By Michael L.Weiss | Besorah from the Journey July 2025 Granada awakens not with the gentle sighs of a sleepy village but with the unmistakable hum of history pressing against its ancient stones. This Andalusian jewel, tucked between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the plains of olive groves, wears its past like a velvet robe—ornate, […]
By Michael L Weiss | Besorah from the Journey After days exploring Spain’s golden heartland, our journey brought us to Granada—a city poised between the folds of the Sierra Nevada and the weight of its own history. Arriving under the blistering Andalusian sun—41 degrees Celsius (106 F) to be precise—we found immediate refuge in the […]
By Michael L. Weiss | Besorah from the Journey There are certain places in the world that demand a kind of reverent silence the moment you arrive. Toledo, Spain — shimmering beneath the Castilian sun like a city forged in myth — should be one of them. But yesterday, beneath a relentless 40°C (104°F) heat […]
By Michael L. Weiss | Besorah from the Journey From the moment we arrived in Madrid, the air was tinged with both elegance and vitality—a city that seems to stretch its arms around you with the stately charm of old Europe and the bold pulse of modern Spain. We chose to stay at the exquisite Mandarin […]
By Michael L. Weiss | Besorah from the Journey Porto is a city that shimmers even in the rain. Perhaps it’s the granite—carved and weathered like an old scholar’s face. Perhaps it’s the azulejos—those iconic blue-and-white tiles that seem to tell entire epics on public walls. Or perhaps it’s simply the people, whose hospitality and […]
By Michael L Weiss | A Besorah from the Journey Sometimes the most meaningful experiences unfold not according to our plans, but by divine choreography. This past Saturday in Porto was one such moment. Our scheduled guide had a family emergency, and in her place arrived someone unexpected—a lawyer turned tour guide, whose English was […]
By Michael L Weiss | Besorah: Good News from the Journey Somewhere between the stony silence of ancient mountains and the murmuring flow of the Douro River, there exists a landscape so heartbreakingly beautiful it seems crafted not by geology, but by poetry. This is the Douro Valley of Portugal—where time slows to the rhythm of the […]
By Michael L Weiss | Besorah: Good News from the Journey Tucked into the terraced hills above Portugal’s Douro River, Six Senses Douro Valley is less a hotel and more a well-choreographed sigh of relief. Once a 19th-century manor house, now a modern-day retreat, the property exudes a quietly confident luxury that makes you want to cancel your return […]
A Hidden Legacy of Faith, Trade, and TragedyBy Michael L Weiss | Besorah: Good News from the Journey In the medieval tapestry of Portuguese history, the Templar knights are most often remembered for their military exploits, architectural grandeur, and secretive rituals. But interwoven with the story of these warrior-monks is a lesser-known but profoundly meaningful thread: the […]
Where Legends Were Built in StoneBy Michael L Weiss | Besorah: Good News from the Journey We often say at Ocean Reef that we are more than a community. We are a family, bound not only by friendship and shared experience. We are also united by the values we hold dear: faith, unity, discovery, community and remembrance. […]