arts and culture Archives - Pacific Northwest Explorer

Wachau Gorge, Austria

by Alan K. Lee

In 2022, my wife and I had the pleasure of taking a river cruise on the Danube, beginning in Budapest, Hungary and ending in Passau, Germany. Along the way, we toured Bratislava, Slovakia, spent a day exploring Vienna, Austria, and visited several other smaller cities and towns on the Danube. Most of the actual sailing took place at night, but we spent one beautiful afternoon cruising through the fabulous Wachau Gorge between the towns of Krems and Melk in northern Austria.

The Wachau Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (listed as the Wachau Cultural Landscape), known for its medieval history and architecture, but also for its modern-day vineyards and wineries and its riverine landscape. The Wachau Gorge is bookended by the town of Krems and the hilltop Gottweig Abbey and the town of Melk and the spectacular Melk Abbey on the south bank of the Danube.

Our day started with an early morning arrival in Krems and a morning tour of Gottweig Abbey a few miles south of the town.

Gottweig Abbey was founded in 1083 and has been continuously occupied for more than 900 years. The current structure was built in the 18^th century. (Viking River Cruises is the only cruise line that tours Gottweig Abbey, but also the only one that does not tour the larger Melk Abbey at the upstream end of the gorge).

Upstream of Krems, the valley narrows and the roughly 25 miles between Krems and Melk feature steeper slopes bordering both sides of the river with the occasional castle looming above the riverside towns. The town of Dunstein, seen in the featured photo at the top of this post, is particularly beautiful.

Most of the north shore of this stretch of the Danube is part of a nature park (Naturpark Jauerling Wachau) and is largely wild, managed to protect wildlife habitat and the natural environment. It’s also spectacularly beautiful.

Late that afternoon, we sailed past the town of Melk and the huge, and hugely popular, Melk Abbey. Like Gottweig Abbey, the original Melk Abbey was founded nearly a thousand years ago (in 1089) and has been continuously occupied ever since. The current structure dates from 1702. I would have loved to tour the abbey, but with several river cruise ships already docked there, I understand why Viking skips it.

Upstream of Melk, we spent the evening hours cruising the Wachau Valley, an agricultural area with many small riverside towns and vineyards.

The following morning found us in Linz, Austria. We didn’t see much of Linz because we took an all-day trip to the beautiful and well-preserved medieval village of Cesky Krumlov, Czechia. Then it was on to our final destination on the cruise, Passau, Germany.

After the cruise, we extended our trip to Salzburg, Austria and Munich, Germany. One of the advantages of river cruising is that you get to see a lot of places in a short amount of time. But one of the disadvantages is that you don’t spend much time in any one place. We were able to spend several days in Salzburg, though, and several more in Munich and the Bavarian Alps, through a relatively inexpensive addition to our cruise offered by Viking. Several of the friends we made on the cruise took a different extension (also booked through Viking) to Prague.

The two river cruises that my wife and I have taken (the other was on the Rhine) were both very enjoyable, hassle-free experiences (except for all of the Covid-19 tests that we had to take during our Danube cruise, but that is now in the past tense). Both featured an immersion into medieval history, beautiful riverside cities and villages, and beautiful stretches of natural habitat that is rare in Europe. I can personally recommend both cruises, and river cruising in general. If you’re interested in river cruises or are just curious, check out my European River Cruises post for more information and advice.

Posted April 15, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Vienna, Austria

Vienna, Austria is a city steeped in history going back to at least 500 BCE when the Celts first settled in the area. It was later occupied by the Romans, was the capital of the Habsburg Empire, and then the de facto capital (according to Wikipedia) of the Holy Roman Empire. Vienna is also the spiritual home of classical music. Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schubert, Mahler, and many others lived and worked in Vienna, and many of the most acclaimed classical music works were composed and first performed there.

There’s so much to take in that Vienna cannot be fully appreciated on only a short visit. And my wife and I had only one full day to absorb as much of the city as we could on our 2022 Danube River cruise. But it was a memorable day.

Unlike Budapest and Bratislava, the historical center of the city does not lie directly on the Danube. We had to take Vienna’s subway system from the riverfront to the medieval center, which lessened the sense of going back-in-time that we have felt in exploring some of the other ancient European cities that we’ve visited. But the old city is truly magnificent. It is home to some of the most spectacular medieval architecture that can be found anywhere in Europe.

St. Steven’s Cathedral, Hofburg Palace, the Vienna State Opera House, the Albertina art museum, Maria Theresa Plaza, the Kunst Historical Museum, Mozart’s residence, and many other museums and places of interest are all within a half mile radius of each other in the historic center.

Belvedere Palace and Schonbrunn Palace, two of the more spectacular examples of Vienna’s medieval architecture, are a little farther afield and weren’t on our walking tour but are must-see attractions if you have more time than we did.

On our walking tour we chanced upon students of the Spanish Riding School exercising some of the famous Lipizzaner Stallions in the Burggarten park adjacent to the Hofburg Palace.

Besides being the cultural and historic center of Austria, Vienna is a modern city of two million people that has been ranked several times as the world’s most livable city, so there is much more to explore than just the medieval center.

Vienna is also a city of many beautiful parks and natural areas. After our walking tour of the medieval center, we crossed the Danube and spend some time in a beautiful park on a long, narrow, tree lined island between the main channel of the Danube and the Neue Donau side channel.

We likely will never return to Vienna – too many places we haven’t seen, and too little time left in our lives – but it’s one of the places that I would to return to if I ever check off all of my bucket list destinations. I left Vienna feeling like I didn’t get more than a tiny taste of what it has to offer. If you have a desire to visit Vienna, check out Visiting Vienna’s Guide To Vienna webpage to begin your planning. And plan to spend at least three or four days there. There is just too much there to see in a day or two.

And if you do go to Vienna, visit Budapest, too. And include Salzburg on your itinerary, as well. You won’t regret adding either of those cities to your trip.

Posted April 4, 2024 by Alan K. Lee

All photos ©Alan K. Lee, except as noted

Bern and Basel, Switzerland

When travelers think of Swiss cities, Bern and Basel probably don’t come immediately to mind. In fact, Rick Steves’ Switzerland guide book doesn’t even mention Basel. And even though Bern is the capital of Switzerland, it is not nearly as well known as Geneva, Zurich, and Lucerne. But both Bern and Basel have charming and interesting medieval city centers and are well worth exploring.

Basel is located on the Rhine River where the borders of Switzerland, Germany, and France meet. The city center straddles the river, and the city’s suburbs spill into both Germany and France. Bern is located on the Aare River midway between Geneva and Zurich, about 40 miles as the crow flies south of Basel .

BASEL

When my wife and I did a Rhine River cruise a number of years ago, Basel wasn’t really on our agenda. It was just the place where the cruise ended, where we would spend the night before extending our trip to the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Berner Oberland section of Switzerland.

Since our guide book didn’t cover Basel at all, we didn’t know quite what to expect. But, after disembarking the ship in the morning and taking a taxi to our hotel, we took advantage of having the rest of the day to explore the city.

We first headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art, part of the Kunstmuseum. On the way there we discovered an old section of the city (the St. Alban District) that is as picturesque and has all of the charm of the other medieval city centers we’ve visited, but with few tourists and no crowds.

After touring the museum, we spent the rest of the day sampling Swiss cuisine and exploring more of the city center, including Basel Cathedral (Basel Minster) and the Basel Town Hall (Rathaus), which has been the seat of government for 500 years. All in all, Basel was a delightful surprise, and a fitting end to our Rhine River cruise.

I later learned that Basel is considered by many to be the cultural heart of Switzerland. The Kunstmuseum (linked above), which opened in 1661, is the oldest public art museum in the world. The Museum of Contemprary Art is also the oldest contemporary art museum in Europe. And the and the University of Basel, founded in 1460, is the oldest university in Switzerland. Clearly, there is a lot of history here.

BERN

Bern also wasn’t really on our radar before the trip. After our stay in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, it was an overnight stop on our way back to Amsterdam and our flight home. But we had booked a hotel room in the old medieval city center, and had the afternoon and evening to explore the old town.

We wandered our way through the medieval center and down to the Aare River at the point of the peninsula that the old city is located on. The Aare is strikingly beautiful, colored turquoise blue by the glacial silt it carries. We lingered along river for a while before crossing the relatively new (built in 1840) high bridge (Nydeggbrucke) on our way to a couple of cold beers at the Altes Tramsdepot, a restaurant and pub housed in what was once a transit center.

The restaurant and the viewpoint next to it provide a good view of the river and the old city. And below, along the river, you can sometimes see brown bears, which are the symbol of Bern, in the Bear Park (Barenpark). The bears were not out and about when we were there, though.

Just downstream of the Nydeggbrucke, the older Untertorbrucke is a good vantage point to photograph the river and the high bridge. The current Untertorbrucke was constructed in 1489 to replace a wooden bridge built in 1256.

Back in the medieval city center (all of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site), we visited the Bern Cathedral (Bern Minster) and the Swiss Assembly building (the Bundeshaus). On the grounds of the Bundeshaus we found a rock garden with rocks from places around the world that have Switzerland in their name or are somehow associated with Switzerland. The Wallowa Mountains in Oregon are often referred to as the “Switzerland of America,” and, sure enough, one of the rocks in the rock garden came from Joseph, Oregon.

The following morning we boarded a train for an all day journey back to Amsterdam, where we spent a few more days before flying back to Portland. The Rhine River cruise, our foray into Switzerland, and our exploration of Amsterdam were all quite incredible experiences. I just wish that we had been able to spend more time in Switzerland, including Bern and Basel. They are both very interesting cities and we barely scratched the surface of what is there for the visitor. I hope to return someday, and I think that most travelers will find even a brief visit to Bern or Basel as worthwhile as we did.

Originally posted February 27, 2021 by Alan K. Lee. Updated and reposted February 9, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

New Orleans

New Orleans. NOLA. The Big Easy. No matter what you call it, and no matter where your interests lie, the city has something for you. Food, drink, music, art, history, architecture, parks, festivals, cemeteries, voodoo, river boats, streetcars, endless parties, you name it. New Orleans has it all. In abundance.

The city’s identity has been forged from many roots – French, American, African American, Native American, Haitian, and more. And those roots have produced many branches and have blossomed into something truly unique.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to New Orleans, but the ten days or so that my wife and I spent there left an indelible imprint on my psyche. The food, the music, the arts, the people. There is simply no place else like it in the U.S. Probably no place in the world.

We spent our first day in New Orleans just wandering around the French Quarter with no agenda. We almost always allow ourselves time in a new city just to explore at random. We’ve had many memorable experiences that we would never have had if we had stuck to the guide book recommendations. But don’t throw away the guide books, either. Their recommendations are there for a reason.

That first night, we wandered over to Bourbon Street to see what that is all about. We had a great time and we came back again another night. And, by all means, if you’re visiting New Orleans for the first time, venture into the French Quarter after dark and take in that giant street party. Get your Hurricane in a go cup and wander the street. Take in some of the live music, mingle with the other tourists, have another Hurricane, dance the night away. Get it all out of your system. But don’t think that’s the real New Orleans. Bourbon Street is the Disneyland version of the Big Easy.

So, how to experience the real New Orleans? Well, you probably have to spend a year or two there to really get to know the city. It’s a complex place. But if you don’t have that kind of time, my first recommendation would be to find a place to stay in the French Quarter. It’s the historic center of the city and the city’s cultural heart. Most of what you’ll probably want to see and do you’ll find either in French Quarter itself or close by.

My wife and I stayed at a boutique hotel (I’ve forgotten its name) near the river, across the street from the House of Blues, for the first part of our stay. As I recall, it was a very nice and quite affordable place. But after a few days there, the hotel had some sort of plumbing system problem, necessitating our move to the Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street for the second part of our visit. The Monteleone turned out to be one of the better hotels we’ve stayed in, but there are plenty of other places to stay in the French Quarter. Check the French Quarter website for recommendations.

Since my wife and I are both art lovers, another thing that we always do in a new city is spend at least some time exploring the local arts scene. Sometimes that just entails visiting local museums and art galleries. But we also seek out local artists and art related events when we can. The New Orleans Museum of Art , located in City Park, and the adjacent Besthoff Sculpture Garden were two of our first stops, along with a number of galleries in the French Quarter. But we also took in an arts and crafts fair in Mickey Markey Park in the Bywater neighborhood, about a mile east of the French Quarter, where we met several local artists.

