Pisa Cathedral Construction began in 1063 and was completed in 1092. Additional enlargements and a new façade were built in the 12th century and the roof was replaced after damage from a fire in 1595. Just noticed the Cathedral looks like it’s leaning, too, in our picture. That would be us on tilt taking the picture…

 San Giovanni Rotondo Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel On the Sacred Line of Saint Michael. We visited this site in 2018, and it was good to return. A beautiful place of prayer, and such an intriguing history. Salerno Cathedral and the crypt of St. Matthew Salerno Cathedral enshrines several Saints, the most significant being…

St Mark’s Basilica -crypt of the Gospel writer, Mark. First completed in 836 AD and then rebuilt in 1094, the Basilica is a wonderment of mosaic tiles floor to ceiling, and is also known as the Golden Church. Even in the darkened interior, the gold mosaic shimmers throughout. Just gorgeous. I copied this pic below…

We left Meiringen early to go to Italy and we went over the Susten Pass -definitely one of the prettiest drives we experienced. Sunrise was jaw dropping beautiful and time flew as we meandered through the Alps. Believe it or not, we decided to forego a visit to the Duomo. We found a mind bending…

The Chuck Berry song No Particular Place to Go was the theme song for today. We set out with no particular place to go and saw some beautiful countryside, went up some unbelievable mountain passes, rode on a train (in our car), went down a “road” smaller than any golf cart path I have ever…

September 1st We flew from Athens to Geneva and rented a car from the French side of the Geneva airport and drove to Évian-les-Bains (about 25 miles), where Evian mineral water is from. Its on the shores of Lake Geneva and very pretty. Lots of tourists. Very cosmopolitan. We spent the night and did a…

We rented a car in Athens and drove to Patras then back to Corinth. Holy Church of Saint Andrew (new church started 1908 and completed in 1974). It was built to accommodate the crowds that became too big for the older church door. St Andrew’s skull St Andrew’s cross Holy Church of Saint Andrew (older…

Rhodes was an interesting old town that looked like it might be worth going back to. The ferry ride from Rhodes to Symi was an hour and a half. We didn’t realize how close we would come to the coast of Turkey. Traveling is a wonderful geography lesson! Taxi ride to St Michael’s Monastery on…

Haifa to Tel Aviv airport ~an hour and a half train ride. Tel Aviv to Athens a couple hours flight. Athens to Rhodes an hour flight. Our train left Haifa at 8 am. We arrived on the island of Rhodes at 11 pm. Somewhere in all of that we ran across these Nutella filled warm…

We started our day feeding a mama and her kittens at Tantur, trying to get them socialized with people. It took us an hour, but we were finally able to pet them all! We left Jerusalem and took a train to Tel Aviv airport (30 min) before catching a second train to Haifa (an hour…