Anglo Scottish Travel Brampton's Blog
Break away from the beach and inject the wonder of history into your next vacation! Mexico’s ancient past comes alive at archaeological sites around the country that allow you to walk in the footsteps of the inhabitants of highly evolved societies who built pyramids, elaborate cities, and culture rivalling any ancient civilization in the world. Pre-Columbian (the era prior to Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World) archaeological sites are true wonders of the world. It’s not everywhere you can enjoy an epic beach vacation and walk back in time over a thousand years.
Every year, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reveals the most popular historical monuments and archaeological sites in the country.
Luckily, of the top five, many can be visited from your beach resort or cruise port of call.
1. Chichén Itzá in Yucatán
More than 2 million people visited Mexico’s most famous archaeological and UNESCO World Heritage site this year, making it the most popular historic site in the country. On the Yucatan peninsula, it’s easily accessible from resorts or cruise ports in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
Chichén Itzá is the ruins of a 4 square mile ancient Mayan city that was once home to 35,000 people and was a religious, military, political and commercial center that dates back 1500 years.
The most spectacular remains are of El Castillo (The Castle), a pyramid rising nearly 80 feet above the city’s Main Plaza. The four-sided pyramid has 91 steps on each side, with a top step that combine for a total of 365 steps – the number of days in a solar year. El Castillo is perfectly aligned with compass directions, and during spring and fall equinoxes (the days of the year when there are equal hours of light and darkness), shadows cast by a setting sun create an appearance of a snake on the staircases – reflecting the carving of the major snake god carved at the top.
Chichén Itzá also has the largest ball court in the Americas, a site 545 feet long and 223 feet wide, where Mayans played tlachtli. It was not a game for the faint-hearted, as carvings on the walls show victors holding the severed head of a member of the losing team.
And don’t miss the Temple of the Jaguars, which once roamed the area and whose form is still represented in front of the imposing building.
2. Teotihuacán in the State of Mexico
About an hour north of Mexico City, Teotihuacán is another vast UNESCO World Heritage Site that normally takes top spot on the most-visited list but was edged out by Chichén Itzá this year.
Teotihuacán is even older than Chichén Itzá, with its famous Pyramid of the Sun believed to have been constructed around 200 AD – 300 years before Chichén Itzá. Historically, it may be even more significant. With a population of 125,000 at its peak before 500 AD, it is believed to be the sixth-largest city in the world for its times. Its masterpieces, still standing today, including the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon with the Avenue of the Dead joining them, represent the greatest architectural achievements of the pre-Columbian era in the Americas. It’s also anthropologically important in that the city also build complex, multi-floor and multi-family residential compounds.
Don’t miss the sensational murals or the chance to take a hot air balloon ride over the ruins to get a completely different perspective and awe at the vastness of the Teotihuacán site. (Pictured, top)
3. Tulum in Quintana Roo
The 3rd most-visited historic ruins in Mexico this year registered more foreign visitors than Mexican nationals; no wonder since they are so close to popular resorts. Tulum’s archaeological sites are less than 3 miles from Tulum’s town center, less than an hour from Playa, and only one and a half hours from Cancun.
Tulum is the only Mayan city built on a coast – and one of the few protected by a wall, an imposing limestone structure over 2500 feet long and up to 16 feet high.
Much ‘younger’ than Chichén Itzá or Teotihuacán, Tulum dates from the 1200’s. The ‘Castillo,’ or Castle, is perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, thought to have been built as a watch tower. The Temple of the Frescoes is one of the best-preserved buildings with restored murals representing three levels of the Mayan world: the dead, the living, and the gods. Above the doorway of the temple is a figure with a bird’s wings and tail diving – believed to represent a Mayan god who protected the people.
4. Monte Albán in Oaxaca
Believed to date from an incredible 8th century BC, Monte Albán is in on high ground in the hills of Oaxaca. The nearest resort area is Huatulco on the coast half a day’s drive away.
Four square miles of the site are occupied by pyramids, temples, terraces, plazas and canals. The Grand Plaza has massive platform mounds at either end, and you can also see a ball-playing court, underground passageways and the most elaborate tombs yet uncovered in the Americas.
5. Palenque in Chiapas
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Palenque’s historic ruins and surrounding jungle together make up the Palenque National Park, which is home to howler monkeys and jaguars.
The site is 400 miles from the Riviera Maya, so you need a three-day round trip from your beach resort to see a site that rivals Chichén Itzá’s importance, especially as its Temple of Inscriptions, with hieroglyphic writings, attest to the mythology and history of the Mayan people. Palenque is also home to a 160 foot-long canal crossing the city that was the first pressurized canal in the world.
Less than 10% of the site, which dates to 200 BC, has been excavated, so many more mysteries and wonders from Palenque have yet to be revealed.
Start your Trip!
Images via Getty
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If you've never been to the British Virgin Islands, you might think their 'Fungi Fest' is a culinary event featuring mushrooms. Fungi (foon-gee) is actually the traditional folk music of the BVI’s. And it’s a lot more lively than edible fungus!
Also called 'scratch' music, according to BVI Tourism, fungi music is deeply rooted in African heritage, but also with Euroepan influences. It’s described as “a combination of string and percussion instruments complemented by woodwind and storytelling vocals.” Fungi is also the local music of the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI).
There is, in fact, a culinary connection – but still, no mushrooms! The name fungi comes from a BVI dish, ‘fungi and fish,’ a ‘cook-up’ including cornmeal, onions, peppers, and okra. The music/food connection comes from the idea that bringing together these different savory flavors creates something entirely new, just as a fusion of a wide range of instruments and styles of music created a new type of music.
Fungi music features a range of instruments, some even homemade. You may see and hear the distinct sounds of ukuleles, banjos, guitars and bass, as well as bongos, washboard, calabash, keyboards and saxaphones. It’s not just music to your ears – it’s music made to dance by!
Fungi music is a part of the way of life in the Virgin Islands, with the rhythms of fungi bands marking life milestones like weddings and celebrations as well as livening up local parties, hotel and resort evenings and restaurants.
Perhaps the best way to immerse yourself in the Virgin Islands’ fungi music tradition is to go ‘all in,’ at ‘Fungi Fest’ in Tortola in the BVI’s (pictured above, courtesy of BVITourism.) The annual, November music festival has returned to the BVI’s largest and most populated island. For two weeks, fungi bands from the Virgin Islands as well as Anguilla, Nevis and other surrounding islands light up the stage at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park. The Fungi Fest is part of the BVI’s broader Culture and Tourism Month.
If you haven’t ever visited the BVI’s, come for the fungi music and stay for the 60 islands and cays of this off-the-beaten-path archipelago in the Caribbean. In addition to Tortola, the gateway to the BVI’s, you may have heard whispers of sophisticated island travelers heading to Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke.
Those in the know consider the BVI’s the ‘sailing capital of the world,’ with annual regattas, boat and yacht charters, not to mention yacht-watching, as the international sailing set breeze in and out of port. You can base yourself on land, in exquisite resorts by Rosewood, Autograph Collection, Wyndham or exclusive boutique hotels and private islands – or ask your trusted travel advisor how you can split a trip to the British Virgin Islands between land and yacht. Small ship cruise lines also call at Tortola and let you sample a unique island life – complete with the rhythms of fungi.
Start your British Virgin Islands Trip!
By: Lynn Elmhirst, cruise/ travel expert and journalist
Top image: World's Greatest Cruises
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Coinciding with news that Spain has joined the rest of the EU in removing all pandemic entry restrictions for overseas travelers – is the 25th anniversary of a Spanish landmark that transformed modern travel.
Before celebrity architect Frank Gehry, not many travelers could put their finger on Bilbao, Spain on a map.
Despite being the largest city in northern Spain and its Basque country, and on the estuary into the Atlantic Ocean’s Bay of Biscay with a coastal beach culture all its own, Bilbao didn’t have the pull of Spain’s magnetic Mediterranean.
