Bargaining is key when shopping at the Grand Bazaar
This Grand Bazaar textile merchant offered us apple tea as he gave his asking prices in three different currencies with a discount for cash. Transactions with most of the 4,000 merchants...
Category: Travel
Holiday time along Florida’s Gulf coast
I’m spending a few days along Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast before going to Disney World for the debut of the new Fantasyland, largest expansion ever at the Magic Kingdom. I’ll also...
Small world of Crystal Serenity
These street musicians in Istanbul stopped their lively playing when the call to prayer rang out. When Dave Ashley reached out by email after reading last month’s story about my Mediterranean cruise...
Muslim attire uncommon in secular Turkey
Istanbul’s ancient history is revealed in its architecture, which includes the Haghia Sofia, built in the 532 as a magnificent Catholic basilica and converted into a mosque in 1453. But the city...
No fear in Turkey among Ottoman slippers, mosques of Grand Bazaar
Wide walkways in the Grand Bazaar had their origin in the 1400s, when it was built on the trade crossroads between Asia and Europe so camels could carry goods to merchants inside.....
Breakfasts over the top at Baltimore’s Blue Moon Cafe
There’s usually a wait for a table at the tiny Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood. But it offers a good time to examine the very comprehensive menu. The extraordinary...
Catching Mediterranean sardines for lunch
A small wooden shed holds nets that are lowered into the sea to catch sardines near the mouth of the Po River off Ravenna, Italy. Maybe it’s my Norwegian heritage or perhaps...
A fresh look at Baltimore
It’s funny how you can come to a town to visit relatives and think you know it but come back for another purpose and discover lots more you didn’t know. That’s how...
Awaking in Istanbul
A multitude of masks is showcased in this shop window in Venice. Waking in Istanbul early Tuesday ended my magic carpet ride through the southern Mediterranean with the longest day imaginable. It...
Why cruise Crystal?
We’ve met many passengers who have cruised multiple times with Crystal, shopping among itineraries offered by both the Serenity, which I’m on now, and the Symphony, which I wrote about in 2006....
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