Kraków, Poland, is a small city. The Old Town — encompassing the town square, the old city walls, the opera house, museums and churches — is less than a square kilometer. The castle, called the Wawel, is a kilometer from the town square. Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, is a 15-minute walk beyond the castle.

Old Town’s town square has a lovely market square built in the Middle Ages. In its center is the Cloth Hall, a long, Renaissance-period building which today houses crafts and...

After reading in ITN (March ’04, pg. 17) only praises about Samir Fayek (cell phone 011 20 12 399 5147 or e-mail samirfayek@hotmail.com), I decided to contact him for my Egypt trip in January-February ’06. I would have some free time in Cairo on two occasions and needed suggestions on where to stay and what to do.

He answered my e-mail right away, and when I got to Cairo he came to see me and we planned a few trips. A great 3-day tour to Luxor was especially well planned. I went by...

CORRECTION — In the February ’07 “The Cruising World” column is a photo captioned “The famous armored cruiser Potemkin, moored at St. Petersburg.”

I’ve visited St. Petersburg twice and have seen the venerable warship moored on the Nevka, near the Peter and Paul Fortress, but the ship’s name is Aurora. I checked the Lonely Planet City Guide “St. Petersburg,” first edition, by Nick Selby, which I took with me on my first trip, and on page 211 it confirms this.

In that same...