But on October 18th, 1997, Frank Gehry changed all that, with the opening of his boldly-designed, ultra-modern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Built on derelict docklands on the riverbank at the edge of the city center, the breathtakingly avant-garde museum takes its cues from its surroundings. Viewed from the river, it resembles a docked ship, and the sparkling titanium ‘skin’ of the steel building evokes the scales of a fish in motion.
Inside, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao encompasses an atrium with glass curtain walls, curved walkways, and 20 galleries in different shapes, housing hundreds of significant contemporary works of art.
Fellow architects and experts have called the work of the Canadian architect “the greatest building of our time.”
Almost overnight, the city was transformed. From attracting merely 25,000 visitors in 1995, Bilbao drew nearly a million visitors in 2019.
The “Bilbao Effect” or the “Gehry Effect” was no accident.
From the outset, the Guggenheim Bilbao was intended to be a world-renowned landmark and power an urban renewal for under-the-radar Bilbao. But its success was so great, it inspired a host of copycats, with cities around the world in the years since commissioning high-profile ‘star-chitects’ to design landmark public cultural buildings to drive urban renewal and transform visitors’ experiences in those destinations.
Today, when you visit cities revitalized with new icons of landmark contemporary architecture, like Miami or Rio de Janeiro, you can thank Bilbao – and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum.
And you can visit Bilbao, Spain to see the impact of The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao still has on the city, 25 years later.
Bilbao hasn’t rested on its Frank Gehry laurels. Although his Guggenheim Museum remains the city’s biggest draw, it’s been joined by other contemporary architectural landmarks, including the glass-bottomed Zubizuri Bridge, the Basque Health Department's jagged glass-covered building, and the Isozaki towers, which contrast with the gothic, Art Deco and Art Nouveau buildings in Bilbao’s cobblestoned Old Town.
Bilbao is the hub to immerse yourself in Spain's traditional Basque culture and cuisine – not to mention the city's own Michelin-starred culinary experiences.
Start your Spain Trip!
Image: Getty
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Supernatural and macabre films, TV series, and novels feed our gathered-round-the-fire love of a scary story. But there’s nothing like the real-life thrill of visiting in person places around the world whose histories of hauntings, bone-chilling tales and ghostly sightings get our primal senses tingling while we’re standing right there!
We’ve rounded up some of our favorite spook-tacular trips:
London, England
London’s long history of royal intrigues and political skulduggery – as well as its wealth of ancient towers, dungeons, prisons and places of execution – make most historic places ripe for ghastly tales.
Evan Evans conducts London tours with guides expert in ghoulish history specifically for you to immerse yourself in the city’s spine-chilling history at Hallowe’en.
Its London Dungeon Tour brings the dark, bloody history of London to life walking through The London Dungeon. The immersive theatrical storytelling tour with live actors, lavish sets and special effects is a fantastic way to explore the darker side of London’s history and get in the mood for Halloween.
Guests will experience the full wrath of King Henry VIII, and join Anne Boleyn on her final journey along the River Thames to the infamous Tower of London (image via Getty).
Or take its Jack the Ripper Tour (top image, Getty) to walk in the footsteps of London’s most infamous serial killer on a tour conducted in the evening for maximum thrills. You’ll travel back to Victorian London as you visit the real-life murder locations and hear the gruesome stories behind Jack the Ripper’s vicitims’ deaths.
Ireland
Ireland is equally scary. A Royal Irish Tours “Emerald Adventure” driving holiday takes you into the heart of a number of Ireland’s most spooky places.
You’ll be booked to spend the night in a luxurious, but haunted, castle. Ballygally Castle north of Belfast is home of the ghost of Lady Isabella Shaw, believed to have been thrown from a castle-top window by the cruel Lord Shaw. Over the years many guests have reported strange experiences and have felt a presence in their rooms. There are also endless stories of an eerie green mist over the castle. For the very brave, during your stay you can even visit the room of Lady Isabella at the top of the spiral staircase.
During your two-day stay in Dublin, you can travel back in time and learn about “Ghosts, Ghouls and Goodie Glover Day” at EPIC Ireland, the world’s first fully digital museum that tells the story of Irish emigration. Learn more about The Dullahan (“dark man”), a malevolent harbinger of death who served as the inspiration for the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow, or how the local practice of burying corpses with a stake through the heart influenced the writings of Irish emigrant Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.
Uncover the tragic story of ‘Goody Annie Glover’ the Irish woman who became the last person hanged for witchcraft in Boston in 1688, and how the influx of Irish immigrants, who brought their traditions and folktales, helped shape the story of jack-o’-lanterns in America (image via Getty).
Sicily
The history of Sicily’s capital city already has a bloody history, through its ties to the Sicilian mafia. If you’re looking for a more traditional eerie happening, though, Exodus Tours recommends its ‘Street Food and Sunshine in Sicily” tour for its tour of Palermo whose Teatro Massimo is said to be haunted by the ghost of a nun, known as ‘La Monachella’.
The controversial project to build the Teatro Massimo (picture courtesy Exodus Tours) involved the destruction of four churches and two convents. It’s said that the building work desecrated the grave of a former Mother Superior, and her spirit haunts the theatre to this day. During the 23 years it took to construct the opera house, many of the original backers died, including the architect– could the curse of La Monachella be the reason? You’ll have to decide for yourself – if you have the fortune to see the spirit of the Mother Superior herself.
Egypt
Egypt has given us so many Hallowe’en themes as the country where bandage-wrapped ancient myths and legends originate. On Exodus Tours’ 'Pyramids and Pharaohs in Egypt” tour, you can get up close to the real thing – and contemplate a cautionary tale tied to ancient Egypt.
The artefact of the “Unlucky Mummy” (picture courtesy of Exodus Tours) can now be found in the British Museum, but its story begins in 1860s Egypt, where four British university students decided to pick up a souvenir of their visit, in the form of the coffin lid of a priestess of Amen-Ra. On the return trip, two of the graduates died, and a third accidentally shot himself in the arm, resulting in an amputation. The fourth lost his entire fortune (twice), a photographer and porter trying to take a photograph of it died, as did the man translating its hieroglyphs. Throughout the years since, many more people associated with the coffin lid were plagued with bad luck.
South of France
River cruising can sail you right up into the heart of off-the-beaten path historic towns with rich and eerie pasts.
On an Avalon Waterways river cruise on the Rhone river in the south of France, you can take one of their Active & Discovery shore excursions: a ghost walk by moonlight through the winding, bending cobblestone alleyways of Viviers (picture via Getty) – a hilltop, stone-walled medieval village – that brings the ancient ghosts, legends and tales of this quiet – is it too quiet? - little town to life.
Start your Spook-tacular Trip!
Images credits as noted
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Peru's overwhelming claim to fame is the mystique and majesty of the ancient remains at Machu Picchu - deservedly named recently the 'South America's Leading Tourist Attraction.” But there's more to Peru than its fabled history, leading it to also earn the designation as 'South America's Leading Culinary Destination 2022' and 'Leading Cultural Destination 2022' in the region.
Here are some of the reasons why:
Annual Día de la Canción Criolla Celebrates Music and Dance on October 31
Move over, Hallowe'en. There's a different, time-honored tradition on the last day of October in Peru. Día de la Canción Criolla (‘The Day of Creole Song’) is a performance event hosted by the Ministry of Culture every year on October 31.
The event is hosted along the Peruvian coast and Andean highlands and brings together a medley of provincial music while also providing a platform for local musicians to showcase their skills. The music was created as a result of the history of Spanish influence and African communities in Peru and is typically created using instruments such as the guitar and Peruvian cajón. The music is accompanied by an array of cultural dances such as the Peruvian national dance, the Marinera, and Vals Criolla, also known as the Peruvian Waltz. Locals can be found in main squares throughout the country celebrating this special occasion.
