Author: Dan

Zanzibar, Tanzania 2024

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Zanzibar is an island off the east coast of Africa, about half way down the coast. It has been occupied by the Portugal, Oman, Germany and most recently England. Today it is part of Tanzania. With a population of about 760,000 it is primarily Muslim.

Our introduction to Tanzania comes from our friend and neighbor Tanya Pergola who has a long history in the country and runs an NGO there. We spent a week in Zanzibar before moving on the the mainland where we spent several more weeks.

Arriving well into the evening we were met at the airport with a driver to take us to the charming beachfront Hodi Hodi lodge on the east coast of the island. Julia, our hostess and East African native, built this seven room hotel about twenty years ago using native materials and labor. As there were few guests during our stay, we had lots of time for Julia to orient us to the island.

The east coast has a lovely sandy beach; however, when the tide goes out the depth is only a foot our so out to the reef about a mile off shore. During this low tide period hundreds of locals engage in fishing and seaweed harvesting.

In order to enjoy some snorkeling we were joined by Belin, a fellow guest at the hotel, and taxied up to the boats to Mnemba Island. The island itself is owned by Bill Gates and is off limits, but there is snorkeling on the surrounding reefs. The scene was rather chaotic with many boats and few facilities. At the extreme north end of the island is Nungwi Beach where most of the tourist hotel are located. Major new hotels are being built by Chinese companies on many parts of the island.

One highlight of our stay was the Shambaland amusement facilities with its miniature golf. We managed to play in four or five countries during the summer. The owner, Luigi, was a delightful character. While many of the resorts where exclusive, we did talk our way into Ocean Paradise for lunch. Here we paid the bill and starting walking down the beach to our hotel, hotel security came chasing after Dan insisting he return to the hotel to pay the bill at a different location….Dan kept walking.

On the 23 July, we headed to the airport and off to our first safari.

Leaving Hodi Hodi, we had our driver takes us thru the middle of the island, out to Upendo Beach on the lower east side for lunch and then into Stonetown at our hotel. This gave us a chance to see the agriculture on the island, primarily rice paddies and banana plantations. While Zanzibar was once a ‘spice’ island, that is now primarily a tourist attraction.

While Stonetown is a World Heritage site, little of its colonial heritage remains. We stayed at the Serena hotel on the beach on the west side of the island. Each night at dusk we could see hundred of open wooden fishing dories, each with a crew of about a dozen men, go out to sea. At night it looked like there was a city several miles offshore, a scene created by the lights on the fishing boats. In the early morning the boat were return and head for the fish market. Dan visited the fish market and found that most of the catch were a mackerel type fish used mostly to create a fish sauce for export.

Chumbe Island off the south west of Zanzibar is a private marine reserve with a lodge and a dozen room. We got a tour and later had dinner with the director back at our hotel. A charming spot with good snorkeling.

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Italy & Slovenia Road Trip 2024

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We watched the boat hauled and inspected the bottom and running gear. It was the right decision to have the bottom sanded and painted with the props sent out to be tuned. Expect performance to return to original specifications.

Into the rental car and off to Slovenia with our first stop in Ljubljana. What a wonderful surprise this small capital city turned out to be. Great architecture, food, wine and people…..and spotless. Wonderful Puppet Museum and Castle in the city. Next stop was the famous Lake Bled, disappointing facilities but great natural beauty. However, we did get to play miniature golf.

On route to Balzano we passed thru the spectacular Kranjska Gorge that runs for many miles. Passed from Slovenia to Italy with a small piece of Austria thrown in. Quick stops in Sillian and Brixen, both lovely small mountain villages. Blazon is a small mountain town where we stayed in a quaint lodge next to a magnificent villa. Continuing thru the spectacular Dolomites mountains we arrived at Borgo Valsugana.

From there we visited Arte Sella, an amazing art park where all of the sculptures are outdoors and formed from natural materials. Dozens of artistic presentations in all shapes and sizes.

