by David McGuffin | Feb 10, 2015 | Culture & Customs, Destinations, Experiencing Europe
Ragusa Duomo
I am writing today from the island of Ortigia near Siracusa, Sicily. I am a little more than halfway through my Best of Sicily Tour and boy are we having fun traveling off-season and off the beaten tourist path. My group is small, just two single ladies, but we’ve seen and experienced a lot together these last eight days.
We began a week ago in Palermo. It sputtered rain on and off for two days, but we managed to get most of our sightseeing in between showers. The local markets and the historic town center topped our sightseeing, as did a trek to visit the Catacombe dei Cappuccini where more than 8,000 Palermitans are hung out to wither and dry in the crypt under the neighborhood church. Here we saw perhaps the most disturbing of all the dead folks, the perfectly preserved body of 2-year-old Rosalia Lombardo who died in 1920. See a picture here.
We also enlisted our hotel chef to teach us how to prepare arancini, a traditional dish in every Sicilian kitchen. After several hours of preparing and cooking the round, risotto-based “orange-sized” food balls, it was a delight to sit down and taste the fruits of our labor. Arancini are a meal in themselves with a ragú or cheese center being wrapped in a tasty layer of fried rice.
Leaving Palermo, we’ve traveled counterclockwise around the island visiting Trapani, Marsala, Agrigento, Ragusa, and today in Siracusa. There is too much to tell about all our adventures, but a few highlights have been: tasting Marsala wine, visiting a 4th century BC Greek temple and having it all to ourselves with not a soul in sight, getting “lost” while driving in a small hilltown and having to navigate some very tight lanes to return to civilization, and enjoying wonderful food!
Sicily is filled with fun-loving locals, fantastic destinations, and the best experiences Italy has to offer. I am coming back in September and would love to have you join me. Check out my Best of Sicily tour here.
-David
by David McGuffin | Dec 22, 2014 | Destinations, news
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Charlotte and I wish you a Merry Christmas and joyous holiday season!
Your Adventure Starts Here!
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by David McGuffin | Nov 28, 2014 | Destinations, news
Name your price for a David McGuffin tour departing in February or March 2015. If your offer is reasonable, and we accept it, you’ll enjoy traveling off-season with a small group on a fun and exciting David McGuffin tour.
This offer is valid from November 28 through December 1, 2014, 9:00 p.m. EST.
All reasonable offers will be considered.
Availability is limited and seats may sell out at any time.
Use promotion code CYBER14 in all correspondence.
All offers must be submitted via email to cyber14@davidmcguffin.com.
All offers will receive an email response within three (3) hours.
David McGuffin’s Exploring Europe, Inc. reserves the right to accept or reject any offer presented during this promotion.
Airfare is not included.
This offer is valid only for new enrollments on our Best of Sicily, Essence of Italy, Essence of France, or Taste O’Ireland tours departing in February or March 2015.
If your offer is accepted, you must complete a tour application, agree to our tour terms and conditions, and pay a $400 deposit by December 3, 2014. Your tour balance will be due 45 days before the tour’s departure date.
Save even more if you combine my Best of Sicily and Essence of Italy tours!
Your Adventure Starts Here!
by admin | Nov 26, 2014 | Destinations, news
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THANKSGIVING 2014
A friend living in Italy sent this photo of an advertisement posted on a restaurant door. Even though Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Italy, it appears this ristorante is going to give it a good shot! Having had my fare share of Italian cooking, I bet it will be a dining experience filled with some very tasty dishes.
The text translates as:
THE TRUE THANKSGIVING DINNER YOU WOULD EXPECT!
Thursday, November 27, 2014 at 9:00 P.M.
It goes on to say the the proceeds from the event will go to help needed children living in the area of the restaurant.
From all of us at David McGuffin’s Exploring Europe, we wish you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING no matter where you sit down to gobble up your turkey and dressing!
Your Adventure Starts Here!
 WELCOME KELLY LAROSA
I am excited to announce that KELLY LAROSA will be joining David McGuffin’s Exploring Europe as our Business Development Manager.
Kelly comes to Exploring Europe with many years of experience in sales, marketing and business promotion. Kelly’s primary responsibilities will be managing marketing, sales, and promotion of our European tours.
Kelly lives in Orange Park, Florida and joins our team as of today. If you’d like, send him a special welcome at kelly@davidmcguffin.com.
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by David McGuffin | Nov 9, 2014 | Destinations
I was reminded that today is the 25th anniversary of the FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL. Many recall hearing of the Wall and its 28 year history of separating East and West Berlin. You may also remember listening to news reports of the events leading up to its fall on November 9, 1989.
During the Wall’s 28 years, it is documented that border guards fired 1,693 times and made 3,221 arrests. It is believed that at least 136 people were killed at the Wall while trying to escape. There were 5,043 documented successful escapes.
My wife and I often say, “I’ve been there”, while watching movies or TV shows. It all started shortly after my first trip to Europe in the 1970’s when I returned home an “expert” (ha!) on all the destinations I had visited. Now that we both have traveled all over the world, we continue this “tradition” trying to identify familiar scenes featured in the media.
But you know, we DO become “experts” when we experience a place. The Berlin Wall was just a distant news story and historical event until I actually visited it. I was at the Wall in March 2014. Although I’ve traveled extensively in Europe, I’d never made to Berlin until this trip. Being there, walking around, experiencing, seeing, tasting, and smelling the actual place left a lasting sensory connect with the destination. There is nothing like the first-hand experience of being able to say, “I’ve been there.”
