Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for travel
Mountains of Heaven
By Linda Tancs
The Silk Road is one of the oldest and most significant trade routes to link the East with the West. Named for the lucrative business of silk trading that lined the route, it formed both economic and cultural bridges for the many civilizations (nomadic and otherwise) formed along its path. Among the seven countries along the route ancient sites and natural wonders abound. One of those treasures is the Tian Shan (Mountains of Heaven), a mountain range sporting Victory Peak, the range’s highest peak (at over 24,000 feet) spanning China and northern Kyrgyzstan. Nomadic life continues in northern Kyrgyzstan, a place of yurts and flocks. The nomadic monuments of inner Tian Shan feature grave and funeral complexes, rock carvings and epigraphs.
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The World’s Highest Wheel
By Linda Tancs
There are plenty of high rollers in Las Vegas, but one High Roller is getting all the attention: the 550-foot-tall observation wheel commissioned by Caesars Entertainment. Debuting in March, the wheel promises unparalleled views of the Strip. At 51 stories high, it bests the Singapore Flyer, the Star of Nanchang and the London Eye, making it the world’s highest observation wheel. As usual, Vegas will not be outdone by anyone.
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Britain’s Cleanest Beach
By Linda Tancs
Part of the southernmost group of islands that make up the British Isles, Guernsey sits in the Channel Islands, less than 30 miles from the French coast. This 25-square-mile island is home to some of Europe’s most significant heritage sites, including prehistoric burial sites, World War II gun batteries and ancient forts. You might be surprised to learn that it also sports Britain’s cleanest beach, Vazon Bay. Located on the west coast, Vazon Bay is the island’s largest beach, a hot spot for surfers as well as families. While you’re living the island life, enjoy some potato peel pie. The dish gained notoriety thanks to the historical novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which tells a story set during the German occupation of Guernsey during World War II, a time of scarcity when even potato peels were not wasted.
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Land of the First Light
By Linda Tancs
Located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, the island of Martha’s Vineyard enjoys an international reputation as a summer playground for the well-heeled. The island’s original natives called the place Noepe, which means “land of the first light.” That may have been a prescient observation, considering the island is graced with five lighthouses: Edgartown, Cape Pogue, East Chop, West Chop and Gay Head. The sweeping views include Vineyard Sound, the tony enclaves of Edgartown Harbor and Chappaquiddick, and the cliffs of Aquinnah. No yacht? No worries. You can grab a flight to the island year round or take a ferry from Rhode Island, Hyannis or other ports.
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To the Manner Born
By Linda Tancs
Britain’s summer social calendar (the “Season”) runs from April to September. Awash in cultural and sporting events, the Season finds great favor among the British elite, but even the hoi polloi enjoy a taste of society life–even if it is laden with rules of etiquette. If you’re a little rusty on the finer points of appropriate behavior, then More Than Good Manners is ready to help you. Founded by British aristocrat Veronica Joly de Lotbinière (a descendant of kings of France and England), the company offers booking services for high-profile events as well as manners and etiquette training for things like that pheasant shoot with a duke. You, too, can be to the manner born.
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On an Even Keel in Annapolis
By Linda Tancs
Annapolis, Maryland is heralded as the Sailing Capital of the World. Home to the United States Naval Academy, this seafaring city hosts the oldest and largest in-water sailboat show in the country. If you’d like to be captain of your own ship but lack the skills, then the city’s sailing school just might be the place for you. Boasting a blend of theory and hands-on practice known as the Annapolis Way, the school offers students an array of beginning to advanced classes. Novice skippers will learn about boat nomenclature, steering, sail trimming, putting on and taking off of sails, finding wind direction, tacking and jibing maneuvers, points of sail, right of way rules and basic chart reading. Ship ahoy!
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In Search of Lynx in Andalucia
By Linda Tancs
The elusive Iberian Lynx is one of many lures in Andalucia’s Doñana National Park. That’s one of only a handful of places you’ll find the world’s most endangered species of cat. Equally endangered is the Spanish Imperial Eagle, down to 15 breeding pairs. You might have better luck glimpsing grey herons, lanner falcons, ring and turtle doves, partridges, oxpeckers, cattle egret, storks and vultures. That’s because the park is one of the largest heronries in the Mediterranean region and a habitat for hundreds of thousands of birds. Springtime is particularly amazing, when wintering waterfowl commingle with summer arrivals migrating between Africa and Europe.
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Romans in Algeria
By Linda Tancs
Algeria’s numerous invaders contributed to its vast, fascinating culture, providing us with World Heritage sites rife with archeological treasures. For instance, there’s significant evidence of the country’s Roman past in a triumvirate of locales, like the city grid plan evident at Timgad, some of the best preserved Roman ruins in the world. And overlooking the Mediterranean and within easy reach of Algiers, the ruins at Tipaza (known in Roman times as Tipasa) are an extraordinary complex featuring private houses, baths and religious buildings. Completing the trio is Djemila and its stunning mosaics.
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New Brunswick’s Colonial Past
By Linda Tancs
One of Canada’s 50 Places of a Lifetime is the scenic St. John River Valley in New Brunswick. Eastern Canada’s longest river, it boasts the world’s longest covered bridge. Chief among the area’s charms, though, is the entertaining outdoor living history museum known as Kings Landing. Created in the 1960s above the high-water mark arising from the river dam project, the settlement commemorates the colonial life and times of the first settlers in this region, a regiment of loyalists in the American Revolution known as the King’s American Dragoons. Sure, there’s plenty of the butter making, candle dipping and wool spinning that typifies villages of this sort, but Kings Landing is also a monument to the industrial and agricultural traditions of colonial America’s refugees. A horse-powered drag saw is just one spectacle greeting you on your visit. The settlement is also a back-breeding program for livestock, vegetables, fruit and flowers, sporting 19th century varieties less common or almost extinct today. This year’s season begins on 14 June.
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A Tour de Suisse
By Linda Tancs
The scenery from Lucerne to Locarno is just as dramatic as the telling of the legend of Switzerland’s William Tell. No wonder, then, that a rail journey between these two destinations is named the William Tell Express. Beginning with a three-hour boat cruise on Lake Lucerne (host to the storybook Chapel Bridge), the panoramic train trip begins at Flüelen, winds its way through the Reuss Valley, traces the Gotthard line and meanders through picturesque villages en route to Locarno. Forget about the apple shot. On this journey you’ll find the money shot for sure.
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