Category: Islands and Beaches


Essaouira: Morocco’s Exotic Beach Town

Discover the Funky Cool Medina of This Breezy Boho City

The colorful kites of kite surfers float in a bright blue sky above a herd of camels trekking along Essaouira’s sandy beach. Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.Baked by the North African sun and buffeted by a persistent ocean breeze, the Moroccan coastal city of Essaouira lies about three hours west of Marrakesh. But its wave-lashed walled medina, wedged between the wild and windy Atlantic and an arc of modern suburbs, seems to exist in a parallel universe that transcends geographical boundaries.

Essaouira is an improbable mishmash of ancient Arabic and Berber culture, groovy surfer dude vibes, and 21stcentury Boho chic. It’s a mix of bustling souks and high-end art galleries, fishing shacks and sushi bars, traditional hammams and detox yoga retreats…the sort of place where you can take a camel ride on the beach in the morning and visit the organic Val d’Argan winery in the afternoon.

Shops line the Skala de la Kasbah in Essaouira’s medina. Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.

Shops line the Skala de la Kasbah in Essaouira’s medina.

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Taking Big Risks On The Big Island Of Hawaii

Killer waves may be the least of your worries.

Killer waves may be the least of your worries.

“Do you get the feeling,” my husband hisses in my ear, “that maybe we shouldn’t BE here?”

We are standing in the middle of Kilauea Iki Crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii. Steam vents issue super-heated mist that rises, wraithlike, from the barren, lunar-like surface.Kilauea Iki Crater

Here and there, giant slabs of crust are piled upon one another like asphalt after an earthquake, and deep fissures create jagged scars across the face of the crater.

I cautiously sidle up to the rim of one nasty gash and peer down, half expecting to see a river of red-hot lava, but it’s dark and seemingly bottomless. There are no barriers, no ropes, nothing to keep me from falling in but my own common sense.

Of course, if I had common sense, would I be hiking across a volcanic crater? I’m forced to concede that my husband may have a point.

That’s the Big Island for you. Bewitched by its wild beauty, you find yourself pushing your limits, drawn—quite literally—to life on the edge. (more…)

Stargazing in Dubrovnik, Croatia: Game of Thrones

Lovrijenac Fortress (left) and Bokar Tower (right) flank Dubronik's Pile Harbor. All have featured in scenes from "Game of Thrones."

Lovrijenac Fortress (left) and Bokar Tower (right) flank Dubronik’s Pile Harbor. All have featured in scenes from “Game of Thrones.”

Tom Cruise. Beyoncé. Jay-Z. John Malkovich. Richard Gere. Catherine Zeta-Jones. Michael Douglas. Oh, and pretty much the entire cast of “Game of Thrones.”

No, that’s not a list of celebrities who have been papped tumbling tipsily out of taxis, or who eat only organic macrobiotic algae or insist on traveling with an albino pet monkey named Zoolander. Rather, it’s a red carpet rundown of stars who have been spotted in one of Europe’s hottest destinations—the historic walled city of Dubrovnik, abutting the Adriatic Sea.  (more…)

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