Crete Food: A Culinary Travel Guide

What is Crete food? What is traditional Cretan cuisine? Which dishes should you seek out and what sort of dishes and flavors might you find when you visit this Greek island? This Crete Food Culinary Travel Guide provides answers with an overview of Cretan cuisine, including its famous olive oil, and our favorite mezze, traditional Cretan dishes, desserts and drinks from our travels across the island.

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Zen and the Art of Laundry on the Road

laundry

Scrubbing Clothes - Battambang
Cambodian girl and her laundry. A kindred spirit?

This is story about five-sided underwear, a laundry detergent named BARF, socks that smell like goat cheese, and jeans that have never been washed. Oh, and it's an answer to “What do you do about laundry while traveling?”

The other day, Audrey and I walked into a laundry service here in Oaxaca, Mexico and after a confounding exchange we discovered that they don’t accept underwear.

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Bangladesh Travel: A Beginner’s Guide

Let’s face it. Reliable independent travel information about Bangladesh doesn’t flow quite as freely as it does for some other nearby countries in south Asia.

And even when you get in country, information can be hard to come by: ask five people a question and you're likely to get ten answers.

But persevere and show your curiosity and you’ll find that Bangladesh actually offers more diversity in sights and experiences that you might first expect, from UNESCO pre-Moghul mosques to cycling through tea estates to tracking tigers in mangrove forests. But perhaps more distinct are the human interactions that make visiting Bangladesh such a unique experience.

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Street Market in Old Alexandria, Egypt

Fun at the street market in Alexandria, Egypt

When time is limited, you have to make tough decisions. In Alexandria, Egypt, I decided to hit the streets of its old town rather than going deep into the ancient catacombs. I was looking for interaction, for life on the streets.

And rather than heading down the main street, I found the loneliest alleyway to take me in a different direction. I ended up in a vein of street markets that wasn't so lonely after all.

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Great Meals and the Lessons They Taught Us

We can learn from our food.

Really.

As I assembled photos and descriptions for our recent travel round-up post, I kept getting distracted. Perhaps unsurprisingly for those who know me, food was the culprit. I was continually drawn back to memories of unforgettable meals from each country — memories not only of the taste, but to the time, the place, the people.

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The Hanging Church of Coptic Cairo

Hanging Coptic Church in Cairo, Egypt.

Coptic Cairo. The name alone exudes ancient, mysterious, almost mystical. People still live, work and worship in the same place as they have for thousands of years. It's a humbling walk back in time in this secluded Old Cairo neighborhood, whose tranquility belies the 22-million strong bustle of modern Cairo just outside.

One of the highlights of Coptic Cairo: The Hanging Church, suspended above firm ground on palm tree trunks connecting two ancient Roman fortress towers.

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