Dec 13th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
When I found cheap airfare from Istanbul to Ljubljana, I didn't find many other travelers who'd been there or even say for sure which country it's in. The tiny of country of Slovenia is slightly smaller than New Jersey and its capital city isn't known for much other than being difficult to spell and pronounce (say "lyoob-lyAH-nah"). After spending a few days there last month, I quickly fell ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Venice posts
10 reasons to travel to Ljubljana
Dec 13th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
When I found cheap airfare from Istanbul to Ljubljana, I didn't find many other travelers who'd been there or even say for sure which country it's in. The tiny of country of Slovenia is slightly smaller than New Jersey and its capital city isn't known for much other than being difficult to spell and pronounce (say "lyoob-lyAH-nah"). After spending a few days there last month, I quickly fell ...Knocked up abroad: planning travel with a baby
Oct 25th, 2011 at 9:00AM: Let's get this out of the way: you can travel with a baby. Many new parents feel that once they have a child, their travel days are over, but many parents will tell you that the first six months are the easiest time to travel with a baby. Is it easy? Not exactly, but with enough planning and the right attitude, it's not as hard as you might think. Is it selfish? Probably, but so is most travel. ...Castles in Greece in danger
Oct 8th, 2011 at 9:00AM: When people think of castles, they usually think of those in Western Europe such as Spain, France, and Germany. Eastern Europe, however, has just as many if not more.
Greece has some of the best, like the castle of Methoni photographed here by Wolfram Sinapius. Having been fought over by the Byzantines, Venetians, Crusaders, Ottomans, and many others, it seems every island and hilltop has its ...Top 5 MTV music videos that inspire travel
Aug 1st, 2011 at 12:01PM: If you're as old as or younger than MTV, which turns 30 today, then you probably can't recall when MTV (short for "Music Television") played music videos and nothing but. MTV launched on August 1, 1981, with a handful of videos filmed mostly on stages or sets tricked out with some lighting and a few props. As MTV grew in popularity, more and more musicians went on location to shoot miniature films ...
Venice's Island of the Dead, Isola San Michele
Jul 26th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
Half an hour away by vaporetto, Venice's waterbus, from the chaos of Saint Mark's square, is the Isola San Michele, a stopping point between the city of Venice and the island of Murano. Circling the city of Venice by boat towards the north, the lagoon is paved with small islands, but Isola San Michele turns heads. It is a small island surrounded by terracotta brick wall punctuated by arched ...National Geographic iPad app offers 50 Places of a Lifetime
May 13th, 2011 at 8:00AM: There is no doubt about it, the iPad has changed the way we consume media and altered how we define what a magazine is. Those of us who use Apple's insanely popular gadget have gotten use to the idea that our "magazine's" now include audio, video, and interactive elements that just aren't possible in the print versions. This is demonstrated perfectly in a new app from National Geographic, which ...Love in Venice: how a grumpy gondolier helped show me the heart of his city
May 3rd, 2011 at 11:00AM:
It's April and the light is pale but warm, the color of Prosecco. My sister and I have been gleefully playing in the maze all morning, meandering over bridges and around beckoning corners, rolling our eyes at the rookie tourists huddled over wrinkled maps in every campo. They haven't yet reached our level of enlightenment. They don't realize that to find one's self one must lose one's self, an ...Celebrate Italy's 150th birthday in Torino
Mar 17th, 2011 at 1:30PM: 150 years ago, Italy became a country. Well, sort of. Venice and Rome didn't join for another 9 years, so many Italians will be waiting until 2020 for the big celebration of the Risorgimento, as the unification is called in Italian. Nevertheless, as Italy's first capital city in 1861, Torino (aka Turin, home of the famed Shroud) is celebrating all year, including the reopening today of the ...Fat Tuesday - top 5 places to party for Carnival
Mar 8th, 2011 at 3:30PM:
Fat Tuesday is the culmination of Mardi Gras, Carnival, Carnevale, and like minded celebrations that take place across the world today. From Guatemala to Greece, Fat Tuesday represents the last bastion of excess in Christian culture before the Lent fasting season begins. The streets pulse with energy and revelers don costumes, throw beads, shout sheenisms, and generally have a booze-fueled ...Ten great hotel bars to see and be "scene"
Mar 4th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Craving insider access to the latest celeb hot spots? We've got the skinny on the latest "it" venues brimming with notables, views to die for and parties you just can't miss. With venues such as these we advise you to tread carefully, for your name may be the next to end up splattered across the front page of Page Six... don't say we didn't warn you.
