One of the benefits of being an International Living roving editor is that I’ve been to a lot of beach towns in the Caribbean and Central America. After just one afternoon in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, I already have a new addition to my top five. Many know it for its world-class kite boarding and windsurfing, thanks to its steady trade winds...
Homer said, “Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.” This magical elixir has been a favorite of humanity since well before recorded history, with the first evidence of wine-making, dating back 6,000 years, discovered in Armenia’s Caucasus Mountains...
“I came here on vacation and quickly realized this is where I needed to be,” says Kathy Pow. She lives in Cabarete, a small beach town on the Dominican Republic’s north coast. With two international airports nearby, in Puerto Plata and Santiago de los Caballeros, it’s fairly easy to get to and from North America, with many direct flights from the major cities there...
You wake up in the morning and fancy a fruit salad for breakfast, along with a glass of freshly squeezed OJ. Maybe it’s cocktail hour and you need fresh lime for margaritas. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to make your own apple cider.Instead of opening the refrigerator, why not head out to the orchard or grove on your property? You can’t get much fresher than that...
Asia and India can have brutally hot and humid weather. In colonial times, Western administrators—used to much cooler climes—sweltered, especially in summer. That decorum required suit and tie, or layers of petticoats, didn’t help. The solution was to create “hill stations” where they could escape to a higher elevation with cooler weather...
I'm sitting in a well-landscaped, tidy city park, watching school kids run off to class, meticulously dressed businesspeople rush to work, and retirees animatedly talk to friends. I’ve just had a filling lunch of soup, salad, and grilled chicken ($2.50) and need to take a break. The sky is blue, with a few clouds. The temperature is a pleasant 75 F in the mid-dle of the day...
"It offers a good quality of life for a good cost," says Lou Nesbitt of his adopted city, Armenia, the smallest of the Coffee Triangle's trio of major metropolises. "A lot of people from Bogotá retire here because their peso stretches further."
From the British Isles to the far reaches of the east, Europe’s long history called for castles, towers, fortifications, and fortresses. So it’s no wonder that there are plenty of these structures dotting the continent. They’re often in pristine rural areas, with villages once populated by loyal subjects close by for shopping and dining...
Thanks to consistent, high-quality waves and a variety of breaks, Costa Rica has been one of the world’s top surfing destinations for decades.
For ancient peoples, the Mediterranean and the land around it was the extent of the known world. The Phoenicians dominated trade for centuries. The Greeks colonized it extensively. The Romans called it Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) when their empire encircled it.