This is why I make it my mission to inspire European travel with my tours focusing on culture, history, art, and engaging experiences. I believe all travel is an adventure that leaves lasting positive or disappointing memories. I hope to empower my travel partners with knowledge, guidance, and confidence to embrace the adventure, seize the moment, and most of all… have fun!
Here are several links to today’s news about The Wall’s 25th Anniversary that I ran across this morning. I hope you enjoy the virtual experience. Maybe you’ll consider going with me to Berlin in September 2014 and experience the real thing!
The Berlin Wall, a 96-mile-long barrier, was erected in stages around West Berlin in 1961. The East Germany government did not call it a barrier or wall, but the “Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart.” Major portions were rapidly constructed, almost overnight, to prevent the constant seepage of people from the East to the West. It is said that close to 3 million people had leaked out between 1949 and 1961. So, by 1961, the East had had enough and built “The Wall” or “Mauer”, as it’s known in German. Read more of my article about my first visit to the Berlin Wall Memorial.
The area around the 158-kilometer (98.2-mile) stretch where the Berlin Wall divided the city has changed utterly in the last 25 years. The barbed wire, machine-gun turrets and tanks in “no man’s land” have gone. In their place have sprung up shopping malls, parks, office blocks and bright, glass-fronted train stations. (Read about the fall of the Berlin Wall and explore its history in an interactive timeline.)
Published Nov. 5, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Photo credit: Left: Getty Images; Right: Mustafah Abdulaziz for The Wall Street Journal
To many Germans, Harald Jaeger is the man who opened the Berlin Wall.
It’s a legacy that still makes the former East German border officer uncomfortable 25 years after he defied his superiors’ orders and let thousands of East Berliners pour across his checkpoint into the West.
“I didn’t open the wall. The people who stood here, they did it,” says the 71-year-old with a booming voice who was an East German lieutenant colonel in charge of passport control at Bornholmer Street. “Their will was so great, there was no other alternative but to open the border.” read more…
Alain Nogues/Sygma/Corbis
by David McGuffin | Nov 3, 2014 | Destinations, news
I’ve been busy the last few months with several projects designed to promote David McGuffin’s Exploring Europe and to introduce my tours in new markets. Last week, we participated in The Travel and Adventure Show in Dallas, Texas where we had the opportunity to visit with thousands of travel minded people, just itching for somewhere to go.
We’ve completely reworked the tour areas of davidmcguffin.com, making it more descriptive, interactive, and easy to sign-up and get going on a tour.
My 2015 Travel Planning Calendar is printed and ready to be shipped next month. If you are a McGuffin tour alumni or on our mailing list, your calendar (and the material mentioned below) will be in the mail to you next month.
We’ve also produced a brand new full color Tour Catalogue detailing all my 2015 tours.
Finally, we’ve designed beverage coasters featuring images of our favorite tour destinations.
2014 has been my busiest year ever! Adding it all up, I reckon I’ve spent four months in Europe leading tours, doing research, and updating my travel information. This has helped me explore new destinations, shift perspectives, and focus on offering an even better tour experience for my travel partners.
Your Adventure Starts Here!
SIGN UP NOW… SAVE $100 ON ANY 2015 TOUR
Book your seat on any 2015 David McGuffin tour, and automatically save $100 per person. We are offering more tours than ever. Booking early is a sure way to lock in current prices, your preferred departure date, and save $100! Hurry, this offer ends December 20, 2014. Your Adventure Starts Here!
15 TOUR ROUTES
12 COUNTRIES
44 DEPARTURES
We’ve got a tour, destination, and departure that’s sure to fit your schedule. Browse all my 2015 tours
FEATURED SLIDE SHOW
This Best of Sicily Tour takes you on a circular tour visiting my best destinations on the island. We will definitely visit all the main tourist sights but often it is the cultural experiences, small villages, and unique destinations that make the most vivid travel memories. I think we’ve come up with a balanced mix of both.
Beginning in Palermo, you’ll experience a lively and vibrant city full of colorful characters, ancient churches, and bustling markets. Then we will get out of town visiting the ancient Greek sites of Segesta, Agrigento, Taormina, and Syracuse. Along the way you’ll experience the culture, cuisine, and sense of community only found in small villages and hilltowns. Additionally, there are plenty of opportunities to slow down and enjoy some free time on your own to make your own travel memories. Sicily will provide an intense dose of Italian culture supercharged with a Sicilian flair.
Have you traveled on a David McGuffin Tour? If so, I am laying down a challenge to my computer-savvy shutter bugs to design and post an online scrapbook website of your favorite David McGuffin tour experiences. Everyone is eligible as long as you have traveled with me to Europe anytime in the past thirty years.
Your odds of winning are great! Last year I had a lot of interest, but no entries for this contest. Here is all the information to get you started.
My Facebook Page is growing every week and at the moment I have close to 1000 “likes”. I’ve added a feature to my Facebook page which allows Exploring Europe Tour ALUMNI to write a REVIEW about their tour experience. If you’ve traveled with me, I’d appreciate your writing a short review of your tour experience. https://www.facebook.com/ExploringEurope?sk=reviews
GIVE ME A REVIEW ON FACEBOOK