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
A Taste of Sweden in Kansas
By Linda Tancs
Dubbed “Little Sweden,” Lindsborg, Kansas, is a small town with a Scandinavian flair abounding in Swedish food, festivals, crafts and traditions. Retaining a strong immigrant population, it was originally settled in the spring of 1869 by a group of Swedish immigrants from the Värmland province led by Pastor Olof Olsson. Highlights include the Välkommen (Welcome) Trail, a 3.25-mile, all-weather bicycle and pedestrian trail created from the abandoned Missouri-Pacific and Union Pacific rail beds. You can also take a self-guided tour of the historic properties in the city, featuring Italianate, Neoclassical and Queen Anne architectural styles. And you can’t help but notice the colorful Dala horses all around town. Emblematic of the city, the Dala horse is a traditional carved, painted wooden statue of a horse originating in the Swedish province of Dalarna.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer.
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Capitals of Culture in 2024
By Linda Tancs
In keeping with tradition, we begin the New Year with an announcement on the European Capitals of Culture for 2024: Bodø (in Norway), Bad Ischl (in Austria) and Tartu (in Estonia). Bodø has the distinction of being the first city located north of the Arctic Circle to hold the title. In February, a spectacular opening show in Bodø harbor will kick off the year’s events. Bad Ischl is in the Salzkammergut region of Austria, the first time this inner-Alpine area has held the title. “Arts of Survival” is the theme for Tartu’s banner year, the four pillars of which will be uniqueness, sustainability, awareness and co-creation.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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A Salty Spot in Africa
By Linda Tancs
Even saltier than the Dead Sea, Lake Assal is a crater lake surrounded by dormant volcanoes in Djibouti. Africa’s lowest elevation on land, it sits at 509 feet below sea level. Not surprisingly, salt extraction is a major industry. So is tourism. Besides the salty lake and volcanic fields, other attractions include its sandy beaches along the Red Sea and popular dive sites.
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Burning the Clocks in Brighton
By Linda Tancs
Today marks the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest night of the year. To brighten it up a bit, head to Brighton, England’s famed seaside resort, where a carnival-like atmosphere presides on this night every year. The event is known as Burning the Clocks, a family-friendly festival featuring the parading of handmade lanterns through the city to the beach where the event concludes with a massive bonfire and fireworks. The fun begins at The Royal Pavilion, just a few minutes’ walk from the seafront.
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Night of the Radishes
By Linda Tancs
If food art inspires you, then you won’t want to miss the annual event in Oaxaca, Mexico, this month. Every December 23, the locals celebrate the Night of the Radishes (La Noche de Rábanos) with an eye-catching display of sculpted radishes featuring everything from saints to cemeteries. But don’t try this at home; the radishes used for the festival are grown in a restricted field and can weigh as much as 7 pounds! Carvers aren’t just in it for the art; the competition for cash prizes is fierce. The festival is complemented by music, fireworks and Christmas market stalls.
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The Gold of Varna
By Linda Tancs
Popularly referred to as the “sea capital of Bulgaria,” Varna is a port city and seaside resort on Bulgaria’s Black Sea. Its seaside resorts and beaches beckon holiday travelers, but its biggest claim to fame is the discovery of the oldest gold known to mankind. Buried more than 6,500 years ago, it was discovered accidentally over 50 years ago by an excavator at the city’s necropolis. So far, around 3,000 gold artifacts have been discovered. You can see many of them at the Varna Archaeological Museum as well as the National Historical Museum in Sofia.
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A Unique Treasure in Stockholm
By Linda Tancs
Located on the island of Djurgården, the Vasa Museum is a maritime museum in Stockholm, Sweden. One of the most-visited museums in Scandinavia, it displays the only 17th-century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. Decorated with hundreds of carved sculptures, more than 98 percent of the ship is original. A film about the ship is offered in several languages as is an audio guide.
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The Woman’s Bridge
By Linda Tancs
The neighborhood of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is built on reclaimed land and sits adjacent to the river. A must-see in the area is Woman’s Bridge (Puente de la Mujer). The graceful bridge over Rio de la Plata represents the image of a couple dancing the tango. The white mast symbolizes the man and the curved silhouette of the bridge, the woman. More than just aesthetics, the bridge has one of the largest turning mechanisms in the world, engineered with a rotating central section that opens and allows the passage of boats. The homage to women doesn’t stop with the bridge; every street in Puerto Madero is named after a famous woman in Argentine history.
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A New Landmark in Cambridge
By Linda Tancs
Constructed between 1977 and 1980, Robinson College is not only Cambridge University’s youngest college but also its first co-educational facility. And now it enjoys Grade II (protected) status, hailed as “a stunning city landmark.” Among its gems are the artistic interiors of the chapel (particularly the window) and the library. Sporting distinctive red brick exteriors, the college was funded by David Robinson, a major contributor to British horse racing.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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The Lords of Verucchio
By Linda Tancs
Verucchio is a small town in the province of Rimini, Italy. It’s known as the “cradle of the Malatesta family,” an Italian family that dominated Romagna from 1295 to 1500. One of the largest fortifications of the period is Rocca Malatestiana, also known as Rocca del Sasso (Fortress on the Rock) due to its position at the top of the rocky crag that dominates the whole area. The watch tower is an easy landmark, embedded with a clock to mark the hours below in the heart of the old town with Piazza Malatesta and the town hall.
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