Everyone should have a naked bucket list. Places around the world where you strip down and heartily join in the bathing and body care rituals of other cultures. These are often my favorite travel experiences. I was once folded into a pretzel in Thailand and had my back popped—which felt great at the …
Hidden below the city of Istanbul lies an underground forest of stone pillars that aren’t seen until you descend below the street and down some fifty steps beneath the ground. Back in the 6th century, a huge cistern was dug to provide water to the buildings around it, including Mehmed II’s Topkapi Palace. This …
Our road trip through Türkiye started on foot in Istanbul, walking the labyrinth of mosques that are clustered inside the city. Their colossal domes rise like hilltops hemmed in by minarets. First up, of course, was the Hagia Sophia. Standing under the scalloped lights of the Hagia was a thrill. The Blue Mosque …
The best road trips often start at the airport. So here we are with our friends Marcel and Karen headed to Istanbul. This summer we’ll be sailing the spectacular Turkish coast so we can accumulate our required out-of-Schengen days—the short version is that we can’t be in the EU for more than three months …
✔️our yellow dinghy is up on the davits—let’s see if we can get another season out of her… ✔️our trashy looking winter cockpit surround is off (the taped up white one) and the nice blue surround is on—thanks to Karen and Marcel for the extra hands getting it all zipped back up!! It’s …
We took our trampoline down to a repair shop at the end of the season last year and had them put grommets around it. It seemed like the old loops were getting tired and we weren’t feeling confident in the way it was lashed on to the boat. We’re not sure this is the …
All the posh luxury boats in the yard have their own support vehicles. And our neighbors over on the 61’ charter yacht “Namaste” had an impressive van with their massive lotus logo on the side. Not to be outdone, Karen, Marcel, Mark and I decided we could spice up our shared rental car and …
We took advantage of our beautiful little island of Aegina and headed out for a Sunday stroll not far from our boat yard in Planaco to hike a nearby hillside dotted small churches. These tiny chapels are the Mystras of Aegina, and they sit along the slopes overlooking the valley below like aged old men …
Meet our neighbors! It’s Karen and Marcel! They sold us our boat and upgraded to a beautiful new one. They sailed it here to Aegina from the factory in France and now we’re both here in the same boat yard getting ready to splash. Today they got their dingy ready to be hoisted …
Next up the windows. Not our favorite chore but we got it done. We stripped off the old wrinkled window film and put on the new. We cried a little. We cussed a little. And happily the job is done. ✔️windows On to the next chore! And we finally got our escape …
