After the 1997 Eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano, it’s still an island divided By Cindy Bigras All these years later, Plymouth, a charming colonial town on the southeastern coast of Montserrat, is still the official capital. It had a deep port that could accommodate cruise ships, colorful shops, schools, homes and streets linedwith thriving […]
The Magdalen Islands, or the Maggies, remote and rural off Quebec’s coast By Cindy Bigras As a child, I heard few details about the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence where my grandmother had grown up. Nobody knew much about what my family called the St. Madeleine Islands, a literal translation from French. I […]
Walking on Roses with A Sardinian Saint By Cindy Bigras He was born in Jerusalem, but ask any Sardinian and you’ll learn that today, nearly 2000 years after his death, Saint Efisio is the most revered, celebrated and loved saint on the island. He is their saint. He was beheaded by the Romans in […]
Three Days in Limerick By Cindy Bigras I know what you’re thinking. When you read “Limerick” you think of limericks. “There once was a man from Nantucket” goes lilting through your mind because these sassy, memorable, off color verses are impossible to forget! Did limericks actually originate here? Later in 2014 local historian Dr. Matthew […]
Puerto Vallarta: Cindy Bigras takes a foodie tour of this lively city on the Pacific.
Florence: Everything But the Crowds By Cindy Bigras On a recent September evening I meandered along a narrow, cobblestone street, strains of organ music leading me to an open church. I entered and sat down. Florence is the Uffizi, the Piazza Signoria, the Ponte Vecchio. Dante and Michelangelo walked these alleys. Each year millions of […]
By Cindy Bigras Ask Italians which city they most prefer and Bologna will invariably top the list, yet most foreign tourists have yet to discover this charming city located in the center of the Emilia Romagna region. If you have ever used the Italian autostrada or railways, there is a good chance you’ve passed through […]
Cancun, Mexico: For All Sorts of Reasons, A Perfect Paradise By Cindy Bigras What can I say about Cancun that hasn’t already been said? It’s known for spring break when throngs of American college students hit the beaches for the sort of partying that Mom and Dad don’t ever hear about. But once they go […]
Skiing in Piemonte By Cindy Bigras Panic, anxiety and extreme fear hit me like a runaway Vespa. After not having skied for over a decade, I had impulsively decided to go skiing in the Italian Alps… the very slopes that hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics in the Piemonte region of Italy. Fortunately, my early reactions […]
Doubtful Sound, New Zealand: Marvelous, Majestic, Mysterious By Cindy Bigras It’s easy to believe that no human has ever set foot on these remote mountaintops, that no boy scouts have pitched tents and looked up at the stars. Fiordland National Park’s 3,000,000 acres have been designated a U.N. World Heritage Site, and Doubtful Sound is […]
By Cindy Bigras Despite what you may have heard, Sweden in December is not a land of 24-hour darkness; Santa Lucia brings light to all of Scandinavia each year on December 13, and so begins the Christmas season. Gingersnaps and saffron buns are the day’s traditional complement to the morning coffee. Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest […]
By Cindy Bigras The train lurching to a halt woke me in the early morning hours. I pulled aside the window shade to reveal my first magnificent view of the Alps. These were not like the Green Mountains of Vermont where I had grown up….these were majestic, snow-covered peaks and steep vertical drops all within […]
