October 7 - October 24, 2025 Traveled to the Eastern European country of Albania and enjoyed every moment. Flew from JFK to Rome and connected on a remaining flight to the capital, Tirana. Tirana is a very vibrant city, combines the old centre with the modern part of the city. Bustling with lots of people, who seemed to be sitting in the abundant coffee cafes with an expresso and a cigarette, mostly groups of men. Staying in the centre at Villa Tafaj on Rruga Mine Plaza was the perfect location and a short walk to Skanderberg Square. The Square is the main plaza, which has the National Opera, Ballet Theatre and the Palace of Culture. Rruga Mine Plaza also had my favorite fresh fish restaurant, Detari Fish, always crowded and two people could have lunch or dinner for a total of $14.00 USA dollars. Albania's currency is the Leeke, 1000 Leeke is about $10 USA dollar, but all establishments take Euros and some will take credit cards. Nearby is the New Bazaar, a vibrant market which has restaurants and various shops. Another favorite restaurant in this area is Tradita Te Meri, family owned for 30 years, very reasonable and delicous food, soup is 200 Leeke, which is $2.00 and many dishes are $5.00, always crowded and sometimes a wait for a table, but definitely worth it. Albania has many buses to take you throughout the country, so we took a bus from Tirana bus station to the southern coast of Sarande, 5 hours south for $10 dollars each, Staying at a hillside guest house was a short walk to the pristine, Ionian Sea beach. The city centre was walk into the bustling center where the port is located to take a ferry to Corfu, Greece, a 30 mintue ride. The port in Corfu is a short walk to the Old Town. Lovely, architecture and cobbled stone streets, devoid of cars. Many shops, restaurant, cafes and plenty of tourists. We stayed for a day and took the last ferry back to Sarande, since we decided to stay longer in Sarande. After 5 days in Sarande we took a bus to Himares, further north on the coast. Himares is a wonderful place to relax and explore, where we were told one could walk a trail or take the road to nearly the top of a mountain to visit the Old Town and Castle. One morning after breakfast, we started to walk the road to Old Town, but then decided to walk back into Himares, since it was much further to reach Old Town. We took a cab the next day and walked thru the area and learned how generations are now living in the stone houses that still exist in the area. The new generation are all grandfathered in to live in the Old Town and former stone houses of their ancestors. The views from this area were extraordinary. We decided to stay in Himares for 5 days since we liked all the town had to offer, including the Himare 28 hotel, which offer a huge breakfast each morning, included with the price of our room with a deck and ocean views. After our stay, we took a bus back to Tirana. The bus took the coastal route, which had lots of curves, while going upwards north, high in the mountains, but the view of the sea was stunning. When back in Tirana we visited the Castle in Centre, which is known as the Fortess of Justinian and after 1816 Tirana was under the control of the Toptani family. Now, this Castle complex houses many restaurants and shops, with the wall still existing. We did not visit some other towns that were on our list, since we preferred to stay longer in places that we really liked. Now, we can have the possibility of including those towns to visit, if we decide to return to Albania. I think that might happen! Albania is awesome!

March 4 - March 20, 2025 Traveled to magical Colombia. Enjoyed it culture, it's beaches, warm people and delicous food. And all was awesome! Cartagena has a population of 1,080,000 and the historic centre was busy with people and tourists everywhere. Many were European and hopefully the American people will visit soon, due the low cost of everything. It was a warm, sunny day when we arrived, 87 degrees and stayed at Casa Torres, in a large a/c room, where breakfast is included in the cost of the room in historic centre. The Walled historic centre is an UNESCO site, went to the Cathedral and did lots of walking. Especially, liked the Getsmani district, art is everywhere, painted on the walls, artists art works are on display colorful flags flying overhead and lots of resaurants and cafes. Did a walk to the nearby city beach and is very windy, but a delightful breeze. Had dinner a few times at a very authentic restaurant that lots of Colombian people are there for dinner, too. Went to Santa Marta by bus which took 4 hours to arrive in historic centre. Stayed at Masaya Santa Marta, which had three plunging pools and a rooftop restaurant. Lovely place with a delicious breakfast, which was selected from their menus, lots of selections from yogurt with granola, fruits and nuts, cheese omelets and coffee throughout the day. It was a short walk to the beach, had a nice breeze and the Caribbean ocean was warm and calm. Very hot, sunny, 90 degree temperature, had to stay under a tree for shade. The population of Santa Marta is 555,030. Liked Santa Marta very much, which has a fantastic restaurant district. Our favorite Ikaro on Calle 19 #3-60, near the Parque de los Novios and is the heart of the eating scene and a nite time scene with Salsa music and dancing. Took the bus from Santa Marta to Palomino, has a populatio of 4,200 where we stayed for five days at Casa Colibri, Carrera 6 #2A, fill up on their delicious breakfast, coffee, tea all day long, along with purified water. A lovely place owned by an English speaking Belgium couple. Joaquim (Joe) is a wonderful host, ask him anything about the area and knows it well, since the couple have been in Palomino since 2019. Palomino is known as the "hippie town"of Colombia with lots of restaurants, individual owned shops and a nearby beach. We always walked the more nature-filled dirt road, quiet and pleasant with indigenous people walking along it, too. The Kogi people are an indigenous group that live in northern Colombia, descendants of pre-Columbian Tairona civilization, who live in the isolated mountains of the Sierra Nevada mountains and along the river. I looked forward seeing them on the dirt road and photographing them. The area where the river meets the ocean, is the quieter part of the beach area and less people, trees are there for shade, along with the breeze. One has to be a surfer or a strong swimmer to venture into the ocean, which has a strong current, but I did make it in, very time I went to the beach! It was a very enriching visit to the Caribbean coast of Colombia, enjoyed it all, loved it all! There are still more towns along the way to visit, so perhaps, we are due for another visit! Viva Colombia!