Travel

The Golden Gate At 75

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Vacations

George Medovoy

Special To The Jewish Week

San Francisco — That icon of all icons, the Golden Gate Bridge, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, so I happily used the occasion to revisit this engineering masterpiece, which links San Francisco with Marin County.

Making a couple of days of it, I combined the visit with things to see and do within easy range of the famous span, whose unique “International Orange” color glimmers in the western sun.

Golden Gate Bridge San Fransisco

Mile-High Culture

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

Growing up near New York’s Metropolitan Museum, I had no idea how lucky I was to have access to a room full of Clyfford Still’s wild, uninhibited canvases. With their signature vertical drips of paint, they reminded me of the water damage on the wall of our spare room. When I told my dad this, he always said I’d appreciate Still when I got older: “He’s one of the giants.”

Clyfford Still Colorado Denver

The Marrakesh Express

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

The first thing you may notice about Marrakesh, especially if you arrive in the morning, is how cool and fresh the air is. Here on the desert fringe of the Atlas Mountains, chilly, star-filled nights give way to a searing daytime sun. The antidote to this arid climate, as generations of Western visitors have found out, is a cup of fresh-squeezed juice from a fruit cart.

Marrakesh Medina Morocco The Majorelle Museum of Islamic Art

The Lehigh Valley, A Low-Key Berkshires

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

Years ago, when a cousin became engaged to a doctor with a practice in Pennsylvania steel country, the whole family was anxious. Could their urbane New York girl find happiness in the rolling green landscape of the Lehigh Valley? And would she be the only Jew?

Lehigh valley Pennsylvania

In The Balkan Countryside

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:42:41 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

I’m increasingly convinced that if you want to really see another culture, especially in the globalized West, you have to get out of the cities and into the countryside.

The Titanic, And Beyond

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:38:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

It says something about Belfast’s troubled political past that the Northern Irish capital would rather be known for a shipwreck.

2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the much-heralded launch and subsequent spectacular sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic, the vessel that sold a zillion movie tickets. Belfast, home to the shipyards that built the behemoth, has been capitalizing on this claim to fame ever since — and in this centennial year, the mood is so celebratory it’s easy to forget the Titanic was actually a colossal failure.

Belfast

The Authenticity Bind

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:25:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

Lately, while reading about other people’s travels, I’ve noticed a recurring phrase. It’s expressed in different ways, but with the same ominous sense of urgency, the gist of which is: “Get there before it’s too late.”

Or: “I give Bucharest another three years, max.” (Then what?) “Go to Olinda now, before it’s gone.” (To where?) “In five years, Apulia will be Tuscany.” (Heaven forfend!)

tourism

A Green Getaway

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:54:08 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

I ran into an Irishman in a Barcelona hair salon in February, and when I told him of my plan to visit his country for St. Patrick’s Day, he replied: “Oh, St. Patrick’s Day is a U.S. holiday — an Irish-American thing, really.”

Well, I felt like a rube. But then I remembered how, years ago, lots of smug people told me not to expect pizza in Italy before my first trip there, claiming the dish was an American invention (advice that, obviously, was way off base).

Still Reinventing After All These Years

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

We all think we know Fort Lauderdale, a sunny winter escape as familiar to many of us as the Upper West Side.

Fort Lauderdale is the airport we fly into (Miami is strictly for international travel, and then only reluctantly). It’s the spring break of myth, the destination for Chinese food at Christmas with the grandparents. More recently, halted cranes and foreclosures have added an unsettling note to these palm-lined boulevards.

Florida

From The Firehouse To The Soccer Pitch

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Vacations

Gerald Eskenazi

Special To The Jewish Week

I have found Jewish outcroppings and history in Shanghai, Mumbai, and Johannesburg. But when I recently headed for South America, speaking on a cruise, I didn’t know what to look for when I got off the ship in Chile.

You see, I’ve got this obsession to find Jewishness in places you really don’t expect. What I didn’t anticipate was, in a country with only 20,000 Jews, I’d have some memorable, offbeat Jewish experiences.

Down East Culture

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:35:33 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

The urge to get away for a weekend may be primal, but New York’s sprawl can make it tough to find a true change of scene. A half-hour outside Los Angeles or San Francisco, you leave buildings behind for wild mountains or oceanfront cliffs. A half-hour out of Manhattan, and you’re still mired in traffic.

But with enough patience, I-95 is the conduit to a rustic New England adventure. With a terrific Jewish Film Festival, a Dégas exhibit and last-of-winter discounts, March is the perfect time to explore one of my longtime favorite cities — Portland, Me.

Beyond The Theme Park

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:58:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

Many of us New Yorkers grew up believing that Florida begins at West Palm Beach and ends at Miami. And for a lot of us, Florida is like Brigadoon — a place that only exists during sporadic intervals, or more accurately, during the interval from Thanksgiving to Passover.

In this mindset, Orlando and its Central Florida environs serve only as a theme-park escape from cruddy weather. But there’s another Orlando that’s a grownup world away from cartoons, castles or celluloid.

Florida Orlando

Beyond The Pitch, A Sense Of Cool

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

It’s springtime in Manchester, London’s gritty northern sibling, which sits quietly ignored by most visitors to the U.K. Though nary a green shoot has yet this year to emerge from the ground, a glance around reveals a city in long-awaited blossom.

Manchester

A Portuguese Paradise

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:18:15 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

As you survey the deep blue Atlantic that surrounds Madeira and gaze over volcanic peaks with the scent of orchids in the air, you may feel like you’ve discovered a lost paradise.

Nearly 600 years ago, Portuguese explorers probably felt the same way when they stumbled upon the uninhabited island. There were no humans on these virgin shores — just lush green valleys thick with riotous pink blooms, waves crashing on blackened cliffs and hundreds of colorful birds. Is it any wonder those sun-struck sailors were inspired to pursue the Age of Discovery?

A Jewish Cultural Olympiad

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:46:00 +0000

Vacations

Hilary Larson

Travel Writer

The Olympics are coming!

All over London, cloaked in yet another layer of once-unthinkable snowfall, people look to this summer’s Games for much-needed cheer. The record chill that has seized Europe this winter seems to mirror the mood across the Continent. From the British Isles to the Urals, Europeans are depressed about falling incomes, rising taxes and bleak prospects, and the punishing cold just seems to rub it all in.

London 2012 Olympics