Popular Sights

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Built by the Maya civilization, Chichen Itza exhibits scores of architectural styles from central and northern Mexico. The site's historic ruins indicate that the ancient collapse of this once dominant city was violent, resulting in a major shift of the region's political power. Meticulous preservation of the site's temples, palaces, stages, markets and ballcourts continue to attract an influx of interest from around the world.

Check out these tours visiting the Yucatan:

Mexico's Treasure: The Yucatan
8 days from $1,199 pp

Treasures of the Yucatan
8 days from $1,779 pp

Treasures of the Yucatan
8 days from $1,865 pp

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Located in the north west of U.S.A is Yellowstone, a national park of the superlative in which the impressive white water of Old Faithful is today one of the most famous and most photographed natural spectacles in the world. Indeed, for more than a century this mighty geyser has been the proud and unique landmark of the oldest national park in the United States.

The Yellowstone National Park is famous for its highly visible geological processes. The area close to Old Faithful not only features a number of geysers but also numerous hot springs that highlight the tremendous thermal power that lies beneath the earth's surface.

Today the Grand Geyser is the largest active geyser in the world. Its huge eruptions occur every eight to fourteen hours and last for nine to twelve minutes and can sometimes reach a height of sixty metres.

The Yellowstone is one of the largest volcanoes in the world. Because it is located directly above a geological hot spot, a huge cave constantly fills with magma. It is situated at a depth of eight kilometres and is the reason for the park's visible geo-thermal activity.

Some kilometres south of Nymph Lake is another geothermal area, the Norris Geyser Basin. This area is unique among the landscapes of Yellowstone Park as it is not only the park's hottest area but also boasts the largest geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser.

Although Yellowstone National Park is important for North America's plant and wild life, this nine thousand square kilometre nature reserve is primarily a geological park.

Amazing, fantastic, incredible and wonderful: how can you put into words a place that provides so many remarkable glimpses of the inner workings of Planet Earth?

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

For those that are new to travel, you may be wondering when reading through an itinerary what is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that holds a list of outstanding cultural or natural universal value such as, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It could be a monument, building, mountain, forest, lake, desert, complex or city.

So how is a site selected?

Only countries that have signed the World Heritage Convention, pledging to protect their natural & cultural heritage can submit nominations for properties on their territory to be considered for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

A nominated property is independently evaluated by several Advisory Boards. Once a site has been nominated & evaluated, the intergovernmental World Heritage Committee makes the final decision. One per year, the Committee meets to decide which sites will be inscribed on the World Heritage list.

The program aims to catalogue & preserve sites of outstanding importance, either cultural or natural, to the common heritage of humankind.

There are currently 878 World Heritage Sites in 145 countries. These include 679 cultural, 174 natural and 25 mixed properties.

You may have visited a place in the U.S. already, not realizing it was a UNESCO site such as the Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Yosemite Yellowstone or Olympic National Park.

Click here for a full list of site.

I have seen 20 sites in 9 countries, so only 858 to go, but I have to say that certain countries do not interest me AT ALL, so my goal would be to see at least half of the UNESCO sites while traveling the world.

How many UNESCO sites have you visited?

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Shopping, dining and partying are serious business in chic Milan, Italy's most sophisticated and prosperous city. This financial and commercial center of Italy attracts fashionistas, world-famous designers, business leaders, opera lovers and other fans of all ages. The city is also home to many artistic treasures including the restored "Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci as well as the majestic Duomo, the world's largest Gothic cathedral, presiding over the Piazza that bears its name. Milan is also home to the world's most beautiful shopping mall, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Several tours begin in Rome and end in Milan, but airfare can be expensive in and out of two cities, so many clients choose to include Milan when just visiting northern Italy and parts of Switzerland. Milan and Italian Treasures for example, is a popular choice.