Weekend Perspective: The Promise of Summer

Summer starts tomorrow... Break up the workday with a five-minute escape to the castles, grottoes and mini faraglioni of Monte Argentario, Tuscany! 

(Click to enlarge and see slideshow.)

An Aragonese castle, one of several on this promontory that was once a Spanish conquest. Today, Americans and other foreign nationals have done a little conquering of their own by making second homes out of the strongholds.

These tiny seastacks remind me of their larger counterparts off the coasts of Sicily and the Campanian island of Capri.

Getting to know Argentario's thousands of unique nooks, crannies and formations is, to me, akin to a hard-core version of cloud-watching.

You can't see it so very well in this photo, but in the upper left is a natural arch that in person resembles a couple mid-kiss!

View Monte Argentario from afar here.

Weekend Perspective: Italy, Rain or Shine

Storm's a-brewin' in soul-stirring Syracuse.

The Island of Ortygia along Porto di Siracusa, Sicily.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Late morning: Brightly-colored fishing nets 
match the lively pastels of the houses 
and palazzi lining Giglio Harbor. 

(More on the island of Giglio.)

Weekend Perspective: The Last Beach

Sun sets behind Monte Argentario, seen here from L'ultima Spiaggia.

L'ultima Spiaggia is the "Last Beach" in Tuscany before it meets the region of Lazio.

Weekend Perspective: Colors of Venice

Calm before the storm. Seen from the Casa Tre Oci, Giudecca.

Back to the Maghreb

From the Riad 7 Terrace, the Oum Er-Rbia River Delta meets the Atlantic.

A perfect ray illuminates El Jedida's Portuguese Cistern, UNESCO World Heritage from the 1500s.

Arcade frames minaret at Hassan II in Casablanca.

“Bonjour!”

“Bonjour!” I respond in surprise to innocently smiling children (evidently just out of school for the day, given their smart uniforms and bright magenta backpacks).

They notice me, blonde and pale, looking a tiny bit out-of-place as I walk toward an entrance of the medina in Azemmour. Some of them wave - girls with thick, curly hair in braided pigtails, and skinny boys with short cuts and a missing tooth.

I cannot help but smile at how sweet and friendly they are, how innocent, welcoming and, at the same time, mature they seem compared to the average European child their age.

Bonjour indeed! I couldn’t be happier to be welcomed back to the Maghreb in such fashion (this time in Morocco, after almost two years away).