Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for February, 2018
A Community Under the Sea
By Linda Tancs
Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument includes federal submerged lands off the island of St. John supporting a diverse and complex system of coral reefs and other ecosystems such as shoreline mangrove forests and seagrass beds. In fact, an area within the monument known as Hurricane Hole includes some of the least disturbed mangrove ecosystems remaining in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mangroves act as nurseries for grunts and other fish like queen angelfish and gray snappers. St. John is accessible via ferry service from St. Thomas. Once on St. John, the only part of the monument accessible by land is in Hurricane Hole. To get there, follow route 10 from Cruz Bay to Estate Hermitage. The majority of the monument extends eastward from Borck Creek to Haulover Bay along the southern shoreline of the island.
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Valley of the Temples
By Linda Tancs
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Valley of the Temples is a testament to Magna Graecia (Great Greece) in Agrigento, Sicily. It boasts remarkable temple ruins dedicated to the gods and built by the rulers of Akragas (now Agrigento), one of the largest Greek cities on the Mediterranean in the sixth century B.C. Now in ruins, the colossal Temple to Zeus was one of the biggest Greek temples in antiquity. The oldest temple is Hercules, but the best preserved is Concordia. Most city buses leave from Piazzale Rosselli and ride by the site.
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History, Horses and Hospitality
By Linda Tancs
Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, Tennessee, is the land of history, horses and hospitality. Historically, native tribes used the woodlands and meadows as a place to hunt wild game, carving a trail over time that was eventually known as the old Natchez road by European settlers. John Harding, a skilled farmer and businessman, purchased some of those hunting grounds in 1806 for farming and thoroughbred breeding, calling the property Belle Meade (beautiful meadow). Harding expanded the family home in 1853, introducing the Greek Revival style mansion seen today. In its heyday, the old Southern plantation was a popular destination for luminaries like President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Robert Todd Lincoln, General U.S. Grant, General William T. Sherman and Adlai E. Stevenson. Belle Meade Plantation is open daily, with mansion tours starting every 30 to 45 minutes.
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Skiing in Paradise
By Linda Tancs
Contiguous with Vanoise National Park in France, Italy’s Gran Paradiso National Park joins with it to form the largest protected area in Europe. The first national park in Italy, it’s located in the Graian Alps, between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions. Gran Paradiso is a mountain located entirely within Italy, its highest at over 13,000 feet. Leave behind the hustle and bustle of slopes in France and Switzerland. The quieter pistes south of the Mont Blanc Massif offer charming alpine huts and traditional Italian hospitality.
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French Wildlife in Savoie
By Linda Tancs
Vanoise National Park in southeastern France is the country’s oldest national park. Occupying over 130,000 acres, it stretches to the Italian border and is contiguous with the Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy. Originally founded in 1963 for the protection of the Alpine ibex (a wild goat that suffered greatly from hunting beginning in the 16th century), conservation efforts have proved fruitful. About 2,000 ibex reside in the park, the largest national population. Other animals found there include 5,500 chamois as well as marmots, foxes, golden eagles, black grouse and perhaps rarest of all, the three-toed woodpecker, which purportedly has only ever been seen in Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
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Bells and Minarets
By Linda Tancs
Situated in the heart of Seville, Spain, the Gothic Santa María Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Spain. There you’ll find the city’s emblematic Giralda, a bell tower converted from a minaret, one of many signs of the city’s rich Moorish heritage. A walk up the tower will reward you with outstanding views of the city and the Guadalquivir River. Often imitated but never rivaled, the tower has formed the basis for designs in Miami, Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri.
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