Topics

Sep

So Far, So Fab, Sofia!

by Joyce McGreevy on September 6, 2016

Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church is one of the most popular sights in Sofia, Bulgaria. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Russian-inspired and relatively new (1924), Alexander Nevsky Memorial
Church has become the most recognized landmark in Sofia.
© Joyce McGreevy

Wanderlust Leads to Sofia

If you visit Sofia, Bulgaria, prepare for the inevitable response.

“Bulgaria? Bul-GAR-ia? Where IS Bulgaria, exactly?”

The only European country never to change its name, Bulgaria is in the Southeastern European peninsula known as the Balkans.

Balkan means “a chain of wooded mountains,” and Bulgaria epitomizes this. One-third forested and teeming in biodiversity, Bulgaria borders the Black Sea to the east, Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. Read more...

Joyce McGreevy 15 Comments

Art of Travel/Crossing Cultures

Aug

Wordplay: Wit and Wisdom in Public Spaces

by Joyce McGreevy on August 16, 2016

A hair salon in Glasgow, Scotland typifies the wit and wordplay of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Hair-salon puns, like this one in Glasgow, Scotland, are permanent highlights of signage.
© Joyce McGreevy

Reading the Language of Signs Worldwide

Maybe it’s a sign, you think. You mean that literally. It’s Day 1 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and you’re staring at a wall of words that may signify the name of the street. Or a local ordinance. Or the route to Romania.

You know this much: it’s definitely in Cyrillic. Suddenly, you’re back in the pre-literacy of early childhood, experiencing the world as a dense forest of language whose mysteries you’re not yet able to penetrate.

Oh, I see: Signs are an indispensable element of our public spaces. Read more...

Joyce McGreevy 9 Comments

Art of Travel/Wordplay/Worldwide Sites

Jul

Decluttering to Become a Digital Nomad

by Joyce McGreevy on July 5, 2016

A living room filled with banker boxes in the midst of decluttering by an owner who is becoming a digital nomad. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Minimalism and the Art of Travel

It was my travel posters that made me hesitate. For years, I’d decluttered my condo with the passion of Michelangelo releasing sculpture from stone. Then last year, decluttering took on new purpose: I wanted to become a digital nomad.

But those posters anchored me. So I took a break from filling bankers boxes to contemplate the art of travel.

Toddler at Large

Joyce McGreevy, who is now decluttering to become a digital nomad, with Wallace McGreevy on a TWA flight in 1958. Image @ McGreevy Family collection.

Joyce McGreevy 18 Comments

Art of Travel

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