Category Archives: Europe

Portugal Wrap-Up: Aveiro, Lagos & Cascais

Posted on April 4, 2018 by jayandtanya

No real narrative for this week’s posting, just photos of a few other places visited during January in Portugal. About time since we’re now on our way back from spending February/March in the US. Aveiro Aveiro is a cute town … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Portugal | 2 Comments

Albufeira: The Highs and Lows of the Algarve

Posted on March 28, 2018 by jayandtanya

How can a place so pretty be so trashy at the same time? Our two voracious vagabonds asked themselves the same question during their week in Albufeira, a summertime tourist mecca along the southern Portugal Algarve coast. Albufeira has one … Continue reading →

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Coimbra: The City That Studies

Posted on March 21, 2018 by jayandtanya

There’s an old Portuguese saying that goes something like: “Lisbon plays, Braga prays, Porto works and Coimbra studies”. T and J aren’t sure how much studying actually goes on in Coimbra but the city certainly has the oldest and most … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Portugal | 1 Comment

Tavira

Posted on March 14, 2018 by jayandtanya

Tavira is a small town of about 26,000 along the southwestern coast of Portugal and was the first stop in the Algarve region for our travel-junky pair. There’s nothing especially zippy going on in Tavira and the that seems to … Continue reading →

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High Alcohol Concentration in Porto

Posted on March 6, 2018 by jayandtanya

January found our restless duo in Portugal, in search of some warmer weather than in chilly Deutschland. While warmer than most of Europe during the first month of the year, Portugal still has its gray, rainy days and the temperature … Continue reading →

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Winter Olympics–Then and Now

Posted on February 19, 2018 by jayandtanya

It seems especially appropriate right now, while the 2018 Winter Olympic Games are underway in PyeongChang, to take a look back at one of the past Winter Olympics and make some comparisons. Last July, Tanya and Jay visited the site … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Chernobyl: A day in the exclusion zone

Posted on December 30, 2017 by jayandtanya

Early in the morning of April 25, 1986, nuclear engineer Alexander Akinhov was busy preparing his night-shift team for a special test they were about to conduct at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant #4 in northern Ukraine. The team was … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Ukraine | 9 Comments

Night Train to Lviv

Posted on December 20, 2017 by jayandtanya

“You want to take a train to…where?” asked the German travel agent in Wiesbaden. “Lviv, Ukraine.” Jay answered. “Lviv?” “Yes, Lviv.” The travel agent looked perplexed as she searched her screen. “Oh, you mean, Lemberg.” Thinking that the agent was … Continue reading →

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Ukraine: Chernivtsi

Posted on December 13, 2017 by jayandtanya

The intrepid twosome rode quietly in the back of a Kiev taxi as it made its way through the gathering dusk and cold wintry haze for the 40-minute ride to Kiev’s Boryspil International Airport. After entering the airport departure area … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Ukraine | 5 Comments

Ukraine: Kiev

Posted on December 4, 2017 by jayandtanya

Two weeks in Ukraine in November left lasting impressions on our traveling duo. This is a country with an incredibly complex and sad past, an uneasy present and an uncertain future (as if the future is ever certain). To say … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Ukraine | 4 Comments