Sometimes you need that critical distance, the view from afar, to understand the perplexing phenomena of the day. Some of the most astute, clear-eyed critics…
A century ago, people were smarter. Royals from cold climes headed for the Italian Riviera to winter—in places with palms, palace-hotels and yacht clubs. Places…
At our local post office in San Rocco this morning we arrived with a box of sea biscuits to send to a friend in New…
One day in the mid 1990s when Alison and I were creating the first edition of “The Irreverent Guide to Amsterdam” (later hijacked and handed…
Everyone knows about the focaccia of Genoa and the Italian Riviera but who remembers the region’s hardtack? Sea biscuits? Those hard, dry crackers that sailors…
Practically abutting Santa Margherita Liguria is Rapallo, a slightly bigger and better-known seaside resort. Like Santa, Rapallo has two excellent focaccia-makers (the half dozen others…
Santa Margherita Ligure is as famous for its frescoed buildings as for its focaccia, but since you can’t eat frescos even though they look downright…
Photo: copyright Alison Harris From the homeland of focaccia… Rocky the Italian Riviera is, and yesterday it was also sunbaked. But today it’s raining, sleeting…
It was a mere -6C in Paris when I left day before yesterday. Commuter trains packed. Everyone but me coughing, hacking, sick–and incapable of keeping…
Out and about on a Paris, Paris Tour with another small group of discerning visitors, people who know and love Paris and live here part…
Look at the left-hand portion of this map and you’ll see the wall of Philippe Auguste, one of our destinations. The other image shows the…
Snow and Paris have a complicated relationship. Yesterday we experienced a remarkable snowstorm. I’ve seen a few here in the last 25 years. This time…