Thursday, November 27, 2025
Home AROUND THE WORLD

AROUND THE WORLD

Discover destinations and places that inspire. Flying Baguette takes you to a dreamy travel adventure around the globe.

Istanbul landscape
There is nowhere in the world quite like Istanbul - spread across two continents, a city exuding with culture and contrast and always on the move.   Everyday mostly at six, old wooden carts pass and move along the narrow cobblestoned alleyways hauling merchandise of freshly picked cucumbers, tomatoes, nuts and...
Snow bathing
Sights, sounds, the self and a schloss -l'Invitation au voyage in the snowy Bavarian Alps.   There are elephants in the room. I am of course referring to the ubiquitous and recurring elephant patterns of my bed’s headboard, as well as on the couvre-lit, the couch and cushions in the room...
Viennese cityscape

MY VIENNESE RITUAL

In travel, there is foreignness and familiarity. It's like flipping a coin, you get one or the other. The most fascinating part? The sense of wonder and surprise.   Every so often, when the occasion arises, I would find myself traveling to one of my favorite European cities. I never get...
A Moorish Building in the city
Kuala Lumpur has long been a home to leafy canopies of tropical trees. These days, as skyscrapers dominate its skyline, the drive to reconnect Malaysia’s capital to its green origin is making a comeback.   Kuala Lumpur is going through an identity crisis. For visitors, it is a place that embraces...
The town of Ronda in Spain
From a rocky gorge to Spain’s oldest bullfighting ring, Ronda is not just a place to see monumental architecture but also dreams and dramas.   Through the large glass paneled windows blurred by the cold mist of the Andalusian winter, the clip-clop of well-shod hooves from the carriage horses striking the...
Talking Mouths
If old dogs can learn new tricks, what are the chances of an aging Asian auntie learning to speak a foreign language?   By the time I reached the part where a woman starts to lie about her age, I decided to return to school.  I have moved to Spain with one...
Great mountain views seen from one of the rooms at Miramonte Bad Gastein

THE ALPINE CURE

While the temptation of regenerative treatments flow abundantly in the Austrian Alps, visitors look the other way and seek out a new kind of healing.   At age 68, with a voluminous coif in a shade reminiscent of a melting snow, Ike Ikrath is overflowing with energy. So much so that...
One of the many cozy rooms at Hotel Altstadt Vienna
Vienna was Freud's perfect place for his theories on the human psyche. Austria's pulsating capital can also be every traveler's waking dream and art aficionado's nirvana.   Otto Ernst Wiesenthal does not need a palace. He is happy in his thriving cosmos in Vienna’s 7th district, not far from the former...
A fisherman returning to shore with his catch
Love it or loathe it, Malate is a kind of place that lives up to its legendary reputation and the best way to know it is to embrace it.   Between the patchy phone line and the tropical downpour brought on by an approaching typhoon, I could barely make out what...
A flamenco in Seville

SEVILLA goes to SEVILLA

Seville is a city of story and souls—from its flamencos, architecture, and multi-layered faiths. Dazzling and bewitching come night or day.   He could have been a converso. But he is definitely a gitano. He has the song that echoes of his father's. A primitive cry. A spiritual chant. Yet somewhere along...