Asia is not only the world’s biggest continent, it’s also the most diverse. Cross a border and you’re in a totally different world. It has something for everyone: foodies, budget backpackers, adventurers, history buffs. Guest blogger Elizabeth Long talks about three of her favorites: Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
What I love about Rome is you can walk all over town without ever walking down a busy street. Thanks to all the piazzas and the maze of narrow, cobblestone streets, it’s easy to lose yourself in the quiet parts of this chaotic city. And you always stumble onto historic sites, beautiful piazzas and interesting shops. For the second time, I traversed the city while avoiding traffic. I walked from Termini train station to my home in the Monteverde neighborhood. I zigzagged eight miles for 5 1/2 hours. Here’s my report.
Rebetiko is Greek jazz that dates back to the Ottoman Empire. After being censored during World War II, it had a huge revival in the second half of the 20th century and is reaching new popularity now. While on the Greek isle of Skiathos, I went to one of the top rebetiko spots in Greece. Ouzeri Anatoli is where legendary Georgos Xintaris has played rebetiko since 1982. With great food and an even better view overlooking the Aegean Sea, it was one of the highlights of my many trips to Greece.
Every summer a group of Michigan State journalism students comes to Rome and I talk to them about my life as a sportswriter in the U.S. and my transformation to a travel writer in Rome. This year they asked some remarkably insightful questions. Here are some of them and how I answered them.
Kevin McAllister doesn’t just go places. He walks there. And he experiences every inch of culture along the way. The 66-year-old retired software salesman just finished walking 900 miles over 70 days, the vast majority over the historic Via Francigena pilgrimmage route that stretches from Canterbury, England, to Southern Italy. I met him during my stay in Cinque Terre last month and told him to look me up when he finished his pilgrimage in Rome. He did. We sat for drinks and he told me his story.
(Editor’s note. While I’m away for the holidays, I am re-running my blog on Christmas in Rome from four years ago.) I grew up in the capital of the commercial world and now live in the capital of the Catholic world. It is Christmas time, a time when capitalism and religion merge into a big, […]
LONDON — One day recently I went from Iran to South Africa, from Senegal to Bhutan. The next day I journeyed from Bolivia to Belarus, from Cyprus to Pakistan. I gazed at beautiful beaches in the Bahamas. I photographed a gorilla in Uganda. I discovered “The best kept secret in India.” And I never left […]
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — I don’t believe time machines will ever exist but I came the closest to experiencing one. I just traveled from one of the oldest cities in the world to one of the newest. Flying six hours from Rome (founded 753 B.C.) to Abu Dhabi (founded 1971), I felt like […]
I’m often asked if I’d ever live anywhere in Italy besides Rome. I know what they’re getting at. If it’s a woman, she read “Under the Tuscan Sun” and thinks life in rural Italy is all Italian poetry and glasses of Chianti in gardens. If it’s a man, they hated Rome’s filth and have a […]
![monia_wedding-22[1]](https://johnhendersontravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/monia_wedding-221-650x433.jpg "monia_wedding-22[1]")
I sipped Prosecco Saturday in the same piazza where Benito Mussolini worked his fascist throng into a froth. I stood in Piazza Venezia, in the shadow of the gargantuan white confectionery monument called Il Vittoriano, in suit and tie, and celebrated the most Italian of Italian traditions. The Italian wedding. No, not mine. It was […]
![IMG_1853[1]](https://johnhendersontravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/img_18531-650x487.jpg "IMG_1853[1]")
Living in Rome is like living in a big city with a small town right across the street. Can’t believe you can get a small-town feel from a city of 2.8 million people who drive like they’re escaping a coming earthquake? Just walk down a street. In fact, walk down many of them. Walk down […]
I’ve always told people wanting to party in Rome that this city isn’t a bar town. It’s a restaurant town. However, it is the world’s greatest bar town in one specific genre: wine bars. Called enotecas in Italian, they enjoyed a renaissance in the 1990s and now are my preferred destination on any night out […]
