Category: Destinations
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Day 890 – Winchester, England – The original capital of England
Honestly I didn’t know anything about Winchester, I didn’t even know it existed. We were waiting out our two weeks after our covid boosters and looking for a place a bit less expensive than London with access to hiking and Katy suggested visiting. It turned out to be a lovely city with an interesting…
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St. John – March 1, 2022 (London, England)
At this point in my life, my list of must-visit restaurants is getting very short. When we decided to fly to the UK, there was only one place I wanted to go. I was an early fan of his underground nose-to-tail cookbook, a treasure trove of dishes that, aside from die hard foodies and industry…
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Day 880 – El Puerto de Santa María, Spain – The Sherry Triangle (part 3)
According to Homer’s Odyssey, after the Trojan War, Menestheus escaped through the Straits of Gibraltar to the mouth of the Guadalete River (modern day El Puerto de Santa María) where he established Menesthei Portus (Menestheus’s port). The port was famous for an ancient oracle, the Oracle of Menestheus and to whom the inhabitants of…
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Day 875 – Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain – The Sherry Triangle (part 2)
The habitation of the area around the mouth of the Guadalquivir river can be traced back to the semi-mythical city of Tartessos and the lost Tartessians culture which had its own written language, contemporaries of the Phoenicians who later built their own port city in nearby Cádiz. The city rich in silver and bronze…
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Day 871 – Jerez de la Frontera – The Sherry Triangle (part 1)
Jerez de la Frontera is a town of just over 200 thousand best known as the production capitol of sherry wines. Here along with the two coastal towns of El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlúcar de Barrameda (until very recently the only three towns where sherry could be legally produced) form a triangle…
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Day 869 – Cádiz, Spain – One of the oldest cities in western Europe.
Cádiz is a peninsular port city located in the south of Spain and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in western Europe. Founded around 1104 BC by the Phoenicians, this city has a very long history of conquest and reinvention, destruction and rebirth. Columbus sailed from Cádiz on his second and fourth…
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Abantal – February 11, 2022 (Seville, Spain)
Abantal was opened by Andalusian chef Julio Fernández Quintero in 2004, and shortly after he won best Andalusian chef in 2005. By 2008 he achieved his first Michelin star which Abantal still retains 14 years later. Abantal is founded on presenting fresh Andalusian ingredients in an elevated style, traditional dishes with a modern edge.…
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Day 795 – Chiang Mai, Thailand – The Buddhist Temples of Northern Thailand
Having grown up in austere protestant American churches conspicuously devoid of ornate or lavish decoration, I never felt particularly connected to those holy places. My personal spirituality always manifested in elaborate, intricate, and shamanically hypnotic self-made shrines and environments. A visual language that more fit the internal beauty that I experience the world as,…
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The Best Khao Soi in Chiang Mai
I have somewhat of an obsession with the northern Thai specialty, khao soi. It’s a typical northern Thai curry noodle soup that is ubiquitous in Chiang Mai but uncommon in American Thai restaurants and even uncommon in Bangkok and southern Thailand. To my shame, I visited Chiang Mai about 4 years ago, but had…
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Cuisine de Garden – January 22, 2022 (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
Cuisine de Garden was originally opened by Chef Leelawat “Nan” Mankongtiphan in Chiang Mai in 2011. A self taught cook, later formally trained in Japanese and French cooking, Chef Nan has appeared on television cooking shows and competitions. After the failure of his original French restaurant, Nan reimagined Cuisine de Garden as a locally…