Bo Smolka is an award-winning writer specializing in travel, sports and personal essays. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune and other national publications. Here are a few samples of his travel writing and essays. For more, click on the "Articles" tab in the drop-down menu above.
West With the Night
The big Amtrak locomotive screeched and slowed to a stop in the middle of nowhere. On a gray exterior wall along state Route 42, a painting featured an outline of Montana with a bull’s-eye placed at this ranching town of 3,200: “The Middle of Nowhere,” it proudly proclaimed, “Glasgow, Montana.” Glasgow, it turns out, … Read More ...
Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!
The weathered docks, the faded wharf signage, the pleasure boats bobbing in the harbor tell the story: Baltimore has always had a strong connection to water. With its access to the Patapsco River, and by extension, the Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore emerged as a port city in the 1700s. Traders used the port to move flour, Read More ...
In Siena, Palio race is one wild ride
There is horse racing, and then there is the Palio, the no-holds-barred, bareback mad dash that takes place twice a year and defines the town of Siena, Italy. As I stand with thousands of others in Siena’s magnificent main square watching all the tradition and pageantry, I find myself wishing Baltimore had its own Palio… Read More ...
Tears of Grief, Tears of Joy
As soon as I heard the piercing scream, I knew everything would be fine. As soon as I heard Katie’s shrill cry, her vocal protest at being pulled from the dark warmth of the womb to the bright, chilly operating room, I knew everything would be wonderfully, gloriously fine. It wasn’t this way last time. Read More ...
Bo Smolka has been an award-winning writer and editor for more than 20 years specializing in sports and travel. He won a gold medal in the 2023 Solas Awards for travel writing and is a past winner of the National Story of the Year in the annual writing contest sponsored by the College Sports Information Directors of America. For the past 12 years, he has covered the Baltimore Ravens, first for Comcast SportsNet and since 2017 for