Two Coptic Christian churches, in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria in northern Egypt, were targeted by bombings during the celebration of Palm Sunday on April 9. In the attacks, at least 45 people were killed and dozens more were injured. The Islamist militant group Daesh (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Egyptian government declared a 3-month state of emergency after the attacks, giving authorities more power to make arrests.
When my husband, Ted, and I flew on TAP Portugal from Boston to Lisbon, Portugal, in February 2017, we landed at the airport on time, at 7:15 a.m. We were certain we would make our 9 a.m. connection to Barcelona, Spain, where we were booked for both ground transportation to the port and a cruise embarking that afternoon. However, we hadn’t factored in the enormous queue at Immigration in Lisbon.
TAP officials invited some travelers to join a fast-track Immigration line and kept telling us we would make our connections. We didn’t.
I was reviewing my old copies of ITN to tear out and file articles for future reference when I came across Alan Groudan’s letter (March ’16, pg. 12) regarding his Bank of America ATM card failure in Europe in July 2015. His new ATM-only card worked in the United States but did not work in Europe. This brought to mind an incident regarding my own ATM-only card.
“The Northwest Passage” — words that have excited Europeans for hundreds of years.
Restaurantes y tabernas centenaries de Madrid (100-year-old restaurants and taverns of Madrid) comprise 12 eateries in Spain’s capital that have been operating for at least 100 years.
Listed as the eldest, Casa Pedro (Calle de Nuestra Señora de Valverde 119, Madrid; phone +34 917 341 201, www.casapedro.com) claims to have opened in 1702, while the youngest, La Casa del Abuelo (Calle Victoria 12, Madrid; phone +34 902 027 334, www.lacasadel
abuelo.es), opened only in 1906.
With trips beginning in May 2018, travelers may visit the wreck of the Titanic in a submersible on a tour with Blue Marble Private (London, England; phone +44 20 3411 2191, www.bluemarbleprivate.com).
In Manchester, the exhibit “Wyndham Lewis: Life, Art, War” will run June 23, 2017-Jan. 1, 2018, at the Imperial War Museum North (The Quays, Trafford Wharf Rd., Manchester, England, M17 1TZ, U.K.; phone +44 1223 499 353, www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-north).
The painter founded the English abstract art movement Vorticism. The exhibit — with 160 artworks, books, journals and pamphlets — marks the 100-year anniversary of Lewis’ commission as an official war artist of the British Army. Open daily, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. £8 (near $10), adult.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s exhibit “Law of the Journey,” exploring the worldwide refugee crisis, runs until Jan. 7, 2018, at Prague’s National Gallery Trade Fair Palace (Dukelskych hrdinu 47, 170 00 Prague 7 – Holesovice, Prague, Czechia; phone +420 224 301 122, www.ngprague.cz).
The exhibit’s centerpiece depicts a 70-meter-long life raft crowded with 300 larger-than-life-size figures of refugees. Among other sculptures is “Snake Ceiling,” dedicated to the 5,000 children killed in the 2008 Sichuan Province earthquake.
Royal Caribbean International and Costa Cruises have canceled ports of call in South Korea for their cruises that leave from China, due to tensions in China regarding the installation of an antimissile-defense system in South Korea by the US. The two cruise lines are replacing South Korea stops with ones in Japan.
The Chinese government has also requested that Chinese tour companies halt any land tours of South Korea.
