Posts in Category: Europe
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Mount Assoro – An Unrecognized Canadian Victory
It’s the second day of Liberation Tours 2016 tour of Canadian battlefield sites in Sicily and we’re in our bus heading from Catania to the scene of some of the fiercest fighting to take place on that fabled island. The land we are passing through today is much richer and more prosperous looking than that […]
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Pachino – The Invasion of Sicily Continues
In the last post I described the events leading up to the successful landing at Bark West Beach by 26,000 Canadian troops as part of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. I am part of a group of thirty-five Canadians who have come to Sicily with Liberation Tours, a company that specializes in Canadian military […]
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Bark West Beach – The Canadians Invade Sicily
This is my second post on a 2016 tour of Canadian WWII sites in Italy led by my friends at Liberation Tours. In the last post I described the lead up to Operation Husky, the WWII invasion of Italy by the Allies and the various Canadian regiments that were about to take part. In this […]
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Operation Husky – Introducing the Players
In the last post I explained why Alison and I would forsake what is often the nicest time of year in Nova Scotia to join thirty three other Canadians on a journey to retrace the steps of the Canadian army in Italy during WWII. In the next three posts I will describe the Canadian campaign […]
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Liberation Tour 2016 – The Italian Campaign
It’s October 2016 and Alison, I and my sister Anne are headed to Italy to join a group of fellow Canadians on Liberation Tour 2016 which will retrace the route of the Canadian forces in Italy during WWII from Sicily to Venice. The tour has been organized by Liberation Tours, a small Canadian company that […]
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Lord Byron Hotel – Make it Your Choice in Rome
YOLO, Carpe Diem, Live for Today – whatever. The older I get, the more I think these expressions are less sybaritic and more a guide as to how to conclude one’s existence on this lonely planet. In the past month alone, three lawyers I know in Halifax, two younger and one a bit older, have passed […]
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Mezquita – Cordoba’s Incredible Grand Mosque
When we decided to visit Andalusia last November one of the key reasons was to visit the Alhambra in Granada. After the visit I wrote in this post that it was pretty strange that the best preserved Islamic palace in the world was in a purportedly Christian country. What I didn’t know when I wrote that […]
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Cordoba – A Tour of Spain’s Moorish Capital
It’s a beautiful morning in Cordoba, Spain and after a great night’s sleep at the fabulous Balcon de Cordoba hotel Alison and I are about to explore some of the famous landmarks of the city including the Alcazar, the Calahorra Tower and the Roman Bridge. We’ll save the Mezquita or Grand Mosque for it’s own […]
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Balcon de Cordoba – A Must Stay in Cordoba
This is the first of three posts on the wonderful city of Cordoba, Spain which we visited, almost on a whim in November 2015. Posts will follow on a walk around the historic city and the almost unbelievable Mezquita, but this one will focus on one of the best hotels we have stayed at anywhere, […]