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 Novel Prison
By Linda Tancs
Off the coast of Marseille, France, on the Île d’If, Château d’If started out as a crucial fortress commissioned by Francis I. It became a state prison in the 1500s for anyone opposing official authority. Unlike Alcatraz (another prison island off the coast of San Francisco, California, boasting gangster Al Capone as a resident during its operation), one of its most famous inhabitants isn’t a real person at all. In Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, the protagonist Edmond Dantès was imprisoned there. You can visit his “cell” on the lower level of the prison. The perfectly preserved ramparts are a ferry ride away from Marseille.
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Israel’s Pillar of Salt
By Linda Tancs
In the bowels of Israel’s Mount Sodom you’ll find Malcham, recently determined to be the world’s longest salt cave. Stretching over 6 miles, it steals the title from Iran’s Cave of the Three Nudes. Due to its geological location to the west of the southern basin of the Dead Sea, the mountain is composed almost entirely of halite (rock salt), a true pillar of salt. Caverns like Malcham formed when rainfall and groundwater eroded parts of the mountain over time. A popular way to experience the salt stalactites and stalagmites is to rappel into it.
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A Beacon to Belgium
By Linda Tancs
Better than a visitor center, the Hoeke windmill off Highway N49 in Damme beckons tourists to Belgium. One of only a few windmills in Flanders, it’s a protected monument. Reportedly a mill has existed on the site since the 1300s; the current mill was built in the 1800s and still grinds grain today. It’s open to the public every Sunday.
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Sweden’s Lake Monster
By Linda Tancs
Scotland has Nessie. Vermont has Champy. Sweden has Storsjöodjuret, the legendary monster residing in Storsjön, the country’s fifth largest lake located in Jämtland. Some reports indicate sightings as far back as the 1600s. According to lore, the creature sports a serpent-shaped body and a dog-like head. Besides monster hunting, boating and fishing are popular activities at the lake. In fact, there are almost 20 different species of fish, particularly trout, char, pike, perch, grayling, whitefish, roach and lake. Fishing is free for young anglers; otherwise, a permit is required.
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Trondheim’s Jewish Museum
By Linda Tancs
Trondheim, Norway, boasts the northernmost synagogue in Europe. Interestingly, the Trondheim Synagogue began its life as a train station, the only synagogue to serve such a function. The history of the place and the Jewish settlers (who first arrived in the 1880s) is recounted at the annexed Jewish Museum. And, in case you were wondering, the northernmost synagogue in the world is located in Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Camels and Crocodiles
By Linda Tancs
The Guelta d’Archei is a Saharan guelta (oasis) in the Ennedi Plateau in northeastern Chad. Surrounded by towering cliffs, it’s a centuries-old pitstop of sorts for caravans of camels that have been herded to the water to wade and drink. More than just a watering hole, the locale also serves as their bathroom (or loo, if you like), which results in algae blooms for fish to feed on. The fish, in turn, are food for the crocodiles, the other primary animal found there. Trips there usually comprise a four-day journey across the Sahara from N’Djamena. The trek is challenging and there are no marked trails on the hike to the guelta.
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Norway’s National Museum
By Linda Tancs
The largest art museum in the Nordic countries, Norway’s new National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo is also one of the largest art museums in Europe, right behind Russia’s Hermitage and the Louvre in Paris. Its signature architectural feature is the Light Hall. Reserved for temporary exhibitions, its exterior walls are made of marble glass, a thin layer of marble between two panes of glass. Reaching 22 feet in height, the hall also boasts 9,000 adjustable LED lights and can be completely darkened, depending on the nature of the art installation. From the roof terrace you can enjoy stunning views of the facility’s location at Rådhusplassen (City Hall Square) as well as Aker Brygge (the waterfront area) and the fjord.
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Israel’s Highest Waterfall
By Linda Tancs
Located in the center of Israel’s Golan Heights, Gamla Nature Reserve is a nature reserve and archaeological site. It’s where you’ll find the country’s highest waterfall (at around 167 feet) flowing year round. An easy path leads to a lookout terrace for the best views. Other features of the area are the eagle observatory and Bronze Age burial mounds. The reserve is about a 15-minute drive from the Sea of Galilee.
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The Rhubarb Triangle
By Linda Tancs
Most of the rhubarb eaten in Britain is grown in Yorkshire. Specifically, the area is marked by three points of what’s called the Yorkshire (Rhubarb) Triangle, which are Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. Native to Siberia, the plant thrives in West Yorkshire, a “frost pocket” with nitrogen-rich soil and cold, wet winters. After a growing season outdoors in the cold, the plants are brought into sheds where they’re plunged into darkness, a process called “forcing” that produces tall, strong, straight stems with smaller leaves. You can hear the crack and pop of the plant as it grows in forcing sheds, a phenomenon that has triggered its own tourism industry, including the Rhubarb Festival in Wakefield this weekend.
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Amazon of Europe
By Linda Tancs
The world’s first five-country UNESCO biosphere reserve represents the shared nature of wildlife and ecological preservation among Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. The reserve covers the riverine and estuarine ecosystems of the Danube, Mura and Drava rivers, an area in Central Europe so rich in habitats that it’s been dubbed the “Amazon of Europe.” Forming one of the great wetlands, its range of rare habitats includes large floodplain forests, river islands, gravel and sand banks, side branches and oxbows, providing shelter for endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, beaver, otter and some vulnerable fish species.
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