Features

by Larry Taylor, Fullerton, CA

The San Blas Islands, off the coast of Panama, are one of the last pristine, undeveloped areas of the world. These islands, with swaying coconut palms, soft sand beaches and colorful coral reefs surrounded by the turquoise Caribbean, are the epitome of a tropical paradise.

The name San Blas was only vaguely familiar to my wife and me when we read that Windjammer Barefoot Cruises (Miami Beach, FL; phone 800/327-2601 or visit www.windjammer.com) was going to add this destination their 2003 offerings. Reading the brochure’s promise of learning...

—Kathryn Whitmer, Bellingham, WA

If you are fascinated by the art treasures at the Hermitage and are not content with a typical 2-hour tour with hard-to-hear commentary, an extraordinary opportunity awaits you in St. Petersburg, Peter the Great’s gleaming city on the Gulf of Finland.

In the January 2001 issue of ITN (page 12), an article by Dorothy Olim Krone (who had read Marjorie Maxwell’s letter in the May 2000 issue, page 52) about attending a 2-week summer school program offered by the Hermitage in cooperation with the European University of St. Petersburg prompted me to...