Author: VBlock

Victor Block is an award-winning travel journalist who has traveled around the U.S. and to more than 70 other countries to research stories. He is a guidebook author and his articles have appeared in many magazines and newspapers, and on websites read by frequent travelers and travel agents. Victor is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers, North American Travel Journalists Association and Travel Journalists Guild. When not on the road, he's at home in Washington, D.C., writing about places he has visited.

Following a bountiful breakfast of dim sum, my wife Fyllis and I strolled along lanes lined by shops selling merchandise both familiar and unknown to us. Some stores displayed unrecognizable animal body parts, while others stocked herbal remedies said to heal a hospital full of ills.

Lunch meant a steaming bowl of pasta accompanied by a glass of Chianti wine, and a pause to watch several men competing in a lively game of bocce.

The …

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