Peruvian Art Galleries & Museums Offer Immersion into Country’s Unique Culture
While that's only one day of the year, there are many incredible galleries and museums throughout the country for visitors to peruse and enjoy year round. Here are just a few ideas of places for art and history lovers to explore:
This museum showcases the past 3,000 years of art in Peru in a permanent collection of over 18,000 pieces from pre-Columbian, Colonial, Republican and Modern eras. It is also housed in an incredible space that once served as Peru’s National Exhibition in the 19th century. (Pictured above)
Museo Larco, Lima
Museo Larco is surrounded by a lush garden in a beautifully restored 18th-century house. Visitors here can explore more than 30,000 catalogued ancient pottery artifacts and pre-Columbian erotic art.
MAC offers a spacious outdoor area as well as interactive exhibits. It is the only institution dedicated exclusively to researching and promoting contemporary, artistic practices of Peru. Both emerging Latin American artists and international names have shown their work at MAC. Guests to the museum can tour three rooms in this glass structure and then enjoy some time outdoors to contemplate the work.
Museo Nacional Tumbas Reales de Sipán, Lambayeque
Considered the pride of Northern Peru, the museum was designed to resemble ancient Moche tombs. Visitors here can explore exhibits of many of the artifacts of the Lord of Sipán, one of the most emblematic figures of the Mochica culture. The discovery of his tomb was the first royal burial site found intact in South America, and belonging to a Peruvian civilization prior to the Inca Empire.
Museo de Arte Popular Andino, Ollantaytambo
The curators of this museum believe pieces of Andean ethnographic art, if they are produced using traditional techniques and materials, are pieces of great cultural, educational and aesthetic value. The museum aims to acquire, preserve, investigate, communicate and exhibit these foundations of a genuinely Peruvian art form.
Three Lima Restaurants Named to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List
Those in the know go to Peru for its culinary scene, recently acknowledged yet again with three restaurants in the nation's capital being named to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants List, making Lima a must-visit destination for foodies.
The three restaurants were Central (#2) – owned and run by Virgilio Martínez and Pía León, last year’s World’s Best Female Chef; Maido (#11), a perfect expression of Peru’s Nikkei cuisine; and Mayta (#32), which focuses heavily on sustainable Peruvian ingredients. (Pictured, top, a mise en place at Lima’s Central restaurant.)
Another Lima spot, Kjolle (#68) was named on the expanded list of the top 100, and is also owned by Chef Pía León.
Belmond's Luxury Train Adventure through Peru is an Epicurean Odyssey
Travellers to Peru can explore Lima, the Sacred Valley, Machupicchu, Cusco, Puno, Lake Titicaca, the Uros floating islands and the Colca Valley on a food adventure aboard Belmond's luxury train the Hiram Bingham (bar car pictured above).
Journeying from city to mountain, lake to canyon, guests on this excursion explore the rich culture of Peru through architecture, adventure and, ultimately, your taste buds. Activities on this journey include visits to markets across the country to learn about Peruvian food culture, dining at incredible restaurants, and partaking in a special river-side lunch at Rio Sagrado, A Belmond Hotel, including a variety of dishes featuring local ingredients, strolls through charming villages and, of course, world-class cuisine aboard the train itself.
Start your Peru Trip!
Images courtesy of their respective properties as noted.
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
“Water, water, everywhere, but not any drop to drink.” Being surrounded by seawater takes on new meaning in the British Caribbean island of Anguilla, where locals are rediscovering the luxury destination’s ‘salty’ history.
Anguilla’s only 16 miles long and 3 miles at its widest; a slender length of coral and limestone fringed with green, ringed with 33 beaches. A gem of the northern Caribbean, the island is an off-the-beaten path luxury retreat for celebrities looking for quiet seclusion, as well as other savvy travelers.
This small island is dotted with about 17 lagoons – but there’s a catch. They’re not fresh water. Like a number of other islands in the region, Anguilla relies on collected rainwater, underwater aquifers, and desalination of seawater for its water supply.
When Europeans first arrived at the island in the 1600’s, they uncovered a unique local treasure: Anguilla’s ‘salt ponds.’ Before the days of refrigeration, salt wasn’t just a seasoning. It was one of the best ways to preserve meat, fish, and other food, and was a precious commodity. In fact, the word ‘salary’ was derived from the Latin word for ‘salt.’
So began the start of salt production on the island. Reportedly, for over three hundred years, close to 100,000 barrels of naturally occurring salt were ‘harvested’ each year from the salt ponds and exported.
As tourism grew in Anguilla in the 1980’s, the salt industry faded in economic importance, but natural salt remained part of local identity, culture, and history. Today, Anguillans are rebuilding the local salt pond lifestyle.
(Above and top images: Visit Anguilla)
Most of the action is at the Road Salt Pond, a 100-acre lagoon that’s the largest enclosed body of water on Anguilla.
Nature lovers and bird watchers ‘flock’ to the Road Salt Pond. The unique wetland environment is a designated ‘Important Bird Area’ as a breeding site supporting the populations of over a hundred types of birds.
(Image: Visit Anguilla)
Locals have begun a new cottage industry of salt harvesting, and local tours take visitors to the pond to ‘pick’ salt by hand like generations of Anguillans did for hundreds of years.
You can even to take a dip in the highly mineralized - and therefore, therapeutic, water.
Beyond the salt ponds themselves, locally-harvested salt is finding its way into the everyday life – and visitor experience on Anguilla.
Visitors can buy local salt infused and flavoured with herbs.
(Image: Belmond Cap Juluca)
Spas at two of the most luxurious resorts on Anguilla draw on the local salt’s natural, therapeutic qualities. The Four Seasons Resort, Anguilla offers guests an ‘Anguilla Salt Body Polish,’ and at the spa at Belmond Cap Juluca (pictured above) you can take a ‘Salt Soak Bath.’
And the Four Seasons Resort, Anguilla has a restaurant dubbed ‘SALT’ (pictured, below) that celebrates locally-sourced salt as a gourmet ingredient.
(Image: Four Seasons Resort, Anguilla)
So you might go to Anguilla for the sea and the sand… but some of the best stories, memories and souvenirs you take away…. may be the salt!
Start Your Island Trip!
By: Lynn Elmhirst, travel expert and journalist
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
As we return to travel, many of us are looking for trips with meaning. For more and more people, that includes getting a sense of the connection first peoples have with the earth and their traditional cultures, and showing support for indigenous people around the world.
To mark the United Nations’ International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, one guided vacation company revealed how it’s supporting indigenous people through travel.
As The Travel Corporation says, travel done right goes hand in hand with the cultural and economic empowerment of communities.
The Travel Corporation’s tour companies, as well as its philanthropic arm, the TreadRight Foundation, work to support Indigenous-owned business and non-profits. Their goal is two-fold: to lift the voices of the Indigenous community, and also to provide travelers with a full and authentic experience.
Here are some of the Indigenous tourism experiences at the forefront of tourism in their communities.
USA: Tap into Lakota Culture on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation
Global guided vacation company Trafalgar brings travelers on a unique visit to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation. You’ll get to meet with the Lakota Youth Development, a program that aims to connect youths in the tribe with their native culture and lifestyle.
On its tour called “National Parks & Native Trails of the Dakotas,” guests enjoy a traditional Lakota meal with a host from the reservation for a Be My Guest experience. You learn about and taste the ingredients from their native land that Lakota ancestors have lived on for thousands of years.
Following the meal, travelers embark on an Indigenous plant walk to learn more about the medicinal and ceremonial properties of wild edibles and the longstanding idea that every plant has a purpose.
Western Canada: Meet the Warrior Women of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation
Contiki is a social tour company for 18–35-year-olds, and wants to give young travelers a variety of perspectives on Indigenous culture through the voices of the Warrior Women of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.
On its tour called “Canada and the Rockies,” travelers are invited to a fireside chat on traditional First Nation land that is now part of Jasper National Park (pictured above). There, a Warrior Women member shares details of her culture, experience as a musician and time spent teaching the traditional craft of making of drums, leather binding, moccasin and traditional mitten making and more.
She also teaches travelers about the local flora as they relate to the Indigenous people that call the land home.
Eastern Canada: Learn the Seven Sacred Teachings of the Abegweit Mi’Kmaw Nation
For the first time, the Abegweit Mi’Kmaw Nation has partnered with a tour operator, premium tour company, Insight Vacations. Their collaboration showcases the longstanding ceremonies of a Canadian tribe on Prince Edward Island.
