Travel and Leisure

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is one of Japan's national treasures. It is divided into four general areas that include Mt. Fuji area, Hakone area, Izu Peninsula, and Izu Islands. Instead of being in one place, the park's points of interest are dispersed throughout the region. In these areas Read More

Amsterdam: Where Attractions and Sights Meet Sustainable Development Goals

“This city is like no other city in the world. It is brilliant but it is bloated, and I've never called it home” - Jessie Burton about Amsterdam As a capital of the land of cheese, windmills and tulips, Amsterdam has a chance to be called as one of the most sustainable capita Read More

Madeira: A Beautiful, Lush, Diverse and Fun Island

We were utterly unprepared for Madeira, at least from an automotive perspective. This unpreparedness was symbolic of the wonder of the Island of Madeira; let me explain. We rented a car, as we always do on vacation so that we could explore the island as it was meant to be explored. As usual, we rent Read More

The Palace of Mafra: Portugal's Magnificent Palace

The Palace of Mafra was built in the 18th Century and remains the most important baroque monument in Portugal to this day. It was commissioned by King João V as a symbol of his gratitude that he was able to bear children with his wife. The Palace was constructed from marble and limestone and Read More

The Flowers of Yosemite

Yosemite was all one glorious flower garden before plows and scythes and trampling, biting horses came to make its wide open spaces look like farmers' pasture fields. Nevertheless, countless flowers still bloom every year in glorious profusion on the grand talus slopes, wall benches and tablets, Read More

The Old and New of Klaipeda Lithuania

Downtown Klaipeda and Its Arts and Crafts Festival Feeling like a city that wants to desperately escape its Soviet past, Klaipeda, Lithuania has a mix of the old and new. The former Prussian capital retains its discrete German architecture in the Old Town coupled with the remaining tower of t Read More