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
Gastronomy Rules in Budapest
By Linda Tancs
Hungary’s official website boasts “a love for life.” Make that food, too–especially during the September Festival, taking place from 3 to 5 September in Budapest’s Bókay Garden. This year’s eleventh running of the event will bring together internationally recognized master chefs, dance groups, Olympic and world champion athletes, politicians from the European Parliament, famous artists and 80,000 or so visitors who will dance, cook and otherwise enjoy themselves. The emphasis, though, is on cooking, as evidenced by the Strudel Festival, Sausage Festival and Pálinka (strong fruit brandy) Festival. In fact, cooking is so much a part of the event that Guinness records are often made or broken. Sought after records this year include a surprise meal in a 4,251-litres kettle and a Somló sponge cake with a diameter of about 3.4 metres. Good luck to all!
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Tipping the Tankard in Belgium
By Linda Tancs
The oft-quoted comment that beer is proof that God loves us is often attributed (erroneously) to U.S. founding father Ben Franklin. Nonetheless, it’s a sentiment heartily espoused in Belgium, particularly during Belgian Beer Weekend on the Grand Place. Taking place from 3 to 5 September, the event features some 240 kinds of Belgian beer. Surely you’ll find something to suit your palate among the pils, amber, white, trappist, abbey, geuze, fruit, strong pale, strong brown, red-brown, regional or assorted sundries. Cheers!
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Feeling Blue Around the World
By Linda Tancs
Feeling blue? In some parts of the world, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That is to say, if you live in a blue zone–areas of the world where the population regularly lives to the ripe old age of 100 or more. Places like Loma Linda, California, Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Sardinia, Italy and Okinawa, Japan. Don’t pack your bags just yet, though. Just being there won’t increase your chances for longevity. You gotta walk the walk, as they say. That means lots of whole grains, veggies, beans and fruits. Maybe Mama was right after all.
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Flying 101
By Linda Tancs
Can you identify the location of a jump seat on aircraft? Did you know that the “black box” is actually orange? These and other curiosities of air travel are demystified courtesy of Kulula Airlines’s Flying 101 aircraft. Talk about truth in labeling! The South African carrier is also celebrating its ninth birthday. If you register for their eBucks program, you might even get to fly for free. That’s right–free. eBucks are earned for doing everyday things like shopping and paying bills with eBucks partners. Earn enough eBucks and redeem them for a flight–or pay part of the balance with a credit card. Ten eBucks equals one Rand. That sounds grand.
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Dublin Gets Nod for Literature
By Linda Tancs
A city like Dublin is defined by its literary giants–writers like James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Butler Yeats and Oscar Wilde. No doubt that’s why UNESCO has seen fit to award the city with the designation City of Literature. One of only four cities in the world so designated, the move might increase tourism to an island hard hit by the worldwide economic meltdown. What better way to celebrate the city’s new moniker than by taking a walking tour of literary Dublin, beginning at the Writer’s Museum at Parnell Square and ending at Trinity College where many of the legends were educated. Just two hours of your time to experience a timeless treasure.
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A Tour for the Millenium
By Linda Tancs
Imagine what a best-selling series of novels set in a popular European city can do for tourism. In Stockholm, they’ve seized the day with the Millenium tour, an offering by the Stockholm City Museum celebrating the late novelist Stieg Larsson’s three Millennium blockbuster bestsellers about journalist Mikael Blomkvist and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. Now through September, the museum is offering a summertime tour around the central island of Södermalm, where the novels’ main characters lived and worked. Starting at Bellmansgatan (nearest Metro: Slussen or Mariatorget), the two-hour tour includes the apartment buildings of the lead characters as well as a view here or there of other views like Stockholm City Hall. Do take some time to tour the museum as well, the city’s cultural history authority housed in a 17th century palace.
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An Island Festival on the Danube
By Linda Tancs
Óbuda Island in Budapest hosts Sziget, an arts and cultural festival taking place this year from 11 to 16 August. The 24/7 festivities include a series of tents producing entertainment of every genre: folk, blues, classical concerts, ballets, operas, motion-and dance theatre and cabaret. Add to that numerous exhibitions, performances, an outdoor museum, puppet theatre and outdoor cinema in the evenings and you have a family friendly event worthy of a visit. There’s even a supervised day care center. Similar to earlier years, a ferry line runs daily both from Buda and Pest during the festival. You can buy tickets with cash only at the ferry station; otherwise, buy them online. Bikers should note that there’s a cycling lane running on the Buda riverbank that leads right up to the festival gate, and they’ll even mind your bike for free.
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A Magic Carpet in Belgium
By Linda Tancs
Every two years in Brussels an array of colorful begonias graces Grand-Place in the form of a giant Flower Carpet. This year marks the fourteenth happening of this horticultural phenomenon, opening this weekend to the public from 13 to 15 August, preceded on 12 August by a fireworks display at 10 p.m. celebrating a day of construction of this floral masterpiece by over 100 volunteers. This year’s arrangement honors the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the EU logo appearing in the carpet’s center. Surrounding that design are locally relevant images like patron Saint Michael slaying the dragon, the region’s emblem of blue and yellow iris and depictions of the city’s striking Gothic architecture. Be sure to view the work from the balcony of the Hotel de Ville between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.
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German Zoo Celebrates 150 Years
By Linda Tancs
Germany’s Cologne Zoo, the country’s third oldest, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. To celebrate this historic event, the zoo will remain open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays throughout August. Other specials include an exhibition of the zoo’s 150 years every first Sunday of the month at 11 a.m. and the chance to experience Nile crocodiles and hippos with the building of the Hippodome to coincide with the anniversary.
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Europe’s Oldest Wooden House Still Thriving
By Linda Tancs
In the small town of Schwyz in central Switzerland stands a sturdy wooden house as old as Notre Dame in Paris. Known as Bethlehem House, it is Europe’s oldest wooden house, a museum whose last occupants left only 30 or so years ago. Circa 1287, the modest dwelling pre-dates the founding of the country by four years. In fact, Switzerland owes its name and coat of arms to this rural town between the Alps in the south and Lake Lucerne in the east. Its Museum of the Swiss Charters recounts the alliance of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, whose inhabitants ultimately drove out the Austrians in 1315 by winning the Battle of Morgarten.