On a tour entitled “Landscapes of the Canadian Maritimes,” travelers visit the Abegweit Mi’Kmaw Nation, a small First Nation dating back 10,000 years according to their oral tradition. During the visit, guests experience an authentic smudging ceremony, honor song and dance, and also learn about the Seven Sacred teachings.
Australia: Take an Aboriginal Walking Tour
On luxury tour company, Luxury Gold’s “Inspiring Australia” itinerary, travelers take an aboriginal walking tour through a historical neighborhood, The Rocks in Sydney (pictured), to learn The Dreamtime, the important features of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs and existence.
Your expert travel advisor can help you plan a trip to connect you with one of the world’s indigenous cultures, while supporting their community to preserve their traditions and natural, ancestral environments.
Start Your Indigenous Tourism Trip!
Images courtesy of The Travel Corporation.
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be copied, re-published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
From cultural giants like George Lucas and Bob Dylan, to New York’s Broadway or America's mountain peaks, to milestones in Latino and African American heritage – not to mention spellbinding art from the country's past... and future! - across the U.S., museums are having a renaissance, with new openings that reflect some of the most fascinating themes of modern America.
Don't forget to add one of these newly-opened museums to your agenda if you’re traveling to any of these U.S. cities soon:
Los Angeles, California:
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Philanthropist and filmmaker George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments founded the $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. It is set to premier in 2023 in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park.
The museum will bring together mass-produced images, showcasing the richness and complexity of visual storytelling. The galleries will feature works from Lucas’ personal collection of more than 100,000 pieces of fine and popular art as well as “Star Wars” ephemera, not to mention state-of-the-art cinematic theatres, numerous dedicated spaces for learning and engagement, green spaces and restaurants.
Seattle, Washington:
NFT Museum
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, and it’s a hot trend for the technically savvy. NFT’s have been compared to digital, collectible baseball cards, whose ownership can be tracked through packets of data called blockchain. The world’s first NFT museum in Seattle (above, and top) has been billed as the first art museum and gallery to exhibit blockchain art. It’s a revolutionary new era in art history.
The 3,000-square-foot space houses more than 30 custom-designed screens where visitors can see artwork by local and international artists. Highlights include pieces by the Los Angeles-based crypto artist Blake Kathryn, Larva Labs' hugely popular CryptoPunks avatars and Seattle-based photographer Charles Peterson, showcasing never-before-seen photos of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain as NFTs. www.seattlenftmuseum.com
Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
Black Holocaust Museum
The Black Holocaust Museum, founded in 1988 by Dr. James Cameron, has reopened to the public following a 14-year closure. The opening once again cements Milwaukee’s Bronzeville district as a center of African American culture.
From 1910 to the 1950s, Bronzeville buzzed with Black-owned businesses, but that character was destroyed by “urban renewal” projects that affected Black neighbourhoods across America. Today, Milwaukee’s Bronzeville is supported by $400 million of redevelopment funds which are helping to reinvigorate its history and heritage. The 10,000-square-foot space takes visitors on a journey through more than 4,500 years of African and African American history.
Washington DC :
The Molina Family Latino Gallery
The Molina Family Latino Gallery is the Smithsonian’s first gallery on the National Mall to celebrate the Latino experience in the United States.
The 4,500-square-foot gallery will open with ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States, an exhibition that shines the spotlight on the historical and cultural legacy of U.S. Latinos, offering visitors the chance to engage with first-person digital storytellers, data-driven maps, videos and illustrated biographies.
Yosemite, California:
The Yosemite Climbing Museum & Gallery
Visitors to Yosemite Mariposa County can reach a new peak of local rock-climbing lore and legacy at the Yosemite Climbing Association Museum & Gallery.
The center features more than 10,000 pieces, a priceless collection of historical climbing artefacts (including pitons used on early of El Capitan) and dozens of archival photographs that tell the rock-climbing community’s story through the ages.
Mobile, Alabama:
Africatown Heritage House
The Africatown Heritage House multisensory project is the only exhibit in the world to show artefacts from the Clotilda – the last known slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States. The ship arrived at Mobile Bay in 1860, after slavery had already been outlawed, carrying 110 kidnapped African men, women, and children.
They survived enslavement and established an independent community called Africatown, which has become a treasured part of African American history and legacy.
The ship was discovered sunk in Mobile Bay in 2019, and the new exhibit brings to life the story of the 110 captive African men, women and children who were on board.
Tulsa, Oklahoma:
Bob Dylan Center
If you have a fascination with an artist widely thought of as America’s pre-eminent pop culture poet, take a trip to Tulsa. The new Bob Dylan Center is a treasure trove of the artist’s works and memorabilia, from handwritten manuscripts to unreleased concert recordings, and recognition of his place in the American musical lexicon.
The Center boasts an exclusive, 100,000+ piece collection, spanning the entire length of the iconic singer and songwriter’s career. It’s the centerpiece of the three-story museum in Tulsa’s vibrant Arts District, just steps from the city’s renowned Woody Guthrie Center for the folk artist who was one of Dylan’s biggest influences.
Visitors to the Bob Dylan Center can also attend public programs, performances and lectures.
New York, New York:
Museum of Broadway
Amidst the bright lights of Times Square, the Museum of Broadway is the first-ever permanent museum dedicated to Broadway and honoring the legacy of “The Great White Way.'
The multi-story Museum of Broadway blends immersive installations and traditional displays, telling the history of the legendary theater district from its 1735 beginnings to present-day shows like Hamilton. This meshing of art and technology is divided into three sections: a map room of Broadway using immersive video projections; a visual Broadway timeline that lets viewers delve into the stories behind such ground-breaking musicals like Hair and Rent, learning how women led the way in much of Broadway’s early storytelling; and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Broadway show, from set design to lighting.
Meantime| TNT Traysikel: Our Way, Courtesy of Mike Arcega, Paolo Asuncion, and TNT Traysikel. Photo by RJ Bonifacio
San Francisco, California:
Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco
San Francisco’s the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is a non-collecting contemporary art museum, focusing on the artists themselves. It’s a 50/50 split between emerging Bay Area artists on-the-verge of national or international attention, and more established local and international artists.
Its 11,000-square-foot warehouse space will dazzle visitors hosting large-scale installations or pieces with atypical proportions. Its shift away from acquisitions aims to create a space that is responsive to the moment, creating programmes with increased relevance and meaning.
Charleston, South Carolina:
International African American Museum
Nearly half of all African slaves brought to the U.S. came through Charleston’s Gadsden’s Wharf, where the International African American Museum is slated to open in late 2022.
The new museum aims to tell never-before-told stories of the African American journey and themes will include connections across the African diaspora, the spread of African American culture and influence, and the movements for justice and equality.
From digital interactivity to live performances, visitors will learn about historic figures and events dating back to the start of slavery, the role of South Carolina in the development of the international slave trade, and the worldwide impact of African American culture.
StartYourTrip!
Whether or not you loved studying Shakespeare in school, chances are, to this day you regularly hear - and use – lines from his 154 sonnets and 39 plays that are still continuously being staged in theaters around the world, more than any other playwright in any language. That’s not a bad linguistic legacy for someone who was born nearly 500 years ago.
Recognize any of these pearls of wisdom? All the words of Shakespeare, who was born April 26, 1564.
- “To be or not to be, that is the question.”
- “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
- “To thine own self be true.”
- “All the world’s a stage.”
- “All that glitters is not gold.”
- And even:
- “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Well, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”
Because while Shakespeare was born, lived, worked, and died in Elizabethan England, his life and works are a travel bucket list even today.
Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
Shakespeare was born and raised – and died - in this picturesque town in Warwickshire. Visitors today can visit the ‘Bard of Avon’s’ birthplace and burial site for an immersion into Shakespearean life.
In Stratford-Upon-Avon, William Shakespeare’s birthplace and childhood home explores his continued influence on the modern world through an enormous collection of artifacts.
