Antananarivo We spent the night in Antsirabe in MENABE’L Hotel. The grand building was like a palace with spacious hallways and a spiral staircase but had no elevator. The pompous hotel was probably built by the French long time ago and it looked out of place in rather modest surroundings. The room was huge, the […]
Antsirabe, Madagascar, Aug-Sep 2023 Read More »
After over 100 countries and territories visited, Africa remains the least explored continent for me. That is why I jumped at an opportunity to have one more African country under my belt when I saw an ad about a group going to Madagascar in August. I usually spend summers in Bulgaria rather than at home
Madagascar, August 2023 Read More »
Pittsburgh, PA The northern part of Pennsylvania extends to Lake Erie which I also wanted to see. I rented a car, again through Booking.com that was cheaper that directly form car rental agencies. I do not want to sound like a commercial here, I simply share my experience. It takes 2 hours to drive from
Erie, Pennsylvania, May 2023 Read More »
The trip to Pennsylvania was going to be last September. I bought airplane tickets, made reservations for hotels and a rental car. The plan was to visit Pittsburgh and Erie on my way home from Europe to Colorado. I was flying over this area anyway. Why not to have a few days’ stopover and see
Pittsburgh, May 2023 Read More »
Tunis The last day of our vacation my husband and I spent in Carthage. I am sure everyone remembers the phrase “Carthago delenda est!“ (Carthage must be destroyed!) from their school classes of history. The Roman senator Cato the Elder ended with it every one of his speeches regardless of whether he had been speaking
Carthage, Tunisia, April 2023 Read More »
Doha, Qatar The skies were clear and on the way to Tunisia, we could see one of the most recently constructed hotels, Katara Towers, opened to the public in January 2023. The building is shaped like crossed scimitars, the popular Qatari double-sword design. It is actually 2 hotels, the Fairmont and the Raffles, each occupying
Dubai, OAE The MSC cruise was over. In Abu Dhabi, my husband and I left the Opera after breakfast and went to the airport by bus to take a flight to Doha. As we were flying during the day, the coast was clearly visible and the views were amazing. Doha was actually a 1-night stopover
Doha, Qatar, April 2023 Read More »
Khasab, Oman MSC Opera was docked in Dubai for 2 days. I heard so much about this city and was eager to see its wonders. When we looked out of the window in the morning, the skyscrapers filled the horizon. At 10 a.m., we took the first free shuttle bus from the port to the
Muscat, Oman Oman’s geographical location is quite unusual. Besides its main part that occupies the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, it also has two exclaves. The larger one, Musandam Exclave, lies on the Musandam Peninsula. It is separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The other smaller exclave is
Khasab, Oman, March 2023 Read More »
Sir Bani Yas In Muscat, we were on a mission to visit the Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic. There is a sign posted in the Oman desert to mark this important latitude and we wanted to go to it. It was a 20-minute drive to the sign from the Port of
Muscat, Oman, March 2023 Read More »
