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Bergamo, Italy (Revisited)
Bergamo is one of the most attractive cities in Italy. Located at the foot of the Orobie Alps, the city proper is divided into two main parts: the historic Città Alta, perched on a hill and fortified by the impeccably maintained 16th-century Venetian Walls, and the modern Città Bassa, with a fin de siècle framework that extends into the plains of Lombardy. While the Italian centro storico is often a tourist trap, the well-heeled Bergamaschi inhabit both parts of town,…
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Varese, Italy
I had planned a day trip to Varese the last time I visited Lake Como in 2018, but with so much to see and do around the lake — not to mention the 90-minute drive it would take to get there — Charles and I never got around to it. Fast forward a year later, I made Varese a top priority on my solo trip to Northern Italy. Varese is a genteel city of 80,000 in a province that shares…
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Varenna, Itay
Varenna is one of the most charming villages in all of Italy, and it even retains its charm in the rain. On the day I was supposed to explore Varenna and its environs, it precipitated nonstop. Luckily, it was a gentle and windless rain, which enabled me to stick to my itinerary and still enjoy the pleasures of Varenna—with a slicker and umbrella in tow. Set on the eastern shore of Lake Como, Varenna was founded in the sixth century…
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Villa Carlotta & Chiesa di San Martino, Lake Como, Italy
In October of 2019 I did something a little different—I took a solo trip to Italy. By choice, I was between jobs and had some extra money stashed away, and decided to take advantage of this rare moment in my life by doing what I love most—traveling. I was away for 10 nights, during which I spent time on Lake Como with a day trip to Varese, then moved on to Bergamo with visits to Lake d’Iseo and Lake Garda,…
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Parliament & Great Market Hall, Budapest, Hungary
Here are some scenes from our last day in Budapest. In the morning we visited the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial, a tribute to the 20,000 Jews who were dragged to the river edge by the pro-Nazi fascists in WWII, forced to take their shoes off, and then shot into the Danube. It’s gut-wrenching to think about—and quite disconcerting that the present-day Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, downplays these gruesome acts of hatred and terror. Next we made our…
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Jewish Quarter, Budapest, Hungary
I learned so much from Andrea Medgyesi, our guide from the Jewish Visitors’ Service of Budapest. She conducted an incredibly informative, contemplative, and thoughtful tour of the Jewish Quarter. A descendant of Holocaust survivors, Andrea provides a unique point of view as a local woman carrying the torch of Jewish history, culture, and religion from post-World War II through Hungary’s age of Communism and to the present day. Any Jewish person visiting Budapest should be required to take Andrea’s tour.…
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Inner City, Budapest, Hungary
Budapest is a sprawling city. With over 1.7 million inhabitants, it is the ninth largest in the European Union. Thankfully for visitors, most of the city’s prominent sites and great restaurants are contained within the relatively compact and walkable Inner City, locally known as Belváros. This area is also home to the oldest and prettiest districts in the city—the ones that appear to have dusted off the remnants of the Iron Curtain. The Inner City straddles the east and west…
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Wachau Valley, Austria
During our four-night stay in Vienna, we devoted one day to exploring the Wachau Valley, the historic and pastoral region along the banks of the Danube only an hour west of the city. It gained UNESCO world heritage status in 2000 to preserve the region’s unique cultural landscape, which includes steeply terraced ancient vineyards separated by quaint historic villages. Walter Juraschek, our guide from two days prior, picked us up from our hotel and led our day-long private tour. We…
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Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria
The Innere Stadt is Vienna’s historic central district encircled by the illustrious Ringstrasse. Packed to the gills with incredible architecture and history, I decided it’d be best for a guide to show us around the city center. Enter Walter Juraschek, a Viennese Native whose brain is filled with facts upon details upon facts of Austrian culture and history. Walter picked us up from our hotel, the enchanted Sans Souci, and gave us his version of the “best of” Innere Stadt…
