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Lesley Peterson is a Toronto-based blogger tripping on travel, art, culture, museums, cities and legendary landscapes. Catch her on Twitter as @culturetripper or contact her at lesley@culturetripper.com. All content by Lesley Peterson copyright © 2009 - Until the Present. All photos by Lesley Peterson except where other credit noted.
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The fourth best beach in the world
Six of us got off the plane at the tiny airport in Cayo Largo del Sur, Cuba. It had taken two days to get there. Cubana Airlines scheduling problems delayed us overnight in Cayo Coco—hauling luggage and fighting for a place in the buffet line at a massive busy resort. Thirty minutes in the air […]
15.05.2017 · Filled under: Cuba, Destination Guides, Legendary Landscapes · Tags: Beaches, Cuba, FUN, water
Island-hopping in the Atlantic with Azores Airlines
Black volcanic cliffs shrouded in mist, fantastical ferns and flowers that look like props from an episode of Star Trek. I’ve just returned from a big adventure, island-hopping in the Atlantic Ocean with Azores Airlines (SATA). The two-island 12-day package took us on a voyage of discovery to a part of the planet we’d never […]
28.12.2015 · Filled under: Destination Guides, Europe, Legendary Landscapes · Tags: Beaches, Gardens, water
Travel Cuba: exploring Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream
You never know what you’ll get when you call for a cab in Cuba. The 1958 Oldsmobile that lurched up to our hotel in Cayo Coco was an icon of mid-century design. Its rocket hood ornament, flight-ready fins, chrome starburst accents and windows rounded like stratospheric clouds hinted at jet-age dreams of exploration. Wafting Cuban […]
08.02.2015 · Filled under: Cuba, Destination Guides, Legendary Landscapes · Tags: Beaches, Books, Cuba, hemingway
1920s Atlantic City: the real ‘Boardwalk Empire’
If you’re a fan of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, you’ll know that the character of Nucky Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi, is loosely based on real-life Atlantic City kingpin Enoch ‘Nucky’ Johnson. Treasurer of Atlantic County during Prohibition era, the real Nucky’s empire flourished in the racy, roaring 1920s. On my last visit to Atlantic […]
27.08.2014 · Filled under: Destination Guides, Food, Legendary Landscapes, United States · Tags: Beaches, film, HISTORY
Grenada’s spice necklace
I was lying on a beach in Grenada when I suddenly smelled Christmas. I opened my eyes to see a young man with dreadlocks and an armload of spice necklaces. “Welcome to Grenada,” he grinned. “My name is Terry.” Grenada’s beach vendors are the most polite in the world as well as determined business […]
Postcards from Grenada
Greetings from Grenada, an island with natural beauty so seductive that–other than a wild ride up the coastal mountains to Gouyave for Friday Night Fish Fry–I’ve spent all my time on the beach. Along the beach, an array of sunbathers that tickle me as resembling a gallery of Henry Moore’s monumental reclining women and modern […]
Greek culture & sponge fishing in Tarpon Springs, Florida
George Billiris oversees his sponge empire from a modest clapboard office on the sponge docks of Tarpon Springs, Florida. He’s also a repository of local history, a past and present that includes links to the legendary sponge divers of Greece. The finest sponges in the world grow in the nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf of […]
Art glass inspired by nature in St. Petersburg, Florida
Fluid and luminous, art glass seems naturally inspired by ocean waves, sunsets and seashells. St. Petersburg, Florida, is a hotbed of hot glass. Its growing community of glass artists and glass blowing studios offers many opportunities to explore this magical art form. And much of the work is inspired by the area’s natural beauty. […]
16.02.2013 · Filled under: Art, Destination Guides, Florida, United States · Tags: Artists, Beaches, Florida, GLASS
Free Hawaiian culture classes and concerts in Waikiki, Honolulu
Glamorous Waikiki Beach was once the retreat of Hawaiian royalty. Here at Helumoa, a royal grove of coconut palms, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884) wrote a codicil to her will establishing Kamehameha Schools dedicated to educating children of Hawaiian descent. Today the Royal Grove is a garden at the heart of the Royal Hawaiian shopping center, the […]
The delight of Miami’s Art Deco architecture
Surrounded by curving white lines, steel balustrades and porthole-shaped windows, I could easily imagine I’m aboard an ocean liner steaming out to sea. After all, I’m in Miami, the world’s largest cruise port. Instead, I’m on the roof-top Spire Bar of The Hotel of South Beach surrounded by the best in Tropical Art Deco. With […]
01.10.2012 · Filled under: Architecture, Festivals & Events, Florida, United States · Tags: Beaches, CITIES, Florida, HISTORY