The Travel Monocle sparks a lust for unusual places, adventures, and curiosity all over the globe. We dare boldly to connect you, body and spirit, to experiences not ordinarily considered. From the of-the-beaten-path gem of a restaurant to the frequently-visited monuments, the perspective you get from our travel monocle will be like none other.
The Travel Monocle
My wife and I have spent a total of four months in Africa over 30 years: Egypt, the Seychelles, the Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Our recent five-week…
Many Caribbean islands are little more than water sports or beachcomber destinations. Jamaica is pleasantly different. The birthplace of reggae, her charms extend well beyond her saltwater shores and adventure…
Eons ago (1969), my first vivid memory of Vietnam was a Viet Cong rocket cratering not far away from where I was brushing my teeth. For the most part, it…
When last in Norway, I enjoyed Oslo and the surrounding sights. Modern, chic, and progressive: Scandinavia on steroids. On another visit, I participated in Bergen’s Rain Festival, which, could have…
An April The Wall Street Journal article touted a three-day sample of Switzerland’s charms using a special rail pass. It also inferred that things run like clockwork in that Alpine…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner The last two weeks in February were spent giving the Sunshine State a thorough going-over, putting 1,700 miles on a red Mini Cooper. Unlike…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner My first trip to Hawaii was for rest and relaxation from Vietnam in 1970, and I returned last month. Early on, there was some…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Once the largest steel town west of the Mississippi, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company dominated Colorado as its largest employer for a century.…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner My wife and I just returned from a fall colors trip out east. We went, expecting to see the Catskills and Finger Lakes of…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner My wife, Barb, and I just returned from Taos, New Mexico. A captivating and photogenic mecca, it is the same place New York elite…
By Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photos We once owned a home in Bend, Oregon and sold it – felt there were better investment opportunities. What a colossal mistake. The town has…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Excepting Yellowstone and the Tetons, one might dismiss Wyoming, our northern neighbor, as a windy, wild western coal-rich frontier. In some places, maybe so.…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner In late March, to retain our sanity in a COVID-obsessed world, my wife and I lit out for the Florida Panhandle. We flew to…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” so said Marcellus in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. He was definitely wrong. The fact is, Denmark…
By Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photos I smile at our Irish memories twice yearly, during lambing season in April and while remembering September oyster festivals. In spring, no one need ask…
Article by Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photos Years ago, I consulted for Swedish battery manufacturer, OPTIMA. Normally, a fair-weather traveler, a meeting at headquarters called me to Stockholm in the winter.…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Sandwiched softly between Brazil and Argentina is Uruguay, a compact, laid-back progressive republic. Independent since 1828, she is stable and urbane. Likened for decades…
Article and photo by Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photo Singapore, you say? I first visited Singapore in 1987 and last in 2017. It stunned my senses both then and now. Once…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photo Rated the safest country in Southeast Asia, Thailand is magnificent holiday country with 1,000 miles of coastline. Few know that its standard…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner But for an offer from friends to stay at their Lima home, we might never have sampled this land of the Incas. Regrets? Only…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photo One absolutely, positively cannot oversell northeastern Spain. The environs of Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastian are simply exquisite with cultural, gastronomical and…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner We parted in Warsaw last month. No history of Poland is complete without knowing it once was the center of a Nazi killing field.…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner While international travel for pleasure is not an option currently, now is the time to break out your photo albums and relive your previous…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner In 2005, my wife and I discovered this diamond in the rough. Rough, as Slovenia was still drying out from the oppressive former Communist…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner After touring Wellington last month, let’s ship out, on a 3.5 hour, $44 ferry ride, crossing Cook Strait to the South Island. The 12th…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner An exquisite hike to a special place: Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula.Our family has visited this magic land in the South Pacific frequently.…
The color contrasts at Binalong Bay detail the orange lichen, azure seas, white clouds and blue skies of the region. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner As noted in the…
A small sction of the Painted Cliffs rock formation at Maria Island National Park. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy map Among the world’s most remote and enticing places,…
A postcard highlighting many of Dresden’s architectural wonders as they stand today, rebuilt and celebrated. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photos Scant months after the Berlin Wall came…
Step into the past and ride the old Soviet-era trolleys still in use in Lviv. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Having visited Germany almost annually since 1953 and being…
Scandinavian design has long been seen as avant-garde by the world; the Helsinki Central Library Oodi (pictured above) does not disappoint. By Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photos One has favorite cities;…
The Blue Lagoon in Ulodeniz, Turkey is one of the most photographed in the world. The gradations of blue and green are spectacular. It swims well too! Cappadocia. Formed in…
Hagia Sophia. Mosque built by Emperor Justinian designed to impress. It will, guaranteed. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner My rapture with Turkey began in 1987 while visiting Istanbul on…
Left to right. City Market in St. John, N.B. Great place to find most anything, including lunch. Roosevelt Cottage, Campobello Island, N.B. Middle Head Hike, Cape Breton National Park, N.S.…
Seascape looking out from the Ferryland Lighthouse in Newfoundland. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Canada is vast, a travel jigsaw. Where to begin? How about in the east since…
Potsdamer Platz before (bottom) and after (top) – from wasteland to the symbol of New Berlin. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, reunification…
Berlin’s Red Town Hall, seat of the mayor of Berlin. Built 1861-69 in Italian renaissance style. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner To visit Paris, London, or even Rome for…
Joe Gschwendtner/author standing on parapets of Valenca’s 13th-century fortress. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner The Douro River valley is reason alone to visit Portugal in the fall. Terraced hills…
View of Mosteiro dos Jeronimos in the Belem district. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Many tourists in Portugal don’t get much beyond Lisbon. For good reason. It is a…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Portugal was on top of the world in the 16th century. Capitalizing on the skill of her navigators, their discoveries and trade routes, untold…
By Joe Gschwendtner In May, I got another close whiff of Russia on the Curonian Spit in Lithuania. For those with a yen for history, Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave,…
Cathedral Square in Vilnius was the start of a human chain “The Baltic Way”– more than 2,000,000 people linked by hand to the Baltic Sea demonstrating solidarity of their suffering…
Article and photo by Joe Gschwendtner; photos courtesy of Latvia.eu Sandwiched between Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia accommodates some 2 million people. Like Estonia, her terrain is rich in natural beauty,…
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in old town Tallinn, Estonia. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner While Europe struggles with politics and copes with a mass influx of not-always-welcomed migrants, three small…
Every year in May, umbrellas appear like butterflies in front of Potocki Palace on Kopernick Street. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner I set off to Lviv (‘Le-view’), Ukraine in…
The Assumption of Mary Church, built in late 17th century. It’s tower is 171 feet tall. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner For 40 years, communist Joseph Broz Tito dominated…
Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Superlatives today are not lacking. Everything is amazing, incredible, awesome, special or very unique, the latter actually impossible. But how about “paradise” as perfection,…
Valley of the Moon, Atacama Desert; inset Perito Moreno Glacier, Los Glacieres National Park Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Mature Americans seldom consider South America for independent travel. Currency…
A bird’s-eye view of San Sebastian, Spain (Donostia, if you are Basque) on the southern coast of Bay of Biscay. Article and photos by Joe Gschwendtner Harry is an old…