In the early-morning light of May 2018, Grand Circle Cruise Line’s M/V Corinthian dropped anchor off Tresco in the Isles of Scilly archipelago. (See my article “Maritime Jewels — Cruising the British Isles & Ireland” in the October 2018 issue.)

Once the landing platform was launched, the ship’s tender sped off toward Tresco on a mission to fetch Mike Nelhams, curator of the island’s near-subtropical Abbey Garden that we’d come to...

From our 6-night home-base apartment on the Quarteira seafront in the central Algarve of southern Portugal, my wife, Gail, and I planned self-drive day trips to Tavira and Faro.

Both cities are unique in that they are removed from the main tourist grid, positioned on inland estuaries and without easy or immediate access to the Algarve’s famed beaches. Easy beach access is an absolute requirement for the vast majority of visitors who migrate annually to the region for the...

The Italian island of Sicily is -- perhaps more than any corner of Europe -- a layer cake of civilizations. On one island, visitors can marvel at a well-preserved Greek temple, admire the glittering mosaics of a Norman cathedral, wander through Carthaginian ruins, and feast at a market that evokes an Arabian souk.

One of my favorite places to experience Sicily's rich stew of history and cultures is at the Norman cathedral of Monreale, just southwest of...