Alley wall in Ennis
I spent a few days in Galway on the west coast of Ireland, walking the coastal paths and eating my way through town. Musicians played on every corner and the city was jam packed with tourists. Galway is a party town, which means if your hotel is central (as mine was), you may have a hard time sleeping (as I did). Continue reading
This week, I visited the small town of Drogheda in the gorgeous Irish countryside about 40 miles north of Dublin. The town is near Bru Na Boinne, a UNESCO World Heritage site of mysterious and historically important neolithic burial mounds. And then I became a junior falconer! Continue reading
I just spent a few days in Belfast, Northern Ireland and I loved it — friendly people, wonderful architecture, good food and, of course, pubs. But first, a reminder that Northern Ireland is a part of Britain and the Republic of Ireland to the south is an independent nation. This is relevant to the fact that twenty years ago, visitors to Belfast were the same kind of people who today would visit Damascus….. Continue reading
What a relief to meet these two smilers
I went to Armenia because I thought it would be a good place to write — pleasant without a lot of tourist distractions. I expected to feel a special connection in Armenia. It is my ancestral homeland. I have wonderful memories of spirited gatherings with my Armenian family. And I believe in genetic memory, a physiological connection to our ancestors’ experiences.
It was pleasant and quiet as I expected. But I didn’t like Armenia so much.
About 100 years ago, thousands of Armenians left their homeland to escape the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks. Many fled to Syria and settled there. A hundred years later, some of their descendants are returning to Armenia to escape another war. Armen is one of them. Continue reading
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Today I fell in love with Sergey Parajanov. Continue reading
Newborn colt. His mama has the same haircut as many Armenian men.
The Armenian countryside is gorgeous. Rolling hills and highland valleys of farmland are framed by snow-topped Caucasus mountains. This week, I spent a couple of days on a tiny farm in a tiny community called Fantan, about an hour north of Yerevan. Continue reading
Sometimes, I accidentally come across something that is both entertaining and more evidence that humans are very cool.
Camino Milagro 