This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 Our first stop after leaving Hong Kong was Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We actually made it without the Chinese invading (of course, this was just our first stop in Taiwan, so there’s still time!) — although we were buzzed by a number of “fishing boats.” While…
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 After our very long flight to Hong Kong, we planned for a few days to relax in Hong Kong. Having been here several times before, our first decision was which side of the harbor we would stay on — Hong Kong Island or Kowloon….
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This is part of a series called Northern Pacific Wanderings 2024 We’re back on the road again. I am actually writing this at about 30,000 feet, on a 15-hour flight to Hong Kong. After resting up for a few days, we will get on a 44-day Seabourn cruise from Hong Kong to Vancouver Island, visiting…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 At the conclusion of the cruise, we extended for 1.5 days in Vienna. Since we disembarked the ship in Budapest, we spent about 3 hours zooming around in both the Buda and Pest sides of the Danube. We had been to both Budapest and…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 On our last full day of the cruise, we found ourselves in an area of Hungary called the Southern Transdanubia to visit Pécs, the 5th largest city in Hungary, but second only to Budapest in the number of visits. The city actually dates back…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 This morning we visited Novi Sad, a truly multicultural city in Serbia. While most of the places we have visited during this trip had significant Ottoman impact through occupation of up to 500 years, no such thing happened here as the Ottoman Turk advance…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 Today, we visited the capital of Serbia, Belgrade. It had also been the capital of Yugoslavia. In fact, Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in Europe, having been conquered and rebuilt 40 times during its rather tumultuous history. We spent our time focusing…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 Today was largely a cruising day. In the middle of the night and very early in the morning, we passed through 2 locks. Having through that experience before and after a night of dancing and wild abandon, we chose to sleep in. Later in…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 Today, we went into Bulgaria to visit the ancient capital, Veliko Tarnovo, and a small village named Arbanasi know for the frescoes in their Nativity Church. It’s interesting that while Romania and Bulgaria had similar histories (e.g., former Roman territory, challenges in bring together…
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This is part of a series called Pan European Sojourn 2023 After the longest sailing day on the Danube, we arrived in the regal town of Viden, located in northwestern Bulgaria. This area has been continuously inhabited since the time of the Romans because of it’s strategic positioning in a bend in the Danube across…
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