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 Mansion in Miniature
By Linda Tancs
In the 18th century, doll houses were used by aristocratic women in their younger years to practice running a country house and to learn the finer points of life to the manor born. Only a handful of these houses have survived, one of them being the Nostell dolls’ house. Newly restored, it replicates Nostell Priory in West Yorkshire, England, right down to the ionic pilasters and a heraldic ornament on the tympanum. And unlike many doll houses, it’s located in the very house that it mimics. Over 6 feet in height, no detail is spared in its elaborate features, like grand beds with carved headboards, hand-painted wallpaper and hallmarked silverware. You’ll no doubt feel welcome by its tiny occupants, including the footman on the ground floor.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Picturesque in Kent
By Linda Tancs
A picturesque scene may be in the eye of the beholder, but the term itself is an aesthetic category developed in the 18th century and most often associated with fashionable landscape gardening. A celebrated example of the picturesque style is the garden at Scotney Castle in Kent, England. It surrounds the ruins of a 14th-century, moated castle and is particularly noted for the cloud-like plantings of rhododendrons and azaleas. Overall, the estate boasts a Victorian mansion (where former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had an apartment during her time in office) bounded by 780 acres of woodland, including the stream that feeds the moat.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Spain’s Fairy-Tale Castle
By Linda Tancs
Touted as one of Spain’s greatest castles, Alcázar de Segovia invites imitation. In fact, some say that it inspired two iconic Disney castles. That’s high praise for a structure that grew from a small Moorish fortress. Historically a favored retreat for Spanish kings, it later became a prison, an artillery college and even a filming location for Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight and the Arthurian musical Camelot. Now a museum, it serves as the emblem for the Old Town of Segovia, a UNESCO site. You’ll get great views of this ancient Roman city from the castle tower. About an hour north of Madrid, it’s an easy day trip from the capital.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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A Prodigy in Lincolnshire
By Linda Tancs
A prodigy house is a large, showy, late-Elizabethan or Jacobean English country house built by a courtier and other wealthy families. One of England’s grandest surviving examples of such a place is Burghley House in Stamford. It was conceived by William Cecil (the first Lord Burghley), Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I, one of the most powerful courtiers of the first Elizabethan age. Direct descendants lived in the house for over 500 years, and it’s still very much a family home, with a direct descendant overseeing the charitable trust that governs operations at the estate. Among its many treasures, the house boasts one of the finest private collections of Italian Old Master paintings, and its gardens and parkland were largely designed by Lancelot “Capability’ Brown” in the 18th century. Enjoy a guided or self-guided tour of 18 sumptuous state rooms.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Small But Mighty in New Zealand
By Linda Tancs
Abel Tasman National Park is a wilderness reserve at the north end of New Zealand’s South Island. Despite its small size, it’s the country’s most popular national park, making the case that good things come in small packages. It’s known for the Abel Tasman Coast Track, a 33-mile trail between the seaside village of Marahau and Wainui. Along the way you’ll experience golden sand beaches and a 154-foot-long suspension bridge over Falls River as well as plenty of lookouts and rocky headlands. Don’t miss a side trip to Cleopatra’s Pool, a natural rock pool with a moss-lined waterslide. It’s best to take the trek in stages; there are four huts and 18 campsites along the track, which must be booked in advance all year round.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Smoking Mountain
By Linda Tancs
They say that only the most adventurous dare to climb Mount Fitz Roy, the highest peak in Southern Patagonia’s Glacier National Park. At over 11,000 feet above sea level, you can understand why. Due to a fairly consistent atmospheric haze over its peak, it was originally named Chaltén, a word meaning “smoking mountain” in the indigenous Tehuelche tribe’s dialect. The current moniker, Fitz Roy, is a nod to Captain FitzRoy of HMS Beagle, the ship that voyaged around South America with Charles Darwin. Although there’s nothing volcanic about the revered granite walls, you’ll get smokin’ views of Fitz Roy from Laguna de Los Tres, some 1,400 feet from the base camp reserved for mountaineers.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Japan’s Atlantis
By Linda Tancs
You may recall the legend of Atlantis, the lost civilization created by Plato, submerged by a cataclysmic earthquake. Scholars occasionally muse whether the place really existed, especially whenever a spectacular underwater rock formation is discovered. Japan has its own version of Atlantis, Yonaguni Submarine Ruins, a submerged rock formation off the coast of Yonaguni. The southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, it’s located about 62 miles east of Taiwan. The primary structure is an ancient underwater pyramid measuring a staggering 500 feet in length, 130 feet in width and 90 feet in height. Is it the remnant of an ancient Pacific civilization or a natural wonder? You can take an underwater sightseeing boat tour or dive there and decide for yourself.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Victoria’s Marine Emblem
By Linda Tancs
The weedy sea dragon is a marine emblem in Victoria, Australia. You’ll find it at Churchill Island Marine National Park, a protected marine national park located in Western Port, Victoria, Australia. Boasting 1,700 acres, it’s an important roosting and feeding site for migratory waders like whimbrels and bar-tailed godwits. So, needless to say, bird watching is a popular activity, as is snorkeling among the seagrass beds where black swans and fish congregate. You might also enjoy canoeing among the mangroves. Just off the coast of Phillip Island, Churchill Island holds an important place in the history of European settlement in Victoria.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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The Maldives of Switzerland
By Linda Tancs
At the heart of Switzerland’s Verzasca Valley you’ll find the emerald-green waters of the Verzasca River, enveloped by polished gorges and bathing pools. Locals like to compare its natural beauty to Maldives. One of the most iconic features across the river is Ponte dei Salti (jump bridge), a double-arched medieval stone pedestrian bridge in photogenic Lavertezzo. It’s a jumping point, literally, for divers as well as a good starting point for hikers. The best way to get to this Italian-speaking region in southern Switzerland is by car.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
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Argentina’s Dead Rock
By Linda Tancs
The third largest national park in Argentina, Lanín National Park is named for the area’s largest peak, Lanín volcano, a word meaning “dead rock” in the native Mapuche language. It is, indeed, a dead rock—an extinct stratovolcano that can be seen for miles on a clear day. Many visitors come to climb the volcano, but the park is also prized as a conservation area for the monkey-puzzle tree, what naturalists call a “living fossil” dating back to the Mesozoic Era. The park is located southwest of Neuquén province.
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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 