History

After seven months of planning, learning a bit of the language and becoming somewhat culturally savvy, 14 Friendship Force members, myself included, arrived in Moscow to stay for one week with Russian host families.

I traveled solo in Turkey for 26 days in May ’09. May is off-season in Turkey, but the temperatures were perfect and there were no crowds at the historic sites.

by Ashley Mannion, Fountain Hills, AZ

by Harvey Hagman, Fort Myers, FL

The only 5-star hotel in the heart of Old Town Dubrovnik is the Pucić Palace (Ulica OD Puća 1, 20000 Dubrovnik, CROATIA; phone +385 20 326 222, fax 223, www.thepucic palace.com).

A few months ago we asked you to share the following.

Bruce Hardy wrote of his memories of Trieste, Italy (April ’09, pg. 39), which he last visited in 2001, and it was asked if anyone had been to the city recently. We were there in August ’08, and it was everything Mr. Hardy wrote about and much more. Had we only known, we would have stayed more than two days.

There are two marvelous castles: Miramare and Duino. We had time to see only one, so we chose Miramare (€4 admission). An excellent audio guide was available.

Prior to our trip to Europe, my wife, JoAnn, and I did some research on the Internet about Avignon, France, and while we knew it was the site of the Palace of the Popes, little did we realize how interesting the walled city is. We had planned on only one night there but stayed for three.

When I signed on for the 22-day/21-night “Turkey’s Biblical East” tour organized and led by Tamer Teoman of Teo World Culture Tours (New York, NY; 888/444-1110, www.teoworldculturetours.com), I knew little about that part of the world. Anatolia? I can’t say I even knew what part of Turkey that was. As I studied a map and pinpointed the towns and places we would visit, ghosts from my old schoolbooks came marching out of the past.

When my wife, Kathryn, and I visited the ancient port city of Riga, Latvia, in July ’08, we were particularly interested in its Art Nouveau architecture, the best in Europe.