The six hour drive to Kalaw among the beautiful landscape was comfortable in the air conditioned car. Unfortunately, it involved a brief lunch stop that I later regretted. I made an afternoon walk at the very interesting local market. The faces here are rather...
The short afternoon hop to Bagan had no surprises. A pleasant, short - even for Myanmar standards - driver took us to the excellent  Areindmar Hotel in new Bagan, a great difference from the rather indifferent hotels we slept in Yangon and Mandalay. The weather was...
The morning hours are the best in Myanmar. Clear skies, a pleasant breeze and intriguing house cooking odors. After a full breakfast at the hotel’s roof garden we went to the Kyauk Taw Gyi pagoda with the resident, imposing marble Buddha image, made from a single...
The early morning flight to Mandalay was our first in Myanmar, so there was a fair amount of uncertainty involved. The national flights terminal will certainly look familiar to seasoned travelers: small, basic, with signs in completely incomprehensible script and no...
This time it took less than thirty minutes to clear with the formalities at the rental car pickup in Naples airport and the good news was that they had a full tank return policy, not like the rental company in Sicily that I had to return the car empty. Since it is...
We stayed at a beautiful but overpriced lodge right next to the Valley of Temples where we were able to observe the night lighted monuments in all their glory. The next morning we headed to the archaeological park and joined a small group for a two hour walk along the...
We arrived in Catania with a flight from Rome. The sign next to the car rental office warned us not to leave any luggage in the car nor to park the car in the city center. After one hour in the queue, we finally got our car and took the road to Castelmola, a small...
We woke up in 18th century Havana. I had no clue what I booked us into, but it seems that you get what you pay for, or so I thought that morning. Hotel Santa Isabel was built in the 18th century as a private house and was turned into a hotel in the 19th century. It is...
In the morning we left to Santiago de Cuba. The road became narrow, with horse carriages, bicycles and the occasional truck that made driving more challenging, so it took five full hours to reach our destination including a half hour stop in Bayamo, a beautiful town,...
Right after we started we stopped at the nearby gas station to fill the tank and it was strange that I was asked to present my passport to buy gas. We discovered that the back tire was flat. It took 20 minutes and two government employees, one specializing in changing...