Cave In

The tow truck raced past Graham Cave, the world’s most bypassed state park. Within spittin’ distance of I-70, the cave entrance resembles Mick Jagger’s lips. For eons, folks took shelter beneath this stiff upper lip and sat around ancient cook … Read More

French Connection

At sunset we sailed out of Marseille in the shadow of the majestic Cathedrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure, more comfortable and relaxed than when my great grandfather left the port, pursued by authorities for escaping a fortress monastery in Alverno, Italy. He was … Read More

Barcelona

We heard nothing but good things about Barcelona. Sometimes such heaping praise brings letdown. But from our hotel in the center of the city, walking the most spacious boulevards of any city I’ve experienced we easily dodged the robust cadre … Read More

Graveyard with a View

Graveyards hold a special fascination for me. If you’ve read any of my books, you’ll agree. This one may have the best view I’ve ever experienced. Built centuries ago on a mountaintop overlooking Villefranche, the town of Eze Is a … Read More

Florence

His hands are too big, his head oversized. Yet the statue is considered one of the greatest works from the chisel of an artist. I circled this marble masterpiece like an unworthy prize fighter sizing up Muhammad Ali, snapping photographs … Read More

Tuscany

Our drive through the northern Tuscan countryside came too late in the year to see the endless fields of sunflowers. No matter. This is Tuscany. Our path wound through two hilltop villages, nee city states, whose medieval fortress walls now … Read More

Roma

Next time we approach Rome we will do it the way Hannibal did in 211 BCE. He took elephants over the Alps to surprise the Roman Empire, stopping short of the Eternal City because he lacked the necessary supply lines … Read More

Where is Hercules when you need him?

The 79AD eruption of Vesuvius claimed not only Pompeii, but other towns in the shadow of the volcano. Herculaneum–some say founded by Hercules, but at the very least named for him– a prosperous community used as a getaway for wealthy … Read More

When the Volcano Blows

Vesuvius, a beauty, couldn’t hold it any longer. Beneath the mountain seawater poured through fissures into Mother Earth’s fiery furnaces causing a titanic cataclysm, and in late summer79 AD she began a series of eruptions lasting two days, blowing clouds … Read More