Both Spain and Mexico are known for their rich ceramics tradition stretching back centuries (that of the latter dating back to the Aztecs, Mayans, Olmecs, and other Amerindian civilizations, and on the Iberian peninsula at least to the pre-Roman-Empire Celto-Iberians). But when it comes to "brand names,"…

When I read not long ago that Peru‘s legendary Andean site Machu Picchu had made the top of TripAdvisor‘s annual “Traveler’s Choice” list of most prominent world landmarks, I certainly wasn’t surprised (though admittedly, the list was more than a little weird in some ways – number two was some mosque in Abu Dhabi, while the Parthenon and the Pyramid of Giza didn’t even crack the top ten).…

The many-centuries-long saga of the Sephardim, the Jews of Sepharad (as they called the Iberian Peninsula) reaches back to Roman Hispania (and there are suggestions there might have been trade links dating back…