Travel

ABOVE PHOTO:  Marley Museum gate mural  (Photo: Renée S. Gordon)   By Renée S. Gordon “In this bright future you can’t forget your past.”  –Bob Marley For a brief orientation on what is most wonderful about Jamaica and its people one need look no further than the Jamaica National Flag. It was designed by a…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Presque Isle Lighthouse  (rarena / shutterstock.com) By Renée S. Gordon “Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.” – Native American Presque Isle is located west of Erie Pennsylvania’s downtown. In actuality it is not an island, but is instead a 3,200-acre sandy peninsula that forms Presque Isle Bay, the…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Harbor view “I leave it to your discretion to strike or not, but the American colors must not be pulled down over my head today.” –Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, Sept. 10, 1813 Erie, Pennsylvania, located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, is the state’s fourth largest city, the state’s only major city…

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ABOVE PHOTO: National Park   By Renée S. Gordon The fuming dewdrops from the flowers in the fields intoxicate my soul.  –Ancient Nahuatl Poem Banderas Bay is 26-miles from north to south with Puerto Vallarta situated in the center. The bay culminates at the quiet, scenic 46 mile stretch of beaches in the area known…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Lighthouse view   Renée S. Gordon “Dale valor a las cosas, no por lo que valen, sino por lo que significan.”  Gabriel García Márquez * Puerto Vallarta is set like a gemstone in the center of the scythe-shaped Bahia de Banderas between the sea and the majestic Sierra Madre Mountains. The 26-mile long…

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ABOVE PHOTO: Church interior By Renée S. Gordon “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love.” –Moravian Motto There is no one universal black slavery experience. Each person’s story is different, impacted by where a person was enslaved, who enslaved them, their gender and a quixotic and inexhaustible menu of circumstances that might…

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ABOVE PHOTO: Reynaldo Reception Hall By Renée S. Gordon “For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” –Psalm 134:3-4 Biennially, Winston-Salem, North…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Riga Historic District By Renée S. Gordon Riga, Latvia, the largest city in the Baltics, was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture in 2014 and it deserves the honorific. Riga is also widely regarded ”The Paris of the Baltics” and it boasts outstanding architecture, trendy and traditional restaurants, world-class accommodations, shopping…

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ABOVE PHOTO:  Castle Entrance   By Renée S. Gordon “If you go only once round the room, you are wiser than he who sits still.” —Estonian Proverb The driving distance, on well maintained roads, between the two Baltic capitals, Tallinn, Estonia and Riga, Latvia, is 172-miles and there is much to see and do along…

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Smooth Traveler by Renée S. Gordon “I say to you: sing! Sing when it goes well for you. But most of all, sing when you must overcome outrage. Sing into the eyes of him who slanders you. Chant out your victory.” – Imants Ziedonis The Baltic Sea is located in Europe and touches the coasts of…

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