At the former home of his wife-to-be, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (pictured top), visitors can relive his own real-life love story and see much of the original building, which remains as it was 500 years ago.
Above and Top Image: VisitBritain/LeeBeel
Don’t leave Stratford without experiencing Shakespeare’s immortal words in an authentic performance. The Royal Shakespeare Company regularly brings the works of the Bard to life showcased at the 1,000-seat, classified historic Royal Shakespeare Theatre on the banks of the River Avon (pictured above). You can find out which plays are being staged in the current season on the RSC’s website www.rsc.org.uk
Stratford, Canada
There’s another Stratford on another Avon River, and they’re in Canada, a couple of hours southwest of Toronto. Both were named after their English counterparts by British settlers in the area in the 19th century.
To complete the connection to the birthplace of Shakespeare, the town was gifted a pair of Mute Swans in the early 1900’s that started a colony that lives on to this day. Swans were often referred to by Shakespeare and the Swan of Avon was even one of his nicknames.
Since the 1950’s, Canada's The Stratford Festival has faithfully staged the works of the Bard of Avon in an annual summer Shakespeare theater festival.
It’s one of the first, and remains one of the most prominent arts festivals in Canada. Drawing a million Shakespeare and theater lovers, it’s recognized worldwide as one of the most prominent Shakespeare festivals. Seasons often feature famous Canadian actors returning from Hollywood for the summer.
Denmark
Shakespeare isn’t believed to have visited Denmark, but Elsinore castle - the setting of the dark drama Hamlet – is only part fiction.
There is indeed a castle at Helsingor, Denmark, which read in English is Elsinore. Kronborg Castle has existed at Helsingor since 1420 and was a key Danish coastal toll point for ships en route to the Baltic Sea.
Once one of the most important towns in Europe, it would have been a well-known name to Shakespeare, and the rocky, wind-swept, weathered coasts of Denmark are key mood-makers in Hamlet.
You can still visit “Elsinore” castle on an easy day trip from Copenhagen (pictured above) . Don’t miss the mighty stone statue of Holger the Dane in the castle’s catacombs. The legendary figure in Danish culture is said to be ready to awaken from his rock throne under Elsinore to defend Denmark if the country is ever in trouble.
So-called “Hamlet’s Castle” also holds live performances of Shakespeare’s plays at its summer Shakespeare Festival. Danish and international companies, including Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, perform.
Italy
Over a dozen of Shakespeare’s plays are set in Italy – although it’s not clear if the Bard ever traveled there.
You can, though. And while many travellers know the attractions of Venice, site of The Merchant of Venice, fewer people have Verona on their travel list.
This northern Italian city, not far from Venice, is the setting for Shakespeare’s most popular, most performed and imitated play, Romeo and Juliet. You probably know that even West Side Story is a ‘modern,’ American reboot of Shakespeare’s timeless tale of star-crossed lovers.
Shakespeare’s ‘fair Verona’ in the 1300’s is a rather vague setting for the fictional villas and characters of Romeo and Juliet’s feuding families.
In today's real-life Verona, with its Roman monuments, including an ancient amphitheater and an Arena, as well as a remarkable core of Romanesque architecture, the ancient Roman Arena is the magnificent home of Verona’s opera season, and the city is renowned, if not for Shakespeare, then for its Italian artistic and cultural heritage.
One very tangible connection to the play exists for visitors, though. A real 13th century building - dubbed 'Juliet's Balcony' in Verona - is happy to lay claim to the Shakespearean romance. The balcony (picture above) on the house once owned by the Cappello family - similar to the Italian version, Capelletti, of Juliet's surname 'Capulet' - draws crowds of fans. You'll find a statue of Juliet in the courtyard below 'her' balcony, and a museum inside with Elizabethan-era costumes plus the actual bed used in the 1968 film adaptation.
Scotland
While Shakespeare lived in England – on the same island as Scotland - it’s not believed the playwright ever ventured that far from Stratford or London.
Nonetheless, the well-known lore and sites of the Scottish Highlands to the north gave him the basis for the evergreen, mad-with-power cautionary tale of Macbeth.
(Glamis Castle, Inverness, Scotland. Photo: BestTrip TV)
“The Scottish Play” as it’s often called, was mainly set in real Scottish castles you can visit today, including Inverness, Dunsinane, Cawdor, and Glamis Castle (which also has the distinction of being the childhood home of the 20th century Queen Mother).
There was actually once a real Scottish king named Macbeth, and although Shakespeare’s tragedy is set in Scotland in ancient times, the events – including the supernatural elements of the Three Witches and a moving forest, are pure fiction.
But the mystique and the drama of the Scottish Highlands remains for today’s travellers to experience.
Start your Trip!
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If you love sun and sand… with a side of history, here are seven Caribbean islands whose history lives on today through preserved and protected UNESCO World Heritage historic sites.
Which history-rich destinations top your list for an upcoming beach holiday with a twist?
ANTIGUA: “Nelson’s Dockyard”
Known for its famous inhabitant, British Admiral Lord Nelson, who lived in Antigua’s Royal Navy Dockyard for three years in the 1780’s, Nelson’s Dockyard is part of a National Park UNESCO site that is comprised of Georgian naval buildings and a walled enclosure. (Pictured, top, courtesy Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority)
Historically, for Britain’s Royal Navy far from home in the West Indies, Antigua’s coast and English Harbour were a perfect bolt hole from enemies and the elements. Deep, narrow bays protected by mountains provided an ideal location to repair ships and regroup safe from hurricanes.
(Image courtesy www.visitantiguabarbuda.com)
In the late 1700’s, the Dockyard was built, using enslaved Africans, as a strategic, Eastern Caribbean stronghold to protect English sugarcane plantations from other European powers trying to expand their Caribbean presence.
Nelson’s Dockyard isn’t just an historic site. Today, Nelson’s Dockyard is still Antigua’s main port, where cruise visitors to Antigua embark and disembark, as well as hosting the country’s famous sailing and yachting events.
BARBADOS: Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison
The distinction of biggest British colonial garrison in the 17- and 1800’s belonged to Barbados. Combined with the capital of Barbados, Bridgetown, one of the finest remaining examples of British colonial settlements of the period, it’s a UNESCO site.
Bridgetown’s name comes from the bridge constructed in the area by earlier Amerindian inhabitants, before being settled by the British beginning in the 1600’s. Other Dutch and Spanish settlements were laid out in a grid, but Bridgetown follows a ‘serpentine’ city layout. Bridgetown’s harbor was a key maritime hub and frequent first port of call for ships arriving from a trans-Atlantic crossing.
The Barbados Garrison began at the turn of the 1700’s with construction of a fort, barracks, parade ground and other supporting buildings, including its famous red towered guardhouse. It protected the island from attacks by competing colonial powers like Spain, Holland and France.
Bridgetown and its Garrison are still central to life on Barbados. Cruises call at Bridgetown’s port, and some lines embark on Caribbean itineraries from Bridgetown, which has a host of land and sea-based activities for visitors.
CURACAO: Historic Willemstad and its Harbor
Willemstad (in English: William Town) is the modern-day capital of the Dutch island Curacao. Until 2010, it was also the capital of what had been the Netherlands / Dutch Antilles, which included the ‘ABC’ islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, as well as the ‘SSS’ islands of Dutch St. Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius.
Its candy-colored, unmistakable harborfront skyline combines Dutch with Spanish and Portuguese architectural styles of the 1600’s. It’s one of the most distinctive and best-preserved historic cities in the Caribbean. Willemstad is home to the oldest surviving synagogue in the New World.
Today, Curacao, in the southern Caribbean, is a must-see destination for travelers who have already immersed themselves in the more abundant examples of British and Spanish Caribbean history. The ABC islands are famous for their dry, desert climates, and world-class diving, as well as iconic examples of 400-year-old Dutch history.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Colonial City of Santo Domingo
The capital of the Dominican Republic was the first seat of Spanish colonial rule in the Americas. This ‘cradle’ of the New World was founded in 1496 soon after the arrival of Christopher Columbus. It’s the oldest, continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas.