I won’t spend much time here trying to give you a guide to the French Quarter. There are plenty of guide books and online guides that will do a better job than I can. But there are tons of things to see and do in the Vieux Carre and you could spend your entire visit there and not get bored. Plan to spend at least a full day, and preferably a couple of days, exploring the French Quarter on your visit.

But if you really want to sample what New Orleans has to offer, and have the time, I recommend that you also go beyond the French Quarter. Visit City Park and Audubon Park. Take a walk through the Garden District. Take the ferry across the river to the Algiers neighborhood. Visit one of the city’s famous cemeteries. Take a cruise on the Mississippi in a paddle wheeler. Check out the Treme and Marigny neighborhoods. Even go beyond the city itself and take a swamp tour or a plantation tour.

We spent one afternoon exploring the Algiers neighborhood across the river from the French Quarter. Take the ferry from the terminal at the foot of Canal Street. It’s a short but scenic ride and Algiers is an interesting place. Check out the Jazz Walk of Fame next to the ferry terminal. Take a walk along the levy on the Mississippi River Trail. Stop in at one of Algiers many restaurants and bars, such as the Dry Dock Cafe, the Old Point Bar, Tout de Suite Cafe, or the Crown and Anchor English Pub. And just walk around the neighborhood. As I said, it’s an interesting place, full of beautiful old houses and impressive buildings.

Touring one of the city’s many cemeteries turned out to be one of the more interesting things we did on our visit. Because the land New Orleans is built on was originally a swamp, and much of it is below sea level, the dead are not buried in the ground, but are interred in above ground crypts or tombs.

When we were there, we were warned that some of the cemeteries were dangerous places to visit and should be avoided. That may have changed, but check before you venture into any of the city’s cemeteries. There are organized cemetery tours that you can take, but we preferred to go on our own. One of the cemeteries that was said to be safe, and the one we visited, was St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1, on Canal Street near the end of the streetcar line.

Many of the tombs there are large, elaborate, and impressive, holding the remains of many generations of the same family. The larger and more ornate ones are generally well kept up, but many of the others have not been maintained and are crumbling. Many are just ruins, empty and abandoned. One has to wonder what became of the bodies.

Visiting some of the city’s parks also turned out to be one of the more worthwhile ways we found to spend our time. There are a number of parks in the city that are worth a visit. Jackson Square in the French Quarter, and Louis Armstrong Park, on Rampart Street in the Treme neighborhood adjacent to the Quarter, should be on everyone’s agenda.

City Park , about two miles north of the French Quarter, and Audubon Park, a couple of miles west of the Quarter, both have attractions for the whole family. Besides being home to the New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park is also home to the Louisiana Children’s Museum, a short walk from NOMA, and the New Orleans Botanical Garden. And Audubon Park is home to both a zoo and an aquarium. Both parks also feature nature trails, beautiful ponds, magnificent live oaks draped in Spanish moss, and many other attractions. Both City Park and Audubon Park are easily reached from the French Quarter by the city’s streetcar lines.

Think of New Orleans and Mardi Gras is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Mardi Gras has been celebrated in Louisiana since at least 1699, before the founding of New Orleans. It is celebrated in many other communities, but the New Orleans festivities are the quintessential Mardi Gras celebrations. We were there a week or two after the end of Mardi Gras, so I can’t give you an eye witness account of what Mardi Gras is actually like. But it is a festival that I would like to experience some day.

The other New Orleans festival that I would dearly love to take in is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, held each year in late April and early May. This may actually be a bigger tourist draw than Mardi Gras. As many as 650,000 people have attended in past years.

Music is an essential component of the spirit of the Big Easy. Whether it’s traditional Cajun fiddle tunes, blues, jazz, swamp rock, zydeco, country, or a fusion of some or all of those genres, music permeates the city. Street performers are a common sight in the French Quarter any time of the day or night. And there are probably hundreds of clubs throughout the city offering live performances late into the night, every night. Take in as much of the music as you can while you’re there because it’s such a vital component of the city’s spirit.

There’s plenty of music to be heard on Bourbon Street, but there are more authentic venues elsewhere. Preservation Hall, in the French Quarter, is probably the most famous. Tipitina’s, on Napolean Avenue about a mile and a half west of the French Quarter, might be the most highly regarded club. The Spotted Cat Music Club, the Blue Nile, and d.b.a., all on Frenchmen Street in the Marigny, are three of the most highly regarded clubs. Le Bon Temps Roule, near Tipitina’s, and Chickie Wah Wah, on Canal Street in Mid-city, are a couple of other well regarded venues. In the French Quarter, check out One Eyed Jack’s.

Like music, the cuisine of New Orleans is one the city’s defining features. I fell in love with the food when we were there, and gumbo and jambalaya have become mainstays in my home kitchen. The Foodies Guide to New Orleans website will give you a good overview of the city’s culinary offerings. The people of New Orleans are passionate about their food and anyone you talk to will probably be happy to steer you to some great places to eat. Or you can book one of the many food tours that are available.

The food scene has probably changed a lot since we were there, but there are some iconic New Orleans eateries that you might want to check out. The Cafe du Monde in the French Market is one of those. It’s been a New Orleans institution since 1862. Go for the beignets and the coffee with chicory because that’s about all they serve. And go early. You’ll probably still have to wait in line to get in, but it’s an iconic New Orleans experience that shouldn’t be missed. And dinner at Antoine’s was a highlight of our stay. Antoine’s has been in existence even longer than the Cafe du Monde. They’ve been serving French Creole food in the same location since 1840. There’s no place in New Orleans more steeped in history than Antoine’s.

And then there’s voodoo. Personally, I have no interest in voodoo, but it’s another unique component of the culture and you can’t ignore it completely if you want to get the full New Orleans experience. You might just want to stop in at one of the many shops in the French Quarter selling voodoo related trinkets. Or maybe delve deeper into the history and practice of voodoo by visiting the Voodoo Museum or taking a voodoo tour.

New Orleans can’t be adequately described in words or pictures by any means. It really has to be experienced. It blends the Old South charm of places like Charleston and Savannah with the party atmosphere of places like Key West, and mixes in a whole lot more to boot. You should make the pilgrimage to the Big Easy at least once in your life. You won’t regret it.

Originally posted January 9, 2021 by Alan K. Lee. Updated and re-posted January 10, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

San Juan Island, Washington

Introduction

It had been a long time since my wife and I had been to the San Juans Islands, so a trip to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island seemed like the ideal early fall getaway that we were looking for. The San Juan Islands lie in the Salish Sea north of Puget Sound in Washington, and east of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. There are four main islands that are served by ferry – Orcas, Shaw, Lopez, and San Juan. San Juan Island is the largest and most populous of the islands.

We drove to Anacortes, Washington from our home in the Portland area and spent some time that afternoon exploring the town and the nearby town of La Conner, one of my favorite small towns in the Pacific Northwest. We boarded our ferry the next morning for the hour and a half trip through the islands to Friday Harbor. We spent the next four days getting reacquainted with the many charms of the town and the island.

Getting There

Most visitors to the island come via the Washington State Ferry System. There are interisland ferries that depart from Anacortes and stop at all four of the main islands, and an express ferry that runs between Anacortes and Friday Harbor, bypassing the other islands. Check the ferry website for schedules and to make reservations. Reservations aren’t absolutely required – a few spots are left for people without reservations – but reserving a ticket in advance is the only way to guarantee that you’ll get on. Even then, ferries are sometimes cancelled due to weather or other causes. Our ferry to Friday Harbor was delayed for an hour and earlier sailings that day were cancelled due to the lack of a full crew.

The other ways of getting to San Juan Island are by private boat, water taxi (passengers only), or airplane. There are several water taxi services that operate from various mainland ports to Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor (and to other islands, including those not served by the ferry system). And Kenmore Air has a limited schedule of flights from Boeing Field in Seattle to Friday Harbor Airport. Kenmore Air and others also operate seaplane flights to Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor.

Getting Around

If you’re just interested in exploring Friday Harbor, you don’t need a vehicle. It’s a small and very walkable community, and there is plenty there to keep you occupied for at least a couple of days. So, you can save some money by leaving your car behind in Anacortes and buying a passenger only ticket on the ferry. Water taxis will cost as much, or more, as taking your car on the ferry. I didn’t check into flight costs, but they are almost certainly much more expensive than the ferry.

Even without a vehicle, you can still get around the island via the San Juan Transit bus system that stops at Roche Harbor, English Camp, American Camp, Lime Kiln Point State Park, and several resorts, wineries, and other attractions on the island. Uber and Lyft also operate on the island.

Another way to get around is by bicycle. Bring your own or rent from one of several rental shops in Friday Harbor. Roche Harbor, on the north end of the island, is less than ten miles from downtown Friday Harbor. Other destinations are even closer. The easiest way to get around is by car, of course. We brought ours. The cost for the round-trip ferry ride from Anacortes was about $75.

Friday Harbor

Friday Harbor is the commercial center of the San Juan Islands and the only town of any size. Although small in size and population, Friday Harbor is chocked full of interesting places to visit and things to do, regardless of your particular interests. There are several interesting museums, dozens of cafes and restaurants, small shops of all kinds, and many places to take in the views of the harbor and the surrounding islands. A number of companies offer whale watching cruises. Others offer scenic flights on floatplanes. And kayak tours, both day and multi-day trips, can be booked through several companies in Friday Harbor.

There is no shortage of places to eat in Friday Harbor. For breakfast and lunch, I can personally recommend both Rocky Bay Café and Tina’s Place. For dining with a view, go to Downriggers on the bayfront. Classic Italian food can be found at Vinny’s Ristorante. Vegetarian and vegan food can be had at Mike’s Café and Wine Bar. For quality craft beers and upscale pub food, try San Juan Brewing. For seafood in a casual dining space, check out Friday’s Crab House. We ate at all of those, and all were good. But that’s just a sampling of what Friday Harbor offers. I wish we had had a few more days to sample more of the town’s eateries. What’s a vacation for, after all.

If you an art lover, The San Juan Islands Museum of Art features visual artworks from local and regional artists. On a slightly different note, The Whale Museum has exhibits featuring native arts and the marine environment with a focus on education and environmental protection. You might also want to visit the Arctic Raven Gallery.

We stayed in a vacation rental about a five minute walk from downtown Friday Harbor, but there are many other lodging options in Friday Harbor and around the island, from luxury hotels to budget friendly cabins and cottages. A full list of available accommodations of all types can be found on the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau website, as well as a comprehensive list of things to do and sights to see.

Roche Harbor

Roche Harbor, located on the north end of the island, was once the site of the largest lime deposit in the Pacific Northwest, and a large lime plant. Since the closing of the lime plant, Roche Harbor has morphed into an upscale resort community that is one of the most visited sites on the island.

The resort consists of a hotel (the historic Hotel De Haro, built in 1886), a large marina, three restaurants, a grocery store, several shops featuring local artisans, tennis courts, a heated outdoor swimming pool, and nicely landscaped grounds. Besides the hotel, resort accommodations also include historic cottages and modern luxury houses.

San Juan Islands Sculpture Park

Near Roche Harbor (I think it’s actually part of the resort), the San Juan Islands Sculpture Park is a must see if you’re at all interested in sculpture. There are over 100 works of art (it seemed like many more) spread out over the twenty acres of the garden. Plan to spend at least an hour here. We spent more than that and still didn’t see it all. Admission is free, but donations are requested.

The Pig War

The 1846 Treaty that set the boundary between Canada and the United States didn’t specify whether the boundary was meant to be Haro Strait, west of San Juan Island, or Rosario Strait, east of Lopez and Orcas Islands. Both England and the U.S. claimed the islands and both British and American settlers resided on San Juan Island, mostly in peace. But in 1859 an American settler shot and killed a pig that had strayed onto his land. The pig belonged to an English company. That act almost started a war.

Tensions between the American and British contingents led both England and the U.S. to send military forces to the island. From 1859 to 1872, when the boundary dispute was finally settled in favor of the United States, the island was jointly occupied by both forces. No actual combat occurred, and no one was injured in the Pig War. The sites of the two country’s military installations are now part of San Juan Island National Historical Park.

English Camp

The British military outpost was located on Garrison Bay, on the northwest corner of the island not far from Roche Harbor. Only a few of the original structures remain. One of the barracks now houses the English Camp Visitor Center. Lots of interesting history there in a beautiful setting. I highly recommend stopping in.

