Travel and Adventure from Creators Syndicate

Food, wine and fun in Spain's hot Valencia for 09/13/2009

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By John Blanchette

Rising like an orange above Valencia, the sun peeled the darkness from night as my flight descended into Spain's third largest city. Situated halfway between Madrid on the central plateau and second city Barcelona on the northeast corner, the Valencia region forms a crescent mouth that bites into the west coast of the Mediterranean, gateway to one of the country's grea ...

Updated: Sun Sep 13, 2009

Music and memories in country's Nashville home for 09/19/2009

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Glenda Winders

One of my earliest memories is of playing with the wood scraps in my father's basement workshop, making trains and tepees from the little triangles and circles that fell to the floor from his tools. The soundtrack for these cozy sessions with my dad was country music on WSM, the radio station from Nashville, Tenn., that faded in and out from a set he was constantly movi ...

Updated: Sat Sep 19, 2009

Nashville -- a history in homes for 09/20/2009

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Glenda Winders

Scarlett O'Hara didn't have anything on Adelicia Acklen, a real-life Civil War heroine whose summer home, the Belmont Mansion, in Nashville, Tenn., is now the centerpiece of Belmont University. One of the richest women in the world, Acklen married three times, outlived most of the 10 children to whom she gave birth, and traveled the world collecting the artwork and natu ...

Updated: Sun Sep 20, 2009

What's New at Virginia Presidential Pads for 09/26/2009

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Ruth A. Hill

Those who recall high school history lessons know the Commonwealth of Virginia was birthplace to eight U.S. presidents, including four of the first five. Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe all called these rolling hills, meandering Atlantic coast and piedmont home, and they were some of the reasons the state dominated Colonial politics. Virginia later launched Harr ...

Updated: Sat Sep 26, 2009

Tigre: A Tranquil Respite From Buenos Aires for 09/27/2009

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Beverly Mann

Where do the locals, or portenos, of Buenos Aires go to escape the endless energy in the streets, restaurants, and tango bars, bustling until the wee hours of morning? A 50-minute train ride from the big city, Tigre presents the perfect respite.

Built around the tranquil Paran‡ Delta, formed by the confluence of more than 100 rivers and canals flowing into the Rio ...

Updated: Sun Sep 27, 2009

Warm Welcomes and Fabulous Art Are Powerful Holland Draws for 10/03/2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Robert Selwitz

For North American travelers, Holland could well be Europe's most comfortable country. Intriguing cities, fabulous art, a laid-back citizenry with virtually everyone speaking English, reasonable prices and terrific food make including Holland in one's European itinerary a wise move.

Visual arts are its prime draw. Amsterdam, the nation's most important city, is a ...

Updated: Sat Oct 03, 2009

Winter Olympic Countdown: Vancouver Gears Up for the Games for 10/04/2009

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Jim Farber

Tick. Tick. Tick.

In the heart of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, the brightly illuminated Olympic clock is counting down, marking the seconds, minutes and hours before the start of the XXI Winter Olympics, Feb. 12, 2010. Tourists line up to have their photos snapped in front of it — including one couple in their wedding attire. Everywhere you look Olympi ...

Updated: Sun Oct 04, 2009

Made-to-order shore excursions on Holland America for 10/10/2009

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Sheila Sobell and Richard N. Every

It was early morning, and only goats and sheep were out grazing the rocky, arid hillside. From the walled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, our car followed a serpentine road, Jadranska Turisticka, for 1,300 feet up to the summit of Srd Hill, the area's second tallest mountain. Strains of guitar music lured us up cracked stone steps to the top, where the v ...

Updated: Sat Oct 10, 2009

Don't Dismiss Detroit for 10/11/2009

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Molly Arost Staub

For Michael Jackson devotees, the best place to pay homage to the late entertainer may be the site where the Jackson Five got their start professionally — in Detroit's Motown Museum. In the unassuming double building, visitors learn that Motown Record Corp. founder Berry Gordy worked his magic from 1959 to 1972 (the company was originally named Motortown). Exh ...

Updated: Sun Oct 11, 2009

Following the Trail of Sherlock Holmes for 10/17/2009

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Sharon Whitley Larsen

DARTMOOR, England —The eerie, wailing moan and loud banging outside caused my fellow diners and me to jump. What was that? Could it be the recently escaped felon from nearby Dartmoor Prison?

At once Perkins, the butler, ran to the window and pulled open the velvet curtains. A huge hound with glowing yellow-red eyes stared in at us.