Santo Domingo’s Colonial City is much more than a single building, which is sometimes all that remains of historic settlements. It’s home to the first cathedral, first hospital, first customs house, first fortress, first monastery, first castle, and first university in the Americas. In addition to the historic landmarks, Santo Domingo’s early form of urban planning created a city laid out in a grid pattern, establishing the model that would be used throughout Latin America as Spanish and Portuguese influence spread.
Although most famous as an all-inclusive beach resort vacation destination, and many visitors to the Dominican Republic stay in their beach resort communities, expanding your visit to Santo Domingo’s UNESCO World Heritage Colonial City is an eye-opening, intriguing insight into the entire region’s history.
JAMAICA: Blue and John Crow Mountains
The mountains that cover a fifth of the island are Jamaica’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, and also the Caribbean's first World Heritage Mixed Site for both natural and cultural riches.
In addition to being a global biodiversity ‘hotspot’ with 1357 flowering plants, a quarter of which are only found in Jamaica, and 87 that can only be found in the park, the steep slopes of the rare, ‘tropical mountain’ environment are the only known home for rare butterflies, birds, boa and other creatures.
History lives here, too. This is where indigenous Tainos and former enslaved persons fled to escape colonial power. The thickly forested mountains provided the isolation and natural resources for the Maroons' survival and fight for freedom. They developed a profound knowledge of and spiritual connection to the mountains, creating a cultural legacy that survives in modern Jamaica.
Tangible history of the Maroons' life and resistance in the mountains also remains today. The Nanny Town Heritage Route includes settlements, trails, viewpoints, and hiding places.
The Blue and John Crow Mountains sustained Maroons and hid them as they struggled to survive and achieve recognition and liberation. Their struggle and successes influenced other slave resistance in the region, and is a powerful story of humanity for all people of the world.
PUERTO RICO: La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site
If you’ve ever been on a cruise ship arriving into port in San Juan at sunrise, you’ll have seen one of the most beautiful approaches by sea in the Islands. San Juan’s fortified harbor projects on rocky shores out into the sea, with emerald greenery setting off the stones and the waves.
The series of defensive structures that are now a UNESCO World Heritage site on this U.S. territory were built beginning in the 1500’s, and one quick look at a map will tell you why. Puerto Rico occupies a very strategic position in the Caribbean Sea, and this fortified harbor stood guard over the bay and city.
The U.S. National Park Service manages the Old San Juan site that includes a citadel, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, built from the 15- 1700’s and named after Spanish King Philip II, as well as bastions, powder houses, and almost all of the impressive old city wall.
La Fortaleza or El Palacio de Santa Catalina, is the name given to the vivid, wedding-cake style governor’s mansion in Old San Juan. Built in 1533, it has been the official governor’s residence for centuries and is the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the New World.
ST. KITTS & NEVIS: Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park
The UNESCO World Heritage historic site in the twin-island country is the fortress – one of the best preserved historical fortifications in the New World - perched on the steep slopes of St. Kitts’ Brimstone Hill. Like Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua, and Bridgetown, Barbados’ historic core and garrison, Brimstone Hill’s fort is a British military construction. It was built in the 17th and 18th centuries by enslaved Africans.
But the historic site everyone’s talking about these days is on next-door Nevis, where a stone house originally built in the late 1600’s merges Nevisian and American history. The recent, wild success of the Broadway musical Hamilton has shone a spotlight on the Nevisian birthplace of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who, among many accomplishments during a pivotal time in history, was instrumental in having the international slave trade made illegal.
(Image courtesy Four Seasons Nevis)
In the heart of Nevis’ small main town of Charlestown, Hamilton House and other historic buildings are still very much part of local life. The first floor is a museum, and the second floor is the meeting room for the island’s House of assembly.
The landmark resort on the island, the Four Seasons Resort Nevis, has even created a special Hamilton experience to bring his legacy to life for guests, involving a visit with a local storyteller, on-resort experiences and even a Hamilton-inspired playlist.
START YOUR HISTORIC ISLAND TRIP!
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Only once or maybe twice a decade, the Camino de Santiago becomes an even more remarkable hiking journey through Spain.
Pilgrims and tourists have been hiking the “Way of St. James,” as it translates, since the 9th century. It’s a 500-mile (800 km) route across northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, the spiritual home of the apostle James who preached in Spain, became its patron saint, and whose remains were returned here and enshrined.
The route of St. James’ final, return journey to Spain became a pilgrimage, one that continues to this day.
Spiritual and religious devotees walking the route today are joined by those taking the “Way of St. James” as a journey of self-discovery, to achieve a personal challenge, or to explore this unique cultural experience and northern Spanish countryside actively on foot or by bicycle.
Jubilee Years on the Camino de Santiago
And if your trip coincides with a Jacobean (from “James”) Holy Year, the experience will be all the more exceptional. The “Xacobeo Holy Year” occurs when the festival of St. James, which takes place annually on July 25th, falls on a Sunday. That means the special celebrations of Jubilee Year happen once or twice a decade.
Due to the pandemic, the Holy Year 2021 was extended for the first time over two years. Already, special festivities have begun for its second half. “Light up the Xacobeo” is an initiative where more than a hundred monuments and landmark buildings throughout Spain are illuminated to honor the special pilgrimage year. Half of those are along the actual Camino de Santiago.
(Illuminations at the terminus, at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, courtesy of the Tourist Board of Spain)
They include a wayfinding arrow, pointing the way to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the terminus of the Way and a long pilgrimage. They mirror the wayfinding signs that are used to mark the actual route still today.
This year’s Xacobeo Holy Year has gone global. Recognizing how communities and the world have come together even more during pandemic times, “Light up the Xacobeo” illuminations and wayfinding have spread beyond Spain’s borders.
Here, for example, is Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Canada, illuminated for the Holy Year Jubilee – wayfinding arrow guiding pilgrims and seekers towards Spain.
(Photo courtesy of the Tourist Board of Spain in Canada)
In addition to special, wayfinding illuminations, the Way of St. James in Spain this Jubilee year will be celebrated by events including concerts, art exhibitions, films, conferences and educational activities for all ages.
Centuries-Old Traditions
That’s in addition to all the traditions of the Way of St. James, not just wayfinding markers that range from the humble to the spectacular illuminations of the Jubilee year.
Scallops are the symbol of the Camino de Santiago. The shellfish is plentiful on the beaches of the region, and originally the shells may have been practical for pilgrims to scoop shared food and water, as well as become a souvenir of the life-changing journey.
Pilgrims still wear a shell to show they are on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. And scallop shell markers, including brass shells inlaid in cobblestone paths, or stylized sideways shells, often gold on a blue background on signposts or buildings still mark the path through towns and countryside.
Most pilgrims then and now buy and carry the credencial. In days of yore, it provided access free accommodations and support for pilgrims along the Way. It’s also like a passport, an official record of your journey. You get an official St. James stamp in each town you eat, or official stay along the way, and presented at the Pilgrim's Office once you reach Santiago, proves that you have completed the official route and qualify for a 'compostela' – a certificate of completion.
A Pilgrim's Mass is held in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela twice daily, and pilgrims who received their compostela the day before have their countries and where they started their journeys announced during Mass.
Pilgrimages had trickled down to only a few hundred travelers along the Camino de Santiago by the 1980's. Then, in 1987, it was declared the first European Cultural Route and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Modern pilgrims and secular active travelers re-discovered the appeal of the historic route.
These days, 300,000 or more people make the trip every year on foot, by bicycle or horseback, and in escorted tours by vehicle that stop at highlights along the way. During Jubilee years, that number swells.
The trip on foot from the Spanish border nowadays takes about a month. Not everyone who walks on the Camino receives a compostela, but you can still earn one without a month-long commitment.
To qualify, you must make the pilgrimage for religious or spiritual reasons, even if they are your own spirituality and inner quest, do the last 100 km (approx 60 miles) on foot or horseback, or the last 200 km (approx 120 miles) by bicycle, AND you still need to collect a certain number of stamps in your credencial which you present at the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago de Compostela.
