Well, this is it. I’m back in Oslo. This is where I started this trip through some of southern Norway. Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to take two flights, with an almost three-and-and-a… Read More

Previously on Joel’s Journeys & Jaunts, this morning I enjoyed a Nærøyfjorden Cruise that took me from Flåm to Gudvangen, Norway. As I noted in that post, I inte… Read More

Yesterday, I said that Flåm, where I am now, is at the end of a fjord called Aurlandsfjord. And I believe that’s correct. So why did I title this entry “Nærøyf… Read More

I left beautiful Bergen, Norway on a train this morning and made my way to Flåm, still in Norway. The journey required two trains, Bergen to Myrdal and Myrdal to Flåm. The total… Read More

On this, my last afternoon in Bergen, Norway I visited the Bergen Maritime Museum and a park, Nygårdsparken. This being my last entry from Bergen, I’ll put a Bergen summary at th… Read More

In my entry from yesterday afternoon, on my third full day in Bergen, Norway, I alluded to already having something planned for this morning, but I didn’t say what it was. The more ast… Read More

This afternoon was all about fish. I had eggs Benedict for lunch, but I had smoked salmon under the eggs rather than ham. But, no, that’s not the fish I’m talking about. For my a… Read More

On this Norway trip, I’ve done two activities that my most loyal reader enjoys, taking short boat trips (Oslo Fjord, Lysefjord, and more to come) and riding a funicular (up and down Mo… Read More

This afternoon I visited the Bergenhus Fortress (Festning) and sort of three small art galleries under the Kode Museum umbrella. I would have done more, but as I mentioned in this morning&rs… Read More

Surprisingly, I slept in this morning in Bergen, Norway. At least, it was what counts as sleeping in for me. Others may disagree. What with my usual morning torpor present despite the longer… Read More

This afternoon, I went on a guided walking tour of some of historic Bergen. I hear you; I hear you. I wish you’d lower your voice. It’s distracting. You’re saying, “B… Read More

The bit of the North Sea that Bergen is on looks more like a wide river because of the large islands between Bergen and the open sea. Mountains and hills surround the city on the mainland an… Read More

A little before noon, I boarded a bus in Stavanger for a bus ride to Bergen, Norway scheduled to take a little over four and a half hours. At least, it was billed as a bus ride. Most of it w… Read More

After visiting four of the MUST museums this morning, I visited one more in the afternoon, Iddis. I then did a little more wandering around in Stavanger. Iddis Museum Just as Iddis Museum is… Read More

In the title of this entry, “4 MUST Museums,” the all-caps on “must” is not for emphasis. I’m not suggesting that they are must-see museums. MUST, with the all… Read More

The Lysefjord cruise I was on this morning did not return to the dock until a few minutes before 1:30 in the afternoon. To say that a was a touch peckish by that point is akin to saying the… Read More

As I said in my first post from Oslo, one of the things Norway is most famous for is fjords. I was determined to get my fill. So, for this morning’s activity from Stavanger, I booked a… Read More

A light rain greeted me as I arrived by train a little past noon in Stavanger from Kristiansand, my previous stop on this Norwegian journey. I walked the couple of blocks from the station to… Read More

When I finished lunch this afternoon in Kristiansand, Norway, despite the earlier forecast of rain, the sun shone brightly, with only a few non-threatening clouds in the sky. So I decided to… Read More

I know that in my entry yesterday on my arrival in Kristiansand I said I might not do much today. Nevertheless, just this morning alone I visited Kristiansand Domkirke (Cathedral), walked to… Read More

I took a bus from Oslo to Kristiansand this morning. I prefer trains to buses, and there’s normally a train from Oslo to Kristiansand, but there’s trackwork near Oslo going on no… Read More

This post about my afternoon in Oslo will probably be short because it consists primarily of only visiting one park, Ekeberg Sculpture Park. Concerning the limited activity, in my defence, I… Read More

Remember that pedestrianized shopping street I stumbled on when out for a walk on my first day here in Oslo? It’s called Karl Johans Gate. Both the guidebooks I’m using on this t… Read More

I mentioned in this morning’s post about the cruise I took on Oslo Fjord that I’d be visiting Akershus Fortress. It’s now afternoon. That’s what I did. I also visited… Read More