American Camp

The American forces were located on the south end of the island about five miles south of Friday Harbor. Like at English Camp, few of the original structures remain, and only one of the structures is in its original location. Unlike English Camp, American Camp is located away from the water, on an open ridge top overlooking the water on both sides of the island. The visitor center here is much larger than the one at English Camp and is in a modern structure. More interesting history here, in a different but equally beautiful setting.

My wife and I did a short (1.7-mile) hike here. Starting at the visitor center, we first hiked east to the Parade Grounds and Picket’s Redoubt, then south to the edge of the bluff overlooking the shore. The trail then took us west along the bluff with nice views of Eagle Point and across Haro Strait to Vancouver Island. We took a short side trip down to the water at Grandma’s Cove before returning to the visitor center.

South Beach and Cattle Point

South Beach, just southeast of American Camp, is also part of San Juan Island National Historical Park. Cattle Point, just outside the park boundary, is the southernmost point of land on the island. Neither are particularly remarkable, and Cattle Point Lighthouse (our destination after visiting American Camp) isn’t as attractive or iconic as Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse (pictured below). But the views of nearby Lopez Island and some of the smaller islands between San Juan and Lopez are nice, and there are some good trails in the area. In fact, if you’re looking for a little longer hike than the one we did at American Camp, it’s possible to hike from the American Camp Visitor Center to Cattle Point. The out and back hike is about seven miles. A slightly shorter hike (4.3 miles) to Cattle Point begins and ends at the Jake’s Beach Lagoon parking area.

San Juan County Park and Lime Kiln Point

The west coast of San Juan Island is prime whale watching territory, and the island’s west coast is rugged and wildly beautiful. San Juan County Park has a small campground and a boat ramp on Smallpox Bay.

Lime Kiln Point State Park has a scenic lighthouse, trails along the shore, and is one of the prime whale watching sites on the island. Both offer views across Haro Strait to Vancouver Island and the northeast suburbs of Victoria. Unfortunately, there were no whales in the area when we visited.

Zylstra Lake

Until 2015 Zylstra Lake was privately owned and surrounded by farmland, and it has only recently been opened to the public. It is now owned by San Juan County Land Bank and managed under a conservation easement by the San Juan Preservation Trust. We thought it might be an interesting place to explore, and the trail around the lake looked like it might be a good hike. Both of those proved to be true. For more information and a description of the hike, click here to view my hike-of-the-week post.

Conclusion

On our final evening on the island, we drove to the Westside Preserve, just south of Lime Kiln Point, to watch the sunset. We didn’t see any whales there either, but the sunset was beautiful and a nice way to end our stay.

The next morning, we caught our ferry back to the mainland, fought our way through Seattle area traffic, and returned home, refreshed and ready for our next adventure.

Posted October 12, 2023 by Alan K. Lee

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Isle of Man

Even though my only visit to the Isle of Man came almost twenty years ago, at the end of an almost month-long vacation to Scotland and England’s Lake District, the three days we spent on the Isle of man were memorable.

The Isle of Man lies in the Irish Sea, halfway between Liverpool and Belfast. My sister in law had visited the island previously and thought we would like it, so my wife and I added it to the itinerary for our 2006 trip to England and Scotland. And I’m glad we did. The Isle of Man is a very interesting and charming place, and certainly one of the most unique places that we have visited in our travels.

Not quite an independent country, the Isle of Man is officially a Protectorate of the United Kingdom. The UK is responsible for the island’s defense and representing the island in international affairs. But the Isle of Man is not actually a part of the United Kingdom. The island’s parliament, which has been in existence since the 10th century, governs all domestic matters, and the island has its own legal and political systems and its own currency. (The British Pound is also legal tender on the Isle of Man, but the reverse is not true, as I found out when I accidentally tried to pay a bar tab back in England with an Isle of Man £20 note. The barkeep was not amused, to say the least.)

Getting to the island is relatively easy. It is no more than a 30 minute flight from any major city in the UK or Ireland. We, however, traveled to the island by passenger ferry from Heysham, England, which takes about two and a half hours. Ferries from Heysham and Liverpool run year round. In the summer months, there are also ferries from Belfast and Dublin to Douglas, the capital and largest city on the island.

Getting around on the Isle of Man is also easy. There is a government run bus system that covers the entire island. And since it is a small island, only roughly 300 square miles in size, all of the towns on the island are within about twenty miles of each other. There is also steam powered railroad running between Douglas and Port Erin in the south, and an electric railway running between Douglas and Ramsey in the north. And there is even an electric railway running to the summit of Snaefel, the highest peak on the island.

We stayed in Douglas and spent most of our time on the island exploring the city, but we also ventured to Peele, on the west coast, by double-decker bus, and to Port Erin by the steam train. Neither of us had ever ridden in a double-decker, and the train was one of a kind. I’m not sure which was more fun, riding in the front seat of the upper deck on the bus, or riding the little steam train on its leisurely journey to Port Erin.

On our train ride we met a local gentleman who was happy to pass on some of his knowledge of the island and its history. We found the Manx people to be friendly and welcoming.

The Isle of Man has an interesting history. It has been ruled by the Celts and the Vikings, and it has, at various times, been part of Norway, Scotland, and England. But the Manx people have a strong sense of their own identity and have managed to maintain that identity for more than a millennia, regardless of who ruled the island. Tynwald, the Isle of Man parliament, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the world. And human occupation of the island goes back to at least 6500 BC.

The Isle of Man is known for the short-tailed Manx breed of cats. The island is also the home of a four- and sometimes six-horned breed of sheep, and a population of red-necked wallaby, which have become established on the island after escaping from a wildlife park. We saw many of the odd looking sheep, but no cats or wallabies, sorry to say.

Motor sports fans know the island for the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle races. For two weeks in May or June, the island becomes one giant racetrack. The TT, as it’s known, was first held in 1907, and is probably the most famous motorcycle race in the world today.

The Isle of Man was a popular tourist destination for a good part of the 20th century. But the advent of cheap flights from Great Britain to southern Europe led to a significant decline in the tourist industry. Today, the economy of the island revolves around banking, insurance, online gaming, and information technology.

While the Isle of Man might not be a tourist destination in its own right, at least for those of us from North America, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there, and I would like to go back someday. It has been some time since we visited, but given the island’s long history, I doubt that its essential character has changed much over the past seventeen years. I’m sure it remains a worthy addition to any trip to Great Britain or Ireland.

Originally posted by Alan K. Lee, December 4, 2020. Updated and re-posted August 28, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh

The City

When my wife and I were planning our first trip to Europe, Scotland was the destination we settled on, and we were not disappointed. Beautiful wild lands, castles everywhere, friendly people, 1500 years (or more) of history – that trip had everything. And Edinburgh was where we spent the most time. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and the historic heart of the country. It’s a beautiful and fascinating city, and no visit to Scotland is complete without spending at least a day or two in Edinburgh.

That trip was more than 15 years ago and some things may have changed greatly since then, so I won’t go into much detail as to what to do, where to stay, where to eat, what things cost, and so forth. But there’s much to Edinburgh that is timeless, and undoubtedly has not changed in the years since our visit.

Central Edinburgh is divided into the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town includes Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Royal Mile connecting the two, and the area to the south. The New Town stretches from Princes Street Gardens, directly below the Castle, to Queen Street Gardens and the adjacent area to the north. The Old Town is the historic center of Edinburgh, and also the site of the present-day Parliament. As far as the New Town goes, new is a relative term since construction of the New Town began in the 1760s.

Both the Old Town and the New Town have their charms, and both deserve at least some of your attention. We spent most of our four days in Edinburgh exploring the Old Town, so I’ll focus on that part of the city.

Edinburgh Castle

Built atop a volcanic outcropping called, appropriately enough, Castle Rock, Edinburgh Castle dominates the skyline of the city. The first castle on Castle Rock is thought to have been built in the 12th century, but none of that structure remains. The oldest remaining structure in the Castle is St. Margaret’s Chapel, dating to the mid 13th century. Most of the other remaining structure dates to the 16th century or later.

At the Castle, history and legend abound. You can visit the Great Hall, where the Scottish Parliament once convened, and Queen Mary’s Bedroom, where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI. You can see the Scottish Crown Jewels in the Crown Chamber, tour the French Prisons, and see the huge five-ton cannon known as Mons Meg. Plan to spend several hours at a minimum exploring the Castle.

The Royal Mile

The Royal Mile begins at Edinburgh Castle and runs downhill to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. I was surprised by how much there was to see and do in that mile long stretch. We spent most of two full days exploring it.

Just below the Castle, the Overlook Tower and the Camera Obscura are worth a visit. The camera obscura casts a fascinating real-time revolving image of the surrounding area onto a circular table. Nearby is the Scotch Whisky Heritage Center where you can learn about the making of Scotch Whisky and sample a variety of different whiskies.

Although we didn’t go inside, St. Giles Cathedral, also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a magnificent structure that predates most of the structures in Edinburgh Castle. The cathedral was built between the late 14th and early 16th centuries. Entrance to the cathedral is free, but a small donation is requested.

One of the attractions of the Royal Mile are the “closes,” underground passageways that were once narrow streets or walkways between houses. The upper floors of some the houses were demolished and the lower stories used as foundation for the Royal Exchange, built in the mid 18th century, leaving the closes below ground. Some of the closes remain as passages between the Royal Mile and the streets to the south, and organized tours of some of the more subterranean closes, such as the Real Mary King’s Close, are available.

Other attractions of the Royal Mile include the John Knox House, the Writers’ Museum, the Huntly House, and The People’s Story, a museum housed in the historic Canongate Tolbooth, built in 1591.

You will also find the Scottish Parliament buildings at the lower end of the Royal Mile near Holyroodhouse. Their contemporary, modernist design stands in stark contrast to the traditional and historical structures around them. And while I in fact like the design, to me they look out of place in their setting.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse

At the bottom of the Royal Mile lies the Palace of Holyroodhouse. All that remains of the original palace, built by James IV in the 16th century, is the North Tower. Most of the existing structure was built by Charles II about a century later. Adjacent to the palace are the ruins of the nave of an Augustinian abbey built in the 12th century.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Monarchy in Scotland, but the palace is open to the public when King Charles III is not in residence. We did not tour the interior, but it comes highly rated. You can visit the Throne Room, the Picture Gallery, and the King’s Bedchamber, and Tour the King James Tower, where Mary Queen of Scots lived. For more information, check the Royal Collection Trust website.

Arthur’s Seat. Photo by Claudel Rheault, sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Adjacent to the palace is Holyrood Park. Here you can climb to the top of the 823-foot-high Arthur’s Seat where you can get a panoramic view of Edinburgh Castle and the city beyond.

Beyond the Old Town

The most striking features of the New Town are the Princes Street Gardens, pictured above, and the Scott Memorial, pictured below.

We didn’t make it to Queen Street and Queen Street Gardens, but the photos I’ve seen and the guidebook descriptions make me think we missed something there.

A little farther afield in the West End, though within easy walking distance of the New Town, is the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, one of Edinburgh’s many museums. After days of being immersed in ancient history and medieval art, it was nice to see something more contemporary.

On the walk back we discovered a path along the Water of Leith that took us to Dean Village, a charming little community that dates to the 12th century. (The Bald Hiker website just published a post on the Water of Leith walk – all 13 miles of it. Click here to view the post).

On our visit we stayed at an old hotel just east of Calton Hill. With its many monuments, including the Nelson Monument and the Lincoln Monument (which is in fact dedicated to Abraham Lincoln), Calton Hill is one of the more scenic and picturesque locations in Edinburgh. From the top of the hill you have a panoramic view over the city and to the Firth of Forth and the Port of Leith, where the Royal Yacht Britannia, once Queen Elizabeth II’s private yacht, is berthed. Since its decommissioning in 1997, the yacht has been open to the public.

Festivals

Edinburgh is not completely lost in its history. It has a modern, contemporary side as well, and it is a city of festivals. The biggest and most famous is the Edinburgh International Festival, held every August. Running simultaneously with it is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in which anyone and everyone is given free rein to put on whatever kind of performance they choose, wherever they can find a place to perform it. The Fringe bills itself as the largest artistic festival in the world. And if that were not enough, there is a film festival, a jazz festival, a television festival, and (some years) a book festival that also run simultaneously with the International Festival.