The next Jubilee Year for the Camino de Santiago isn't until 2027, so don’t wait to experience this uplifting, unique experience.
As the Tourist Board of Spain says: Just walk. Buen Camino.
START YOUR TRIP!
Top image courtesy of the Tourist Board of Spain.
Unless noted, other images: Getty
All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
13 diverse sites with natural and cultural significance, including World Heritage Sites, Biospheres, Global Geoparks and Creative Cities now form a dedicated digital trail.
read more
Over 200 years ago, a trail-blazing female author penned the novel that brought one of the first tales of the horror genre to life.
This year, Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein opened to commemorate the life of the novelist and her legendary, terrorizing creature.
In 1816, at just 19 years old, Mary Shelley wrote much of her novel Frankenstein in the chic, English spa-city of Bath.
Frankenstein the novel was groundbreaking on two levels: it had a rare, woman author, and it was one of the earliest examples of published horror stories. Shelley’s novel helped spawn a popular culture trend that resulted in a literary, theatrical, and nowadays, film and television landscape full of vampires, monsters, the living dead, medical and science experiments gone awry with terrifying and supernatural results.
Mary Shelley’s monster has been immortalized countless times over in frightening or campy, early and recent films, in pop culture references like cartoons and music videos, and is of course a perennially classic Hallowe’en costume.
Now Frankenstein’s monster has a permanent home of its own in the town where it was born.
Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein in Bath celebrates the author as well as her notorious fictional creature. Her monstrous literary creation has 'lived' in various artistic forms non-stop since its inception in Shelley’s novel, but this is the world’s first attraction dedicated to the trail-blazing Regency-era author.
Interactive exhibits tell the full story behind the genesis of ‘Frankenstein’. Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein celebrates the legacy of the author’s work across four atmospheric floors, uncovering:
Mary Shelley’s Unusual and Complex Life - Visitors retrace the tragic and unconventional life events and radical scientific thinking that flourished in Shelley’s active and ahead-of-its-time mind;
The Monster of Shelley’s Imagination - You’ll confront head on the formidable 8-foot breathing creature in a world-first recreation exactly as the author imagined in her novel;
Frankenstein in Popular Culture - Revisit all things Frankenstein and his “monster” in the Popular Culture rooms bursting with vintage memorabilia, props, posters, and even bizarre collector items;
Enter the Darkness - Venture down into a dank foreboding basement, in a dark and disorientating walkthrough experience revealing the unhallowed practices of a deranged scientist.
Multi-sensory Classic Horror
Brace yourself for a thrill. Ominous music and unsettling soundscapes, eery temperature shifts, bespoke scents and unsettling aromas, lighting and special effects, electric shocks, projections, and props deliver a scarily immersive, unnervingly thrilling and visceral experience.
It’s not all scary, though. In the Popular Culture rooms, notes of cinemas, popular culture and childhood nostalgia are conjured with gourmand notes of popcorn, vanilla, caramel, chocolate with an undertone of plastic and even playdoh!
You Can’t Escape Frankenstein’s Monster - or Can You?
The bravest of 'Franken-fans’ can test their mettle in Victor’s Lair Escape Room, where you have just one hour to unravel the ramblings of his deranged mind and, more critically, your way out.
You begin locked in Victor’s miserable attic quarters, strewn with insane equations, strange artefacts and miscellaneous body parts. Trying in vain to unlock the mysteries of life itself, he needs just a few more ‘vital’ components to fulfil his maniacal quest. If you and your group can unravel the ramblings of a madman and discover the equation through 14 challenges, you’ll reveal the mystery of Frankenstein’s undead life, but more critically, your way out to freedom.
Between the literary history, the tale of a trail-blazing woman author, a creature who has embedded itself into our cultural fabric, immersive and entertaining exhibits and challenging activities, as well as tongue-in-cheek approach that even has body parts in jars intermixed with items for sale in the gift shop, Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein has become a gothic must-do experience in the elegantly Regency-era city of Bath.
#StartYourTrip!
Images courtesy of Mary Shelley's House of Frankenstein, Bath, UK
Edvard Munch’s 'The Scream' is one of the most famously eery pieces of art in history, and it continues to disturb admirers today.
Now, MUNCH, a new museum and landmark architectural masterpiece on Oslo’s waterfront, has opened, with the world’s largest collection of works by the famed Norwegian artist. That includes several versions of Munch’s iconic work, The Scream, including an early study in pastel from 1893 and a later painted version from 1910.
More than 26,000 works bequeathed by the artist to the City of Oslo are housed in the massive museum with unparalleled views of the Oslo Fjord. It’s one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to a single artist.
11 exhibition halls feature not only versions of Munch’s most famous, disturbing work, but also over half of Munch’s known works, from paintings, prints, photographs, drawings and watercolours by the artist, ranging from 1873 to 1944, to monumental mural paintings like The Sun (1909), which stretches nearly 8 meters.
While Munch is best-known for The Scream, he also experimented with various media and techniques at the edge of modernism. In addition to the paintings, watercolours and woodblock prints for which he is best known, Munch bought a Kodak camera in 1902 and is recognized today as one of the first artists to experiment with self-portrait photography.
The museum’s collection also includes thousands of other items included in Edvard Munch’s original bequest to Oslo such as his printing plates and lithographic stones as well as thousands of letters and approximately 10,000 of the artist’s personal belongings.
Image: Munchmuseet
Alongside personal items and displays of iconic artworks from the renowned permanent collection, temporary exhibitions will show Edvard Munch’s lasting influence in his own contemporary society, as well as on today’s generation of artists.
In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of the highlights of Edvard Munch’s work and influence, visitors will get to enjoy a wide-ranging program of cultural events and experiences for art lovers of all ages, including concerts of all types of historic and ultra-modern music, literature readings, performance and art workshops.
That includes those interested in modern architecture and the transformation of the Oslo city skyline.
Image: Munchmuseet
Right on the edge of the Fjord and in the heart of Oslo’s city life on the water, MUNCH was designed and created in homage to Edvard Munch’s connection to the Norwegian landscape and his habit of painting outdoors in all seasons.
The top floor opens up into an observation area, offering some of Oslo’s most spectacular views. The perforated, translucent aluminium façade reflects the changing colours and conditions of the Oslo skies. Visitors can also enjoy dining in the 13th floor restaurant with views overlooking the city and Fjord.
A can’t-miss destination on your next trip to the Norwegian capital.
#StartYourTrip!
All images courtesy MUNCH
Many of us have spent hours of our own childhoods or alongside our favorite kids immersed in stories like the Snow Queen, the Emperor’s New Clothes, the Princess and the Pea, the Nightingale, and the Little Mermaid, either in timeless storybooks or Disney movie incarnations.
Now, the author who created these immortal works is being reinterpreted and remembered in a new museum in his birthplace of Odense in Denmark. The new attraction is one of Denmark’s largest and most ambitious museums.
Hans Christian Andersen was born in 1805, and lived until 1875. Denmark is home to a number of reminders of his enormous contributions to our collective culture, including a statue of Andersen himself and another of his famous Little Mermaid overlooking the sea in Copenhagen.
In the summer of 2021, a new museum opens in Odense, called H.C. Andersen’s House, and the exhibition leads to the author’s childhood home to showcase Andersen’s life’s journey.
His fantastical fairytales serve as the foundation of a brand new type of museum, whose designers say will not just communicate about Andersen, but as Andersen.
The vision for H.C. Andersen's House is to create a complete artistic experience in which architecture, sound, light and a stream of images constantly invite new encounters between each visitor and Andersen’s fairytales.
“Hans Christian Andersen’s artistic universe is fantastic, because it reverses how you imagine this world you thought you knew,” explains Creative Director of the new museum, Henrik Lübker.
“In the new museum, we use Andersen’s own artistic strategies as the starting point for how the garden, the house and the exhibition have all been shaped, as well as for the many artistic contributions that will also be part of the museum.”
