Rooted in Roman history, the city of Carcassonne charms its visitors with a hilltop medieval citadel and slow-cooked comfort food: cassoulet.
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Category: Photography
Exploring Cognac, the region and “The Liquor of the Gods”
This double-distilled grape juice is not my thing but it was highly praised by writer Victor Hugo who proclaimed it was “the liquor of the Gods.” We borrowed our friend’s car and drove the short distance between Angouleme and Cognac and managed a short visit through town, sans a cognac tasting, which we reserved for savoring privately later.
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The Joy of Discovering France Beyond Paris
A one-and-a-half month journey through France exploring Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence, and the French Riviera
During our month and a half trip, we visited with friends, made new ones, shopped fabulous fresh markets, picked mushrooms, indulged in way too much cheese, moules marinières, and wine, and explored the sunny Mediterranean coast.
Our journey started in Angoulême, then took us to Bordeaux, Royan, Talmont-sur-Gironde, Mortagne-sur-Gironde, Brantôme, Saint-Émillion, Cognac, Carcassonne, Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Caumont-sur-Durance, Gordes, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, Baux-de-Provence, Arles and Salin de Giraud, Lyon, Bedoin & Foret Domaniale de Vantouret, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, La Ciotat, Antibes, Eze, Monte Carlo – Monaco, Menton, Nice, Cassis, and Marseille.
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Fun in the Caribbean sun: Ambergris Caye, Belize
Coffee cup in hand, I step on the patio and take in the view of the emerald ocean. Palm trees sway in the breeze and the sunshine is already abundant even if it’s only 7 am. Normally, I’m not a morning person, but this is a great incentive! Belize knows how to welcome me to my first Caribbean vacation!
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Exploring the Vibrant Life of America’s Deserts in the Spring
Blooms, Birdsong, and Blue Waters—A Springtime Road Trip through the Southwest
By Oana Harrison
PUBLISHED in ROVA Magazine, March/April 2025 issue
The desert: dust, death, and desolation. Or at least that’s how I used to think about it before our springtime road trip to the Southwest. Eight months into a full-time RV year that my husband, David, and I had embarked upon, we headed west through Texas to New Mexico, Arizona, the California coast and back. Along the way, we discovered unique places in the Chihuahua, Sonora, Mojave, and Colorado Deserts. The Southwest offered incredible natural nuances, from shifting sand dunes to endless canyons, to lush oases and blue lakes. This landscape I’d once viewed as dead and quiet, the desert was teeming with life. And nothing prepared me for the intense orange-purple sunsets or the Technicolor desert in bloom.
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