Author: travelerdonna

Following our grueling flight schedule, we did not know what day or time it was (and nor did we care!), we just wanted sleep! Amazingly, we woke up Wednesday morning refreshed and ready for the day. And so we made our way to the Great Adventures boat for our boat ride to Green Island and…

FIRST STOP – CAIRNS Australia is a very, very long way from the United States, and there is no escaping that reality. Upon waking up the day before we were to leave, there was a message that our direct flight from Los Angeles to Sydney was canceled! Before panic set in, there came a follow-up…

We changed our mode of travel and took a train from Porto to Lisbon. It was a very comfortable three-hour ride, and Steve was happy to not be getting on another plane. The only drama was finding my bag as we were getting off the train as it had been moved. With a bit of…

From Madeira it was on to Porto via another flight. The only thing notable about this flight was the very, very long walk from the gate to the luggage pickup area. Then it was on to our hotel, the Hospes Infante Sagres Porto in the heart of the old section of Porto. We stayed in…

With the last post, I hinted at a bit of adventure to come. For those of you familiar with the Madeira Toboggan Ride on Traditional Wicker Basket Sledges, you will know what is coming. I knew what was coming, but Steve did not and as he realized what was ahead, he commented that this had…

When one hears Madeira, it is usually wine that comes to mind, and so it is only fitting to go to the island of Madeira to get a good sampling of their wines. Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal off the northwest coast of Africa, and the warm subtropical climate and its namesake wine…

The Azores are a Portuguese group of nine volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The largest island is Sao Miguel and the capital is Ponta Delgado, where we stayed. What brings someone to this island besides the fact that it is beautiful? Steve came because I suggested he come, and I came to attend the…

Although a cool rainy morning we were the first to arrive for our Canal Martin cruise. The cruise begins on the quay near The Bastille. Note the Metro (subway) line going over the river. While waiting, we observed some of the boats moored on the Seine River. Waits for mooring can take up to five…

Sunday morning and we had our entrance-timed tickets for entrance to the Musee D’Orsay to see the Impressionist exhibition with over an hour to get there (it’s .7 miles away) so what could go wrong? As you would suspect, everything went wrong. Finding a taxi was impossible because all the bridges were closed for a…

Who doesn’t love Paris? We never tire of coming here! To get in the Paris mood, following are a few pictures to set the tone. The first picture is of the Seine River, and the second is obviously of the Eiffel Tower. Both these pictures were taken from the Pont Neuf, translated to “the new…

With only a few days in Tunisia (4 nights), the plan was to make the most of that time. So we were up early the next day to begin touring at 8:00 a.m. A driver picked us up, and we then proceeded to drive an hour to pick up our guide, noting that both the…

Leaving Naples we caught a flight from Fort Myers to Chicago. After a very long layover, we caught a late overnight flight to Paris, arriving about noon. Through immigration and though our bags were among the last to unload, they arrived. Then, we walked and walked some more to get to the Air France check-in…

We left our apartment on the Right Bank and moved to a hotel on the Left Bank, the Hotel Parc Saint-Severin with a spacious room and balcony overlooking the Eglise (Church) Saint-Severin and Paris rooftops, plus, the top of Notre Dame. We stayed in this hotel some years ago and really liked it. It is…