Conclusion

I don’t know if we’ll ever return to Edinburgh. I would love to, but traveling to Europe is not something we can do every year, and there are probably too many places that we have not yet visited for us to be retracing past steps. If you have not been to Edinburgh, though, I highly recommend that you visit at some point, if possible. It’s a wonderful place and visiting is a much richer experience than I can convey in words and images. And Edinburgh was just the beginning of our travels in Scotland. Look for an updated post on the Isle of Skye, and perhaps one or two others down the road.

Originally posted by Alan K. Lee, September 16, 2020. Updated and re-posted July 10, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted

Chihuly Garden and Glass

I was completely blown away by Dale Chihuly’s incredible glass sculptures when I first visited Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle. Whenever I’m in Seattle I try to incorporate another visit and the impact of his work has never lessened. The photos here are of his works displayed at Chihuly Garden and Glass. Elsewhere in the Northwest, his work can also be seen at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and the Bridge of Glass, which spans I-705 and connects downtown Tacoma and the Museum District with the Museum of Glass and the Thea Foss Waterfront.

Chihuly is a Pacific Northwest native. He was born in Tacoma in 1941, graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1959, and attended the College of Puget Sound and the University of Washington, where he majored in interior design. He briefly studied art in Florence, Italy before returning to the U.S. and re-enrolling at Washington.

It was at the University of Washington that he began working with glass, first experimenting with incorporating shards of glass into tapestries. He began blowing glass in 1965. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in interior design from the University of Washington in 1965, a Master of Science degree in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1967, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1968.

He worked for a time at the Verini glass factory in Murano, Italy, and taught at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Island, Maine. In 1971 he co-founded the Pilchuk Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. He later taught at the Rhode Island School of Design for more than a decade.

In 1976 he was involved in a head-on car crash in England that left him blind in his left eye. And in 1979 he dislocated his right shoulder in a body surfing accident and could no longer hold a glass blowing pipe. That led him to hire others to do the actual glass blowing for him. He adopted a teamwork approach to glass sculpture that he first experienced in Murano that has allowed him to create works of a size that could not be done by a glass blower working alone.

Chihuly’s work is displayed in more than 200 museums, including a large permanent exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and is sold in galleries around the world.

Chihuly Garden and Glass opened in 2012 in the Seattle Center, next door to the Space Needle. It includes indoor and outdoor exhibits, a bookstore and gift shop, and a full service bar offering beer, wine, cocktails, and a limited food menu. Regular price adult admission to Chihuly Garden and Glass is $30 weekdays and $35 weekends. Discounts are available for seniors and children, and for late entry (after 6pm). Hours vary slightly with the seasons. The Seattle CityPass Card gives you entry to the Space Needle and other Seattle attractions as well as Chihuly Garden and Glass. Check the websites linked below for more information.

Useful links:

Chihuly Garden and Glass website Seattle Center and the Space Needle

Tacoma Museum District Museum of Glass website

Seattle CityPass Card

Originally posted by Alan K. Lee July 3, 2018. Updated and re-posted October 14, 2020 and June 26, 2023.

All photos by and the property of the author.

Florence, Italy

In 2018 my wife and I had the great pleasure of visiting Florence, Italy. It was the final leg of our 2018 trip that also included visits to Cinque Terre, Lucca, Pisa, and Siena.

There is probably no other city in the world where history, culture, and art intersect as strongly as they do in Florence. Walking the streets of the old city center, you are walking the same streets that Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, the Medicis, and Machiavelli walked. You are literally walking in their footprints. That’s a very powerful and pretty magical connection. Never mind that there are tens of thousands of other visitors walking those same streets.

If you an art aficionado, you have a problem here – you simply can’t see everything worth seeing unless you have an unlimited amount of time to spend in Florence. There are dozens of galleries, museums, and palaces, and hundreds, probably thousands, of statues and other significant pieces art scattered around the city. Many of Florence’s churches have impressive art collections, as well. We visited many, but by no means all, of the major galleries in our four days there.

The two most acclaimed art museums in Florence are the Uffizi Gallery and the Galleria dell’ Accademia. The Uffizi has the most extensive collection of Italian renaissance art in existence, and the Accademia is home to Michelangelo’s David. Though very crowded, both are absolute must sees if this is your first visit to Florence.

Statue of Orpheus, Medici-Riccardi Palace

The Duomo Museum is also highly worth visiting, and the Bargello has the best collection of early Florentine sculpture. The Palazzo Medici-Riccardi and the Palazzo Vecchio both also house significant works of Florentine art. The Galileo Science Museum, the Museum of San Marco, and the museums in the Palazzo Pitti are also highly recommended by the guide books. We weren’t able to visit any of those, however.

The history and culture of Florence is intimately tied to the Catholic Church, and many of the city’s churches are among the major attractions of Florence, including the Church of Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Croce Church, the Brancacci Chapel, the Medici Chapels, the San Miniato Church, and, of course, the Duomo cathedral (officially the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) and the Baptistery (the oldest structure in Florence, built in the eleventh century).

Construction of the cathedral started in 1296, but the nave wasn’t finished until 1420, and the dome wasn’t completed until 1436. (The Lantern that tops the dome wasn’t added until 1472). The dome of the cathedral is by itself one of the wonders of Florence. When the cathedral was designed no one had any idea how to build a dome spanning 150 feet, especially one that began 180 feet off the ground. Nothing like it had been built before. No one knew if it could be built. Filippo Brunelleschi, who both designed and built the dome, had nothing to guide him. He literally had to invent the engineering techniques and much of the equipment needed to construct it as he went. It is still the largest masonry dome in the world. The Florence Inferno website has more information on construction of the dome. There is also a fascinating episode of the PBS series NOVA depicting the building of the dome that I highly recommend. There is a link to that at the end of this post.

Entrance to the Duomo cathedral is free. Because of that and because the cathedral is one of the most prominent attractions in Florence, the lines are long – many blocks long when we were there. The cathedral opens to the public at 10:00, except Sunday. Mass (which is open to the public) is held at 10:30 on Sunday, and the cathedral opens for public tours at 1:30. A €15 combo ticket gets you into all of the other Duomo attractions, including the Campanile, the Baptistery, the Duomo Museum, and the climb to the top of the dome (which also requires reserving a time in advance).

City view from the top of the Duomo dome

Since we were climbing the dome, we skipped the long line to get into the Duomo cathedral. Climbing the dome does not get you into the main floor of the cathedral (except for a small roped off area as you exit), but does give you a birds eye view looking down on the altar and the 500 foot long nave from halfway up, and gives you an up close view of Vasari’s magnificent painting that covers the dome’s ceiling. And the view of the city from the top of the dome is spectacular, especially if you’re there near sunset, and makes the 463 step climb definitely worth the effort.

After our dome climb, and a short rest, we climbed the Campanile (bell tower), also known as Giotto’s Tower. While the view of the city is essentially the same as from the cathedral dome, from the Campanile you have a great view of the dome itself. The 414 step climb to the top of the bell tower is slightly less taxing than the climb to the top of the dome (unless you climb them back to back like we did). If you just want a good view of the city, the more sensible option would be to just climb the Campanile and skip the dome, but climbing both is certainly doable for most people.

We stayed at an Airbnb rental near the city center, and walked everywhere we went. All of the major attractions of Florence are within easy walking distance of each other. The closer to the center of the city the more expensive hotels and other accommodations tend to be, of course, so staying outside of the center and taking a taxi or bus in makes some sense. (Even if you have a car, I would advise not driving into the city center). Our Airbnb was reasonably affordable and only a ten minute walk to the Duomo, though, so that is also a good option to consider if the cost of accommodations is a concern.

There is just too much to Florence to cover here. If you’re planning a trip, do your homework (Rick Steves’ guide to Florence and Tuscany is a good starting point), pick the sights you have to see, and plan accordingly. But also leave time to explore the city, especially areas away from the Duomo, the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio. Sample the local cuisine (the food was very good at every place we ate, so don’t be a slave to guide book recommendations), drink some wine, and get a feel for the city. Visit the Pitti Palace (closed on Mondays) and the Boboli Gardens in the Oltrarno area south of the river, take in the sunset from the Piazzale Michelangelo (also in the Oltrarno), or just wander at random. You will find interesting, artistic, and historical attractions wherever you go.

There is simply no other place like Florence. If you are contemplating a trip to Tuscany, Florence has to be at the top of your list of places to visit. And you should spend enough time there to get a real feel for the city. There’s just too much history, too much art, and too much of the soul of Italy there to not experience as much of it as you can.

I don’t know if we will ever return to Tuscany, but there is still much to see if we do, in Siena, Lucca, and Pisa as well as Florence. And the hilltop villages in central Tuscany that we did not make it to on this trip beckon.

Click here to watch the NOVA episode on building the Duomo dome. To view other posts from our trip, click on the links below:

Cinque Terre Lucca Siena

Originally posted 11/4/18 by Alan K. Lee. Updated and re-posted 8/24/20 and 6/20/23.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Siena, Italy

Siena, Italy is a hilltop city in Tuscany, about 30 miles south of Florence. Siena was a medieval rival of Florence, on par with Rome, Genoa, and Venice. It ultimately lost out when Florentine forces captured the city in 1550. Florence became the political and cultural center of Tuscany, and Siena languished for centuries. But Siena’s loss is the visitor’s gain. While Florence flourished, Siena remained much as it had been in 1500, and the historical center (“centro storico”) retains much of its medieval character.

We traveled to Siena by train from Lucca. The train station in Siena lies at the base of the hill. Taxis are readily available to take you up to the main city, and there is a shuttle bus, also. The other option is a long series of indoor escalators (beginning in a shopping mall across from the station), which is what we took. From the top of the escalators it is a short walk to the Porta Camollia gate in the old city wall.

Our arrival happened by chance to coincide with the 2018 running of the Mille Miglia (“Thousand Mile”) classic car rally, which was passing through Siena that day. The city was full of old, and some not so old, exotic cars. Being a bit of a car guy, that was an unexpected bonus for me.

We found our Airbnb rental without a problem, but actually getting in took a couple of hours. The building door code that we were given didn’t work, but a resident let us in. The key was supposed to be in the door to our unit, and it was, but our unit was off a hallway that was behind a locked door. Calling the management company got us nowhere. Eventually, my wife made an international call to Airbnb back in the States, and they contacted the local people, who sent someone out to let us in. How they expected us to get past that locked door is beyond me. Another example of “this is Italy,” I guess. But once settled in, the rest of our visit was thoroughly enjoyable.

Piazza del Campo viewed from part way up the City Tower

The cultural hearts of Siena are the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo di Siena. Both are within a few blocks of each other, making it easy to get at least a taste of Siena, even if you have only part of a day to spend there. Siena, at least the centro storico, is easily walkable. Vehicles are restricted to residents, taxis, and service vehicles. The hill top is roughly Y-shaped, with the three limbs radiating out from the Piazza del Campo (sometimes called Il Campo). The streets are narrow and winding, much like Lucca, and it isn’t difficult to get lost. But if you have a good map and are paying attention to where you’re going, it’s not difficult to find your way around.

Church of San Domenico (Chiesa di S. Domenico)

Climbing the City Tower (Torre del Mangia), adjacent to Il Campo, will give you a birdseye view of the city and help you orient yourself. The tower is 330 feet tall and the climb is about 400 steps, so you need to be in decent physical condition, but the exertion is worth the effort, if you can manage it.

The Piazza del Campo is the civic center of Siena, and has been since the 13th century. It’s a great place to just sit and people watch, drink a glass of wine or pint of beer, and relax between your explorations. City Hall (Palazzo Publico) faces the plaza and houses the Civic Museum and provides access to the City Tower.

Directly across the plaza from City Hall is the Fountain of Joy (Fonte Gaia). The original fountain was built in the early 1400s and was a source of clean drinking water for the residents of Siena. What you see in the plaza is a copy, but the original fountain can be seen at the Santa Maria della Scala museum next to the Duomo, where it was moved to preserve it.

The Piazza del Campo is also the site of the famous Palio horse races that are held every summer. Each horse represents one of the 17 contrades (neighborhoods) in Siena and competition between the contrades is fierce. Winning the Palio is a very big deal in Siena.

The Duomo di Siena, a few hundred yards west of Il Campo, is the religious heart of Siena. Built in the 1200s, the cathedral predates Florence’s grand Duomo. Plans to expand it to surpass Florence’s cathedral were scuttled by the Black Death that killed a third of the population in the 1350s. The expansion plan was never revived, but even as is, the Duomo is still plenty grand.

