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
Underworld History in Jamaica
By Linda Tancs
Between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay in Jamaica you’ll find Green Grotto Caves, one of the country’s most popular attractions. The show caves present the usual stalactites, stalagmites, overhead ceiling pockets and bats. What’s equally compelling, though, is their history. Fragments of earthenware found in the caves identify the first inhabitants, the Arawak, who arrived in the country around A.D. 600. The caves were also used as a hideout by the Spanish when the English invaded and as a hiding place for rum barrels during World War II. Between the two world wars, they were used by smugglers running arms to Cuba. Open daily, the site is located near Discovery Bay, the alleged locale of Christopher Columbus’s first landing in Jamaica.
Share this:
Catacombs of Palermo
By Linda Tancs
The residents of the Capuchin Monastery Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily, have been dying to meet you. That’s where you’ll find thousands of mummified bodies and other corpses dressed in various forms of finery. It was considered a status symbol to be buried there so, not surprisingly, the dead include doctors, lawyers and friars. The oldest corpse is that of Silvestro da Gubbio, a friar who passed in 1599. More than just a macabre tourist attraction, the chamber provides a historical record as well as scientific data for medical study.
Share this:
Britain’s First Recreated Street
By Linda Tancs
York Castle Museum is a museum located in York, England, on the site of York Castle, which was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The most iconic part of the museum is Kirkgate, a recreated Victorian street. Created by Dr. John Lamplugh Kirk (founder of the museum), it’s one of the oldest recreated indoor streets of its kind in the world and the first to be opened in Britain. Each shop and business on Kirkgate is named after a real business that operated in late Victorian York. Costumed guides can tell you more about each shop when you arrive.
Share this:
Lyon’s Natural History Museum
By Linda Tancs
At the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, Lyon’s Musée des Confluences is a futuristic-styled museum that tells the story of Earth, humanity, history and geography from a variety of scientific, technical and cultural perspectives. Touted as a “landscape building” for its unique merger with nature, it received the designation “Musée de France” from the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The facility boasts nearly 3.5 million objects and specimens in the fields of natural sciences, human sciences, science and technology. You can get there easily via the tram T1, Musée des Confluences stop.
Share this:
Matisse’s Final Masterpiece
By Linda Tancs
The Rosary Chapel (also known as the Matisse Chapel) in Vence, France, is the final masterpiece of French artist Henri Matisse. His involvement arose out of a friendship with his private nurse who later became a Dominican nun. The nuns were in need of a true chapel, and Matisse was persuaded to not only decorate but also design the entire chapel. Completed in 1951, he designed features like the candelabras, crucifix, altar and liturgical vestments. The Matisse Museum in Nice has important works linked with the chapel, including several maquettes (models or sketches) for vestments, the chapel, stained glass windows and murals.
Share this:
Budapest’s Opera House
By Linda Tancs
Originally known as the Hungarian Royal Opera House, the Hungarian State Opera House is a historic opera house located in central Budapest. From its limestone façade to its stunning parlours, the Neo-Renaissance palace has been open to opera and ballet lovers for more than 130 years. Franz Joseph I and Queen Sissi trod the marble steps of the Royal Staircase that lead up to the salons on the first floor. The upstairs gallery opening from the staircase leads to the magnificent Bertalan Székely Parlour. Besides the rich oak woodwork, the other main ornament in this room is Bertalan Székely’s Rococo-style frieze entitled The Four Seasons. There’s no official dress code to attend a show, but dress to impress.
Share this:
World’s Largest Coffee Shop
By Linda Tancs
So, java lovers, where in the world is the largest coffee shop? The answer: South Korea. Boasting 2,190 seats and 3,600 square meters, Positive Space 566 in Gyeonggi-do takes the cake. Or should we say, bean. Opened in 2022, the shop’s four floors feature a variety of coffees and teas as well as baked goods, wood-fired pizza, pasta, salads and more.
Share this:
Stars and Stripes in Gloucester
By Linda Tancs
The city of Gloucester, England, has many ties to the United States. For example, Gloucester-born Button Gwinnett was an early signer of the Declaration of Independence. Also, the bells of Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, were made in 1744 by the famous Rudhall foundry in Gloucester and installed in 1745. The city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was named for its English counterpart in honor of their defiance against King Charles I during the English Civil War. Even Gloucester Cathedral has ties to America. In fact, it boasts both an American flag and Union flag in the nave. That’s because John Stafford Smith, the composer of the U.S. national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” was born in the cathedral’s infirmary. Take a tour of the cathedral and learn more about Smith and his birthplace.
Share this:
A Symbol of Polynesian Heritage
By Linda Tancs
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Taputapuātea is an archaeological gem in French Polynesia. Located in Raiatea, the marae (a sacred communal space) was once the center of spiritual practice uniting the “Polynesian triangle” of Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island. The ancient site, open daily, remains of great historical and cultural significance to indigenous Polynesians.
Share this:
Rainbow Houses of Houten
By Linda Tancs
A gem for shutterbugs, the so-called rainbow houses in Houten, Netherlands, are truly a rainbow burst of color off Lake Rietplas. This bicycle-centric community offers a variety of shops and eateries across three centers: Old Village, Het Rond and Castellum. The houses are easily accessible from Castellum station.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 