While swimming in the Adriatic the other day I swallowed a bit of water and noticed that it didn't taste particularly salty. Puzzled, I went up to the apartment, whipped out my device and went googling. Turns out the Adriatic collects a full third of the fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean group of seas. This in turn causes much of the salt to be washed downward, out of the Adriatic and into the Mediterranean. This may or may not account for the Ad...

 The island of Hvar in the Adriatic sees more sunshine than anywhere else in Croatia say the Hvarians. It is also the island where those of wealth and fame come. Last night Elenka heard the band called The Killers performing on a rooftop patio. She came to our apartment all excited and we rushed back to the scene. Others were sitting, squinting upwards and listening, but I was leery. I couldn't detect any movement on the patio, couldn't see anyone sittin...

 Thirty years ago a fellow who was part Croatian told me horrible stories of how Croats despised and poorly treated foreign tourists. Since that time I'd never given the idea of visiting Croatia a thought. Croatia, along with a few despotic African nations and most of the Middle-East were all off my radar. That said, here we are: ZAGREBThe first people we met were at an outdoor cafe. A giant of an off-duty policeman, his fiancé, and two other gals who mig...

  In the winter of 2011, Elenka and I met Sara and Daniel in the Philippines. It was a brief get together. Dinner at a communal table, the usual "where have you been?" and "where are you going?" The following morning they left and within a week were but a vague memory. A year later, Elenka and I were eating lunch at a patron-less rooftop restaurant in a backwater town in India when we heard a voice say, "I know you." It was Sara, and the four of us have been fr...

 Iceland - 4 days ago:Iceland has a population of around 330,000. Approximately two-thirds of its inhabitants live in or around Reykjavik. Recent DNA studies have shown that better than 60 percent of the population are of Viking ancestry. I'd like someone to do a study on the DNA machine that was used to produce these results. Give them a hat with horns and an axe and Icelanders would all look pretty much like Vikings to me.Elenka, our amiga Lynn and I have ...