From there it was on to Verona with its Roman colosseum and Grand Opera. Carmen with hundreds of cast, horses, etc….what a show. Terrible miniature golf course. On to Padua with its magnificent town hall unlike any we have ever seen. A two story affair with retail on the street level and an enormous open hall above.

Our last overnight was in Bassano del Grappa with its great covered bridge and the start of a canal system parallel to the river. A lovely city with lots of fine retail shops for Marcia.

Back to Venice airport for our flight to Zanzibar.

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Greek Road Trip May 2024…and a little Albania

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Leaving Barcelona we flew to Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece located at the north side of the Aegean Sea. A great waterfront park, Roman ruins and the regular mix of plazas and cathedrals. We then headed to Olympus National Park and visited the old city. 150 mile drive that day took as across lots of farm land to Kalabka.

Kalabaka is the home of the famous Hermit Caves that are really monasteries build on these pilars of stone. As atheists we continue to wonder at the fortitude of those dedicated to a god. Really look at the pictures of these structures. We did enjoy the wine in this region at $2.50/liter.

Moving on to Karpenisi we encounter the mountain roads in Greece with their repeating hair pin turns. We were now up the mountains at the local ski resort with amazing views. On our way to Fidakia we encountered a washed out road that really made one wonder if going ahead was a good idea, but it worked. Beautiful lakes and small mountain villages.

Driving back down to sea level, we spent the night at Preveza. On to the Roman ruins at Nikopoli that seem to stretch forever. The lovely walled city of Ioannini was a wonderful lunch stop and chance to wander the back streets. On our way to catch the ferry to Corfu, we came across an amazing mountain road at Vrosina…hang on.

Arriving in Corfu where True East had spent the winter, we found all of the works had not been completed….so, off on another road trip. This time we headed north for a tour of Albania. We started on the ferry from Corfu to Serranda where we toured the city and rented a car the following day.

Following along the coast we headed for the capital city of Tirana. Well, it kind of follows the coast about 3,000 feet above the steep cliffs. A number of new seaside resorts are being carved out where there might be a minuscule stretch of beach. We stopped at Orikum to inspect the only marina in Albania, pretty remote but serviceable. On thru the mountains to the port of Durres. It is primarily a commercial port with facilities for a couple of recreational boats far removed from the city. Promises of a major marina/housing development….promises, promises.

Tirana turned out to be an iteresting city with some of most interesting high rise architecture we ever seen. Headed south we were again in the mountains as we worked our way down to the ancient walled city of Gjirokaster, just wonderfull. Albania built about 175,000 underground shelters during the Cold War, big and small. We took a side trip to Siri i Kalter National Park, home of the Blue Hole. This is a naturally occurring spring that is very deep and very blue and offered a chance for a good hike.

Now it is time to return to Corfu and fire up True East for an Adriatic summer.

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Istanbul is where east meets west across the Bosphorus Straight. Before coming we watched the Netflix series “Rise of the Empire”set in 1453, highly recommended. Also recommended is the book “Ataturk” by Andrew Mango, Ataturk, Mustafa Kemal, was the founder of the modern Turkiye after WWI.

We stayed in the old city, east side, in the Hilton Hagia Sophia Mansion up against the wall of Topkapi. The big three sites in Istanbul are Sofia Hagia built in 537, the Blue Mosque 1609, and Topkapi Palace from the 1460s. All are astonishing and reflect the history and power of this country. We had a wonderful guide Gamze Atrtaman for two days.

A special visit is required to the recently renovated Basilica Cistern dating from the time of Justinian in 532. This is one of many built during the Roman period of sustain the city in times of drought or siege. As usual we visited many parts of the city by trail, subway, taxi, and ferry.

Back to the airport for a couple of hour flight to Kapadocya (Cappadocia) where we stayed at the wonderful Taskonaklar Hotel. This is a very ancient area where people built their shelter from what was available, stone soft enough to create elaborate dwellings and cities in the mountainous environment. Ali Coskuner was our guide to the wonders of this area, after we took the early morning ballon ride.

