Travel

If mention of Austria conjures up images of tiny villages of flower-bedecked chalets, cows and sheep grazing on hillsides so steep you wonder how they can stand, and people who cling proudly to their colorful traditions, you’re probably picturing the Tyrol.

A Mayan ruin   By Victor Block Much about the island says Mexico. Archeological sites hint of the rich Mayan civilization that once flourished there. Parts of...

By Victor Block MADISON COUNTY, VA — The intersection of two narrow roads that is the closest thing to the center of Syria, Virginia— population about...

A beach in Negril. Photos/submitted By Victor Block One meal my wife Fyllis and I will long remember was a gourmet five-course candle-lit dinner served in a...

While sipping our welcoming glasses of Champagne onboard, we watched a camel and llama grazing nearby. This small town tableau absorbed us into the local culture from the start.

The setting resembled a stunning picture postcard come to life. Soaring, snow-capped mountains provided a backdrop for green-clad terraces carved out of steep hillsides. In fields below, men and women wearing a rainbow of colorful clothing bent low to pick golden shoots and tie them into huge bundles, which they carried to a rickety wooden wagon pulled by a pair of water buffalo.

With my mother-in-law’s 90th birthday approaching, it didn’t take our family long to decide to take a seven-day Caribbean cruise.

As the pounding of the sheriff’s wooden staff calls the court to order, James Hubbard prepares to defend his client. He is an orphan’s guardian who stands accused of squandering his charge’s estate. Centering his neat wig and smoothing the frilly lace sleeves of his shirt, the attorney bows to the bench and begins to plead his case. This scene is repeated today in the same place where it occurred during the 1770s. That is when James Hubbard lived and practiced law in Williamsburg, at a time that the town served as the capital of the Virginia colony.

Some drivers follow a route along one of the highest roads in the world. Others steer their car through a much lower setting which hugs an ocean coastline at sea level. Then there are journeys that take people through some of Mother Nature’s most magnificent handiwork.

Visitors may enjoy a carriage ride in the historic district. Photo/submitted By Victor Block In 1607, a small band of settlers founded the first permanent English...