As I mentioned in the post on my arrival in Oslo, Oslo is on a fjord. In English, it’s called Oslo Fjord or Oslofjord. In Norwegian it’s Oslofjorden. I’m anglophone so I&rs… Read More

After my morning activities of exploring Vigeland sculptures and Frogner Park, I took a short city bus ride to the peninsula where the sights I saw this afternoon, the Norwegian Folk, Kon-Ti… Read More

First, a bit of geography about the title of this post. Vigeland Sculpture Park is a section within Frogner Park. I primarily went to see the sculpture park and got the surrounding park as a… Read More

The National Museum in Oslo is almost beside the Nobel Peace Center where I ended my morning, so that made for a good place to start my afternoon. Plus, it has a nice cafe, which tamed the p… Read More

Today is my first full day in Oslo. The morning included visits to the Oslo City Hall and the Nobel Peace Center. But first, a tangential note. In yesterday’s post about my arrival in… Read More

Oslo. What can I say about Oslo? Not much so far. I just arrived today and I’ve never been here, or anywhere in Norway, before. I know that, historically, I often pack a lot into a day… Read More

I feel the need to start this post with a warning. It’s a long one and it will otherwise take me a few paragraphs to get to the subject. So I’ll start by saying it’s largel… Read More

I got back from my morning side trip to Polignano a Mare in time to do some stuff in Bari. I just didn’t know what. My guidebook didn’t offer many more suggestions as to what to… Read More

Bari is interesting and, in parts, quite picturesque. So it’s worthy of a visit on its own, but it’s also a great place from which to take side trips. For example, this morning I… Read More

After I got back from my morning’s side trip to Trani, I had a late lunch in Bari. It seriously disrupts the order of the universe to discuss my lunch at the start of an afternoon entr… Read More

Another day, another side trip out of Bari. This morning I took a train to Trani. I chose that destination solely so I could type “train to Trani.” I’m kidding, of course… Read More

I teased you in this morning’s post by saying that because of my late return from Alberobello I wouldn’t have time to see a lot of things, but not none. I didn’t lie. But i… Read More

I arrived in Bari yesterday afternoon and today I left town and headed to Alberobello, just over an hour bus ride away. Arriving in Bari and almost immediately leaving is not meant to be a n… Read More

This morning I traveled from Matera to Bari for a four night stay in the latter. Yes, the same Bari where I changed trains when travelling from Lecce to Matera. Getting to Matera required de… Read More

Due to a late lunch, I didn’t have a lot of time in this afternoon today. I spent it visiting three sights in what my guidebook refers to as Matera’s new town. I have trouble cal… Read More

By rights, the title of this post should be either “The Sassi of Matera” or “Matera’s Sassi,” not “Sassi Matera.” Google Translate tells me that the… Read More

If you’ve been following along, you might remember from my post about my expedition from Salerno to Lecce that I said I had another hellish travel day coming up. Today’s the day… Read More

This is my last day in Lecce. I spent this afternoon the way I started my time here. I went for a wander in Lecce. Or, to be more specific, Lecce’s centro storico (old town). There is… Read More

This morning was something of a quiet one. I visited three sights, a museum, the Museo Castromediano, a castle, the Castello di Carlo V, and a park, the Giardini Pubblici Giuseppe Garibaldi… Read More

Weeks before even starting this trip I tried to book a day trip for when I was in Lecce. I found one that I wanted to take that goes to four towns in the area, including one on each coast of… Read More

This morning in Lecce was a morning of contrasts for me. I had already booked a walking tour of the Jewish district for later in the morning. I needed something to do before that. I chose th… Read More

After lunch today I visited four Lecce churches and a bell tower associated with one of those churches, the Lecce Duomo. Lecce is lousy with churches. My guidebook lists six and I think ther… Read More

Unlike yesterday, when I had only a little time to explore Lecce, today I had a lot of time. All day, in fact. (And tomorrow. And tomorrow’s tomorrow.) I spent the morning in Lecce&rsq… Read More

Reader warning: Despite not landing anywhere today with much time to explore the locale (although unexpectedly having enough time after my day of travel to wander a bit in Lecce, my stop for… Read More

When I planned this trip to Southern Italy and looked at guidebooks to figure out what cities and towns I wanted to visit, Salerno didn’t make the cut. It wasn’t even close. But… Read More

