BEWARE: FADO FEVER IS CATCHING…I KNOW BECAUSE I CAUGHT IT!

By Janet Steinberg, Travel Editor

Bom Dia (good morning) was my sunny greeting as I arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz in Lisbon, Portugal. 

Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon, long considered the city’s premier hotel, reflects the nobility and charm of historic Portugal.  It was there that I chose to spend the three days prior to my embarking on Silversea’s Silver Whisper for a cruise that would sail me to such memorable sites as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the WW ll Normandy Landing Beaches in France.

FOUR SEASONS HOTEL RITZ LISBON

TWELVE IN TWELVE

BY: JANET STEINBERG

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”  Susan Sontag said it first, but I have to agree with Susan, I haven’t been everywhere, but everywhere is certainly on my list.

As a young widow many years ago, I learned that a single journey could change the course of a life.  I have since come to realize that my first trip alone truly changed my life.  I fell in love with travel and that love affair has continued for four decades.

Come along with me and share some of my favorite 2012 memories that will remain with me forever.

1. CRUISE: Silversea’s Silver Whisper is elegant, yet casually sophisticated.  She lavishes her guests with the luxuries of a private yacht, the amenities of a country club, and the fine services of an exclusive hotel.  Silver Whisper sailed me some 1418 nautical miles from Lisbon, Portugal to Southampton, UK with five fascinating ports in-between.  Highlights included shore excursions to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the sobering beaches of Normandy, France; and the fascinating Mont St. Michel in Saint-Malo, France.

SILVERSEA'S SILVER WHISPER IN ST. MALO, FRANCE

ISTANBUL, TURKEY: WHERE EAST MEETS WEST

BY: JANET STEINBERG

Who would have dreamed it?  Certainly, I could not have!

As a young girl, bored to death in a geography class that spoke of sultans, straits, and seven continents, I could never have dreamed where I would be six decades later. 

THERE I WAS...IN ISTANBUL

But there I was…sitting in a genuine Ottoman Sultan’s palace on the continent of Europe, overlooking a panoramic view of the majestic Bosphorus Strait, and gazing at the coastline of the continent of Asia, an almost veritable stone’s throw away.  Yes, moments after checking into the incredible Ciragan Palace Kempinski that is exactly what I was doing.