Linda A. Tancs's Blog: The Long and Short of It, page 94

Art in the Canary Islands

By Linda Tancs

Gran Canaria might be best known for its black lava and white sand beaches, but locals are just as impressed with the evolution of artistic styles in the archipelago. Spanish architecture is a given, considering that the Spanish colonized the islands in the 1400s. But you’ll also find aboriginal monuments along with traces of Gothic, Baroque, Moorish and modernist influences. In the port city of Las Palmas, a colossal sculpture known as “Lady Harimaguada” dominates the water’s edge, an abstract work by the late Spanish sculptor Martín Chirino. Several bus routes are just minutes away from it.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Nervous Sharks in Australia

By Linda Tancs

It’s hard to imagine a shark being nervous. Yet there is a species of shark called the nervous shark, so named due to its timid nature around humans. It’s one of at least 28 species of shark in Shark Bay. Located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, this World Heritage Site is approximately 500 miles north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. And don’t let the name fool you. The locale is home to more than 100 species of reptiles and amphibians, 240 species of birds, 820 species of fish and more than 80 coral and 218 bivalve species. It’s also a safe haven for some of the world’s most endangered species, including the loggerhead turtle, green turtle, dugong and four mammal species not found in the wild anywhere else. You can explore some of the area’s best spots by following the World Heritage Drive or book a tour at the World Heritage Discovery & Visitor Centre.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Rural Life in Piedmont

By Linda Tancs

Parco Naturale Valle del Ticino is a protected area in Ticino and Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region of Italy. The park is situated in the south of Lake Maggiore, where the Ticino River flows out from the lake and reaches Lombardy. The landscape is primarily rural, dotted with mills and farmhouses. The river valley has seen its share of excitement, however, having been plumbed by gold diggers until just decades ago. These days a popular point of interest is Mulino Vecchio of Bellinzago, the only working watermill in the valley. Rebuilt in 1718, it has become a Regional Center for Environmental Education.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

The Blue Forest

By Linda Tancs

There’s good reason why Belgium’s Hallerbos is called “the blue forest.” Around mid-April the bluebells bloom, turning the entire forest floor into a sea of purple-blue wonder. You’ll find two marked trails: the Achtdreven (in the middle of the bluebell area) and the roebuck walk, more than half of which passes through the blooms. Just south of Brussels, the forest is located predominately in Halle.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Racing in Germany

By Linda Tancs

Do you have a need for speed? Then maybe the Nürburgring is for you. Located in western Germany, it’s one of the most famous, historical racetracks in the world. You needn’t sit idly by as a spectator, either. Anyone with a license and a validly titled vehicle can enter the track. The North Loop is especially prized by race fanatics. Of course, the ring hosts several important races, including the World Touring Car Championship’s Race of Germany. The track is just one hour away from Cologne.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Country Life in Dorset

By Linda Tancs

Mapperton has been touted as England’s finest manor house. Located in Dorset, it was entered in the Domesday Book 1086 as Malperetone and was owned by a sheriff. Today’s Jacobean manor house still shows vestiges of the Tudor manor of the 1540s from which it originated. It’s the home of the Montagus, currently the Earl and Countess of Sandwich. Their ancestor, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, is credited with putting roast beef between two slices of bread. Perhaps his more notable achievement was reorganizing the navy and improving its ships. Seafaring achievement is likewise evident in the life of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, who became Charles II’s first general-at-sea. Their portraits are in the Sandwich collection, along with pictures by Lely, Van de Velde the Younger, Scott, Reynolds and Hogarth. Be sure to visit the gardens, rated as one of the top in the southwest. Tucked into a steep north-south combe, the period gardens descend among tumbling hills and unspoiled countryside.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley

By Linda Tancs

Lascaux is the setting for a complex of caves near the village of Montignac in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. It’s part of the prehistoric sites and decorated caves of the Vézère Valley. Anthropologically significant, it’s also a draw because of cave paintings, especially those of the Lascaux Cave. Discovered in 1940, the cave is of great importance for the history of prehistoric art. You’ll find richly detailed and colorful drawings in sectors with evocative names like the Hall of the Bulls, the Chamber of the Felines, the Apse and the Shaft. Best of all, you can tour it from the safety and convenience of your armchair.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Spelunking in Slovenia

By Linda Tancs

Slovenia’s Postojna Cave is heralded as the “Queen of the Underground World.” Carved by the Pivka River, the cave system is the second-longest in the country (at nearly 15 miles) and a top tourist draw. It sparkles like a diamond thanks to flowstone deposits from the stalagmites. It’s also inhabited by olms, the only exclusively cave-dwelling salamander species found in Europe. The locals like to think of them as baby dragons. The attraction also boasts the world’s first railway in an underground cave. Opened in 1872, the underground train is a 2-mile-long journey on the world’s only double-track cave railway.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

Rock Art for Members Only

By Linda Tancs

Quinkan rock art refers to a large body of significant Australian Aboriginal rock art of a style characterized by their unique representations of “Quinkans,” found among the sandstone escarpments around the small town of Laura in Queensland, Australia. It’s regarded by UNESCO as one of the 10 most significant bodies of rock art in the world. You can tour this remote area exclusively with Jarramali Rock Art Tours and admire an area regarded by archaeologists as a 20,000-year-old outback museum. The tour site is nearly six hours away from Cairns.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.

South Africa’s Spice Route

By Linda Tancs

Cape Town is South Africa’s oldest city, established in the 1600s as a refueling station along the Spice Route for eastbound ships. The story goes that ancient mariners would blow their horns to signal their arrival at Cape Town harbor, inviting farmers to trade. That spirit is captured today along the modern Spice Route, a tourist destination in Paarl featuring arts and crafts, local wines, draft beer and dark chocolates. The artisans chosen to participate in the route represent the best of the culture, art and taste of South Africa. The site is just over an hour’s drive from Cape Town’s city center.

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To limit the spread of COVID-19, attractions may be closed or have partial closures. Please keep those affected by the virus in your thoughts and be sure to follow the safety practices advocated by the Centers for Disease Control. Stay safe, and be well.