Tag: History

Exporing Touraine in the Loire Valley

The city of Tours and Château d’Artigny was a good starting point for our self-guided driving tour throughout the Loire Valley of France. Our day’s agenda took us through the region of Touraine, to Château de Chenonceau and Château d’Amboise. We first arrived at Chenonceau, one of the loveliest and most romantic of all the chateaux… From there, we headed off to the town of […]

Chateau d’Artigny

Upon leaving Chartres, France, we headed off to Château d’Artigny near Montbazon, a few miles away from the city of Tours. Sitting along the Indre River in the heart of the Loire Valley, this near-replica of the 18th-century château at Champlâtreux was completed in 1928. We called it home for a few days while we took in the local sites. However, this […]

Chartres Cathedral

In addition to enjoying rich cafés, fresh local cuisine, regional wine and chévre cheese, we set out to experience the home to some of the world’s greatest architecture… the Loire Valley. This fertile terrain is rich in scenic antiquity and France’s aristocratic past. Abundant with historical fortresses, chateaux and churches, high on my list of places to visit was the UNESCO World Heritage […]

Istanbul, Turkey

The vast city of Istanbul fascinated me with its complex Byzantine and Ottoman history. As the largest of Turkey’s cities, it is filled with architectural and cultural wonders worth visiting. They range from mosques, churches and palaces to museums, parks and bazaars.  Magnificent monuments gain roots from the once Roman capitol of Constantinople, followed by the Muslim conquest by the Ottoman sultans who transformed […]

Mayan Tulum

Pre-Columbian ruins along a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea Zama, city of the dawn, as this site facing east toward the sunrise is believed to have once been known. Inhabited as early as the 6th century, its crumbled limestone walls overlook the Caribbean Sea on a spectacular cliffside perch. Flourishing between the 13th and 15th […]