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Dallas Smith's Blog

Karnak Temple

Luxor, Egypt, April, 2022 World Cruise

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Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, is the second most visited Egyptian tourist site after the pyramids. Karnak is said to be the largest walled temple complex in the world, built, decorated, and modified by over thirty different pharaohs over a period starting around 2000 BC for the next 1300 years.

Xue--Vietnam's Historic Capital City

Visiting a Buddhist Pagoda and the Imperial Palace

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The city of Hue is located approximately in the middle of Vietnam and was the seat of royal power from the 19th and into the 20th centuries.  There were thirteen kings who reigned from Hue.  Many of the ancient structures were destroyed during the Vietnam-American War, which have since been restored.  The photos show scenes from the Imperial Palace as well as the three hundred-year-old Buddhist pagoda.

Switzerland: the Manicured Wonderland

April, 2018

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I had visited Switzerland only once before in 1973, driving my VW van with my parents, when they came to Europe to persuade me to come back to the US after I had stayed out of the country for three years. By that time. . . 

Greece

May, 2022

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The Greeks affected the whole world with their ideas, foremost among them the concept of democratic rule.  Greece gave rise to philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  Greek architecture was adopted first by the Romans, but later around the world, including the columns seen in US government buildings in Washington DC.  The Greek language gave rise to words in science, religion, and history that have been adopted by other countries’ languages around the world. 

From Portugal to Spain and Back...

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Writing this blog on the return flight from Spain to the US, my challenge in writing is to choose which aspects of the trip to highlight. There are more stories than I have the time or space to relate at length. Thus, my brief listing . . .

Shimizu

Viewing Mount Fuji

10/26/2023By Dallas Smith0Travel: Seven Japanese Cities Visited on the Viking Cruise
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Mount Fuji was an impressive site as our ship approached the Shimizu harbor.  Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain, an active volcano in a perfect conical form.

Images from Yemen

March, 2019

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Here are some photos I took at the Yemeni Museum in my recent visit to Rehovot, Israel. I was lucky enough to have a guided museum tour conducted by an Israeli man of Yemeni extraction. Jews from Yemen started to immigrate to Israel as early[…]

Report from Jordan and Israel

February, 2019

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This blog describes a visit to ancient Petra and a conference of Middle East Nurses United in Human Caring.