Local tours

If you’re landing in a new city and don’t know a soul who lives there, how can you find the memorable neighborhoods and locals’ restaurants or food stalls? In these cases one sure way to save some trial and error time is to book a tour with a local guide. If it’s the right kind …

I shouldn’t have still been hungry at this point, but when the Turkish kebab plate with spicy bulgur wheat and oven-roasted bread landed in front of me, with a fresh-baked lamaçun, on the side, I had to dive in like a glutton. Most visitors to Turkey spend all their time on the European side of …

“Remember that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where there’s a ship battle in the bay and then later you see Jack jump off a cliff into the water? That was all shot here in this area.” The enthusiastic tour guide telling me all this while my companions nodded and exclaimed, “Oh really?” might have …

You’ve probably seen a handful of photos from Granada, Nicaragua posted here and there. Usually you get the central plaza, the cathedral, a bell tower view over the roofs, and some horse-drawn carriages. Or in the case of a cheapskate like me, photos of signs showing how cheap everything is in Nicaragua. I just visited …

I’m in Paracas, Peru right now, which is not exactly the prettiest place in the world. A red tide swept through recently, leaving a beach already the color of concrete covered with a carpet of dead crabs. The water is the color of algae, big ships are anchored offshore past the fishing boat fleet. A …