When I finished lunch in Sorrento today, my last full day here, I still hadn’t figured out what to do this afternoon. I didn’t have a clue. I became increasingly despondent over… Read More

This morning, I visited only the Sorrento Cathedral and the Museum of Inlaid Wood, making for a somewhat quiet time relative to my normal tourist frenzy. In fact, the whole day is going to b… Read More

After finishing lunch this afternoon I wandered around Capri some more and visited the Gardens of Augustus there. That wasn’t what I planned to do when I first decided to go to Capri… Read More

Quite unintentionally, I woke up and got going earlier than usual this morning. This was a good news/bad news situation. The good news was that I’d get to my destination for the day, C… Read More

If you read my post about this morning, you know my adventure today was a day trip I booked on the Amalfi Coast. This afternoon took me to the third of three Amalfi Coast towns on the tour… Read More

The Almafi Coast filled today’s agenda. I booked a trip that took me to the towns of Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. Every source I’ve seen lists the latter, Ravello, as being on… Read More

This morning I took a ferry from Naples to Sorrento. Ah, life at sea. Well, considerably shorter than life, thankfully. The thought of a sea cruise longer than a few hours appalls me. The fe… Read More

I wasn’t terribly ambitious this afternoon. I visited a relatively small art gallery, Gallerie d’Italia, and took another underground Naples tour, Galleria Borbonica. Getting to… Read More

I decided what to do this morning only while eating breakfast. That decision was to start out at the San Martino Monastery and Museum. I opted to follow that up with a visit to the Castel Sa… Read More

Today’s theme is “cities destroyed by Mount Vesuvius, but hopefully not while I’m in the area.” After visiting the Herculaneum archaeological site this morning, I cau… Read More

If there’s one sight near Naples that everyone knows about it’s Pompeii. It’s so important that you can’t spell Pompeii without two “I”s. I think two &ldq… Read More

The plan I formulated at lunch for this afternoon was to have a castle theme. My plan called for visiting two castles, the Castel Nuovo and Castel dell’Ouvo. Things didn’t go com… Read More

This morning in Naples I visited Naples’ Archaeological Museum, the Church of Gesù Nuovo, and the Church of Santa Chiara. That wasn’t my plan when I started out. My intent… Read More

The title of this post notwithstanding, I don’t imagine pizza was responsible for the founding of Naples (Napoli in Italian). But I took the high-speed train from Rome to Naples (less… Read More

The Victor Emmanuel Monument wasn’t in my original thinking for this afternoon. My tentative plan was to visit two or possibly three churches and then play it by ear as to what else to… Read More

Like yesterday, steady rain fell on Rome again this morning as I set out for my day. Because of the inclement weather, I decided indoor activities were in order. I started out with the Natio… Read More

When I left the Capitoline Museums after lunch the steady rain of the morning turned to intermittent rain in the afternoon. But it was still more on than off. To fill the dreary afternoon, I… Read More

A steady rain fell on Rome as I walked to my first destination of the morning, the Celio Archaeological Park and Museum. But there was no wind. So my umbrella and rain jacket kept all but my… Read More

By the time I finished lunch today it was a couple minutes past three in the afternoon. Consequently, this entry describing my post-lunch activities will probably be brief. I’ve said t… Read More

I woke up this morning after a good night’s sleep and reminded myself that I’m in Rome. (You already knew that I’m in Rome if you read yesterday’s post, but I needed… Read More

I descended from the sky and landed in Rome (Roma in Italian) this morning.  Fortunately, I was a passenger in a plane at the time. Today is not my first time here. But it is the first… Read More

I’ve had a number of views of the Sydney Opera House while I’m here, some of them distant, some of them more close-up. And I’ve shown you pictures of some of those views in… Read More

So begins my final full day in Sydney Australia. It’s been a long trip, but I can’t believe it’s almost over. Almost, but not quite. This morning I visited two parks and a… Read More

After I finished lunch at the Museum of Contemporary Art, I killed some time until an event I’d booked for this afternoon: An hour-and-a-half Sydney Harbour Cruise. The cruise left fro… Read More

The Rocks district is so named because of the geology of the area before the settlement of it. I realize that in the entries in this Australian journal I have sometimes fabricated the origin… Read More