Original stained glass window from the Duomo, displayed in the Duomo Museum

A woman we met in Cinque Terre earlier in our trip told us that the Duomo in Siena is the second most beautiful church (after the Vatican) that she has ever seen. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is definitely impressive and worth a few hours, or even a half a day, to see all that it offers. The Duomo Museum and the cathedral are absolute must sees if you’re visiting Siena.

We spent most of our two days in Siena wandering around with no set agenda. It’s just a magnificent city, and everywhere you go you will find something worthwhile to see or do. There are lots of interesting little shops and art galleries, scenic streets and alleys to explore, and of course, plenty of cafes and restaurants for you to sample the local cuisine. We largely ignored the guidebooks and just picked cafes that looked interesting to us, and we didn’t have a bad meal at any of them.

Chiesa di S. Maria di Provenzano (left) and Basilica di S. Francesco (right)

One of our wanders took us to the Basilica di San Francesco and the adjoining Oratoria di San Bernadino. Both the buildings and grounds are strikingly beautiful, and we lingered for what seemed like hours. And I’m sure there are many other churches in Siena that are just as beautiful. In fact, I don’t think there is anyplace in the centro storico that is not beautiful.

If you’re interested in the history of Siena, the Civic Museum, the Duomo Museum, and the Santa Maria dell Scala museum are must visits. And if you are interested in the art of Siena, be sure to check out the Pinocoteca Nazionale and the Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana, both near the Duomo.

We were able to explore only a small fraction of the city, but Siena is so beautiful and so charming that we would love to return some day and spend more than just two days there. While Lucca has a very interesting and largely authentic centro storico, Siena’s is equally interesting and authentic, and it’s burnt sienna colored brick buildings and dramatic hilltop location make it more beautiful and give it more charm than Lucca. And while it doesn’t have Florence’s art and cultural heritage, I would pick Siena over Florence if I could only revisit one.

Our trip to Italy began with five days in Cinque Terre, followed by two in Lucca. Following our visit to Siena, we spent another five days in Florence, soaking up the history, art, and culture of the city, and literally walking in the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Trip of a lifetime.

Originally posted October 10, 2018 by Alan K. Lee

Updated and re-posted April 18, 2021 and June 11, 2023

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Oregon Country Fair 2023

The Oregon Country Fair started in 1969 as a benefit for an alternative school. Originally called the Renaissance Fair, it was essentially a bunch of hippies getting together to sing, dance, smoke pot, party, and raise money for a school. And to some extent it still is, except that today it is strictly a drug and alcohol-free event. I had not been to the fair in many years, but returned in 2018, curious to see what it had become.

So, just what is the Oregon Country Fair today? Well, it’s a three-day festival and gathering held every July near the town of Veneta, Oregon, about 15 miles west of Eugene. It’s run by a non-profit organization that supports a variety of other non-profits providing medical, housing, and educational services, and also provides support for the arts and the environment. According to its website, the OCF “has a rich and varied history of alternative arts and performance promotion, educational opportunities, land stewardship and philanthropy,” and “creates events and experiences that nourish the spirit, explore living artfully and authentically on earth, and transform culture in magical, joyous and healthy ways.” You can make what you will of that. But at its heart it’s still a party. A huge three-day party.

The OCF is a remnant of the 1960s counterculture, for sure, but it is anything but stuck in the 60s. Over its 54-year history the Oregon Country Fair has not only survived but grown and thrived. It’s hard to describe just how big this thing has become. The schedule of events for the 2018 fair listed 120 performances on the first day, spread over 19 stages. There are dozens of musical acts, dancers, comedy acts, vaudeville, circus acts, and more than a dozen groups of performers that wander the miles of paths of the fairgrounds. And that’s just the entertainment.

There are also more than 300 artisans selling hand crafted goods – pottery, jewelry, leatherworks, glassworks, furniture and other woodworks, sculptures, paintings, photography, clothing, and you name it. There are also dozens of workshops, classes, and “gatherings,” and almost ninety food booths. There is a childcare center, three first aid stations, a cell phone charging station, drinking water bottle filling stations, showers, and five ATMs.

Every year, the Oregon Country Fair draws tens of thousands of people from all over the Northwest and beyond (I saw one car in the parking lot with Maine license plates). On my last visit, the paid attendance for the day was 15,000. Add in the hundreds of OCF staff, and all the artisans, performers, food booth staffers, and other workers, and you have a not so small city.

This is just a colossal event, one that is worth attending at least once in your life just to take in the sheer magnitude of it. In 2018 my wife had other commitments and couldn’t come, but I enjoyed the fair enough to return the following year and bring her with me. We both enjoyed the 2019 event, but the Covid-19 pandemic derailed the fair in 2020 and 2021. It resumed in 2022 as a slightly smaller event but for 2023 it looks to be back to what it was before the pandemic, and my wife and I may be back again this year to take in the energy and inspired lunacy of this thing one more time.

The 2023 Oregon Country Fair will be held from Friday July 9^th through Sunday July 11^th. Tickets to this year’s fair can be purchased through the OCF website. Single day tickets cost $45 for Friday and Saturday and $40 for Sunday. Seniors (65+) and the alter-abled receive a $5 discount. Children under 13 are free.

Tickets purchased prior to June 23^rd will be mailed to the purchaser. Tickets purchased after June 23^rd can be picked up at the Will Call tent near the fair entrance. Day of event ticket purchases can be made at McDonalds Theater in downtown Eugene or at the northwest parking lot of Valley River Center. Tickets will not be sold at the fairgrounds. Three-day tickets are already sold out.

To get to the fairgrounds from Eugene, take Ore Hwy 126 (West 11^th St) west through Veneta. The entrance to the fairgrounds is on Hwy 126 1.6 miles west of Territorial Highway in Veneta. Coming from north of Eugene, take Interstate 5 or US Hwy 99 south to the Randy Pape Beltline Hwy (exit 195 off I-5), then west to Hwy 126. Follow Hwy 126 west through Veneta. From the south take I-5 north to exit 189, then follow 30^th Avenue (it will become Amazon Parkway) west then north to West 11^th (Hwy 126) and proceed as above.

Parking is $15 per day per vehicle and can be purchased when buying tickets. Free shuttle buses from either downtown Eugene or Valley River Center will be available but service may be limited by post-pandemic staffing shortages. Check the Lane Transit District website for more information.

Originally posted July 17, 2018 by Alan K. Lee. Edited and updated by the author June 8, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Lucca, Italy

by Alan K. Lee

Lucca was the surprise of our trip to Italy in 2018. Our primary destinations were Cinque Terre, Florence, and Siena. I honestly had never heard of Lucca before we started planning that trip, but the guidebooks and online reviews made it sound interesting, so we added it to our itinerary, and I’m glad we did. The following is an updated and slightly edited version of a post on this site from 2018.

Lucca, Italy is a modern city of about 85,000 people, located about ten miles northeast of Pisa and 40 miles west of Florence. But the old walled city was what my wife and I came to see. Lucca has one of the most intact medieval city centers you will find anywhere in Europe. The historic center, or centro storico, is relatively compact, easily walkable, and almost unchanged from medieval times.

Lucca is an ancient city, founded by the Etruscans, probably on the site of an earlier Ligurian settlement. It became a Roman colony in 180 BC. Little remains of the Roman city, though. Most of the old city is of medieval origin, but some of the streets date to the Roman settlement, and a hint of the Roman amphitheater can be seen in the Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro. The popular Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the old Roman forum.

Lucca became an independent state in 1160 and retained its independence for 500 years. In the Middle Ages Lucca grew rich from the silk industry. Banking was also an important source of wealth for the city. More recently, the city was conquered by Napoleon and given to his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi in 1805. It later became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, then the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and finally the modern Italian State in 1861.

One of the attractions of Lucca is the medieval city wall. Lucca is one of the few ancient cities in Europe with an intact wall. The wall is a wide earthen structure faced with brick, constructed between 1550 and 1650. The top of the wall is now a tree-lined park with a wide pedestrian/bicycle path. The 2.5-mile-long path is a popular walking, jogging, and cycling path.

Bicycles can be rented for about €5/hour or €20/day at several shops in the old city. Riding or walking the wall is a good way to get a view of the city, and a good place to people watch, too. You will see many locals, as well as fellow tourists, walking and riding the walls or just relaxing on park benches. There are also several places where there are tunnels inside the structure of the wall that are surprisingly interesting and well worth seeking out.

Inside the walls, the old city has many fine old churches, plazas (piazzas), palaces (palazzos), and villas. Getting around can be confusing, as the streets are narrow and lined with tall (4-6 story) buildings, and some much taller towers that block out any visual reference points. On a cloudy day it can be difficult to orient yourself. You may come out onto the street and have no idea which way is north. A city map and a good guidebook are essential. Rick Steves’ guide to Florence and Tuscany has a chapter on Lucca and is a good reference. His walking tour is a good way to see the major sights.

We wandered around without a set itinerary and got lost on several occasions. Wandering aimlessly and getting lost has a certain appeal, but one time we couldn’t find the side street where we had left the bikes that we borrowed from the owner of the Airbnb we were staying in. Eventually we figured out that we were on the opposite side of the city than we thought we were. We retrieved the bikes and rode back to our rental, but only after walking almost all of the 2.5-mile wall.

Some of the major attractions in Lucca are the Piazza San Michele and the Church of San Michele (Chiesa di San Michele), the Cathedral Museum (Museo della Cattedrale), the Guingi Tower (Torre Guingi) and Villa Guingi, the Casa di Puccini (the birthplace of the opera composer Giacomo Pucccini), the San Martino Cathedral, the San Giovanni Church, the Church of San Fediano, the Pallazzo Mansi, and the Palazzo Pfanner. All of these are described in the Rick Steves guide, as well as other guidebooks.

Climbing the 220 steps of the Torre Guinigi gives you a good view of the city and you’ll find an interesting little grove of trees growing on the summit of the tower. This was the first of our tower climbs during our trip. More would come in Siena and Florence, culminating with our back-to-back climbs of the Duomo and Campanile (Giotto’s Tower) in Florence (both 400+ steps). Lucca once had 160 towers like the Torre Guingi, all private residences of wealthy merchant families. Only a few remain. A combination ticket that gets you into both the Torre Guinigi and the Clock Tower costs less than €10. Most of the other attractions in Lucca are similarly inexpensive, mostly between €5 and €10.

There are no shortages of places in Lucca to get a good meal, something we found true everywhere we went in Italy. There are some fine dining establishments that are recommended the guidebooks, but we found the sidewalk and piazza cafes that are so abundant all had very good food at surprisingly affordable prices. It’s hard to go wrong, wherever you choose to dine. Gelato is serious stuff in Lucca, too, as it is everywhere in Italy.

If you’re visiting Tuscany, Lucca should be on your itinerary, even if you only have an afternoon to explore it. Siena is prettier, and Lucca doesn’t have the history or art and culture of Florence, but it is more authentic and much less touristy, and has its own appeal. You won’t regret it.

For more on our 2018 trip, check out my posts on the wild beauty of Cinque Terre, the art, history, and culture of Florence, and the beauty and charm of Siena.

Originally posted September 17, 2018. Updated and re-posted April 14, 2021 and May 21, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Victoria, British Columbia

by Alan K. Lee

Victoria, British Columbia has long been my favorite Pacific Northwest city. It has always been the most British city in British Columbia, but it also has a distinctly Pacific Northwest/Canadian vibe. The city certainly reflects its British heritage, but it has also been influenced by the Native American/First Nations cultures that preceded the British and exhibits its own unique version of Pacific Northwestern cross-border culture. Think British charm without the stiff upper lip formality of Old England.

Victoria’s British charm may have been diluted a little over the years as it has grown and become a more cosmopolitan city, but it retains enough of that charm that so captivated me the first time I visited that I keep coming back. My wife and I have traveled to Victoria many times and will visit again soon.

The following is an updated and slightly edited version of a 2018 post on this site.

The Royal British Columbia Museum will probably always be my first choice of places to visit in Victoria. Too many museums are stodgy and boring, but the Royal BC has always been immersive and captivating. It’s expansive enough and interesting enough that spending a full day there is not out of the question.

If you’re visiting Victoria, the Royal BC Museum should be near the top of your must see list. If you’re not as captivated by it as I am, and don’t want to spend a half a day, or more, there, there are half a dozen other places worth visiting in close proximity. The British Columbia Parliament buildings are next door. On the other side, Thunderbird Park has a collection of totem poles and several historic structures. The Empress Hotel (officially the Fairmont Empress) is a block away. And Beacon Hill Park is just a few blocks to the south. Then there is the Victoria Bug Zoo, just north of the Empress. I would probably enjoy seeing that, but I don’t think there’s any way I could drag my wife there.