The museum is a vision of a fantastical world that might have been dreamed up by the teller of fairytales himself. The famous Japanese architect who designed the museum was inspired by Andersen’s story ‘The Tinderbox,’ in which a tree reveals an underground world and a secret, new universe.
In a nearly 1.5 acre site, a children’s house and underground museum, entwined with a surrounding magical garden, don’t just retell favorite fairytales, they let you walk in the footsteps of the author, and pique visitors with the familiarity and nostalgia of childhood memories, and inspire us to re-read the works of Hans Christian Andersen all over again with fresh and playful eyes.
Fun fact about Hans Christian Andersen: he had a travel imagination, too. Andersen travelled throughout Europe, as far as Morocco in the mid-19th century, and the travel quote, “To travel is to live” was written by Andersen in 1855.
#StartYourTrip!
All images via Visit Denmark
Top image: H.C. Andersens Hus, Laerke Beck
Copyright BestTrip.TV/Influence Entertainment Group Inc or Rights Holder. All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
New Zealand is in celebration mode in July with the arrival of Matariki.
It's a constellation of stars that rises in New Zealand skies, shining their brightest in the first week of the month.
Known to astronomers as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, Matariki is believed to have formed more than 100 million years ago, and this pre-historic cluster of stars plays a pivotal role in modern and ancient Māori mythology.
The rising of Matariki marks the Māori Lunar New Year, a significant time in the New Zealand cultural calendar.
The Matariki celebration focuses on three principles:
- Remembrance: Honoring those lost since the last rising of Matariki;
- Celebrating the present: Gathering together and giving thanks for today's blessings; and
- Looking to the future: Anticipating the promise of a new year.
In addition to the Māori Lunar New Year, this astronomical event inspires festivals across the country, and like the commemorations of the indigenous people, it's seen as a time to celebrate new life, to remember those who’ve passed and to plan for the future. A time to spend with whānau (extended family) and friends – to enjoy kai (food), kōrero (story) and waiata (song).
(Aurora Australis 'Southern Lights', courtesy Dunedin, NZ)
In 2022, the reappearance of the constellation will be recognised as an official public holiday on June 24th, providing the opportunity for visitors to plan holidays in the middle of the year, and reconnect with friends and family in New Zealand.
The magic of astronomy each summer has more than history and cultural significance. It also gives star gazers an occasion to turn their gazes to the heavens above New Zealand. Here are some of the most incredible places in the country to catch a glimpse of the Matariki constellation.
(Dark Sky Reserve - Twizel courtesy Jack Austin)
Dark Sky Sanctuary at Aotea (Great Barrier Island), Hauraki Gulf
Aotea (meaning 'white cloud' in Māori), also known as Great Barrier, is New Zealand’s sixth-largest island and completely off the grid, with no electricity supply. The island is one of only five Dark Sky Sanctuaries in the world, and was named the first ever Island Sanctuary in June 2017.
Luxury Cabins at Owhaoko, Taupō
There’s no roads, no people, no internet and no cell phone coverage at Owhaoko, making it the perfect place for a digital detox in a luxury cabin with views so spectacular one of the bedrooms is made of glass. The luxury cabin’s Māori name is Te Whare Ruruhau (a place of shelter, refuge and protection) has two double bedrooms – one with glass walls and ceiling – and guests can enjoy everything from a bubble bath under the stars with champagne to gourmet meals cooked using traditional Māori methods.
(Night Skies over Red Tarns, Aoraki courtesy Lee Cook)
The Darkest Skies in the world: Aoraki / Mount Cook Mackenzie Region
Much of New Zealand has no 'light pollution' and is home to some of the most accessible observatories in the world. In 2012, 4,300 square kilometers of New Zealand’s South Island was recognized as the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. That formalized restrictions on light pollution that had been in place since the 1980s.
This was the first reserve to be awarded gold status, meaning nearly non-existent light pollution. It is one of the clearest, darkest and most spectacular places in New Zealand to view the night skies, and keen stargazers are able to see amazing constellations that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere, including the Southern Cross, the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way.
(Aurora Australis ('Southern Lights') Southland, NZ courtesy VideocopterNZ)
Dark Sky Sanctuary: Rakiura (Stewart Island), Southland
Stewart Island’s population is only around 400 people, making little impact on the darkness that surrounds the island. Plus, its far-south vantage point means you’ll see celestial features not visible from any other spot in the country. Local policies formalize the community's commitment to environmental protection and help to preserve the pristine skies.
#StartYourTrip!
Images courtesy NewZealand.com and specific copyright holders where indicated.
It’s news that marries two of the fastest-growing styles of travel: river cruising and family heritage travel.
AmaWaterways has partnered with Ancestry, the company that specializes in genomics and connecting people to their family history.
The river cruise line has done family-heritage themed cruises before, but now, you’ll be able to uncover specific details about your own family. That’s because guests are given pre-cruise private ancestry consultation and family history research, while onboard, presentations and curated excursions hosted by an expert genealogist connect your present with your past.
AmaWaterways says the pandemic highlighted how we cherish our family connections and travel – and trips like these offer us the privilege to travel to find our roots. They were inspired to help guests bring “treasured family stories to life.”
Obviously, not everyone will find their roots on a European river cruise. The series begins on the Rhine river, from Amsterdam through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland, so people with ancestors who came from one – or more! – of those countries, and who have wanted to walk in the footsteps of family members who came before them, will find it an appealing opportunity to have an expert-hosted trip to the land your family once called 'home'.
Imagine a deep dive into your family story, with the help of experts – and while you are sailing the historic Rhine river, the magic of travel is enhanced by the knowledge that your forebears likely passed along the river too. The rivers were the first transportation and communication routes, before road travel developed, so sailing on the river makes an ancestry trip feel even more authentic.
The marriage of ancestry and river cruise begins before you actually sail. You’re matched with an expert from Ancestry’s professional research division, and on a call at home, you can discuss what you already know about your family history and what you’re hoping to discover.
The experts take that information away and start researching your family background – and filter away what is true and what’s just family legend! As well as identify places of interest you may visit or pass by while sailing along the Rhine.
On board, an expert genealogist offers presentations to provide insight into what life was like for guests’ ancestors and highlight the types of records that are available for them to learn more. As guests sail along the Rhine, enjoying every delight of a river cruise, since you’re passing through different regions where your ancestors lived, it triggers your historic imagination and heightens the river cruise experience even more.
The genealogist will also explain the history behind those areas, providing a deeper understanding of the past and a glimpse of guests’ ancestors’ everyday lives.
Guests also enjoy a private onboard consultation with the expert genealogist to review their own family tree, coming full circle from their initial consultation at home before their trip and connecting the dots with what was discovered during your journey. Guests will also have the opportunity to enjoy an Ancestry-specific group excursion with their expert genealogist. In certain cases, travelers can delve even deeper with an optional add-on of an Ancestral Home Visit accompanied by an expert genealogist.
Heritage travel on the rivers of Europe promises to be a whole new way to enjoy European river cruising, with another dimension of meaning to the historic towns and countryside, even the waterways themselves.
Your trusted travel advisor can help you plan a trip with the deep meaning of returning to your roots – and the great pleasure of returning to travel.
#StartYourTrip!
Images courtesy AmaWaterways
In Japan, it’s called the ‘Castle in the Sky’, but international travelers who’ve discovered historic Takeda Castle have compared it to another mountain-top historic ruin half a world away in South America.
Peru’s Machu Picchu has made most intrepid travelers’ bucket lists of adventures. But Japan’s Takeda Castle (pronounced: ‘tah-kay-dah’) - that's about the same age as Peru's Machu Picchu - remains an other-worldly experience unknown to most overseas travelers. That's especially surprising considering it’s in the district next door to the ancient capital city of Kyoto, which is a must-do stop for nearly every visitor to Japan.
It’s worth the detour to the mountains of Hyogo Prefecture. Visitors make pre-dawn ascents to viewpoints on the mountain opposite just to gaze over upon the wonder of Takeda Castle at sunrise, appearing to float on top of what the Japanese call ‘unkai’ or ‘a sea of clouds’ - triggered by early morning fog.