Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East, situated between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Ninety five percent of this country is considered a desert or semi-desert. We began to feel the enormity of the country as we left Jeddah via the Haramain high speed train heading to the Holy City of Medina. Once we were out of the Jeddah city limits there were miles and miles of barren land. Saudi Arabia has no rivers of lakes. All water is from under the ground or by desalination. Shades of tan, brown, gray and rust dotted the landscape. When one first enters the desert, it looks rather bland and blends into all one color. The longer time you spend in this muted landscape it slowly becomes alive. In the landscape you begin to ... read more

Leaving a city like Barcelona is not the easiest thing to do. Sure, it's fairly straight-forward from a logistical point of view, but from a traveler's point of view, it is more challenging. Barcelona is a fabulous place that provided a marvelous time for us. It is no small wonder why people rave about it. But...it was time to move on. We'd been on the road for over 40 days and seen great places, great friends and eaten some stunningly tasty food. With only one stop left before our return to the States, how do you transition from such a lively place like Barcelona? You go to San Sebastian, also known as Donostia, in the north east of Spain. Not far from the border with France, this is one place we would recommend to anyone. It's ... read more

Lisbon proved to be a wonderful time, but the real reason for our trip with the Chef was just ahead. We conceived our voyage as one that involved food, fun and cruising on a river boat. The conversation started a few years ago at a restaurant in Burlingame, CA when the subject of "where would you like to travel" came up as usual. Brendan mentioned that a river boat cruise in northern Portugal would be quite the adventure. The idea sat on the back burner for a few years, but now the day was upon us, as we traveled north from Lisbon to Porto, where we would float on the Douro River for a week in the luxurious lap of a Tauck cruise. And so, after four days of fun bouncing around Lisbon having a grand ... read more

A Unesco Town While our time in Spain had temporarily come to an end, we were thrilled and excited to be moving on to Portugal. A new country, a river cruise on the Douro River and reuniting with Travel Brendan . We haven’t traveled with him in some five years and it was long overdue! As we live in the days of the world-wide pandemic, we first needed to get tested in order to gain entry into Portugal, which we detailed in our previous blog. We left Toledo, Spain under the cover of darkness and headed for the Madrid airport. During this trip, we will arrive and depart from Madrid a few times, both by air and rail…but not long enough for a visit. That will have to wait for a future trip. The flight was ... read more

Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get-go. Anthony Bourdain The day started easy enough in Valencia. We hailed a taxi and headed toward the railway station. We claimed our Prius and slowly pulled away from the lovely city of Valencia and began to familiarize ourselves with the Spanish roadways. Honestly... we've been traveling for a fair number of years and are now absolutely amazed how people navigated before the joys of GPS... and we were those people! The Spanish countryside was dotted with mile after mile of lemon, lime and olive trees. We thought we'd share with you that we took the A-7, to the A-35, to the A-344 to A-31 and ... read more