Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Author Archive
A Sea Arch in Iceland
By Linda Tancs
Of the many rock formations in western Iceland, Gatklettur (Hellnar Arch) is arguably the most popular. Located in the heart of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, you’ll get there by walking a coastal path between the villages of Arnarstapi and Hellnar. The peninsula is one of the most beautiful regions in the country and is often referred to as “Iceland in Miniature” because of its diverse geological features and wildlife. It’s best to get there via a tour from Reykjavik or rent a car; there is no public transportation within the region.
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Boulder Chic in Portugal
By Linda Tancs
From Manueline style to baroque to azulejos, Portuguese architectural styles are recognizable by visitors worldwide. And then there’s boulder chic, as one might call it, in the village of Monsanto, Portugal. Giant boulders carpet the entire hamlet, which is replete with red-roofed granite houses. Homes there are sandwiched between, on and underneath goliath boulders, a situation attributable to the town’s location atop a rock mass outcrop. Therefore, the walks are steep but the unusual sights are worth a trip. Take a bus from Lisbon or Porto.
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Seoul Music
By Linda Tancs
Divided into an upper and lower level, the Hyundai Card Music Library in Seoul, Korea, boasts an enviable collection of records from Korean hip-hop to Western classics along with music-related books and magazines. The record exhibition on the lower level includes a rare vinyl collection that features The Beatles’ 1966 controversial cover of Yesterday and Today and one of the nine existing albums of the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen. Upstairs you’ll find over 3,000 music-related books as well as every single issue of Rolling Stone ever published. Hyundai credit card holders get special benefits, like live performances in an underground concert hall.
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The Center of Portugal
By Linda Tancs
Portugal’s first natural park, Serra da Estrela Natural Park is literally at the center of it all. Over 200,000 acres, it’s the largest protected area in the country. The landscape is characterized by rocky outcrops, boulders and crags, a terrain prized by hikers who are spoiled for choice with over 40 trails. The locale is also where you’ll find Queijo Serra da Estrela, a cheese made in this mountainous region for centuries from sheep that graze in the meadows blanketed by buttercups this time of year.
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New Mexico’s Most Visited Museum
By Linda Tancs
Just minutes away from Albuquerque’s Old Town Plaza, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has an exciting new addition to its dinosaur collection, Tyrannosaurus mcraensis. Unearthed in western New Mexico, the predator is older and more primitive than its better-known cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. Another dinosaur with deep ties to the state, Alamosaurus, is on display in Cretaceous Hall. You’ll find many more dinosaur specimens at the venue, billed as the state’s most visited museum. Its Triassic Hall, exploring the era of the early dinosaurs, is the only one of its kind in North America.
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Switzerland of the Arctic
By Linda Tancs
Just 31 miles south of the Arctic Circle lies the Inuit hamlet of Pangnirtung on Baffin Island in Canada. Known commonly as Pang, its towering peaks (the highest in the Canadian Shield) and glaciers give it the nickname “Switzerland of the Arctic.” It’s conveniently located near Auyuittuq National Park, which offers hiking, camping and climbing in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. In Pang, visitors enjoy a range of activities like igloo camping, dog sledding and snow mobile riding. In August the average temperature is 37 F. Warm up at the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts, where traditional Inuit arts and crafts are displayed, particularly woven tapestries, lithographic prints and the popular, crocheted winter hat called the “Pang Hat.”
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Older Than Yellowstone
By Linda Tancs
Brazil’s Tijuca National Park in Rio is older than Yellowstone, which was established in 1872. It’s a bragging point, of course, as is the fact that it’s one of the largest urban forests in the world. Part of the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Preserve, it should come as no surprise that it’s a haven for more than 1,600 plant species and more than 300 different species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. Covering more than 9,600 acres, it’s divided into three sectors: Forest, the Carioca Range and Pedra Bonita/Pedra da Gávea. Hiking trails abound in the forest sector; the more adventurous will find activities like rock climbing and hang gliding at Pedra Bonita and Gávea. Carioca is home to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, the only part of the park requiring an entrance fee.
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The Library of Mistakes
By Linda Tancs
Make no mistake about it: The Library of Mistakes highlights financial mistakes of the past in an attempt to avoid their repetition in the future. Located in Edinburgh, Scotland, the facility is a free-to-use public library dedicated to the study of financial history. In addition to their vast collection of books, the library offers online and in-person courses to help financial professionals perform a better service for their clients and to educate the general public.
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The Mother Spring in Colorado
By Linda Tancs
Certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s deepest geothermal hot spring aquifer, the Mother Spring in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, is indeed the mother of all springs. It isn’t a site for soaking or bathing, considering that its depth is at least 1,002 feet (based on at least one instrument of measure) although no one has been able to get to the bottom of it (no pun intended). It acts as a feeder spring for other popular sites in the region, like Springs Resort and Spa (home to the most geothermal hot spring pools in Colorado) as well as several free “hippy dip” springs along the San Juan River.
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A Presidential Church in Rhode Island
By Linda Tancs
St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church is the first Catholic church in Rhode Island, but it’s perhaps better known as the venue where Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was married to then-Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy (later the 35th president of the United States). The Newport church is now open to the public Monday through Friday, year-round, in addition to regularly scheduled Mass times. Tourists flock there to see the site of the famous wedding along with the kneelers used during their nuptials. When in town, the couple sat in pew #10. Arguably one of the most stunning churches in New England, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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