If you were given a blind taste test, could you tell the difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $20 bottle or even a $50 bottle? Last year, I listened to a Freakonomics podcast, in which Steve Levitt set out to determine if his friends and colleagues could tell the ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
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The Price Of Wine Is Too Damn High
If you were given a blind taste test, could you tell the difference between a $10 bottle of wine and a $20 bottle or even a $50 bottle? Last year, I listened to a Freakonomics podcast, in which Steve Levitt set out to determine if his friends and colleagues could tell the ...Think Globally, Eat Locally At Culinary Backstreets
Budget-savvy and food-loving visitors to Istanbul have found an excellent resource in Istanbul Eats for several years, and now can find more authentic and off-the-beaten-path tips in Athens, Barcelona, and Shanghai, with Mexico City on the way. Culinary Backstreets was ...Need To Lose Weight? Leave The Country
Americans are bombarded with advertisements for weight loss products. There are pills, special diets, motivational books and videos (think skinny thoughts!), exercise equipment, slimming belts and a host of other hokey products and services. But I've never heard anyone ...I Can Barely Afford To Eat At Panera
A month ago, I was eating a terrific meal at a taverna right on a lovely beach on the Greek island of Patmos when a perverse thought occurred to me.
"I bet this lunch is cheaper than we'd pay at a Panera, in some strip mall somewhere in the U.S.," I said to my wife, who ...Among The Thugs In Crete's Package Holiday Hell
The young man standing in front of me, showing off for his friends, was so ugly and repulsive that I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He had a long, broken nose, thick, dark eyebrows, a cold, vacant stare and a long, skinny, sinister looking face that was covered in Maori ...A Prude Bares It All On A Nude Beach In Crete
Who wants to read a story about a nude beach from a Catholic prude who won't even take their clothes off? A month ago, I wrote a piece about a nude beach in Patmos that generated some hate mail, both from strangers and friends. I'm not a naturist and the fact that I took a ...Ancient Road Found In Greece During Subway Construction
In the northern port city of Thessaloniki in Greece, workers of Metro's construction company found ancient ruins during the building of a new subway. Archaeologists say the 230-foot section of uncovered road was built by Romans nearly 2,000 years ago.
The site was shown ...Three Hotel Bargains In Crete For Less Than $100 Per Night
Crete has it all: frozen-in-time mountain villages, unspoiled beaches, medieval churches and monasteries, the atmospheric Venetian port cities of Rethymno and Chania, and an abundance of hiking, rock climbing and other outdoor activities. The north coast of the island is ...Hospitality: What We Can Learn From The Greeks
Twenty minutes into an uphill walk on a sizzling hot day on the Greek island of Syros, we gave up and decided to take a taxi. My wife and I were pushing a 2-year-old in a stroller, and cajoling our 4-year-old to brave the heat, much to his chagrin, but realized that our ...The Problem With Guidebooks, Or How I Came to Hate Lonely Planet On A Sunday in Crete
Have you ever been so annoyed with a guidebook that you wanted to track down the author and bludgeon them to death with a rusty hatchet? Neither have I, but yesterday I came close.
I almost always invest in a guidebook when I take a trip. But I'm not sure why, because ...Samos, Greece: The Land Of Wine And Honey
My introduction to the island of Samos was a trunk infested with thousands of tiny, prowling insects, feasting on an open bag of fertilizer. We had just arrived in Pythagorion, a port city named after Pythagoras, the famous mathematician who was born there, and the owner of ...A Sunset Mosh Pit In Santorini
Tourism is supposed to be way down in Greece this year, right? Then perhaps someone can explain why there were approximately 35,000 tourists jostling and clawing for space to capture the perfect shot of the setting sun last night in Oia, on the island of Santorini?
I knew ...4 Hotel Bargains In the Greek Isles at $75 Per Night Or Less
With the Euro sliding and many tourists avoiding Greece on the faulty assumption that the country isn't safe, this is a great time to visit the Greek isles. If you can travel outside before outside July and August, you'll find some amazing bargains.
I've spent the last ...How One Greek Village Voted
Greek voters went to the polls on Sunday and I spent a chunk of the day getting to know people at a polling station in a small village on the island of Naxos. By evening's end, I'd witnessed a sea change in the village's political preferences, a bar fight and the counting of ...Party Time In Greece As The National Side Stuns Russia In EURO 2012
There's nothing like being in a soccer-mad country when the national side scores a big win in an important tournament like the World Cup, The European Championships or the African Cup of Nations. On Saturday night, Greece shocked Russia, 1-0, to send the Russians home and ...Picture Perfect Patmos
Have you ever fallen in love with a place before you've even been there? Several years ago, I became obsessed with the Greek island of Patmos, after reading "The Summer of My Greek Taverna," Tom Stone's highly addictive account of his adventures operating a taverna on the ...A Monday Morning Party in Samos
It's 10 a.m., Monday morning and I'm surrounded by intoxicated Greek senior citizens on a lonely mountain road on the island of Samos. Empty ouzo bottles litter the plastic tables encircling the dance floor, and I'm stuffing my face with loukoumades, little Greek-style ...A Honey Crawl In Samos
I've never been a big honey consumer. Sure, I usually have a messy plastic jar of the stuff somewhere in my kitchen, gathering dust, but it usually only comes out when I have a sore throat and want a cup of tea. But shortly after we arrived in Samos, a verdant, ...Living Naked And Free On The Beach In Greece
I spent seventeen years in Catholic schools and that's probably why you'll never see me lolling about naked on a beach. I have no moral opposition to naturists, but like many others, I've observed firsthand that nudists tend to be a bit older, with many old enough to qualify ...Searching For Patmos's Ancient Acropolis
I've spent the better part of the last two decades getting lost all around the world. I wish I could boast that my extensive travels have left me with an impeccable sense of direction that allows me to find even the most poorly marked sites, but that would be a lie. The ...