The BC Parliament Buildings and grounds are open to the public. Free guided tours of the buildings lasting 30-45 minutes are conducted daily in the summer and on weekdays the rest of the year. You can also take a self-guided tour, and tour books are available in a variety of languages. Self-guided tours are not available on weekends and holidays, though. The grounds are free and open to the public at all times. For more information, click here.

Thunderbird Park, next door to the Royal BC Museum, is a nice place to relax in the harbor area. It has a nice collection of native totem poles, and three historic structures: the Mungo Martin House, built by native carver Chief Mungo Martin in 1953; the Helmcken House, built by Dr. John Helmcken in 1852; and St. Anne’s Schoolhouse, built in 1844.

Beacon Hill Park, stretching from a block south of Thunderbird Park to the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is a beautiful 62-acre parcel of land dedicated as a city park in 1882. It is home to a totem pole carved by Chief Mungo Martin, David Martin, and Henry Hunt that was the world’s tallest (160 feet) when it was erected in 1956. It is still billed as the world’s tallest free standing totem pole. Park facilities include hiking trails, including a trail along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a petting zoo (officially the Beacon Hill Children’s Farm), a wading pool, water fountains, picnic areas, sports fields and playgrounds, and a band pavilion.

The harbor front has a number of restaurants and hotels, the most famous of which, by far, is the Empress Hotel. Built in 1908 by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Chateauesque style similar to other CPR hotels such as the Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise, the Empress was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981.

Water taxis in front of the Empress Hotel

The Inner Harbor is a busy place, and if you like to people watch, the harbor front is the place go. You can also book whale watching trips, seaplane flights, and carriage rides at the harbor front. Small water taxis, also called pickle boats, are also available that will take you to various waterfront locations, including many of the waterfront hotels and restaurants. Harbor tours are also available. And if you’re there on a weekend morning in the summer, you can catch a group of these little, very maneuverable boats putting on a water ballet, with the boats’ maneuvers choreographed to music broadcast from the shore. It’s fascinating and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Performances are conducted every Sunday at 10:45 a.m. from late May to late September, and on Saturdays at 10:45 a.m. in July and August.

Craigdarroch Castle (photo from Wikipedia Commons)

There is much more to Victoria than what can be found near the harbor front, of course. Tour Craigdarroch Castle, an ornate Victorian mansion located a mile east of the inner harbor area, and Government House, just a few blocks to the south. Take in a performance at the Royal Theatre, on Broughton St, a few blocks north and east of the Empress. Or relax in one of the area’s other parks, such as Saxe Point and McAulay Point in Esquimalt, Uplands Park in Oak Bay, or Gorge Park on the Gorge Waterway.

The Emily Carr House, pictured above, is another place worth visiting. Emily Carr (1871-1945) was a renowned artist, writer, and advocate for social justice.

Eating and drinking spots are abundant in downtown Victoria. Afternoon Tea at the Empress is one of Victoria’s most iconic experiences, and high on the list of Victoria’s premier attractions. If the cost of high tea at the Empress (currently 78 Canadian dollars, approx. 60 US dollars, per person) is too rich for your blood, other slightly less expensive (and sometimes more highly rated) tea services can be found at the Tea House at Abkhazi Garden, White Heather Tea Room, and Pendray Inn and Tea House (formerly known as the Gatsby Mansion).

If a pint is more to your liking than a cuppa, there are many quality pubs near the Inner Harbor. Try Spinnakers Gastro Pub, across the Johnson Street Bridge in the Outer Harbor area. On Government Street, a few blocks north of the Empress you’ll find Bard and Banker, The Churchill, Garrick’s Head Pub, and Irish Times Pub, all rated highly and all within a block and a half of each other.

For an upscale dinner in the Inner Harbor area, Little Jumbo Restaurant and Bar is hard to beat. Catch their happy hour for a more affordable menu and cocktails. Il Terazzo, Brasserie L’Ecole, Il Covo, OLO Restaurant, and Saveur Restaurant all get rave reviews as well. For breakfast, try John’s Place (eight different versions of Eggs Benedict), or Jam (popular and crowded, but well worth it).

Outside of Victoria, Butchart Gardens is one of the Northwest’s and Canada’s most visited sites. Victoria is, of course, the gateway to the rest of Vancouver Island and its myriad attractions. It is also one of the gateways to the Gulf Islands, one of my favorite places in the Northwest.

If you haven’t experienced Victoria yet, go! You won’t regret it.

Originally posted 11-15-18. Most recent update 4-29-23.

Savannah, Georgia

by Alan K. Lee

Savannah, Georgia is one of those iconic Old South cities that are on many people’s bucket list, and for good reason. It’s a beautiful city, and would be worth a visit just to see Forsyth Park and the 22 park-like Squares in the Historic District, with their live oaks draped in Spanish moss. Throw in a lively riverfront, hundreds of antebellum brick buildings and Victorian homes, interesting museums and art galleries, and dozens of fine dining options, and you have a place worthy of more than the day and a half that we had to explore it.

Savannah was the final destination in a trip that also took my wife and I to Asheville, North Carolina, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chimney Rock State Park, N.C., and Charleston, South Carolina.

Savannah is an old city, founded in 1733. It was the first European settlement in Georgia, and the city’s history is an important aspect of its spirit and culture. Walking around in the Historic District, it’s not hard to envision yourself in another, long past, era.

The entire Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The Savannah History Museum, itself a National Historic Landmark, is a good place to get a taste of Savannah’s long history. It’s located in the Savannah Visitor Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Other history museums of interest include the Davenport House Museum, the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, and the Ralph Marks Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.

Savannah is a very walkable city. Guided walking tours of the Historic District are available for about $25 per person. There are also guided bike tours and public carriage tours available at similar rates. Private carriage tours run $100-125 for two people. Hop-on/hop-off trolley tours run $30-35 per person. Ghost tours are also a popular option for visitors.

We opted to wander around on our own (but probably missed out on a lot of interesting information about the city). A good place to start a walking tour of your own is Forsyth Park, a 30 acre park at the south end of the Historic District. Its most notable feature is the Forsyth Fountain, but there is a lot more there to see. Enjoy the park’s gardens, paths, monuments, and the fountain, then head north toward the river and take in some (or all) of the 22 Squares and innumerable historic buildings, churches, and Victorian houses.

Some of the more interesting structures in the Historic District include The Pirate’s House, mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the city’s oldest building and now a popular restaurant, and The Olde Pink House, another of the city’s oldest structures and also a highly regarded restaurant. Not quite as old, but equally interesting, the Mercer House (officially the Mercer-Williams House Museum) was the site of the 1980s killing of a male prostitute that inspired the book (and movie) Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.

Near the north end of the Historic District, City Market is a four block area of restaurants, galleries, shops, bars, and offices that is something of a destination in its own right. Get a frozen daiquiri to go (yes, it’s legal in Savannah) at Wet Willie’s and make your way to River Street.

The buildings along River Street were once cotton warehouses. Today they house shops, restaurants, bars, and art galleries. River Street has its share of tacky gift shops, but it also has some interesting boutiques, antique shops, and art galleries. Among the many restaurants are Vic’s On the River, Huey’s, The Shrimp Factory, and Joe’s Crab Shack. If you need a frozen daiquiri refill, there’s another Wet Willie’s on River Street.

There are no shortage of other places along the river to wet your whistle, including The Warehouse Bar and Grill, Dub’s Public House, The Cotton Exchange Tavern, and a couple of rooftop bars, Top Deck Bar and Rocks On the Roof. And there are more restaurants and bars on Bay Street on the top of the bluff.

Along the riverfront, check out the World War II Memorial, the Savannah Waving Girl statue, the Olympic Yachting Cauldron from the 1996 Olympic Games, and River Street Market Place. Take one of the Savannah Belle ferries across the river to Hutchison Island. There’s not much on the island of interest except the Westin Savannah Harbor Hotel and the Savannah Convention Center, but the ferry will give you a good view of the waterfront and the golden dome of City Hall on the bluff above River Street. And the ferry is free.

River cruises are a popular tourist activity in Savannah. Savannah Riverboat Cruises offers lunch and dinner cruises, a Monday night gospel cruise, and sunset and moonlight cruises on their two large sternwheeler-style river boats, the Georgia Queen and the Savannah River Queen. Dolphin Magic Tours guarantees that you will see bottlenose dolphins “or your next cruise is free,” which is not worth much if you’re from the west Coast and are only in town for a day. But their reviews are generally positive. We didn’t have time to take either of those tours, but I’m sure that both would be enjoyable

There’s much to see and do in Savannah that time didn’t allow. We had to skip many things. We checked out only a couple of the city’s art galleries, for example, and didn’t make it to other nearby destinations such as Fort Jackson and Tybee Island. Savannah would definitely worth another and longer visit if it were a little closer to home, but who knows, we may be back someday to take in what we missed on our first visit.

Originally posted January 24, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 15, 2023.

Charleston, South Carolina

by Alan K. Lee

Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia had been on my bucket list of travel destinations for a long time. So, when my wife and I decided to visit Asheville, North Carolina and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, taking a side trip to Charleston and Savannah seemed like a sensible addition to our itinerary. It wouldn’t add much expense and, being only 100 miles apart, we could get at least a taste of both cities in the limited amount of time we had. (To see my post on our visit to Asheville, click here).

We drove from Asheville to Charleston on a Sunday morning and spent the afternoon wandering around the historic center of the city. It’s older and more traditional, more Old South, than Asheville, but no less charming – lots of wonderful old houses and buildings, in all conditions from newly renovated to literally falling down, often the one adjacent to the other.

The oldest surviving structure in the city, the Middleburg Plantation House, was constructed in 1699. Spanning more than three centuries, the architecture of Charleston includes Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Charleston Single House, and Art Deco style buildings and houses.

We found a wonderful restaurant, the now closed Hominy Grill, not far from our Airbnb for dinner that evening. The menu featured fresh, home-style food taken wonderfully upscale. Winner of the 2008 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast, we found it to be just a great place to eat. Actually, the food was wonderful everywhere we ate in Charleston. It would take a long time to sample all of the many acclaimed restaurants in the city. The annual Charleston Food + Wine Festival brings thousands of tourists to Charleston each March, and food tours are popular year around.

While many people come to Charleston just for the food, there is much more to see and do in Charleston, of course. There are walking and carriage tours of the city, and plantation and garden tours. Fort Sumpter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, is a short distance outside of town. You can learn some of the history of the area and see the city from the water on a boat tour of the harbor. The city has a number of outstanding museums, including the Charleston Museum, the Nathaniel Russel House, and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. And there is much more to see and do, more than we had time for in our three days in the city.

We spent most of our second day in Charleston exploring more of the historic center of the city, then ended the day with a trip to Folly Beach, about ten miles south of the city. Near the center of the small town of Folly Beach, Folly Beach Pier extends more than 1000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean. Folly Beach County Park lies at the west end of the island. At the east end, Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve offers a more secluded beach about a quarter mile walk from the end of East Ashley Avenue with a view across the water to Morris Island Lighthouse, which is surrounded by water just offshore from the westernmost point of Morris Island.

The next day we made the short trip across the Ravenel Bridge to Shem Creek Park in Mount Pleasant. The park encompasses a large salt marsh where Shem Creek meets Charleston Harbor. There are extensive boardwalks that allow you to get out in the marsh, and nice views across the harbor to downtown Charleston. It’s a nice place to get away from the city for awhile and rest your feet. And after all the walking around Charleston that we did the previous days, my feet needed a rest.

Our final morning in Charleston we made a second stop at Hominy Grill for breakfast. On our way out of town we made a couple of stops not far outside of Charleston. The first was the Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island. This huge Southern live oak is estimated to be 400-500 years old. It’s trunk measures 28 feet in circumference, it’s 66 feet tall, and its canopy covers 17,200 square feet of ground.

After leaving Angel Tree, we made a second stop at Caw Caw Interpretive Center, another of Charleston County’s many parks. There are six miles of trails and boardwalks through a former rice plantation that is now marshland and swamp. The park is managed for wildlife, and is home to otters, alligators, deer, and other wildlife. Caw Caw is one of coastal Carolina’s birding hot spots. It’s also the site of the 1739 slave revolt known as the Stono Rebellion.

