Our first full year spent living out of suitcases with no fixed address proved, in Seneca’s words, that “voyage, travel and change of place impart vigor” – or, at the very least, help keep one mentally and physically limber.
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, otherwise known as “summer camp for baby boomers,’ captured most of our time and affection in 2015. But we also loved our transAtlantic repositioning cruises from Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona and Glasgow to New York (terrific bargains for fellow retirees with more time than money) and summer sojourns in Spain, Portugal, Russia and the Scottish Highlands.
We didn’t achieve last year’s goal of competence en español, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. But with more time in Mexico and Spain on the horizon for 2016, la esperanza es eterna…
Welcoming 2015 from the rooftop of our rental casa in San Miguel de Allende
In San Miguel, Three Kings Day, or Reyes Magos, is celebrated on Jan. 6 with a kids’ gift giveaway in the Jardin
The 18th century Sanctuary of Atontonilco, a few miles from San Miguel, is another Unesco World Heritage site
An angelic little girl prepares for a Semana Santa (Holy
Week) parade at San Miguel’s San Juan de Dios church
A Semana Santa procession of women dressed in black lace winds through central San Miguel de Allende
A detail from an angel costume during Semana Santa (Holy Week) in San Miguel
In March, we visited a Monarch sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico
Our annual visit to Washington, D.C. coincided with a riot of forsythia blooms at Dumbarton Oaks park
The past lives on in Miami’s Little Havana, which I visited before our April transAtlantic cruise
First stop on our transAtlantic repositioning cruise was the lovely port of Ponta Delgada in the Azores, a Portuguese island chain
Setting sail from Ponta Delgada. Next stop: Spain
A view of our ship, the Celebrity Equinox, from the harbor in Malaga, Spain
Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia reflects architect Antoni Gaudi’s exuberant romanticism
The reflection of a swallow on a museum in the heart of medieval Toledo, Spain
Our stay in Barcelona included a side trip to the wondrous Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres
Our May weekend in Girona, Spain coincided with the annual Temps de Flor (flower festival)
In late May, the harbor in Cadaques, Spain was blissfully uncrowded
San Sebastian, Spain is a foodie’s heaven, famous for speared tapas called pintxos
Sunset along the waterfront in San Sebastian
We spent seven weeks studying Spanish in Salamanca, viewed from a Roman bridge dating from the first century
Cafe culture is strong in Salamanca, home to one of the oldest universities in Spain
Salamanca’s gorgeous Plaza Mayor, one of the largest squares in Europe. Every night just after sunset, the lights came on to a chorus of oohs and ahhs
We loved our short stay in Aveiro, an off-the-tourist-radar town between Lisbon and Portugal
A lighthouse in Aveiro – one of our favorite destinations in 2015
A local pooch enjoys the sunset (and contemplates his next ride?) in Aveiro
The center of Porto is a Unesco World Heritage site – wish we’d gotten a chance to explore it by bike
Porto is famous for its port wine, which was transported up the Duoro River on boats like this one
Serralves, a contemporary art museum in Porto, offers special night tours of its expansive gardens
Tour boats wind through the canals of St. Petersburg, first stop on our Viking Waterways of the Tsars cruise to Moscow
High hopes and broken champagne glasses mark a wedding in St. Petersburg
A high point of our Viking cruise in August was a visit to St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum
I loved this souvenir seller in Uglich, Russia, a stop on our Viking cruise between St. Petersburg and Moscow
These boats on Kizhi Island, Russia reminded me of my childhood in Madison, Wis.
Our Waterways of the Tsars cruise took us to Kizhi Island, where the Transfiguration Church was straight out of a fairytale
One of Russia’s iconic Orthodox church onion domes
Our three-week stay in the Scottish Highland started at Dunnotar, on the North Sea coast near Aberdeen
Great timing: a falconry demonstration at Dunrobin Castle included an appearance by this beauty
The view from our home for a week on Scotland’s Isle of Skye
An unusually calm day on Staffa, an island in Scotland’s Southern Hebrides
A meeting of the minds at our B&B in Onich, Scotland
Getting up close and personal with a cheeky Highland cow on the Isle of Mull
The perfect vantage point for admiring Scotland’s Loch Linnhe, near Glencoe
Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh
Nothing says Scotland like a red-bearded bagpiper – including this one at Edinburgh’s Riding of the Marches
Our ship the Regal Princess makes a pre-dawn arrival into New York City
Evening rush hour in front of our door in San Miguel
In San Miguel, nightly posadas evoke Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter
A young Joseph readies for a posada procession in front of San Miguel’s Parroquia
We rang out 2015 at a concert in San Miguel’s Jardin
Last trip of the year: a getaway to the former mining town of Mineral de Pozos, about an hour’s drive from San Miguel
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