Babylonstoren, a three-hundred-year-old farm, first established to grow fruit and vegetables for the Dutch Spice Traders, was purchased in 2007 from a Dutch family that had owned it for over 160 years by a South African billionaire, by the name of Koos Bekker. He and his wife invested hundreds of millions to make it a modern, self sufficient farm and tourist attraction. What brings people here from Cape Town and all over…
We just returned from a South African adventure that was over a year in the making. On a trip to Machu Pichu, we met a couple who raved about a recent trip there. While the long flight had always been a discouragement, we discovered tickets for business class on Turkish Air that were a third of the price of our usual US carrier. We talked to some friends who had flown it…
Our son and his girlfriend chartered a catamaran in Tortola and invited us along. The bedroom was a bit cozy and the toilets, which cannot accept toilet paper, reminded us we were ‘roughing it’. But a boat in the Caribbean? How rough a week is that? We started our visit in White Bay on Jost Van Dyke Island at the Soggy Dollar bar, which sells colorful t-shirts and serves a famous rum…
Growing up near Niagara Falls, New York, I have always taken for granted that water sometimes creates a waterfall. It might even be massive, as the one on the Niagara river. But Karen and I heard tales of a waterfall that is over a mile across and higher than the one I know so well. It just happens to be near the confluence of the Iguazu and Parana rivers, where Brazil, Argentina…
Our good friend Warner was in charge of the itinerary for our last day in Como. He talked with staff at the desk of the Palace Hotel, where we were staying, and found a boat service that would take us around the lower part of Lake Como in an hour. He also arranged for us to have the boat drop us at Villa D’Este in Cernobbio, a short distance up the lake…