We had a great time exploring Charleston. It’s really a beautiful and charming place. But to really see all it has to offer, you need to plan for more than a three-day visit. For more information, check out the Charleston SC Visitors Guide and Discover South Carolina websites.

After our visit to Charleston, we made the two-hour drive to Savannah. To read about our visit to Savannah, click here.

Originally posted Jan. 20, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 9, 2023.

Northern Oregon Coast

By Alan K. Lee

The Oregon Coast is one of the prime tourist attractions of the state. Tens of thousands of visitors descend on the Oregon coast each weekend in the summer. With beautiful beaches, rocky headlands, working lighthouses, busy fishing ports, ultra-fresh seafood, charming small towns, and more, the Oregon coast has a lot to offer over its 360-mile length. The northern Oregon coast, because of its proximity to the Portland metro area, gets the bulk of the tourist traffic, so it can be crowded and tacky gift shops and ugly beach front motels abound. But it also has its share of charming towns that avoid the worst of the commercial ugliness and are worth visiting any time of the year.

I’ll cover four of my favorite northern Oregon coastal towns in this post: Cannon Beach, Gearhart, Manzanita, and Oceanside. They all have their own unique personality, but they all share a few things in common. They’re all small (none have more than 3,000 year-round residents), they’re all beachfront towns and the Pacific Ocean plays a big role in their culture and community, all but tiny Oceanside have an active arts scene, and you can find outstanding places to eat and drink in each of them.

Astoria, the first American settlement west of the Rockies, is a good place to start an exploration of the Oregon coast, and it has enough to offer the traveler that I’ve covered it in a previous post. Click here to view that post. But I’ll start this post with the town of Cannon Beach.

Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach is probably best known for Haystack Rock, the huge sea stack that sits just off the beach. But for me, the chief attraction of Cannon Beach is the many fine art galleries that can be found in the town. If you’ve followed this blog or my Instagram account (@alanlee633), you know that my wife and I are big fans of the visual arts. For art lovers, Cannon Beach is the premier destination on the Oregon coast. Some of our favorite galleries are White Bird Gallery (fine arts and crafts) , North By Northwest Gallery (American masters and regional artists), Jeffery Hull Gallery (original watercolor and oil paintings), and DragonFire Gallery (original works by Northwest artists).

Besides the beach and the galleries, Cannon Beach also has many casual and fine dining establisnments. For breakfast or lunch, try the Lazy Susan Cafe. For fresh, affordable seafood check out Tom’s Fish and Chips or Ecola Seafood Restaurant and Market. Castaway’s Global Cuisine features Cajun-Creole and Caribbean food. If you’re looking for a good craft beer, Public Coast Brewing (at the north end of downtown), Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse (downtown), and Pelican Brewing (at the south end of downtown) all offer a good selection of craft beers and pub food. Fine dining options include Newman’s at 988, and the dining room at the Stephanie Inn (both south of the main downtown area).

Gearhart

Gearhart offers a different vibe than Cannon Beach. It’s less of a tourist town (all of the typical tourist attractions and the associated tackiness can be found in the adjacent town of Seaside) and has a more residential feel. There are fewer dining options or galleries, but the laidback nature of the town and the miles of uncrowded beach make Gearhart one of my favorite places to stop on the north coast.

What really sets the Gearhart beach apart is that there are no oceanfront motels or restaurants, and really no beachfront residences. There are a couple of condo complexes close to the beach, but most residences are set back 700-900 feet from the sand. That gives the beach at Gearhart a unique character, with most of the houses out of view. And the sand goes on forever. You can walk the beach all the way to the mouth of the Columbia River at Fort Stevens State Park fifteen miles to the north.

Gearhart is also known for being the childhood home of famed chef James Beard. There are no five star restaurants there, but the town does have a few places to find good food and drink. Pacific Way Café and Marketplace offers a bakery, coffee shop, café, and small marketplace. Grandma’s Corner Restaurant, on Hwy 101, a local favorite for breakfast and lunch, is known for its friendly service and made from scratch comfort food like your grandma made it. Decent pub fare and good craft brews can be found at the Sand Trap Pub in the Gearhart Hotel. Wander through the hotel and check out the many whimsical paintings and historical photos displayed in the hallways. The art may not be to your taste, but it is creative and typical of all the McMenamin’s hotels.

Gearhart doesn’t have the many galleries that Cannon Beach offers, but there are a couple worth checking out. A Great Gallery, catercorner to Pacific Way Café, features the paintings of owner and artist Susan Thomas. Speakman Studios, on Pacific Way just east of Hwy 101, features artworks by Diane and Jay Speakman and their daughter Rachel. The studio is currently undergoing renovations but will reopen sometime in 2023. In the meantime, some of the Speakman’s art can be seen at The Art of Interiors in Cannon Beach.

Manzanita

Manzanita, located at the base of Neahkahnie Mountain on a peninsula between the ocean and Nehalem Bay, mixes residential and commercial areas, and like Gearhart, has very limited oceanfront commercial development, just a couple of motels and a few vacation rentals on the north end of town that could get away with calling themselves “oceanfront” and a few houses on the south side that really are beachfront. Most of the houses on the south end of town, though, are set back 300-500 feet from the beach and there are no commercial structures. With less than 1000 full time residents, Manzanita is smaller than either Cannon Beach or Gearhart. It gets more tourist traffic than Gearhart, but far less than Cannon Beach.

Dining options worth checking out in Manzanita include Yolk (all day breakfasts), Offshore Grill and Coffee House (seasonal food from local farmers), and Big Wave Café (seafood, steaks, and burgers). For an upscale dinner, try Neah-Kah-Nie Bistro (next door to Yolk).

Art lovers should visit 4^th Street Studio and Gallery (local and regional artists), Polaris Gallery (paintings by gallery owner J. Scott Wilson), and Hoffman Gallery (local and visiting artists) at Hoffman Center for the Arts.

Oceanside

Oceanside is the farthest south of the four towns and is not on Hwy 101, both of which lessen its tourist traffic. It’s also the smallest of the four. But it has a spectacular beach, with a unique tunnel cut through a headland that links Oceanside Beach with the aptly named Tunnel Beach to the north. To the south, the beach runs for two miles to the town of Netarts on Netarts Bay. And about a mile north of town, Short Beach, almost unknown to outsiders, gives access to the beautiful two-tier Larson Creek Falls. At low tide, you may also be able to get around the point to the south and explore Lost Boy Beach. (Take care here, though, because you could get trapped by the rising tide).

The beaches are the star here, but the town has its own charm, with many homes built on the side of a steep hillside overlooking the ocean that look like they could tumble down onto the beach at any time. (A mile or two to the south, several homes came close to doing just that about 25 years ago). There are also several good cafes and restaurants in town. Rosanna’s Café is my personal favorite, although Current Café and Lounge (across the street from Rosanna’s) and Blue Agate Café (a block north, adjacent to the beach parking area) both get slightly better ratings. Oceanside is lacking in galleries but check out Kristy Lombard Pottery in nearby Tillamook or Bay City Arts Center about five miles north of Tillamook in the town of Bay City.

Other Attractions

There is more to the north coast than just the towns and beaches covered here, of course. The beach and bayfront at Bayocean Peninsula, Short Sand Beach at Oswald West State Park, the family-friendly beach at Hug Point, the stunningly beautiful Ecola State Park, and the historic Fort Stevens State Park are all must see destinations. The cheeses and ice cream available at Tillamook Cheese Factory, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the state, is worth braving the crowds. You can go deep sea fishing on a charter boat out of Garibaldi or ride the steam train from Garibaldi to Rockaway Beach. For hikers, the Tillamook Head, Cape Falcon, and Cape Lookout trails offer scenic vistas only accessible by foot and well worth the effort it takes to get there. You can find fresh seafood everywhere. There’s storm watching in the winter. And the list goes on.

Posted March 24, 2023

Asheville, N.C.

by Alan K. Lee

Asheville, N.C. had never been on my bucket list of travel destinations, nor had Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But some years ago the daughter of friends of ours moved to Asheville, and we started hearing about what an interesting city it is. So, my wife and I decided to pay a visit. And when we did, we found that it was indeed a very interesting place.

Our timing wasn’t the best. A hurricane had just missed Asheville a few days before we arrived. There was still plenty of evidence, in the form of downed limbs and trees, of the power of the storm, but the center of the storm had passed to the west of Asheville and the city had not suffered any major damage. And the weather was fine while we were there.

We spent our first full day in Asheville exploring the city. It’s an old city, but it’s got a very young, very hip feel to it. There are 60+ breweries in town, for example, the most per capita of any US city, and second only to Portland, Oregon (where we’re from) in total number.

Asheville is also a very arts oriented city. As well as sampling a few of the brew pubs, we also visited a few of the galleries and artists studios in the River Arts District and the city center, but our limited amount of time there didn’t allow us to fully explore Asheville’s arts scene.

Asheville is also a great destination for foodies. There are many very good restaurants in the city and there’s a thriving farm-to-table food scene. If you’re ever there, I highly recommend that you seek out Sunny Point Cafe in particular. It’s a wonderful restaurant in West Asheville. Everything’s made with fresh, local ingredients, and everything we had was done superbly. (It was so good that we ate there three times and I bought their cookbook). City Bakery in downtown Asheville is also a great place to start your day.

The city has much more of a Pacific Northwest vibe to it than I was expecting. Besides the galleries and studios, the restaurants, and breweries, Asheville is much like Portland in its easy access to nature and its outdoor oriented residents. I think you could move the whole city to the Willamette Valley or the Puget Sound region and it wouldn’t feel out of place at all. It has Southern roots, certainly, but what we saw of it was more New South than Old South.

On our second day, we trekked to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and drove up to Clingman’s Dome, one of the highest points east of the Rockies. The top of the divide was in the clouds and the valleys were filled with fog, but in between it was clear and the views were spectacular.

We spent most of the rest of the day hiking to a number of the park’s many waterfalls. The Smokies have a different, softer feel to them than the mountains of the Western U.S., but they have their own appeal. We were there a little too early in the season to catch much in the way of fall colors, but there were hints of how beautiful it would be in a few weeks.

We had planned to drive back to Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway, but portions were closed due to trees downed by the hurricane. The Parkway runs from Great Smoky Mountains National Park all the way to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, 469 miles in total. We were able to drive about a 25 mile section of the parkway near Asheville that was open, but not being able to see more of it was disappointing.

Our third day was split between further explorations of Asheville and a visit to Chimney Rock State Park, about 25 miles southeast of Asheville, near the town of Bat Cave.

There’s an elevator that takes you from the parking area up to near the top of Chimney Rock, which is a tall free standing spire on one side of a very large granite dome. The elevator wasn’t working, though, so we climbed the 492 steps (I counted them) to the top, then another 80 to a nook called the Opera Box that looks down on the top of Chimney Rock and provides a great view of the valley below.

After the climb and descent (going down was worse than going up), we did a 1.4 mile out and back hike to Hickory Nut Falls, a very impressive 480 foot waterfall on the other side of the dome.

After leaving the park we had lunch in the community of Chimney Rock, then went for another short hike along the Broad River.

Biltmore Estate. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Asheville is probably most famous for being the site of the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in the country. Unfortunately, it takes the better part of a full day to tour the estate, and we didn’t have the time. So, that will have to wait until our next visit.

Asheville is a fascinating city, worth a longer visit than we gave it, and a great place to use as a base to explore the Great Smoky Mountains, tour the Blue Ridge Parkway, and visit the surrounding countryside. I hope that we will be able to return someday to more fully take in what Asheville has to offer, and more fully explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park and and the rest of the southern Appalachian Mountains via the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information about visiting Asheville, click here.

After visiting Asheville, we visited two charming Old South cities: Charleston, SC, and Savannah, Georgia. Check out our posts on Charleston here, and Savannah here.

Originally posted December 22, 2019. Updated and re-posted January 30, 2023

Port Townsend

by Alan K. Lee

Port Townsend has long been one of my favorite towns in the Pacific Northwest. Port Townsend has it all – a beautiful setting on Puget Sound, some of the best preserved Victorian homes and buildings in the Northwest, an active maritime and boat building industry, a thriving arts community, fine food and drink, and a friendly populace.

Port Townsend bills itself as a “Victorian Seaport and Arts Community.” The town never became the major seaport that its early promoters envisioned it becoming, but the Victorian character of the town has been well preserved, and the arts community is thriving.