And we all ...

Updated: Sat Oct 17, 2009

Remembering JFK in Dallas for 10/18/2009

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Tom and Joanne O'Toole

We may never really know who shot President John Kennedy. Was it Lee Harvey Oswald? Did he have an accomplice? Was he set up to take the fall? Was Jack Ruby involved? Or was there some unknown sharpshooter on that grassy knoll?

In an effort to learn all we could, we took a tour in Dallas that was aptly named "The JFK Conspiracy Tour."

One ...

Updated: Sun Oct 18, 2009

Willis Island and Hamilton Island: Paradise Down Under for 10/24/2009

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Sharon Whitley Larsen

CRUISING OFF WILLIS ISLAND, Australia — Imagine living on a tiny, remote tropical island with only three other people — for six months. Everyone has fantasies about a Robinson Crusoe lifestyle, and that's just what some staff of the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology get to experience.

Located in the Coral Sea near the Great Barrier Re ...

Updated: Sat Oct 24, 2009

The Quiet Side of the Smoky Mountains for 10/25/2009

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Jim Farber

To approach the Great Smoky Mountains from Tennessee through Seiverville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg is to run a nonstop gauntlet of American tourist kitsch — from "Ripley's Haunted Adventure" and "The Museum of Muscle Cars," to the roaring tigers of "Magic Beyond Belief" and the red, white and blue buckaroo madness of "Dolly Parton ...

Updated: Sun Oct 25, 2009

From the Bauhaus to Your House for 10/31/2009

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Joan Scobey

Take a look around. The iPod. Target's bright-red circles. Tubular steel chairs and goose-necked desk lamps. Skyscrapers of glass and steel, and whitewashed buildings with clean, sharp lines. They are all indebted to one school of design, the Bauhaus, that existed for just 14 years in Germany, from 1919 to 1933.

Contrary to common belief, Bauhaus is not an architect ...

Updated: Sat Oct 31, 2009

Vary Your Vacations With Film Festivals for 11/01/2009

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0700

By Marilyn Zeitlin

Want to see the latest and best films from Hollywood and around the world? Does the idea of seeing film stars up-close — even sitting next to them in restaurants — seem exciting? Would you like to participate in a question-and-answer session with some of filmdom's leading directors? Does the idea of seeing films from morning to evening with breaks in betw ...

Updated: Sun Nov 01, 2009

Gourmet Celebration in Gascogne for 11/07/2009

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

By Patricia Woeber

After friends told me about their food, wine and culture honeymoon in France, I decided to follow their example. In a rented Renault Clio, I drove west of Toulouse to Gascogne, an area in the Gers departement, Midi-Pyrenees Region in southwestern France. Amid fertile rolling hills lay a land of corn, wheat and grapevines, the air fresh, the light soft.

Gascogne, ...

Updated: Sat Nov 07, 2009

A Lot to Love Along France's Lot River for 11/08/2009

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

By Patricia Woeber

The Lot River's valleys and gorges dazzle nature lovers with scenic beauty, fascinate history buffs with its rich past, and delight art lovers with ancient art and architecture. The river courses for about 300 miles and spends some time looping its way through the Lot and Aveyron departements (counties) in the Midi-Pyrenees region of southwestern France. Characterized ...

Updated: Sun Nov 08, 2009

A Visit to Aix-en-Provence's Favorite Son for 11/14/2009

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

By Karen Kenyon

"I am deeply in love with the landscape of my country." — Paul Cezanne

Cezanne's name is carved above the gate to his studio in Aix-en-Provence in southern France, and when I first stepped over the threshold to the tangled garden in front of his atelier, I knew I had entered a sacred space. A few visitors sat amid the lush greenery reading, writing ...

Updated: Sat Nov 14, 2009

Get Away From It All on California's Central Coast for 11/15/2009

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

By Jim Farber

They were hunting for oil — black gold — along a sycamore-lined creek just south of the central California town of San Luis Obispo in 1886. What they discovered, however, was a mother lode of hot bubbling mineral water. Rather than being depressed, the two men decided to stake their claim. And in 1897 the Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort opened its doors for busi ...

Updated: Sun Nov 15, 2009

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURERELEASE: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009, AND THEREAFTERA Yorkshire Christmas: Chocolate Oranges, Angels and Shakespeare Updated By Sheila Sobell If all you know of England at Christmas is fighting the throngs in London, try spending the for 11/21/2009

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

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Updated: Sat Nov 21, 2009