Author Profile: Dan Jahns

Ah, Chania! The sun-drenched gem of Crete, where history whispers through the narrow alleyways and gelato shops beckon at every corner. The Roamers (I am still trying to make that work) embarked on a whirlwind two-day adventure, finding ourselves tucked away in the cozy charm of Hotel Nostos. Nestled in an alleyway of the old Venetian city, this hotel was our perfect hideaway, a starting point for what would become an unforgettable...   view more

After a month enjoying the beaches of Crete we weren't quite ready to say goodbye to Greece, but we were ready to hit the mainland and get stuck into all the ancient history for a few days before our next World School Adventure stop in...   view more

Sarajevo is such an intriguing city to me. On one hand it's a bit shrouded in mystery as much of the eastern block countries are (or were) to a boy from the United States growing up during the cold war*. And on the other hand, my mind is full of positive images from the 1984 Winter Olympics showcasing this amazing city as well as horrific images I saw on television (when I watched - as I was in college and not reading a lot of news) from the war in Bosnia &...   view more

Our entry point to Slovenia was Ljubljana. This is an incredibly enchanting city that I had never heard of before we started researching this trip and certainly didn't know how to pronounce. We spent two days in Ljubljana which, as lovely as it is, was enough to experience the fairytale like Old City and enjoy some of the amazing parks and restaurants outside of the tourist areas. For serious, this place reminds me of Arendelle from...   view more

Vitora-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Autonomous Region in Northern Spain. This city of 250,000 is situated about 40 miles southeast of Bilbao and boasts a vibrant Old Town, some impressive cathedrals and a ton of greenspaces. On our first visit we just sratched the surface, spending some time ambling about the old town and visiting some interesting museums, but we hope to return to explore some of the green spaces that surround the...   view more

With Bilbao only 30 minutes from our home base in Orduna, it was the first of our day trips that we planned. Despite the overcast skies and drizzle, our enthousiasm for this cool city were not dampened (puns intended). We planned a pretty aggressive day trying to fit in art, culture, cuisine and greenspace play into our time in...   view more

I wrote charming because....well....it rhymed. But more than charming I would say Chefchaouen is mesmerizing, or at least the medina or old town is. The entire medina is awash in vibrant blue colors that captures your attention and holds it as you round every corner. Chefchaouen, or Chaouen as most of the locals call it, is a city in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco. It lies about 60 kilometers south of the Tetouan airport. The city's name means "Look at the Horns" referring to the two...   view more

Our first stop on our Search for Dracula" was the mid sized city of Sibiu. Actually, as far as we can tell there is no connection to Vlad III here and the local inhabitants don't seem to be too thrilled with the international ignominy their national hero has developed. But we were pleasantly surpirsed with Sibiu and ended up enjoying two fun days filled with a little history - in the form of a self guided walking tour - and a little exercise - in the form of a leisurely bike ride around our...   view more

We are getting ever closer to finding Dracula! We've made it to Sighisoara (pronounced See-ghee-Swar'ah), the birthplace of old Drac himself. He was born in a house in the citadel (Old Town) in 1431 and lived there with his father, Vlad Dracul until 1935 when they moved to...   view more

We had two stints in Manila. First, when we touched down in the capital city after our Cebu experience for the Christmas holidays and again after we returned from our time up north in Segada. During both stints we got to enjoy time with Francesca's relatives on both sides of the family. We had went to a Christmas party at the beautiful home of Paolo Costanza and counted down the new years with Hector's relatives at the Grand Hyatt...   view more

We had been wanting to visit Guernika, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, ever since we arrived in Spain. However, there were always bigger and more sexy cities drawing our attention like San Sebastian, Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz. But on our second to last day in Spain, when poor weather and poor planning caused us to cancel our plans to visit Santander, we decided to seize the opportunity to finally visit Guernika (the Basque spelling of...   view more

We are falling in love with Spain every day! For one, the Basque Country is absoluely gorgeous. For two, the weather is perfect, especially compared to the extreme heat we endured in both Greece and Bosnia. We love that we can finally wear our fleece jackets and puffy vests. And for three, there is finally a language that isn't totally Greek to us!...   view more