Although Port Townsend is no longer a player in the shipping industry, sailing and the marine trades, and maritime life are ingrained in the town’s culture. The hugely popular Wooden Boat Festival grew out of the revival of interest in wooden boats that began in the 1970s. The festival led to the creation of the Northwest Maritime Center, located in Port Townsend’s historic downtown. Today, the center conducts classes in sailing, maritime skills, and the traditions of maritime life.

Wooden sailing ships were key to the town’s early economy and history, and the boatbuilding and woodworking crafts live on in Port Townsend. The Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in nearby Port Hadlock and the Port Townsend School of Woodworking help preserve and promote the skills that were so vital to the early history of Port Townsend.

While its history is important to understanding Port Townsend, the town is anything but stuck in the past. Modern Port Townsend’s vibrant artists community is a reflection of the town’s modern aesthetic. You’ll find outdoor sculptures scattered throughout the town, and more than a dozen fine art and craft galleries can be found in the historic waterfront section of town.

A variety of festivals throughout the year feature the performing arts. Music festivals include jazz and blues, ukulele and fiddle music, a classical concert series, and others, many presented by the Centrum Foundation. The annual Port Townsend Film Festival features more than 100 films presented in eight venues. The Key City Public Theatre puts on a Shakespeare In the Park series every August. The plays are presented on a “pay-what-you-wish” basis at Chetzemoka Park, on the waterfront a few blocks north of the historic district. And then there’s the steampunk lunacy of the more or less impossible to describe Brass Screw Consortium (aka Brass Screw Confederacy).

If you want to really understand what Port Townsend is all about, you need to delve into the town’s history, explore the town’s maritime heritage, and sample the town’s artistic leanings. A good place to start is the Jefferson Museum of Art and History in the 1892 City Hall building in the historic downtown area along the waterfront.

Take a walk along Water Street. It’s not hard to imagine what the town was like 130 years ago because most of the buildings you see today date from that period. Venture up to the bluff above the waterfront and you’ll find many Victorian era homes, most of which have been well preserved or restored. If you visit in the summer months you can tour the Rothschild House, which was built in 1868 and has been preserved intact for more than a hundred years.

Visit Fort Worden State Park. Most of the fort’s original buildings have been preserved, some as museum pieces, such as the Commanding Officer’s Quarters Museum, and some repurposed to meet today’s changed lifestyle, like the Taps at the Guardhouse pub. Visit Point Hudson Lighthouse and the aquarium at the Marine Science Center on the waterfront at Fort Worden.

The history of the area predates European settlement, of course, and you can learn a little of that through the 18 interpretive signs that describe aspects of the S’Klallam tribe’s history and culture along the číčməhán trail. číčməhán (pronounced cheech-ma-han) was a S’Klallam chief known to the European settlers as Chetzemoka. The trail consists of walking, cycling, and driving routes around the town connecting the 18 signs.

Even if you’re not interested in the town’s history, its maritime traditions, or the arts, Port Townsend is still worth visiting, if only to take in its beautiful setting and indulge in its food and drink scene.

Explore the waterfront, but venture inland as well. Take a walk around the Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park, about a mile west of the historic district. And visit the Chinese Gardens west of Fort Worden. The trail along the lake there, and the connecting trails through the hills of Fort Worden State Park are very much worth hiking. (When we first visited, I was thinking the Chinese Gardens would be like the formal Lan Su Garden in Portland. But in this case the name refers to the 19th Century Chinese immigrants’ vegetable gardens, which, of course, no longer exist).

When you’re done with your hike, check to see if Taps at the Guardhouse in Fort Worden is open (it was closed in 2022) to quench your thirst with a good craft brew. Back in the historic district, I highly recommend that you visit Sirens. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, and they have a good selection of craft beers, cocktails, specialty drinks, and wines. But the surprise for me was the food. The jambalaya that I had may not have been authentic Cajun fare, but it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a recent memory. Not your typical pub food by a long ways.

Other places to get a good beer include Quench Waterfront Kitchen and Bar, where you can get Hawaiian food as well as craft brews and cocktails. They also have a decent wine list. Also check out The Old Whiskey Mill in the historic district, and Propolis Brewing and the Pourhouse, both about a mile to the west. If you’re more interested in wine than beer, Vintage by Port Townsend Vineyards is a tasting room with an outdoor courtyard and some of the best wines around. Also try Alchemy Wine Bar. They have an extensive wine list and a bistro kitchen.

On the food side, Owl Spirit Cafe is a good place to grab a sandwich or burrito for lunch. If you have pizza in mind, try Waterfront Pizza. My go to spot for breakfast and lunch is Courtyard Cafe, on Quincy Street a block north of Water Street. A more upscale dining experience can be had at Silverwater Cafe at Taylor and Washington. There are many other places to eat and drink, too, of course. Check the Enjoy Port Townsend website for a more complete listing.

My wife and I stayed at the Water Street Hotel on our most recent visit, recently renamed the Monarch Hotel. Located in the ornate Victorian era N.D. Hill Building in the heart of the historic downtown area, the hotel features comfortable and nicely appointed rooms for a reasonable price. The N.D. Hill Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. There are a myriad of other places to stay in Port Townsend, of course, so check the Enjoy Port Townsend website (linked above) for more options. One note, though. If you’re planning to visit during the Wooden Boat Festival in September, book early. I wound up staying in Poulsbo after I made a late decision to attend the 40th annual festival in 2018 because there were no rooms available anywhere near Port Townsend. Poulsbo is a delightful town in its own right, though, so I was not unhappy about having to make the 30-mile drive to Port Townsend each day.

I’ve just scratched the surface of what Port Townsend has to offer. If you’ve never visited, I highly recommend that you go. I’m guessing that it won’t be your only visit.

Originally posted November 20, 2020. Updated and re-posted January 12, 2023.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West

By Alan K. Lee

Many of us that live in the Pacific Northwest have a connection of one kind or another to the state of Arizona. Many Northwest retirees, like my parents, become snowbirds, escaping the Northwest winters by spending the colder months in the sunnier and warmer climes of the desert Southwest. Others, like my brother, escape at an earlier age. Most of the rest of us have vacationed at least once in Arizona, or at least have dreamed of doing so. My wife and I have both lived in the Pacific Northwest all our lives, but we’ve made many trips to Arizona over the years. One of our favorite places is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.

Taliesin West is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic creations. Begun in the same year that Falling Water, arguably his greatest creation, was built, Taliesin West was Wright’s winter home for the last two decades of his life.

Taliesin West was founded as the winter home for the Frank Lloyd Wright Fellowship, Wright’s school of architecture. It was always a school of architecture as well as Wright’s winter home. The Fellowship evolved into the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, which conducted classes at Taliesin West until 2020, when it separted from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, changed its name to The School of Architecture, and moved its campus to Cosanti and Arcosanti, Arizona.

Wright’s designs and his design philosophy had a profound impact on American architecture. He is without question the most famous American architect, by a wide margin. Ask anyone to name an architect and almost all, if they can name any, will name Wright.

Wright first achieved fame shortly after the turn of the 20th century for his Prairie House residential designs, and he was always more interested in designing homes for people than structures for businesses or government agencies. During the Great Depression he designed a planned community that featured simple, affordable residences that he called Usonian homes. Although his planned community was never built, many Usonian homes were. One of those, the Gordon House, is now located at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon, not far from my home.

Over his long career, Wright designed more than 1100 structures, 532 of which were built. But as famous and influential as he was, for much of his career he received few commissions. In the 1920s he made most of his income from writing and lecturing, rather than from his designs.

In 1932 Wright formed the Taliesin Fellowship, an apprenticeship program that taught not just architectural design, but also construction and “farming, gardening, and cooking, and the study of nature, music, art, and dance” according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation website.

The original Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, was Wright’s primary residence for most of his life and also served as the campus of the Taliesin Fellowship. In 1934, to escape the often brutal weather in Wisconsin, Wright began taking his students to Arizona each winter.

Taliesin West began as the winter camp for Wright and his students. And it was an actual camp in the beginning. The students lived in tents for their first few winters in Arizona, and Taliesin West was an ongoing project for many years. Even after most of the structures were completed, for example, all of the windows were simply openings in the walls, without glass, for almost a decade.

Wright’s design philosophy was holistic, and humanistic. He saw houses as organic structures that should be built in harmony with their environment and in tune with their inhabitants. “It is quite impossible to consider the building as one thing, its furnishings another and its setting and environment still another,” he wrote. He believed that all had to work “as one thing.” There is a story, whether true or not I don’t know, that the purchasers of one of his early residential designs invited him to their home after they moved in and he was so appalled by the way they had furnished the home that from that point on he not only designed the structures, he designed all of the furniture (much of it built in), the lighting, the rugs, the artwork, and even the dinnerware that went into them.

The structures at Taliesin West reflect Wright’s belief that architecture must reflect the natural setting of the site. To that end, they were built using native stone and other materials harvested from the site. That, and the long, horizontal orientation and flat roofed construction help them blend almost seamlessly into the environment. Taliesin West would still be a beautiful and striking piece of architecture even if it was located elsewhere, but it would not be as in harmony with its setting as it is, and it would be a lesser work.

The grounds of Taliesin West are beautifully landscaped and feature many outdoor works of art by various artists. Wright saw architecture as the “mother” of all the arts, and art was an important component of his designs, as was the landscaping.

Wright’s work ensures his place in history as one of the architectural greats. Today, Taliesin West lives on as testament to that greatness, and as home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Taliesin West is located in Scottsdale, Arizona, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Phoenix.

Originally posted November 26, 2019. Updated and re-posted January 7, 2022.

Cesky Krumlov

by Alan K. Lee

Czesky Krumlov is a small city in the Czech Republic about 85 miles south of Prague on the Vltava River. The old town section of the city, with its well preserved Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture and a castle complex that towers over the city, is one of the top tourist destinations in the country, drawing more than a million visitors a year.

You’ll see a lot of superlatives in descriptions of Czesky Krumlov: romantic, charming, magical, fairytale-like, enchanted, and so forth. If that sounds a bit Disneyesque, the town does have a bit of a theme park vibe. But it’s undoubtedly beautiful and the old town is ancient and authentic. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992.

You’ll also see Czesky Krumlov described as unbearably touristy. Many of the comments I read on tourist forums recommended spending the night in the city so that you can see the city in the evening after the tour buses have left and in the morning before they arrive. My wife and I were there in early June, a little before peak season. There certainly were many other tourists there, but I wouldn’t call it unbearably crowded. And the beauty of the city and its undeniable charms would have trumped the detrimental aspects of any crowds, anyway, in my opinion.

The Cesky Krumlov Castle complex , with its Baroque Theater (one of only two remaining in Europe that are open to the public), is probably the biggest tourist draw. There are four different tours of the castle that you can take, all lasting from 45 minutes to an hour with adult admission prices of 180 to 280 Czech Korunas ($7 to $12 at current exchange rates).

Another top attraction is the 15th century Church of St. Vitus in the historic old town area.

Floating the Vltava River through town is another popular activity.

For my money, the best part of our visit was simply wandering around the historic center, walking the cobblestone streets and taking in the wonderful architecture, the beauty of the Vltava River that meanders around and through the town, and finding some of the charming and quirky things that set Czesky Krumlov apart. The old town area is car free and pedestrian friendly.

We didn’t do any of the castle tours or tour the Castle Garden. But our tour guide gave us a good deal of information about the town and its history, and we had plenty of time to just wander around the old town on our own. And that was enough to make it well worth the long bus ride from Linz.

Guided walking tours are available for about $40-50 per person, but you don’t need a tour guide to enjoy the sights. We spent only one afternoon in Czesky Krumlov (we were among those hordes that arrived on tourist buses), so we hardly experienced all of its charms. The only regret we had about our visit was that we didn’t have more time to spend there.

Everyone visiting Prague and/or Vienna (or doing a Danube River cruise) should consider adding Cesky Krumlov to their itinerary. It is an absolutely beautiful city and a wonderful place to visit. The guide books and reviews were right, too – you should spend the night there, if you can, and give yourself plenty of time to fully explore this fascinating town. More information about Cesky Krumlov can be found here.

My wife and I visited Cesky Krumlov as part of a Danube River cruise that we took earlier this year (2022) on Viking River Cruises. If you’re interested in more information about river cruising, check out the Viking website and our river cruising post.

Posted October 26, 2022