Darling Harbour is, as the name suggests, a harbour. But it seems to be more than that, a district. One of the sights I visited this afternoon in Sydney, the Chinese Garden of friendship is… Read More

The sun shone this morning. Better still, the temperature backed off yesterday’s inferno. It was still warm, but not terribly unpleasantly so. It was the perfect day to go to the beach… Read More

The heat of this morning in Sydney, Australia intensified this afternoon. So I put more indoor, air-conditioned activities on the agenda for the afternoon. That included the Art Gallery of N… Read More

The forecast high today in Sydney, Australia is 35°C. I decided stick with indoor activities and little outdoor walking.This morning, that included St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney Tow… Read More

Yes, that’s right, you clever person. After arriving by train from Canberra and checking into my hotel I visited Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. The post Royal Botanic Garden Sydney appe… Read More

After I finished my not-to-be-mentioned lunch at the National Zoo and Aquarium, I summoned an Uber to take me to the Australian War Memorial. I don’t know about you, but if I didn&rsqu… Read More

This morning. I took an Uber to the National Zoo and Aquarium. If you’ve been following along you know I’m traveling in Australia. So you’d be correct to assume, that in th… Read More

I ended my morning with lunch at the Old Parliament House cafe in the Parliamentary Zone of Canberra. I wasn’t ready to make the long trek back to my side of the lake, so I chose to vi… Read More

This morning I first walked to the National Museum of Australia and then to the Old Parliament House, a lot of, to be honest, not very interesting walking. The post National Museum of Austra… Read More

You might be intrigued by the “Not the” in the title of this entry, “Not the Australian National Botanic Gardens.” I hope so because I’m not. One of us might as… Read More

...For another thing, the rain intensified after I left the NGV and I didn’t feel like traipsing around Melbourne. But I did visit the Immigration Museum and the State Library of Victo… Read More

The precipitation’s lightness notwithstanding, I ​decided to go with indoor choices this morning, the Chinese Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria, commonly known as the N… Read More

The clear skies of this afternoon suggested outdoor activities. The high winds and heat, suggested otherwise. I decided to take in two nearby indoor sites, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Melbou… Read More

Yesterday, when I looked at the weather forecast for today it predicted rain all day. When I got up this morning I checked the forecast again. It said it was raining then, but would stop soo… Read More

This afternoon took me to the Melbourne Skyjack, the Docklands District, and Chinatown. The journey to the Docklands district involved a lot of walking. Was it worth it? Wait and see. But le… Read More

The main activity of this morning, a two-hour cruise on Melbourne’s Yarra River, didn’t start until 11:00. So I had some time to wander a bit before then... The post Yarra River… Read More

After flying in from Hobart today, I didn’t get to my hotel until close to 3:00 in the afternoon. Because I’m not at all a night owl, or any type of night bird for that matter, m… Read More

I took a day trip out of Hobart to Port Arthur today. If you aren’t familiar with Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, you’re probably thinking, “Port Arthur, that sounds love… Read More

Following on from my post of this morning, by the time I sat down for lunch at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, my Fitbit told me I’d already walked 15,183 steps and climbed the… Read More

Not having arrived at my hotel in Hobart until about 9:30 last evening after flying in from Adelaide, I consider this to be my first day in Hobart. I started it by doing some wandering aroun… Read More

Today was my last day in Adelaide. In fact, I posted this from the next stop on my Australia journey, Hobart, the capital of the Australian island state of Tasmania. It feels funny calling T… Read More

In an earlier post from Adelaide, Australia I mentioned that I walked briefly along a piece of the River Torrens, Adelaide’s River. I said I might explore it more later. When I finishe… Read More

The threat of periods of rain for this morning Adelaide sent me cowering into indoor sights, namely the Adelaide Arcade and the Art Gallery of South Australia. As it happens, I think the thr… Read More

If you read my post from earlier today, you know that I already visited one winery in the morning on the Barossa Valley wine tasting tour I took today. I tasted six wines at that winery. I h… Read More

My day’s activity out of Adelaide today was a wine tasting day trip to the Barossa Valley. My impression is that Barossa Valley is to South Australia as Napa Valley is to California. B… Read More

I spent this afternoon in Adelaide visiting the South Australia Museum, and Adelaide’s Central Market. But before I get into that, a word about Adelaide’s river, the River Torren… Read More