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A man cuts a customer's hair at a barber shop in Split Croatia

Around the World in 18 Barbers’ Chairs

From Bulgaria to Vietnam, Shawn visits barber shops around the world.

Tricia A. Mitchell24 Comments

Sitting in a barber shop in the coastal city of Split, Croatia, I struggled to answer the stylist’s simple question: How long would we be visiting Croatia? I had learned a smattering of Croatian words, but the names of the months had so far escaped me.

Remembering the calendar hanging above my head – albeit adorned with nude calendar girls – I flipped through the weeks and pointed to a date. As I exposed each month’s voluptuous model, the 70-something barber’s moustache-framed mouth curled into a mischievous grin. However awkward the method, I had satisfied his curiosity. Clearly I was in male territory, though.

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A baby elephant stands close to its mother, inside South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park

A Sunset Safari in South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park

One of South Africa’s largest national parks, Addo was established in the 1930s to protect about 10 elephants. Today, it’s home to more than 600.

Tricia A. Mitchell26 Comments

As golden-hour rays of sunshine cast shadows upon South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park, we remained cautiously optimistic that we’d spot wildlife. Our open-air safari vehicle rolled through the stunning landscape, characterized by sage-colored foliage and terracotta-hued soil. Water droplets sparkled on the vegetation, the result of an earlier rainfall that had quenched Addo’s parched terrain.
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Sculpting Tomorrow’s Artisans: The Stonemason School in Pučišća, Croatia

Aspiring stonemasons on the Croatian island of Brač learn the ropes of an Old World art.

Tricia A. Mitchell26 Comments

Venturing into Pučišća’s Stonemason School feels like entering another era. The soundtrack is the hammering, sanding, and chiseling of stone. A snow-white dust dances in the air, hugging every surface, and carpeting the ground. Classic urns, intricate fountains, and a regal lion fill the school’s sun-drenched workshop. Indeed, the only details that may transport you back to the present are the sweatpants, t-shirts, and earbuds worn by the aspiring stonemasons.

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Into the Forest: Watching a Wild Deer Feeding in the German Alps

Every winter, officials in the German state of Bavaria organize feedings for wild deer — much to the delight of the animals and the spectators.

Tricia A. Mitchell39 Comments

Sitting on the wooden benches of a rustic shelter, our group waited patiently. We shivered quietly and watched for signs of life in the frosted forest before us. It was twilight, and we had come to watch a feeding of wild deer in the Graswang Valley in the German state of Bavaria. These feeding sessions, called Wildtierfütterung in German, are a popular local tradition, and just one example of Germany’s penchant for respecting the environment

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A Descent into Malta’s Mystical Hypogeum

Forgotten for millennia, Malta’s subterranean Hypogeum offers a fascinating look into the island’s mysterious Temple Builders.

Tricia A. Mitchell26 Comments

Believed to be one of the oldest prehistoric underground temples in the world, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is a mysterious and impressive engineering marvel crafted by Malta’s ‘Temple Builders’. Little is known about the sophisticated Temple Builders and why they eventually vanished from the island, leaving only their temples behind. Incredibly, some of their structures predate Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid at Giza.

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A multi-colored wooden fishing boats sits in the water, with the skyline of Valletta, Malta in the background.

A Guide to Exploring Valletta: Malta’s Tiny, But Mighty, Capital City

What to see and do in the captivating Mediterranean city of Valletta, Malta.

Tricia A. Mitchell31 Comments

Malta’s capital, Valletta, is a grande dame undergoing rapid change. With more than 300 monuments crammed into the city’s small peninsular borders, Valletta has one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world. This means that there are lots of things to do in Valletta, whether you’re an architecture aficionado, military-history buff or passionate wanderer eager to see a city reawakening from a long slumber.

Shawn and I called Valletta home for one year. We lived on Strada Stretta, which was once one of the city’s most infamous streets.  It’s a narrow lane that used to form part of Valletta’s red-light district—a magnet for sailors.

When we first learned we’d be moving to Malta for Shawn’s studies, we thought we might develop island fever by spending so much time in a tiny island nation. Surprisingly though, there was so much to experience in and out of Valletta that our weekend calendar was consistently filled with activities. We left at the end of 2016.

A decade before actually moving to Valletta, I also played tourist in the capital city, making it my home base for a long-weekend visit. Back in 2006, Valletta was eerily quiet. Half of the city’s buildings were boarded up and abandoned. Accommodation in Valletta was so scarce that I literally had to sleep in a spacious maid’s closet for one night, until a proper room became available. Coincidentally, ten years later, my future in-laws would choose to stay at a boutique hotel located just across the street from the same guesthouse in which I stayed as a solo female traveler in 2006. It’s funny how life comes full circle like that.

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A man, dressed in swimming gear, holds a Jack Russell Terrier dog in his arms. The dog has a water bottle in her mouth, and there is blue water in the background. The man and the dog are famous in Malta for doing synchronized dives.

Malta’s Cliff-Diving Dog Captures Hearts Around the World

Mingling with Malta’s famous diving dog — a Jack Russell Terrier named Titti.

Tricia A. Mitchell18 Comments

It was a sweltering September afternoon on the sunny island of Malta when we headed to St. Peter’s Pool. With its dramatic limestone cliffs and access to the Mediterranean, St. Peter’s isn’t a pool in the conventional sense. And at this point, it should ceremoniously be renamed ‘Titti’s Pool’ in honor of its celebrated diver: a Jack Russell Terrier dog who has captured the attention of animal lovers worldwide.

Upon reaching a point overlooking the picturesque swimming venue, I had already spotted Titti –  a stocky, black, white and brown ball of energy. St. Peter’s Pool is photogenic in its own right, but the swarm of swimmers sporting mobile phones and cameras instead tried to capture Titti’s every move. This proved to be tricky because of the dog’s sprinting maneuvers and high jumps alongside her master’s ankles.

Anticipating her owner’s hand signal, Titti waited at the jagged cliff’s edge, an impatient aura about her. With her master’s motion now executed, her stubby little legs launched her into the azure water below. Titti’s makeshift paparazzi documented the split-second maneuver, and applause and yelps of delight followed as Titti’s head emerged from the foamy water. In her mouth, she carried a prized plastic water bottle which she’d just fetched out of the sea.

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Exploring Malta’s Roman Roots at the Domus Romana Museum

From magnificent mosaics to marble statues, the Domus Romana Museum offers a wonderful peek at the island’s ancient Roman heritage.

Tricia A. Mitchell29 Comments

Malta was ruled, occupied and colonized by a great number of different peoples throughout the last few thousand years. Not surprisingly, since the island is in the heart of the Mediterranean, the Romans were among them.

Situated just outside the popular and atmospheric walled city of Mdina is the small Domus Romana Museum. It was once a townhouse for a Roman aristocrat living in the ancient Roman town of Melite, in what is now Mdina and Rabat. (In Latin, domus means ‘home’ or ‘residence’.) It’s believed that it was built in the 1st century CE.

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