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Dallas Smith's Blog

Revisiting Portugal

The Moors, Cork, Pork, & the Chapel of Bones

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It is a great privilege and blessing to be able to visit Portugal twice within three months, first in December on a Viking River Cruise tour, and second in March on a Go Ahead Travels tour to Spain and Morocco commencing in Lisbon, Portugal...

Xian

Terracotta Warriers

09/27/2024By Dallas Smith0Travel: Xian and the Terracotta Warriers
 This gallery has a blog post attached
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Thousands of terracotta warriors were made and buried over two thousand years ago, but they were only discovered in 1974 when some farmers were digging a well.  They are buried 2-3 meters deep.  They were arranged in a classic large army formation, with the lowest rank soldiers in front, backed by archers and chariots, with the generals in the rear.  This is a unique human creation in the world.

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.

Hiroshima

10/26/2023By Dallas Smith0Travel: Seven Japanese Cities Visited on the Viking Cruise
 This gallery has a blog post attached
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Hiroshima is a beautiful city.  Its present beauty hides the hideous past, in which Hiroshima was the first target of a nuclear weapon.  Its Nuclear Memorial and Museum preserve the disturbing images which every current leader of a nuclear power should be obliged to visit.

A reunion with friends in Kiel, Germany

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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.

Sikkim--India's Buddhist State

March, 2016

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A Brief History of Contemporary Sikkim The history of Sikkim parallels that of Bhutan in many aspects. Like Bhutan, Sikkim was a geographically isolated Buddhist kingdom that was never colonized by the British or any other country. Bhutan has remained an independent country, though it...

Svalbard

June, 2023

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Svalbard is a special Arctic landscape that is attracting many tourists.

Fifth Port of Call: Valparaiso, Chile

February 2022

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Chilean wines of world class quality tend to be less expensive than similar European wines due to Chile’s lower labor costs.