Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for travel writing
Battleship New Jersey
By Linda Tancs
Battleship New Jersey is an 887-foot-long, 45,000-ton ship that navigated the waters during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War prior to dropping its anchor in Camden in 2001. Now part of Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial, it offers tours of many areas, including the bridge, the crew’s mess, the communications room and a climb inside the massive 16-inch gun turret. Self-guided tours as well as guided tours of some areas are available. The venue is located on the Camden waterfront directly across the Delaware River from Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.
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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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Dino Might in Alberta
By Linda Tancs
Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada, is aptly named. After all, over 150 complete dinosaur skeletons have been discovered there as well as over 50 species. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park reportedly yields the world’s most complete record of the late Cretaceous Period. In addition to its ancient remains, the site features a badlands landscape similar to that of the Badlands in South Dakota. It’s located in the Dry Mixedgrass Subregion of Alberta’s Grassland Natural Region, the warmest and driest subregion in Alberta.
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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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Three Waterfalls and a Movie
By Linda Tancs
About an hour from Asheville, North Carolina, DuPont State Recreational Forest is known for its waterfalls, lakes and hiking trails. One of its most popular attractions is Triple Falls. Comprising three distinct cascades totaling about 120 feet in vertical drop, it was featured in the movie, The Last of the Mohicans. Surrounding it are 10,000 more protected acres with 86 miles of hiking trails. One of the shortest trails is the 3-mile trek to three waterfalls in the park.
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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 Zeppelin Museum
By Linda Tancs
The airship Hindenburg was the largest dirigible ever built. The pride of Germany, it burst into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crew members on May 6, 1937. The Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen celebrates the development of airships and features a reconstruction of the Hindenburg. Guided tours are available. The museum is located right on the shore on Lake Constance at Friedrichshafen in the former harbor railway station.
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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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Mountain of the Lychees
By Linda Tancs
Phnom Kulen (translated as “mountain of the lychees”) is a popular tourist destination in Cambodia and a spot favored by locals because it is a holy mountain. The birthplace of the ancient Khmer empire, its historical (and environmental) value led to its protection as a national park. Located in Siem Reap Province, it features two waterfalls that form the basis for most tours of the area. It’s also rich in archaeological sites, one of the most popular being the “river of a thousand lingas,” boasting lingas (representations of the Hindu god Shiva) and other stone carvings. The area comprises one of the few remaining tropical forests in northwest Cambodia.
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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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Capitals of Culture in 2021
By Linda Tancs
In keeping with tradition, we begin the New Year with an announcement on the EU Capitals of Culture for 2021, or at least what would’ve been the capitals. Due to COVID-19, the cultural capitals program has been suspended. Timișoara (in Romania), Elefsina (in Greece) and Novi Sad (Serbia) have been shuffled around a bit. If three sounds like an odd number of capitals, that’s because the original plan was that, from 2021 and every three years thereafter, a third capital would be chosen from cities in countries that are candidates or potential candidates for membership in the European Union or in countries that are part of the European Economic Area. Romania and Greece have had their titles postponed from 2021 to 2023. Novi Sad will now be the European Capital of Culture in 2022, together with Kaunas (Lithuania) and Esch (Luxembourg).
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The Ladies’ Château
By Linda Tancs
As is widely the case, if you like the interior design of a home, then you should thank the lady of the house. That’s the reasoning behind Château de Chenonceau being coined “the ladies’ château.” Arguably the most visited and photographed château in France’s Loire Valley, its female occupants throughout the centuries are credited with its design, embellishment and protection. Furnished throughout with Renaissance-style appointments, the ladies’ bedrooms are especially exquisite, as are the Christmas decorations this time of year.
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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 Island of Stone Money
By Linda Tancs
You’ve heard the expression about money burning a hole in your pocket. Well, the centuries-old currency on the Micronesian island of Yap would do a lot worse than that. It does, after all, weigh more than a car. That currency comprised colossal stone discs made of limestone. Needless to say, it never changed hands (in a literal sense), or even villages. Nonetheless, the villagers knew who owned what. Of course, nowadays modern currency (the U.S. dollar) prevails, but you’ll still find some trading the old-fashioned way.
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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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Conditions of Carriage in Lisbon
By Linda Tancs
The stark exhibition hall in Lisbon housing Portugal’s royal carriages perfectly illuminates the ornate, gilded coaches you’ll find there. Located in the Belém district, the National Coach Museum boasts one of the finest collections of historical carriages in the world with vehicles from the 16th through 19th centuries. It features richly decorated coaches, Berlins, sedan chairs and carriages, aptly fit for the nation’s kings and queens. The facility was first inaugurated in 1905 by Amélie of Orléans, the last Queen Consort of Portugal, at the old riding ring of the Palace of Belém. Its newer digs offer interns and scholarship holders a training center for conservation and restoration.
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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 Debatable Lands
By Linda Tancs
Like America’s Wild West and its unruly outlaws, the border lands between England and Scotland were marked for centuries by contention and bloodshed. One of the last frontiers to be brought under the rule of law, the area was rife with border “reivers,” lawless gangs who raided each other’s property. Even after a border between England and Scotland had been agreed, the rebellion in the so-called Debatable Lands continued until the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland also became James I of England. You can follow in the footsteps of the reivers by taking the Romans and Reivers Route through the heart of their domain, a landscape as wild and untamed in many places as its famous occupants.
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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 