Lee Abbamonte
Try to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world
Antalya and Kemer
By Lee | 
7 Comments » 
Southern Turkey is the unknown part of the Mediterranean. Most people don’t think of Turkey for beach holidays and certainly not for Mediterranean style resorts and partying that is unmistakably European with loud music, blaring techno and pool dancing aerobics. Antalya is the biggest city on the Southern Turkish coast. It is pretty quiet by Mediterranean standards and is more family oriented. It is a great place to stay in the old city overlooking a stunning harbor surrounded by natural cliffs and to do activities. Then about 30 miles or so away is the European party playground of Kemer which is in the mold of other Mediterranean hotspots like Ibiza, Ayia Napa, St. Tropez, Eos and Mykonos. The hottest place to stay in the resort town of Kemer is the famous Club Med Kemer. So naturally, that’s exactly what we did. I must say it was an interesting experience that I am still a little befuddled about. I can’t decide if I had more fun or was more confused. Good or bad, what I do know is that Club Med Kemer was a glaring example of the extreme cultural differences between Americans and Europeans.
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A Week Around Romania
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
Romania is an interesting place. This was my second time visiting, the first was in August 2007 and I only got to visit Bucharest, the capital. This time, my friend Mike and I got to see most of the country aside from the Black Sea coast. Romania is a surprising place for Eastern Europe. It has very good food, a loose and free atmosphere, a lot to see and do and it has pretty good infrastructure less a few roads near the Carpathians. Romania is on the surface a great addition to the European Union but unfortunately for me, a few bad incidents marred my time there a bit toward the end of my week stay. But those aside, I had a blast in Romania and am very happy I took the time to really explore and experience Bucharest, Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains.
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Abkhazia and Sochi
By Lee | 21 Comments » 
The last several days have been incredibly interesting for me. I came up from Israel for a night in Moscow and a late night tour of St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin. I then headed down to Sochi to catch a car to Abkhazia which was my 299th Travelers Century Club country. Abkhazia was added to the TCC list a few years ago after the most recent conflict in the Caucusus Region. Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, is the closest airport and would also be a place I would spend a few days. As I now have had a chance to sleep a bit and reflect, I still cannot believe that Sochi will host an Olympics and Abkhazia was one of the more interesting and beautiful places around.
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El Clásico x 4!!!
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
In my opinion this is the best time of the year for sports because we just had the Masters and the NCAA basketball tournament and baseball has finally started. The NBA and NHL are heading into 2 months of playoffs, the European soccer leagues are coming down to crunch time and the Champions League is reduced to 4 teams. Two of those teams are the two most compelling rivals in the sports world in my opinion…well maybe after the Yankees and Red Sox! Assuming Real Madrid holds on against a feisty Tottenham squad later today, they will join arch rivals Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League where they will square off twice. Additionally, they play a critical La Liga match Saturday and the final of the Copa Del Rey all within 18 days. That means we get 4 “El Clasicos”, perhaps the best rivalry in global sports.
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A Weekend in Iceland
By Lee | 10 Comments » 
In the past decade since I was last in Iceland in July 2000, it has become a serious tourist destination. A lot has changed in this small Scandinavian island nation. It’s about half price what it used to be after the collapse of the economy, although it’s still bloody expensive. The capital city of Reykjavik has cut back on some of the seedier things that used to attract a lot of male visitors, albeit many bachelor parties still come up to Reykjavik. And most recently, that pesky volcano that caused billions in lost revenue from flight cancellations, when it spewed ash up into the atmosphere several months ago. Although Eyjafjallajökull (try saying that three times fast…or even once) has become a boom for t-shirts in the city, it may well be the most famous thing to come out of Iceland since Bjork…well they also have this thing called the Blue Lagoon!
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The Faroe Islands
By Lee | 5 Comments » 
The fantastic and forgotten Faroe Islands are a simple short flight from Denmark, Norway, Iceland and even the UK but they are so far off the general tourist map that few people ever actually make it here. It’s a real shame because this 18 island jigsaw puzzle of an island nation is well worth the effort and cost of getting here. Adrift in the frothing swells of the North Atlantic, the Faroes are littered with little foot paths leading to enormous and well engineered connecting tunnels while sheep by the thousands just stand around and eat grass. Multicolored cottages, turf roofed houses and churches dot the landscape of this land that time forgot. Almost I should say, because anywhere you go on the islands your mobile will never lose service, even in the boats to see the amazing Vestmanna Bird Cliffs.
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Sardinia In Short
By Lee | 5 Comments » 
As I was coming into Santa Teresa di Gallura on the ferry from Corsica, I was overcome with excitement. For many reasons, but I knew that Sardinia was my last TCC country in Europe and also that amazing Italian food was only a short walk from the port into town. In addition, I was aiming to explore the northwest part of the island. With my very good Italian and the direction of a very helpful information booth at the port, I was able to both figure out the bus schedule to Alghero and also find the best restaurant in Santa Teresa di Gallura to tide myself over. The timing worked out perfectly and it gave me three hours to eat, explore the town, the beach and comfortably make the bus and claim the back middle seat to maximize legroom!
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But Of Cors-ica
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
The Mediterranean is awesome. Its distinctive coastlines, mountains, activities, food and people make it one of the best destinations to visit in the world. Of the major Mediterranean destinations, I only have Sardinia to go and I am writing this on the boat there. With that type of experience I can firmly say that Corsica is one of, if not the best, Mediterranean island I have been to. The birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte is a true paradise as it offers something for everyone and a little bit of everything. It is very reasonably priced in a part of Europe that is never cheap. It has rugged mountains, gorgeous coastline, distinctive food, culture and a language of their own. Most of all, the people were fantastic, the towns were very memorable and the views were to die for.
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Bonjour Paris!
By Lee | 2 Comments » 
Alas, I start blogging my trips again after a nearly 2 month homestay if you will and I come to you currently from Corsica having just left Paris yesterday morning. I will have more from Corsica, hopefully tomorrow, when I get to Sardinia as the connection here isn’t very good surprisingly but it is gorgeous. However, after 3 days of eating my way through Paris and hitting up some of my favorite places in the City of Lights, I wanted to write a little about my 12th trip to Paris. When you’ve been Paris as much as I have, there isn’t much sightseeing I am interested in, it is more about causal strolling and getting to see those things you’ve always meant to see but never made it…however, let’s be serious, it’s about enjoying the gastronomic delights of Paris.
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Bull Run
By Lee | 11 Comments » 
I think that every traveler has a little bit of Hemingway in them. His writings are equally inspiring and interesting. My favorite Hemingway book is The Sun Also Rises. Of course, this brings our hero to Pamplona, Spain for the Fiesta de San Fermin, which is more commonly recognized as the running of the bulls. Ernest Hemingway wrote reverently about the festivities that he witnessed and brought them to the attention of the wider world for the first time. Today, thousands of runners, wannabe runners, thrill seekers and party goers make their way to this small town each July for the eight day fiesta.
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