Çeşme – made for summer and spas

  February is the wrong time of the year to visit Çeşme, a small Turkish coastal town nestled on the Mediterranean Sea. And it’s not just because the temperature hovers near freezing (yes, my husband really brought me to a resort on the Med in the middle of winter.) The oddest part about visiting Çeşme (pronounced Chezmay) in February is that it’s a ghost town. Most shops are closed as many of the city’s residents are in-town only during the warmer months of April – October. During this season the town bustles to life with tourists sprawling the sandy beaches, sailing the aqua blue waters. And enjoying ... [Read More]

Religion in Turkey

A couple of years ago Joan Firstenberg wrote an intriguing article suggesting that “Americans are fickle consumers of religion”, noting that about half of Americans change their religion at some point in their life. It might rightly be said that the entire nation of Turkey is a fickle consumer of religion, having changed the state-approved deity more than a few times in its turbulent history 1700 years ago the city we now know as Istanbul was called Byzantium. At the time the locals worshiped a handful of pagan gods, but Christianity was growing in popularity, so one day during a battle General Constantine (Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus ... [Read More]

Ringing in the new year Bahamian style

Adam and I  figured the Caribbean would be a grand place to celebrate our first New Years together and ring in 2011. So we left frigid Atlanta with two of Adam’s closest friends, Brian and Jim, in favor of the welcoming warmth of The Bahamas. In my head I envisioned sunbathing in the hot Caribbean sun, sipping pina coladas, and lazily watching the foamy blue waves of the ocean lapping the beach. Or perhaps romantic twilight strolls, hand-in-hand with my soon-to-be husband, along the pristine sandy shores, listening to the peaceful sounds of the sea. Perhaps I should have checked the weather forecast before fantasizing so gloriously about the trip. The Bahamas in ... [Read More]

Talking about Hong Kong

  One of my best friends, Navini, lived in Hong Kong for about 10 years, about 10 years ago. When she heard I'd be paying a visit the city she so loved, she excitedly talked to me about it for what seemed like another 10 years. My husband, Adam, having visited Hong Kong on many occasions himself, and never one to be short of words, rambled on enough about it to fill another ten. (Put the two of them nattering away in a room together and there's very little oxygen left for the rest of us.) So, once my ears stopped bleeding, I arrived in the former British colony ... [Read More]

So what’s so great about Shanghai?

I wondered this on more than one occasion last year as Adam regaled me with tales of what was obviously one of his favorite cities on earth. Adam's business took him to Asia a half-dozen times in 2010, and Shanghai was clearly his favorite spot. (I always kind of assumed it was because it was the one place on earth where he towered over everyone else!) But after reading his blogs about the strange exotic foods he ate, the glistening new skyscrapers rising to the stratosphere and the culture with which he was so clearly enamored, I was more than a little curious about why, of ... [Read More]

Beer, bashing and betrothal…

Traveling with Adam has not only proved to be full of excitement, but filled with once-in-a lifetime experiences and adventures. It's crazy but amazing to think we've already been to 6 different countries in barely 6 months. Friends often ask me which country has been my favorite and I can't give them an answer -- I love each and every one of them for the different and wonderful memories they hold. It's the equivalent of asking a parent with more than one child which child is your favorite. This blog is a brief recap of just a few of those memories. Germany holds a very special place in ... [Read More]