Columns

by Deanna Palic (Part one of two)

Nineteen years ago I was totally captivated by the locale in the film “Gabriela.” The movie starred one of Brazil’s hottest stars, Sonia Braga, and the esteemed Italian film idol Marcello Mastroianni. “Gabriela” was filmed in such an enchanting yet unidentifiable colonial seaside town that I felt compelled to wait until all the credits rolled and the town was identified. Paraty, sometimes spelled Parati, has remained on my “must see” list since 1984.

Good fortune came in the form of an invitation from the Rio Convention and Visitor’s Bureau...

by Ed Kinney

The first trip Moreen and I took to the Dodecanese Islands area of the Mediterranean was in 1974. Sadly, then, as today, travelers were being advised to be cautious due to the ongoing hostilities between Greece and Turkey re the island of Cyprus.

Its macabre, but we’ve found that the optimum time to travel is during such periods as there are fewer competing tourists.

This trip to Rhodes and Symi began our lifelong interest in the Mediterranean and Middle East, where we’ve been fortunate to experience the area’s diverse cultures and have met now-lifelong...

During our travels in Middle East countries, my wife, Moreen, and I have seen the horse valued as a treasured necessity for both transportation and animal husbandry. Yet, as in Western countries, we’ve also seen horses used for sports, though most of the games are quite different from the ones we view.

You may have seen on TV scenes of an Afghanistan horseman riding wildly in a cloud of dust chasing another horseman carrying a sheep’s or goat’s head; buzkashee is Afghanistan’s national game. Eastern Turkey also has a sport where men ride horses at breakneck speeds; however, their...