If you haven’t heard the Greek myth of Scylla, here’s a quick synopsis: There was a fisherman who fell in love with a young nymph (of...

We’ve been driving for almost three hours, and nothing has changed. Everywhere, in all directions, the same: flat, rocks, sand, dirt,...

The thing I notice about desert people, when we meet our Bedouin guides at the edge of red sands of Wadi Rum, is how much like ocean...

The invitation comes on a little scroll, rolled and tied with a yellow satin ribbon. “You are invited,” it says in computer-printed...

In which I lose my wallet and gain a neighbor The story of how my wallet was stolen is not really a story. It is, in fact, so anti...

Admittedly, when we set out on the hike we didn’t know much. We had a painted sign, in Greek, that Google Translate told us pointed...

The winds have paused and paradise is revealed. The water is clear, mouth-wash blue, and almost still. The sandy bottom is no longer...

Now, to get to where we are today. A ferry to a flight to Athens, a night wandering and looking at ancient ruins, in the morning the...

I confess: there is a pile of half finished blog posts curled up and napping in files on this computer. Stories of riotous singing in...

Before setting out for our closest salon, I practiced a few key haircut vocabulary words. “Hai un appuntamento?”, “tagliare” (cut), “solo...

I go to the yoga class for two reasons: one, because it’s two blocks from our apartment. Close enough to get myself motivated even on a...

There is a West African word that I love, Sankofa. It is represented by a bird holding a seed in its beak and flying forward while...

We’re standing underneath the bell tower in Lucca while our guide, Paula, tells us the story. There’s a gray rain falling, causing us to...

The only way I feel able to tell about a weekend in Venice is to speak on its own terms, to share a wandering labyrinth of discoveries...

It isn’t the delicate roof tiles, and how up close they are both massive and fragile, the scales of some lumbering dragon-bodied beast....

How many churches are there in Florence? I wouldn’t be shocked if you told me thousands. And of those churches, what percentage have bell...

If he wasn’t the only other person standing in the Piazza this morning, I would not think he was the one I was here to meet. He’s so much...

Not all apartments have kitchens If an apartment has a kitchen it might still not have a fridge If an apartment has two bathrooms, one of...

The light is different here. It is always sunny, even when it is cold, and the sun seems to be in a perpetual golden hour. It soaks into...

Ciao a tutti! I’ve been saving up little moments and stories for you guys all week, but we’ve been so much on the go that I haven’t...