From the World Heritage inscription: After the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the island of Hispaniola in 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas. This colonial town was laid out on the grid pattern that became the model for almost all town planners in …
From the World Heritage inscription: This property is an eminent example of a type of structure illustrating the historical situation of Haiti at the dawn of its independence. These Haitian monuments date from the beginning of the 19th century, when Haiti proclaimed its independence. The Palace of Sans Souci, the buildings at Ramiers, and, in …
Four years ago I wrote a post titled “9 Ways I Break Conventional Travel Wisdom”. One of the items (which I wasn’t proud of at the time) was that I traveled for a significant time without travel insurance. I got lucky that nothing serious happened to me while I was traveling without insurance. I have …
I first visited Bulgaria in 2011 as part of a G Adventures trip from Budapest to Istanbul. I was able to visit cities like Belogradchik, Sofia and Veliko Tarnovo. However, I never got to the Black Sea. My agent Stephen Hanselman (who took the photos for this post) and his wife Julia Serebrinsky recently visited …
From the World Heritage inscription: In the history of military architecture, the Fortress of Finland (Suomenlinna) is an outstanding example representative both of the general fortification principles of the period and of its specific characteristics. In 1747, when Finland was part of the Swedish realm, the Diet in Stockholm decided to build a fortress to …
2014 was another landmark year for me in terms of travel and photography. In February, I was named the Travel Photographer of the Year by the North American Travel Journalists Association. In April, I was named the Travel Photographer of the Year by the Central States Chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers. In …