Thompson Toronto
Bringing guests ...10 unforgettable experiences in Venice, Italy
Feb 16th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
Visiting Venice is a lot like living in a painting. The colors and reflections feel ephemeral. You blink and the picture changes. The size of Venice ceases to exceed its usefulness as no corner, road, bridge, or shop seems wasted or useless. Each thing plays a part in defining her character. The peeling paint reflects glories of the past, with the new layers an homage to the upkeep of a ...Five great European budget-friendly travel sites
Dec 3rd, 2010 at 9:30AM: Practical, how-to budget travel advice is indispensible. There's something particularly valuable about travel advice that opposes the emphasis on expensive hotels and other forms of high-end consumption that characterizes the contemporary travel media, perhaps especially in regions like Europe where costs are generally quite high.
Budget-friendly travel in Europe is no impossible dream, and the ...Grantourismo blogger on guidebooks and travel writing
Nov 30th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Last week I posted a Q & A with blogger Lara Dunston and her husband and partner Terence Carter about their travel project and blog Grantourismo. In addition to good advice about renting a vacation apartment and getting "under the skin" of a place when traveling, they had a lot of interesting things to say about guidebooks, both from their experiences writing them and how they see travelers ...Wet in Venice: an unexpected gift in Italy
Sep 21st, 2010 at 3:34PM: In October 2002, Bush and Cheney were gearing up to invade Iraq and I was encountering my first experiences as a not-so-welcome American in Europe. My whole trip had been carefully scripted, at least as far as where I'd sleep at night, but I'd left open the question of where to stay in Venice, the city I would fly home from. As I sat in the small office off the kitchen of the Tuscan farmhouse I'd ...Conversations with a Gondolier
Jul 29th, 2010 at 12:06PM: The sleek, black gondola is Venice's most well-known symbol. Hand-crafted down to the smallest detail, this ancient method of transportation is often viewed as a try-before-you-die experience for tourists. But what about the man behind the oar?
Today, there are 425 gondoliers who ply the waters of the Venetian lagoon, and, contrary to appearances, they are not just pretty faces with great ...17 great destinations for romance
May 21st, 2010 at 3:30PM:
Some say that romance is a lost art - but it's not. It's just hiding, waiting to be uncovered in some of the most beautiful places around the globe. Whether you are trying to show that special someone that they truly are special, making a proposal, or rekindling the flame you once had with your spouse, setting the stage is your first step to success. Whether you are searching for the perfect ...The 20 greatest cities in the world for foodies
Mar 11th, 2010 at 8:29AM: Once upon a time, the world's food capitals were a mere few well-known locales like Paris, New York, and Bangkok. All the action (and the eyes, and the forks) were focused there.
Recently, though, many areas of the world have expanded and improved both their menus and their talents in the kitchen, resulting in far more places staking their claims in the classy world of quality dining. ...10 great romantic destinations
Feb 2nd, 2010 at 2:32PM: Some people like to travel for food. Others prefer to travel for sun. Still others enjoy traveling so they can share a secluded destination with a loved one. Here are ten romantic destinations for couples of all ages to enjoy... together.
Verona, Italy
Located in the northeast part of Italy near the Swiss border, Verona is most famously known as the setting of William Shakespeare's passionate ...Airport security fail
Jan 12th, 2010 at 6:30PM:
We give the TSA a lot of well-deserved guff here on Gadling, but we can't blame them for the picture above, which shows a security officer at Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy, occupying his or her time with a bit of solitaire.
You're off the hook this time, TSA. But we still haven't forgotten about this.
[Photo courtesy of FailBlog, via the Vagabondish Twitter feed] ...Cruising the Greek Isles on the MSC Musica: Best trip 2009
Dec 31st, 2009 at 2:30PM: I never saw myself as a cruise ship sort of traveler until MSC Musica made me a changed woman.
I'm the person who lived for two years in N'Jowara, The Gambia in a room at the back of an empty shop house without running water, window panes or electricity. Until my MSC Musica cruise, my extended boat travel was five days on the Niger River in Mali, first perched on feed sacks in a ramshackle wooden ...
