One thing on my Wales to-do list was to visit a National Trust Garden. I’m a big fan of gardens — I love to visit the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. I had always heard about these beautiful British gardens — and seen them on TV. Luckily, Bodnant Garden, which is considered one of the […]

I’ve known about Portmeirion dishes for years — I’ve seen the botanical print pottery in many department stores. But I didn’t know why they were called Portmeirion or really anything about them aside from their existence. It turns out that the company takes its name from Portmeirion, Wales (pictured above), an Italianate resort village on […]

No one would ever call me a big sports fan. (Unless they were being sarcastic.) But there is one sporting event that I love and that I have gone to for the last several years: The US Open. Most of the year, the game of tennis doesn’t even cross my mind. But that all changes […]

(Waianapanapa State Park in Maui; all photos by Maggie Overfelt Valentine) When I visited Maui on my honeymoon, we didn’t make it through the entire Road to Hana, a drive that has become a popular rite of passage for visitors to the island. Maui’s Highway 360 (aka Hana Highway or Road to Hana), features more […]

When you’re driving through Big Sur, you’ll see a lot of ocean. But you won’t see that much beach. That’s because Big Sur’s coastline is mostly rocky, and those cliffs are a big part of its charm. If you get the urge to take a walk on the beach (as we did after a nice […]

When I went to Cappodocia, the central region of Turkey whose landscape resembles the American Southwest, I stayed in the town of Goreme, which is famous for the “painted churches” at the Goreme Open-Air Museum. From behind my hotel, Sultan Cave Suites, I could easily see Uchisar Castle (pictured above), which is in the next […]

If you’re planning a trip to Venice, you’re probably thinking that you want to take a ride in gondola. Then you get there and you find out that it’s going to cost you a minimum of €80. You start second-guessing your plan, thinking that perhaps it’s not absolutely essential that you participate in this time-honored […]

I think it would be impossible to choose which city in Europe is the most beautiful, although Vienna would be a serious contender. But I do feel safe in saying that Vienna is Europe’s sweetest city because everywhere you turn there is a konditorei angling to sell you a dizzying assortment of cake. There’s Aida, […]

When we decided that we wanted to visit Cappadocia, Turkey, we knew that we wanted to stay in the town of Goreme for easy access to the Goreme Open-Air Museum. A one-mile walk from the center of town, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is a must-see if you’re in the region and is a great […]

Last night, I took a short flight from Istanbul to Kayseri, a conservative city in the middle of the country that's the gateway to Cappodocia. Because it was dark when I arrived, it wasn't until this morning that I got to observe my surreal surroundings. The topography here is actually similar to that of Southern […]