One heavy step, then another. Straps across their chests, they pull. It’s Russia, 1869. In Repin’s Barge Haulers on the Volga, you can feel the heat and the workers’ exhaustion. If you look closely, you’ll notice a steamship on the horizon; this back-breaking labour is no longer necessary. Like Dickens […]
The 2019 Travel Pursuits season opens with one of our most popular trips, Mystery and Manners: Flannery O’Connor in Savannah. Mystery and manners—that’s a funny kind of name for a trip, you may be thinking. Maybe you’re envisioning genteel lady detectives, or lighthearted satire set in elegant Southern drawing rooms. […]
For those of you who, like me, read everything on Vincent van Gogh you can get your hands and eyes on, there are several recent works you may enjoy, from books to films to art exhibits. First is Bernadette Murphy’s 2016 work Van Gogh’s Ear. Scrupulous as to details, research […]
[Editor’s note: This is the second in a series on the role food has played on Classical Pursuits trips as we remember the formidable, exuberant Anthony Bourdain. Enjoy!] By Ann Kirkland Unlike so many, I came late to the charms of Anthony Bourdain. It was when I heard he would […]
[Editor’s note: This is first in a series on the role food has played on Classical Pursuits trips as we remember the formidable, exuberant Anthony Bourdain. Enjoy!] By Nella Cotrupi Often, it is the most modest of food that creates the ambience for friendships to bloom and take root. During […]
What happens when you love a city but it doesn’t love you back? Local writers had gathered in San Francisco’s Make-Out Room, with its Saturday-Night-Fever-meets-natural-history-museum vibe, to read their stories about a city that, by many accounts, was losing its unique spirit. San Francisco has attracted adventurers, eccentrics, and strivers […]
Adjacent to Kraków sits Nowa Huta, an in-your-face proletarian antithesis to the medieval and Renaissance architecture found in Poland’s hub of intellectual and artistic expression. Begun in 1947, and funded by the Soviet Union, Nowa Huta is considered one of the finest examples of deliberate social engineering in the world. […]
“Knock, knock.” “Come on in. The door’s open.” That’s the kind of open-armed reception you receive in Newfoundland, where we will be returning this August on the Travel Pursuit In Search of the Newfoundland Soul. As before, we will split our time between St. John’s and the Eastport […]
[Editor’s note: Our first Naples departure is full! To reserve a place on our second departure, please call our travel partner Worldwide Quest at 1-800-387-1483. We hope you will join leader Nella Cotrupi on this unique literary adventure.] Buon giorno, I recently learned that Francesca Siniscalchi, who has established a […]
Bay Area book lovers are invited to join us at the Classical Pursuits open house at Laurel Bookstore in downtown Oakland, California. Drop in to chat with other travelers, grab some snacks, enter our raffle to win excellent books, and learn what Classical Pursuits has in store for our 2017 […]