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
Cuddle with Cuttles
By Linda Tancs
Similar to their squid and octopus relatives, cuttlefish have a large, elongated body with tentacles surrounding their mouths. Despite its name, it’s a mollusc with the visually striking ability to change patterns and colors. This time of year they congregate by the thousands for their breeding season, especially at Stony Point in Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park near Whyalla in South Australia. There is easy access via a boardwalk to shallow water for viewing. Cuttlefish are active day and night, but the best time for snorkeling with them is normally in the morning before the winds pick up in the afternoon.
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A Mound of Chocolate in the Philippines
By Linda Tancs
Located on the island of Bohol in the Philippines, the Chocolate Hills are a series of more than 1,268 cone-shaped hills spread over an area of 19 square miles and varying in size from 98 feet to 393 feet in height. A popular legend attributes their formation to a clash between mythic titans. Geologists, however, chalk it up to thousands of years of weathering of marine limestone—or at least that’s the most commonly accepted theory for this anomaly. The chocolate designation arises from their color during the dry season. Whether verdant in the wet season or brown in the dry season, a good viewing point for this natural wonder is from the observation deck in Carmen despite the steep stair climb to get there.
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Spain’s Mighty Wine Fight
By Linda Tancs
What Tuscany is to Italy, so La Rioja is to Spain. Below the Cantabrian Mountains, vineyards occupy the Ebro valley and surround the old town of Haro. The town residents are so proud of their wine-producing heritage that they host a Wine Fight each June 29 during a multi-day celebration of St. Peter. As you might suspect, the weapon of choice in this battle is wine—red, red wine. Combatants don white shirts and red scarfs, making their way to the highest hilltop in town where a blizzard of wine is aimed at each other from buckets, wineskin, sprayers and other useful tools. Drinking the spoils of war is highly encouraged. After the battle subsides, the warriors head back downtown for a feast and a bull run.
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Britain’s Longest Ancient Monument
By Linda Tancs
Offa of Mercia was one of the most remarkable kings to have ruled much of Anglo-Saxon England. At his command, an earthwork covering a distance of more than 80 miles was built along the border between England and Wales in the eighth century to separate his kingdom from rivals in present-day Wales. This earth ditch-and-bank is reportedly the longest ancient monument in Britain. A long distance trail covering 177 miles, Offa’s Dyke Path, follows much of the ancient course. The trail links Sedbury Cliffs near Chepstow on the banks of the Severn estuary with the coastal town of Prestatyn on the shores of the Irish sea and crosses the border between England and Wales over 20 times. You’ll encounter stunning landscapes boasting castles, country churches, hillforts, riverside meadows and rolling hills. Similar to Camino de Santiago, you can purchase a trail passport (or download it from the site) and get it stamped along your journey to enter the path’s Hall of Fame. Expect it to take up to two weeks to complete the whole trail.
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Scotland’s Fair Isle
By Linda Tancs
Of Scotland’s 790 or so offshore islands, which is the most fair? Opinions may differ, but the easiest response is the one so named. Fair Isle is an island in northern Scotland lying halfway between the mainland and Shetland. The small island is home to about 70 residents and is renowned for its bird observatory and style of knitting. This off-the-beaten-path tourist destination also offers visitors 250 species of flowering plants that have earned the locale the nickname “Island of Flowers.” It’s accessible via air or boat.
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Bonfires of St. John
By Linda Tancs
The Night of St. John is a fireworks festival of pagan origin that celebrates the summer solstice. Held every year on June 23 in Spain, the event is characterized by a massive beach party accompanied by bonfires and fireworks. According to tradition, if you jump over a bonfire three times on that night, then you will be cleansed and purified and your problems burned away. Another ritual is to throw a note in the fire for good luck.
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An Arduous Trek in Europe
By Linda Tancs
Are you fit enough to climb 50 flights of stairs and walk a very steep 1 in 5 gradient? If so, then the Gobbins Cliff Path in Northern Ireland may be just for you. It’s a dramatic coastal walk erected over 100 years ago along a cliff-face in Islandmagee and one of the most unique things to do in Northern Ireland. Available only via a guided tour over two hours in length, the trek takes you along a narrow path hugging the cliff comprising bridges amid the crashing waves of the North Channel, hidden tunnels under the Irish Sea, rugged staircases carved into the cliff and caves that were once home to smugglers and privateers. If you’re not up to the task, fret not. The visitors’ center provides ample history on the walk, and an hour-long sea tour from Ballylumford Harbour packs stunning views.
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Canada’s Appalachian Trail
By Linda Tancs
The International Appalachian Trail extends across Maine and into Atlantic Canada along the Gaspé Peninsula. Forillon National Park in Québec is the eastern terminus of the trail, and it offers foot and biking paths to soak in the scenery that’s at its peak this time of year. Don’t miss the views from the lookout tower on the Mont-Saint-Alban trail. And just before the entrance to the park is Canada’s tallest lighthouse (112 feet) at Cap-des-Rosiers. Unique to the park is its “Curious by Nature” mobile interpretation kiosk, offering a wealth of information pertaining to the park’s animals, plants and landscapes.
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Full Circle in Iceland
By Linda Tancs
Looking for a convenient way to conquer Iceland’s 40,000 square miles? Try a bus tour. With Iceland by Bus, you can take a hop-on, hop-off excursion either clockwise or counterclockwise from Reykjavík. That means you get to spend more time at the locales of most interest to you, like long valleys and peninsulas in the north or volcanoes, glaciers and waterfalls along the south coast. Depending on the bus route, the operations period generally runs from June to August.
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Steaming the Lake District
By Linda Tancs
Prized as one of the most beautiful of the English lakes, Ullswater boasts stunning mountain scenery to its south and an enviable display of Wordsworth’s daffodils on the west shore in spring. So it’s no wonder that Ullswater Steamers is such a popular attraction for cruising the second largest lake in the Lake District. Their five heritage vessels (one, dating to 1877, believed to be the oldest working passenger vessel in the world) ply eight of the nine miles’ length of the lake, stopping at four piers. Operating year round, cruise times vary from 20 to 120 minutes.
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