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
Skiing in Paradise
By Linda Tancs
Contiguous with Vanoise National Park in France, Italy’s Gran Paradiso National Park joins with it to form the largest protected area in Europe. The first national park in Italy, it’s located in the Graian Alps, between the Aosta Valley and Piedmont regions. Gran Paradiso is a mountain located entirely within Italy, its highest at over 13,000 feet. Leave behind the hustle and bustle of slopes in France and Switzerland. The quieter pistes south of the Mont Blanc Massif offer charming alpine huts and traditional Italian hospitality.
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French Wildlife in Savoie
By Linda Tancs
Vanoise National Park in southeastern France is the country’s oldest national park. Occupying over 130,000 acres, it stretches to the Italian border and is contiguous with the Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy. Originally founded in 1963 for the protection of the Alpine ibex (a wild goat that suffered greatly from hunting beginning in the 16th century), conservation efforts have proved fruitful. About 2,000 ibex reside in the park, the largest national population. Other animals found there include 5,500 chamois as well as marmots, foxes, golden eagles, black grouse and perhaps rarest of all, the three-toed woodpecker, which purportedly has only ever been seen in Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
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Bells and Minarets
By Linda Tancs
Situated in the heart of Seville, Spain, the Gothic Santa María Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Spain. There you’ll find the city’s emblematic Giralda, a bell tower converted from a minaret, one of many signs of the city’s rich Moorish heritage. A walk up the tower will reward you with outstanding views of the city and the Guadalquivir River. Often imitated but never rivaled, the tower has formed the basis for designs in Miami, Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri.
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A Butterfly in the Caribbean
By Linda Tancs
Seen from the sky, Guadeloupe’s two main islands look like the wings of a butterfly in the Caribbean. A French overseas territory, Guadeloupe is an archipelago of over a dozen islands with scenic displays ranging from a tropical forest and volcano to endless white, sandy beaches. The easygoing beach atmosphere is evident in Grande-Terre (the eastern half of the butterfly). Mountainous Basse-Terre, the western island, is home to Parc National de la Guadeloupe, which is crowned by the spectacular La Soufrière volcano. Of the smaller islands, don’t miss a visit to Marie-Galante, source of the nickname “isle of a hundred mills” thanks to its production of rum—reputedly among the best in the world.
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Eagle Island
By Linda Tancs
Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. It’s known as Eagle Island, one of the best places in Scotland to spot golden and white-tailed eagles—virtually year round. In fact, thanks to the abundance of this and other wildlife, many tours are offered throughout the year. Ferries cross to the island at three points: Oban, Lochaline and Kilchoan. The best known and most used is the ferry from Oban to Craignure (near Mull’s most easterly point), which will get you there in under one hour.
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Art, Science and Genius
By Linda Tancs
Leonardo da Vinci was truly a Renaissance man. Regarded as one of the world’s greatest geniuses, he was a painter, engineer, scientist, architect, sculptor, designer, scenographer, anatomist, musician, planner, botanist and inventor. The life and works of such a big man are memorialized on a small square in Venice, Italy, at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum. Located at the Scoletta di San Rocco (in front of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco), the vast exhibition rooms explore da Vinci’s life—from his masterpieces like Mona Lisa to his contributions to industry. Accompanied by multimedia displays and hands-on models, you will see the workings of his most important engineering projects, with more than 60 perfectly functioning machines. The museum is conveniently located within minutes of the main railway station as well as St. Mark’s Square and Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (the biggest church in Venice).
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The World’s Only Drive-In Volcano
By Linda Tancs
On the eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Sulphur Springs is a place where you can drive—and dive—right in. On the drive-in side, there’s the collapsed caldera of the dormant Soufrière volcano, offering a drive-thru experience like no other with lots of boiling springs, steam and bubbling mud pots. After that, maybe you’ll want to dive into the mud baths in the geothermal park, where you’re promised rejuvenation and detoxification. Then wash it all off at a nearby waterfall. The volcano emits hydrogen sulphide (that rotten eggs smell) so be forewarned.
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A MINI Tour of Jamaica
By Linda Tancs
There’s nothing miniature about the new MINI tour routes being offered in Jamaica. Led by a tour guide, you can drive yourself around in an island-inspired MINI on a six-hour tour from Montego Bay to either Ocho Rios or Negril. Along the way you’ll see, touch and taste the best of the island, eating local grub and taking in the ecological wonders and famous landmarks. You’ll be given a short driving orientation to keep you on track.
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Stone Dolls of Macedonia
By Linda Tancs
In the village of Kuklica in Macedonia is an area consisting of over 120 naturally formed stone pillars on the right bank of the Kriva River valley. Legend has it that the stone community formed from the curse of a bride as she watched her bigamous groom marry another woman. Of course, legend tends to have more appeal than fact. The real cause of the stone formations is erosion occurring over the past 100,000 years of the current geological epoch, a process creating pillars due to differences in erodibility of the area’s volcanic rocks. The village is about an hour away from the capital city of Skopje.
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León’s Cube
By Linda Tancs
Its cuboid structure oddly reminiscent of Rubik’s Cube, the Castile-León Museum of Contemporary Art (MUSAC) is an emblem of 21st century Spanish architecture in León, Spain. Designed by Spanish architects Emili Tuñón and Luis Moreno Mansilla, the mosaic of 37 colored glass panes on the exterior façade was taken from the digitalization of an image of “The Falconer” (one of the oldest stained glass windows) from León Cathedral. With a nod to the city’s past as a Roman encampment, the interior floor plan evokes pavements of ancient origin characterized by squares and rhomboids. Amidst the exhibition halls and library is the MUSAC Collection, comprising more than 1,650 works by nearly 400 regional, national and international artists.
