Alison Stewart's Blog, page 5

An Enchanting Tuscan Walk

Imagine this – spring in Tuscany. It’s an enduring fantasy, mythologised in literature and film, of a sacred place of simple enchantment where our better selves emerge.

And I find it is true – this hilltop towns of Tuscany seven-day walk is one of the loveliest in years of writing about wonderful walks. Tuscany reveals itself as a seductive place whose lifestyle, landscape and culture truly do inspire the fabled spiritual regeneration.

Here’s my story about an amazing, self-guided walk, published in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller and online here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/tuscan-trails-h157ju#ixzz5Sf2c6XXX

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The Italian town destroyed by an “inland tsunami”

Dark history exists in many places – wars, natural disasters, evidence of human greed, immorality and venality. Some places choose to forget. Longarone in Italy’s northern Dolomites chooses to remember. How could it not?

About the time of President John Kennedy’s assassination, the entire town, along with four others, was destroyed by a man-made megatsunami that killed about 2000 people, 1400 from Longarone alone.

Here’s my story published in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller and published online at Traveller.com.au:

http://www.traveller.com.au/italy-the-town-of-longarone-has-history-and-tragedy-h14wmz#ixzz5Sf0z2Spd

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Egypt’s Tomb Raiders

Imagine the utter horror if someone took from England the four original 1215 charters of King John’s Magna Carta, depositing them in a foreign museum, or absconded with William the Conqueror’s 1086 Domesday Book.

What about Stonehenge’s monumental bluestones? If Abu Simbel and the Philae Temples could be moved, why not Stonehenge, transported piecemeal to some foreign shore? Perish the thought.

And yet, Egypt’s priceless treasures and cultural antiquities have been carried off by tomb raiders and charlatans (including aristocratic gentleman archaeologists) for centuries, many now installed in countless eminent collections, including The British Museum, The Louvre, Berlin’s Neues and Pergamon museums and New York’s Metropolitan Museum.

Here’s my story on the plunder of Egypt, published in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller and online at:

http://www.traveller.com.au/egypt-extraordinary-archaeological-treasures-and-a-long-history-of-tomb-raiding-h13bfd#ixzz5Sez4o8Pl

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A little cycle along the Danube

Peace and fragrant loveliness inhabit the green hills of Austria’s Wachau Valley on the Danube. Add a heavy bike with slipping gears, however, plus a posse of testosterone-fuelled fellas and suddenly, the hills are alive with irritation.

Here’s my story about this three-hour, 32-kilometre cycle, published in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller and on Traveller.com.au:

http://www.traveller.com.au/cruising-and-cycling-the-danube-the-melk-run-h156fy#ixzz5Sex7FJuJ

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The Journey Continues … Tutankhamun’s treasures on the move

All the photos in the world cannot prepare you for the moment when you stand before Tutankhamun’s exquisite golden death mask inlaid with enamel and semiprecious stones.  It appears entirely alive. The boy king’s expression is tranquil, haughty, perhaps a little judgmental, his beauty evident. His obsidian and quartz eyes look deep into the viewer’s heart.

My story on Tutankhamun’s treasures moving to the new Egyptian Museum in Giza was published in the August 25, 2018 issue of The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller.

Read more: http://www.traveller.com.au/egypt-treasures-of-the-pharaohs-are-moving-to-a-new-museum-in-giza-h1447m#ixzz5QHDGf73l

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Nile-high club – hot air ballooning over Luxor

Our Luxor morning is as gold as pharaohs’ treasure. The Nile is molten, the mountains and desert gilded, the rising sun a sovereign’s orb.

It’s daybreak over Egypt’s Valley of the Kings as we climb into the silent air, not without some trepidation, for Luxor has a chequered hot-air ballooning history.

Here is my story, published on August 18, 2018 in Fairfax Media’s The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller.

Read more: http://www.traveller.com.au/hotair-balloon-ride-over-egypts-valley-of-the-kings-h13t97#ixzz5QHBhshRT

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Europe’s Amazing E-bike Cycling Revolution

Active adventure is the seed from which extraordinary travel experiences may blossom. At a certain stage however, the body resists. A revolution sweeping Europe is ensuring that energetic travellers can still dream.

Five years ago, e-bikes were as rare as desert truffles. Arduous cycles through mountainous terrain were the preserve of the fit or youthful. Now, the glittering jewel in the crown of guided and self-guided cycling adventures is the pedal-assisted bike. Cycle journey operators are recognising a booming demand from still-energetic travellers seeking adventure minus exhaustion.

Here’s my story published in The Age Melbourne and The Sun-Herald, Sydney Traveller sections on July 29, 2018, and I include the online link:

http://www.traveller.com.au/cycling-italys-dolomites-on-ebikes-the-cycling-revolution-sweeping-europe-h130ll#ixzz5MmnqfKs1

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http://www.traveller.com.au/cycling-italys-dolomites-on-ebikes-the-cycling-revolution-sweeping-europe-h130ll

Famous Franconians

Famous Franconians “spread all over the world like a disease,” says our Rothenburg tour guide Tobias. Think Wolf Blass, Levi Strauss, Henry Kissinger and Dr Alzheimer.

It appears we have scored a wag, who is about to give us a tongue-in-cheek cultural lesson on the “barbarian Bavarian”, who apparently should never be confused with the more civilised, wine-loving Franconian.

Read my story in Fairfax Traveller, published on July 29, 2018 and I include the online link for ease of reading:

http://www.traveller.com.au/franconia-germany-bavarias-sophisticated-other-half-h12hfu#ixzz5MmmPyWbx

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Transports of Delight

Without transport, there would be little travel, apart from those excellent journeys of the mind, known as “transports of delight”. Occasionally, our travel stars align into treasured experiences, a serendipitous fusion of circumstances defined by something quite humble – the form of transport.

Here’s the cover story in Fairfax Media’s Traveller on July 28, 2018, which includes pieces by seven Traveller writers on their choice of unusual transport. I have written the introduction and a piece on canoeing the Zambezi.

Transport cover story

You can also read it online here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/the-best-and-usual-modes-of-transport-different-ways-to-travel-the-world-h130tx#ixzz5MmjiOIO7

 

 

Egypt’s glorious historic hotels

The grand old historic hotels strewn like pearls along the Nile Valley owe much of their lustre to Egypt’s archaeological and strategic significance. Giza’s Mena House, Luxor’s Winter Palace and Aswan’s Old Cataract – all built to enable the pursuit of treasure after the Rosetta Stone’s discovery in 1799 unlocked the mysteries of hieroglyphics – are treasures in themselves, linked inextricably to momentous events in the country’s history.

Here’s my story published in July 2018 in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Traveller and you can read the online version here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/egypt-the-luxury-egyptian-hotels-that-are-also-historic-treasures-h12b48#ixzz5MPGH4yAk

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