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I’ve long felt that taxis are underrated, scenic time savers that can zip you effortlessly from one sight to the next — except during rush-hour traffic, when they’re stuck like everyone else.

NAPA, California You love your dog. You love wine. Lucky for you and Fido, there are a number of Napa Valley wineries where you don’t have to choose between the two.

When I need a break from dimly lit cathedrals and musty museums, I connect with European culture by watching local sports. I get double the pleasure when I join in — and the great news is, you don’t need to be an athlete.

EL ACEBO, Spain About three hours into the day’s hike, having just cleared the highest mountain point of the Camino de Santiago, I looked down into the valleys pockmarked with yellow and purple spring blossoms, and froze.

The English countryside is studded with all manner of manors, castles and palaces. Many of these stately homes, as the English call them, were built in Victorian times by ridiculously rich aristocrats.

In 1952, when Charlie Chaplin and his family were mid-Atlantic, en route to England for his movie première of Limelight, his U.S. visa was suddenly revoked.

RIO DE JANEIRO With the Olympics just a few weeks away, Brazil faces a litany of problems: an economy in freefall, the Zika virus and a political crisis with an impeached president.

Europe is rich in history, but the splendid castles, antique churches and age-old ruins tell only part of the story. To dig deeper in time, visit a cave.

It’s been called the American Riviera — a marriage of jagged rocks and pounding surf, where sheltered coves hug the coastline and wildflowers and vineyards carpet the valley floor.

River cruising is all the rage in Europe these days. It is, in fact, one of the fastest-growing segments of the entire travel industry.