney Nebraska. These amazing ancient and magnificent birds. _______________________________________ When you first get to the river, it’s 6am and pitch black. You feel your way down a path, heading toward The Noise. The purring, cooing a fluttering or hundreds of thousands of cranes, sleep-standing in the shallow river. Slowly, the shrieks get louder and louder as the first light slowly begins to
[MAREMMA, TUSCANY] — Maremma is the hidden gem of Tuscany on the southern coastal edge of Tuscany and goes from the hilly and ferrous inland to the varyingly wild-horse-roaming, swampy and rocky coast. Here are some of the best things to do in Maremma and what to do in Maremma over a couple of days. After four days in Bologna — two and half of them in bed with a violent flu — I was ready to come here and just sit in the sun by the pool at Il Pellicano and just eat my way back to health. But after a couple days of restoration, I couldn’t help but explore the famous area in and around Monte Argentario. I only had time for a daytrip
[VAL BADIA, ITALY] — An overview of hiking in Alta Badia Italy and the Fanes-Senese-Braies Nature Reserve in the Dolomites. Best hikes Alta Badia. And hiking from San Cassiano and best hikes Italian Dolomites. Fanes-Senese-Braies. I know that’s a mouthful. But I didn’t name it. The Fanes–Senes–Braies Natural Park. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I’ve seen it called Nature Reserve, Natural Park and Nature Park… like everything around here, it has three or more names. I’m going with Natural Park. The Dolomites are aren’t just one range, but dozens. Kinda confusing really, trying to piece it all together. It’s all called “Dolomites” or “Alto Adige” and “Süd Tyrol” … and in a part of Italy that was once part of Austria. Some people here speak
[TRENTINO–ITALY] — I’ve taken the hike to Rifugio Rifugio Tuckett e Sella twice now and I still think it’s one of the best hikes in the Brenta Dolomites. Hike the in the Brenta Dolomites to to Rifugio Tuckett. The best hike in the Brenta Dolomites. A great hike from Madonna di Campiglio. These are photos from those two different hikes to Rifugio Tuckett. _____________________________ “Theeesa eesa the one.” she said, in that lovely Italian way of needing to add a vowel onto every word. “Theesa onea is da besta hi-ka in the valley. And ifa you goa heer, ita eesa da besta viewa inaalla da Dolomites.” That’s Barbara, the owner of my splendid hotel in the Brenta region of the Italian Dolomites. There isn’t just one