Paul & Libby's World of Travel » Virtual Travel

Virtual travel: Antarctica

Paul — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:42:59 +0000

Since I’ve been thinking a bit about Antarctica lately, I wanted to get a sense of what it might be like from a big cruise ship. I found this YouTube video and thought it was probably a good representation of what the experience might be like.

It sort of reminds me of Alaska (College Fjord; Glacier Bay NP). Shrug.

Going to the dogs in Moscow…

Paul — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:34:35 +0000

For my “virtual travel” of the week, I enjoyed an interesting article on the stray dog population in Moscow (yet another city and country we have yet to visit).

It reminded me of the vast number of canines that we saw all over Athens:

I wonder which city has more strays: Moscow or Athens?

I consulted “The Google” but found no quick and conclusive answer.

Pigging out in Spain, part deux

Paul — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:31:22 +0000

As a follow-up to my recent post about a New York Times writer traveling to Spain to enjoy pork, I thought I should mention that a number of news outlets reported this week of “The World’s Most Expensive Ham” going on sale in London at Selfridge’s (here’s the BBC’s article). Now when we’re in London, I can enjoy the highest quality Iberico ham for only a little less than $200/lb.

Pigging out in Spain

Paul — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:18:05 +0000

When I’m not actually traveling (which I’m not these days), I like to engage in “virtual travel” to places I’ve been or places I’d like to go. Here’s an article by Paola Singer from the New York Times about traveling to Spain to eat pork.

I have many fond pork-related memories of Spain (and one unfortunate story involving US Customs, a rather large chorizo, and confiscation).

Oh well. Yum, I say.

Malta in a glass…

Paul — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:51:13 +0000

Last weekend, I got to enjoy a little of Malta right here in Tampa.

As a bit of a lark during our visit last March, I picked up a bottle of Maltese wine (Marsovin’s Verdala Rose @ 6 Euro) at a touristy gift shop in the city of Mdina (photo below — the gift shop is located on the side of the building with black shutters).

The winemaker crafted the bottle from something of an unusual collection of locally grown grapes (Shiraz, Grenache, Gellewza, and Sangiovese). Most of these varietals grow throughout the winemaking world. Gellewza, however, is rather uncommon.

Gellewza seems to be an indigenous grape to Malta and described by some as being of the low quality/high quantity sort. Yet, it represents something that is truly Maltese. For that, I cherish it… almost as much I enjoyed being able to share the bottle with a couple of our close friends, Dick and Frank. After all, it’s one thing to drink a wine from some exotic place in the world; it’s entirely another to go there, pick it up, transport it home, and share it with friends.

Travel is all about having experiences. Thus, sharing this new experience with our friends provided an opportunity to travel back to Malta in a small way with them.

Good times.

For the record: the wine was a solidly decent, dry rose. I’m only sorry that I didn’t know about or find a bottle of Cheval Franc: a Maltese wine made from 100% of my most beloved varietal, Cabernet Franc. Good reason to return to Malta.