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Steve Dow, 57, was ascending Ecuador’s Cotopaxi mountain. It was the final push—just one more 90-minute trudge to reach the summit. By then, he’d already been climbing for seven-and-a-half hours, and it all looked good until strong winds with gusts up to 40 knots sent him flying through the air.
Because of Ireland’s long and varied history, astounding culture, amazing food, and widespread use of the English language, it’s perfectly possible to spend seven days in just one area of any of Ireland’s hundreds of interesting cities and towns...
France has all the ingredients that we at International Living look for in a retirement destination: a good climate, unspoiled countryside, top-notch culture, excellent healthcare, colorful traditions and history, and, of course, the glitter and sophistication of Paris...
My wife and I recently met our dearest friends in Oaxaca for Dia de Muertos. It was a trip we had talked about for years, and then something would inevitably come up, and we would say “next year!” Making the trip to Oaxaca, the epicenter for this magical, multi-day celebration, which involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember loved ones...
White sand and azure water. Stone castles and Turkish coffee. Cosmopolitan cities and organic vegetable markets. Art museums and concert halls. This is Albania. But alpine lakes and glaciers? I must be confusing it with somewhere else. But I’m not! They’re called the Accursed Mountains or, less ominously, the Albanian Alps, and they are the southernmost and highest...
From the snow-clad slopes of the Andes mountains down to the Pacific coast, Ecuador also packs in a range of landscapes and lifestyles. Picturesque mountain towns; vibrant beach communities; colonial gems packed with historic architecture, to bustling and sophisticated big cities. There really is something for everybody. That variety extends to the property market...
From its majestic snow-peaked mountains to its hot desert sands, lush cedar forests, and miles of serene, palm-fringed Atlantic coastline, Morocco covers the gamut. You can hop aboard the country’s high-speed train in the morning and ride a camel into the desert that evening. Or hop a ferry and visit Spain or Gibraltar for the day.
"Some months, the mussels are as fat as steaks,” chuckled Willy, my gracious waiter in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, southern France. With a wiry crop of salt-and-pepper hair and jaunty set of wire-rimmed glasses, he had the energy of someone half his age… and a passion for French cuisine that was infectious.
If a city break lasts longer than three days, you run the risk of tangling yourself in the gears of “progress” and “development” otherwise known as “stress” and “noise,” two things you broke free from and vowed to never experience again. So only stay in Budapest for three nights and then get out. This gives you plenty of time to see the sights and enjoy a dozen...
Dalmatia, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, is an extraordinary island-speckled coast that stretches from the Croatian town of Zadar to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. It offers one of Europe’s most dramatic shorelines, encompassing enchanting cities such as Split, Sibenik, and Dubrovnik. Its coastal mountains sweep down towards a lush seaboard...