Category Archives: travel

The French Riviera.  The mere mention brings expectations of wealth, wonder, wondrous women, wondrous women of wealth, and lots of yachts.  And one of the wealthier wonders along this stretch of France’s southern coastline is St. Tropez, home for many years of that quintessential French starlet Brigitte Bardot—another wondrous woman of wealth who probably likes lots of yachts.

St. Tropez exudes a very special charm, from the narrow winding streets lines by tall, colorful apartments to the bright and airy outdoor market.  Cafés punctuate the corners, and restaurants overlook the waters edge.  The marina is an incredible mix of wealth and utility, ranging from multimillion-dollar yachts to small fishing boats and everything in between.

Enjoy the scenery, and let me know if you can spot the photo containing Brigitte Bardot (I only ask because I certainly couldn’t find it):

It’s Kept Promises Week here on the old blog.  This is the week I get caught up on stuff I’ve promised to do but kept putting off because of more pressing writing duties on my latest mystery novel, The Globe.

And today it’s a continuation of my blog on The Outer Banks.  Specifically, the Currituck Beach Light, pictures of which I said I would post in a future blog.

As you’ll recall, I managed to photograph many lighthouses on this particular leg of our trip to D.C. last May, but none were to me as strikingly beautiful as this all-brick example of classic 19^th Century Neo-Gothic architecture.  Unfortunately, the skies worked against me that day, and the structure is a bit lost against the bland, solid overcast background.

You’ll notice that some pictures are actually duplicated, but have been post-processed in Google’s Picasa for black-and-white conversion and, in a couple of cases, special effects to blur out all but the main focus of the photograph.  I simply love showing off what you can do with this free, powerful easy to use photo-editing software.

Malta—a small island with a big history.  Everybody goes to Malta, it seems.  The Sicani went there.  So, too, did the opther ancients–the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the Romans.  Not to be outdone, later invaders included the Byzantines, Napoleon (who found the cuisine so yummy that he spent the rest of his life reminiscing about it by placing his hand on his stomach), the British, and invading hordes of unstoppable tourists (you didn’t really fall for that last clickable link, did you?).

We were part of that final group.  And while some of the residents of Malta probably considered it an invasion, we came armed with cameras rather than canon.  Speaking of artillery, our ship was given a canon salute leaving the Grand Harbour (thank our British cousins for that spelling of “harbor;” I had nothing to do with it).  At least I think it was a salute, because we never returned fire.  But, then, we were on a cruise ship.

In between arriving in the early a.m. and getting fired upon during our late afternoon departure, we saw some spectacular sights and some classic Baroque architecture.  Speaking of Baroque, I once knew a collector of art and antiques who hated that style.  He would collect anything else, everything else, anything but—no matter what the condition or the price.  As he put it, “If it ain’t Baroque, don’t nix it.”

Sorry.  Couldn’t resist.  I haven’t told a joke, even a bad one, on this blog in quite a while.  That one just slipped out.  Now, back to the travel stuff.

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen so many fortifications in one place during my entire life as I witnessed in Malta.  There were everywhere, but the Grand Harbour in particular seemed ringed with them.  But you know what I say about Europe—where there’s a castle, a cathedral cannot be far beyond.  Malta is no exception.

Interspersed amidst all these castles and cathedrals are colorful examples of typical Maltese architecture.  Elaborate wooden balconies jut out from multi-story apartment buildings at nearly every turn, and varying shades of green seem to be the color of choice for these structures.

So, here are just a few examples of the sights that await you in Malta: