Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for international travel
Jerusalem on Ice
By Linda Tancs
Jerusalem is celebrating its first ever ice festival from 6 March to 30 April at the Old Railway Station. There you’ll enjoy sculptures of many of the city’s tourist sites, such as Jaffa Gate, the Tower of David, the Israel Museum, and the new Jerusalem Light Rail. A family friendly event, the festival includes an ice skating rink. Adults can enjoy a drink at the ice bar. If you’re wondering how an event such as this fares well in the glorious Mediterranean sun, worry not. The area is artificially cooled to about -10 degrees Celsius!
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Netherlands’ Theatre of Nature
By Linda Tancs
Today marks the start of Floriade, a world horticultural exposition that is held in the Netherlands once roughly every 10 years. So you know that something that long in the making has to be really special. Consider the last Floriade in 2002, featuring a floating roof made out of 19,000 solar panels and Spotter’s Hill, a 30-metre-high pyramid. This year’s event, running through 7 October, features 163 acres of park and 98 acres of showgrounds covering five distinct theme worlds: Relax & Heal, Green Engine, Education & Innovation, Environment, and World Show Stage. As you might suspect, the exhibitions are aimed at explaining how flowers, plants, trees, vegetables and fruit impact your daily life. For the first time ever, the event will take place outside the Randstad, in Venlo. On the border between the Netherlands and Germany, the region is one of the largest horticultural areas in Europe.
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Heavenly Bliss in Singapore
By Linda Tancs
Thian Hock Keng (Temple of Heavenly Bliss) is one of the oldest and most important temples in Singapore. A few things make this place of worship unique. First, it stands at the location of Singapore’s waterfront before reclamation. Also, its construction represents an international venture of sorts, with ironwork and tiles from the British Isles and granite from China, among other contributions. A national monument, this amazing structure was built in traditional southern Chinese architectural style, without nails.
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600 Years in the Making
By Linda Tancs
Golf is a 600-year-old sport. Hard to believe that it’s taken that long to get a golf festival going where it all began. The St Andrews Golf Festival is the first-ever celebration of golf at its birthplace in St Andrews, Scotland. Today through 1 April, the free calendar of events includes the Seve exhibition at The Scores Hotel, an exclusive talk by Mungo Park (grandson of the first winner of the Open Championship in 1860), the Bobby Jones exhibition and golf correspondent Lewine Mair’s talk on the history of women’s golf.
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The Real Deal in Chelsea
By Linda Tancs
Now the oldest antiques fair in Britain, London’s Chelsea Antiques Fair wants visitors to be assured of high standards. They secure outside experts to check the veracity of labels as well as the quality and authenticity of the pieces on show. So you rest assured that those new 17th century entrants this year are the real deal. Other selections include fine Victorian and 19th Century European oil paintings, British and Continental porcelain, Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass, antique books, prints and maps, and a smattering of the interesting and unusual. If you can’t manage it all from 21 -25 March, then come back in September. The event is at Old Town Hall on Kings Road. Admission is only £5; that leaves room for spending.
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Art Fair Celebrates Quarter Century
By Linda Tancs
The world’s leading art and antiques fair is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year at the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Center in the Netherlands. Taking place from 16-25 March this year, the event features elegantly displayed genuine masterpieces offered by more than 260 of the world’s most prestigious art and antiques dealers from 18 countries. To celebrate its silver anniversary, two unique contributions this year are (1) an exhibition of master drawings by some of the greatest artists in history, including da Vinci, Guercino, Rembrandt and Rubens, and (2) the first-ever BMW Art Car. This is one jubilee you won’t want to miss.
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Dubai is Obvious Choice for Boat Show
By Linda Tancs
Named after its home port, the 531-foot mega yacht Dubai is the largest private yacht in the world, owned and presumably enjoyed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai. You might catch a glimpse of it at the Dubai International Boat Show, taking place now through 17 March. Now in its 20th year, the event at the Marine Club promises more than 100 new exhibitors from over 24 countries. Austria, Egypt, Hong Kong, Madagascar, Tunisia and Poland will be making debuts along with North Africa’s leading shipyard, Koot Yachts. The show is open from 3 to 9:30 p.m.
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Brazil’s Polynesia
By Linda Tancs
Ilhabela means “beautiful island” in Portuguese. Discovered in 1502 by Américo Vespucio, this archipelago and city situated four miles off the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil is unique for its pristine beaches and untouched rainforest. It also reputedly has the best shrimp in the country. Best of all, with an average annual temperature in the 70s (fahrenheit), it’s the perfect vacation destination year-round. To get there from São Paulo, it’s approximately three hours by car to São Sebastião and then a 15-20 minute ferry ride to Barra Velha on the island.
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Nordic World Cup
By Linda Tancs
Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic is an annual ski event since 1892 in Norway. Taking place in beautiful Holmenkollen, the event attracts tens of thousands of ski enthusiasts eager to cheer on their favorites in ski jumping and cross-country. The event takes place between 9 and 11 March this year, culminating on “Holmenkollen Sunday” with the men’s competitions. The Holmenkollen ski jump is a landmark in the Western Aker borough of Oslo.
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More Brightness in the City of Light
By Linda Tancs
The Luxor Obelisk in Paris would be hard to miss at 230 tons and 75 feet in height at the center of the Place de la Concorde. With new lighting, though, it’s even more visible at night. The pink granite monolith was given to the French in 1829 by the viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali and is decorated with hieroglyphics portraying the reigns of the pharaohs Ramses II and Ramses III. What’s your favorite landmark in Paris?
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