The underground city that housed 3,000 people of weeks in times of danger and for much of the winter, monasteries carved into the rocks, fairy towers of stone pillars with hats. Please look at the pictures.

We were privileged to be here during the first round of the elections where the current president, Recep Tayyio Erdogon, (for 20 years) is being challenged for the first time. We were also fortune to have dinner with the owner of our hotel in Kapadocya Tolga Asarcali. We learned his story about returning to his native village and converting a family property into a small family owned high end resort. On his recommendation, we stayed at a number of similar facilities in our Turkish travels.

As a footnote, Dan visited these Turkey on business 20 years ago and had a several hour meeting with Recep Erdogon. Erdogon was new to office and held great promise for the country. Returning to the same locations, the natural magnificence has not changed. The country is clearly less secular, not surprising given that it is 90% muslim. It is clearly more expensive with much improved infrastructure. One striking example is the how sparkling clean the mosques are, particularly compared to the cathedrals in Europe.

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Fall in Europe 2020

We returned to Barcelona on Sept 22, just in time to greet our arriving guests from Coconut Grove, Wes and Alexis. A couple of days of sightseeing and visits with old friends before we were all off to Palma, Mallorca.

Beatrix and Graham, also from the Grove, had invited us all to join them for Grahams birthday bash. And a bash it was with a day on the beautiful yacht Falcoa Uno with great friends imbibing, swimming and dancing. A few more days on the island with our wonderful hosts and it was back to Barcelona for a few day.

The opportunity arose to join old friend Alessandro in Venice for a few days. What a great time to go with the Covid effect still in its grips. Turned out Alexis had a friend with a wonderful flat in the city that was available, so off we went. Walking the quietest city we have ever been in, the loudest noise was a rolling bag. A day trip to Murano and the charming Burano. A wonderful visit with both Alessandro and his new friend.

Lake Malern 2021

It was mid September by the time we got True East back to her winter home a few miles below Stockholm. What we called ‘Indian Summer’ in New England came in late September and October, in Sweden it comes on August 15th and might last a month. We had planned to cruise Lake Malern in True East, a plan to be reconsidered given the weather.

Lake Malern is Sweden’s third largest lake and lies west of Stockholm. While it is only about 100 miles long, the shoreline is enormous and much of it undeveloped. At the turn of the century, the wealthiest families in Sweden building mansions or castles around the lake, more than 60 of these huge estates.

Our goal was to circle around the lake, and visit as many as possible. This turned out to be a 300 mile trip over 9 days. As a guide, we decided to follow the map of the major castles open to the public…..on season. We quickly learned the season was OVER. Nevertheless, we could at least take the grand tour and see the exterior of the buildings and the grounds.

First stop was Gripsholms, one of royal residences. While it was open, we decided that we would return here on the boat in the spring. We proceeded on to Sundbyholms Castle where we had a reservation for the night…oops, not in the castle but a small cottage. The next day we passed Stora Castle or what we call the calendar castle….4 towers, 12 turrets, 52 rooms and 365 windows. This has been in the same family for generations.

We stayed in one of Swedens former industrial cities, Eskilistuna, for two days. A charming town with many of the old mills converted to museums. At dinner, our hostess revealed that she grew up near Stora and used to play in the castle with the children of the owners.

After a few more castle views, we arrived in Vasteras, a delightful city build along the river with a park running the length of the river. It was then on to Uppsala with a few more castle views along the way. This is Swedens fourth largest city with a little over 100,000 people. It is a university town filled with all the life that brings.

Our plan was to stay at Rosenberg Castle, arriving we discovered that it is always closed on Sunday night….enough, on to a hotel at the airport only 10 miles away. From our base at the airport hotel, we visited a few more castles including the Royal Palace at Drottingham, magnificent. The train from the airport into Stockholm is only 20 minutes so we spent a couple more days exploring the city before returning to Barcelona.