Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Life Underground
By Linda Tancs
Pity those who think the only life underground is the hustle and bustle of the metro. Clearly, they’ve never been to Derinkuyu. Located in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, this town boasts one of the world’s most extensive prehistoric underground cities. Consisting of at least eight floors hewn out of soft volcanic rock, the subterranean city served as a hiding place for early Christians during raids. Not surprisingly, then, the complex shows traces of a church, along with study rooms, a kitchen, and living areas, as well as rooms for food and livestock storage. A notable tourist attraction, it’s worth a visit on your next trip to the Cappodocia region of Turkey.
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City of Film
By Linda Tancs
Hollywood, Bollywood, Cannes, Sundance, Venice–and Bradford? It’s time to add a new place name to the list of luminaries in cinema. Bradford, a west Yorkshire city in the U.K., beat out the traditional media moguls for the coveted title, City of Film. The moniker is a new award being bestowed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to a city having historic links and a notable infrastructure related to filmmaking. No doubt Bradford–once a poster child for industrialization–was helped in its bid as the host city of the National Media Museum, one of the most popular museums outside London. Three annual film festivals and a landscape conducive to movie shoots certainly didn’t hurt, either. Bravo!
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Walking on Air
By Linda Tancs
Being on edge takes on new meaning at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Now premiering at the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere is The Ledge, a series of glass capsules jutting out from the 103rd floor’s skydeck. The idea certainly isn’t novel, of course; just check out the glass bridge at Grand Canyon West. However, instead of the canyon’s natural beauty you get unimpeded views of the concrete jungle. Different strokes for different folks. You’ll get a bird’s-eye view (minus the birds) of the July 4th fireworks in any event.
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Norwich, Meet Norwich
By Linda Tancs
It’s been 350 years since the British left their homes in Norwich to settle in the colonies. In Connecticut, their namesake city will be celebrating its founding by our forefathers as part of a Norfolk-Norwich World Family Gathering. Now through 5 July, the Norfolks and Norwich’s of the world (some 58 communities of varying size) will experience New England charm, topped off with a clambake, July 4 celebration, parade, tall ships viewing at Mystic Seaport and a visit with the area’s original inhabitants, the Mohegan tribe. Be like family and come for a visit.
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Bear Valley Beckons
By Linda Tancs
About an hour north of San Francisco, California, the rugged coast comprising Point Reyes National Seashore awaits your visit. Boasting 150 miles of trails, four backcountry campgrounds, several historical structures, three visitor centers, and beaches galore, you better have a game plan to tackle this national treasure. At Bear Valley Visitor Center, you can ponder the ecological and historical exhibits along with a seismograph, weather station, and auditorium for enjoying educational programs. Whatever you do, don’t miss Kule Loklo (Bear Valley), a replica of a Coast Miwok Indian village representing the earliest inhabitants of this area. If time permits, look for the herd of nearly 400 elk at the north end of the park on Tomales Point within the Tule Elk Reserve or watch for birds or whales at the Lighthouse. It seems almost trite to call 70,000 acres of dunes, sandy and rocky beaches, coastal grasslands, Douglas fir and Bishop Pine forests, wetlands, chaparral, and wilderness lakes a national park. But as British author Landt Dennis observed, a park symbolizes man’s humanity to man. And that, after all, seems pretty grand.
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A Seafaring Staycation
By Linda Tancs
A staycation is generally defined as a holiday enjoying one’s home environs. Well, why not enjoy someone else’s home environs instead–like a lighthouse keeper’s house? The United States Lighthouse Society keeps a list of lighthouses where you can keep the home lens burning. You might have to fix a window or paint a door as the price of admission in some cases, but you can’t beat the view. Ships ahoy, mate!
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Interlaken Goes a Little Bit Country
By Linda Tancs
They’ll be breaking out the boots and Stetsons this weekend in Interlaken, Switzerland for the 16th annual International Trucker and Country Festival at the former military airfield. With lots of sunshine and weather in the high 20s (Celsius) forecast, expect stellar attendance and lots of campers. Join country music fans, truckers, and bikers the world over for an exhibition of gleaming trucks and bikes, country dancing and plenty of food and drink. Are you a little bit country? As Charley Pride once said, there’s room in country music for everybody.
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Worthy Boss
By Linda Tancs
In case you haven’t heard, Bruce Springsteen (aka The Boss) is headlining the U.K.’s Glastonbury festival on 27 June. Taking place now through the 28th, the event at Worthy Farm in the Vale of Avalon is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. As you might imagine, tickets are sold out, but don’t fret. Venture outside London’s Hyde Park on 28 June and you’ll get an earful of The Boss at the Hard Rock Calling summer music extravaganza. There are lots of other acts in the lineup as well but not many tickets. Better act fast!
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The Wedding Pageant
By Linda Tancs
European royalty have been uniting (in a familial sense) since the earliest of times. But it isn’t all that common for a medieval union to continue to be celebrated–unless, of course, you’re in Landshut, Germany. Every four years the historical association presents the Landshut Hochzeit 1475 (Landshut Wedding), a 5000-strong procession in period attire celebrating the union of the daughter of a Polish king and the son of a very rich duke, one of the grandest events of its time in 1475. The town, over 800 years old, is known as much for its classic Bavarian hospitality as for its famous nuptials. The event runs from 27 June to 19 July. The bridal procession makes its way through town on 28 June, 5 July, 12 July and 19 July.
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Earth Music
By Linda Tancs
From 22 to 25 June at Tromøy, the largest island in southern Norway, the organizers of Hove hope their alternative music fest will elevate your eco-mind as well as your rhythm. In fact, the only metal you’ll find at this shindig is in the music. The two-year-old carbon-neutral event rounds out the task with organic food. So pitch a tent at the campgrounds and be at one with the elements.
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Travelrific® Travel Journal 