CaliGirl asked:
My husband and I will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary next year and want to travel somewhere internationally. We’re thinking Europe, but open to anything right now.
My husband and I will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary next year and want to travel somewhere internationally. We’re thinking Europe, but open to anything right now.
We’re looking for something INTERESTING and UNFORGETTABLE. I really don’t want a tour bus vacation. My mom was mentioning farmhouses in Italy where you stay and learn to cook a meal each night. So, something along those lines. We’re very young and fairly active and I especially love to walk.
A couple notes:
We’ll most likely be going in March, and not against cold weather.
We’ll only have a week.
We aren’t heavy drinkers and we don’t go clubbing.
We’re not interested in Mexico or South America.
And nothing to do with snorkeling or deep water (I have a fear of deep water).
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Tags: 5th Anniversary, Farmhouses In Italy, Love Notes, South America, Travel
July 1st, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I know it may sound a bit of an uncommon place to travel but Finland. If your into walking/hiking/outdoors there are some gorgeous national parks there. Lemmenjoki National Park,
Perämeri National Park, or Elämysretket Lemmenjoella (which includes boating/sailing options which is really fun). The scenery there is just breath-taking. Hope this helps a little! Have fun!
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
Last year in January, my husband and I did a 10 day trip to Egypt and Jordan. You could do either country in a week.
We LOVED Jordan. We flew into Amman and spent a day there, seeing the castle on the hill, ROman forum, etc. We then hired a taxi to drive down south (negotiate the fee in advance in Amman). We stopped off to see Karak Castle, used by the crusaders from Europe. An old man took us around the castle as a tour guide for a small fee. Our taxi continued onward to Petra, which was the highlight of the country. You hike about a mile through an incredible canyon to emerge in front of the famous Treasury building (in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade movie). You can hike around the old town, which is full of buildings carved into the stone walls. And there are several great climbs up the hills to see a monastery and views off to the distance. It is one of the most memorable places we’ve ever been. You can also do a camel trek into the desert at Wadi Rum, nearby. We didn’t have time to go to Jerash, a preserved Roman town in northern Jordan, but it looked incredible. And you can access the Dead Sea and the beach town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. Everyone in Jordan spoke decent English. The country was clean and people were friendly. Not as cheap as Egypt, but all in all, very nice.
Egypt was also incredible. There is nothing like seeing the pyramids and sphinx at Giza. There are other pyramids in the area that show the evolution to these masterpieces. And you can see the Egyptian Museum in Cairo for beautiful carvings and statues as well as mummies from around the country. If you have time, visit Luxor as well. There are great temples at Luxor and Karnak, and you can see tombs in the Valleys of Kings and Queens. You don’t need a tour, it’s easy to get around Egypt by yourself via taxis. Most taxi drivers at the foreign chain hotels speak English and are dying for you to hire them for the day. Egypt was definitely a bit more “third world” than Jordan, outside the tourist hotels which are quite nice.
You could also try Japan. There is a great contrast between modern Tokyo and ancient Kyoto. In a week, you can see Tokyo’s bustling streets, tall skyscrapers, jam packed department stores, fish market, etc. And you can ride the bullt train down to Kyoto to see ancient temples, Zen rock gardens, maiko (like geisha), and koi fish ponds. Japanese food is very exotic, way beyond sushi. And Mt. Fuji is gorgeous. Japan is very safe and relatively friendly for foreigners, even if you don’t speak Japanese. I’ve been there numerous times and love it.
We’ve been to most of Europe. Italy is especially nice for food, history, and sightseeing. You can’t go wrong there. Our most memorable trip in Europe was driving around Scotland — the castles are so cool and the Isle of Skye’s nature is unparalleled. However, I would only recommend visiting there in summer. We also liked Turkey, which has great mosques, the Hagia Sophia which is around 1500 years old, Roman cisterns, and the best bazaar we’ve ever seen. Turkish mezze is delicious too, and you can eat dinner while watching river traffic on the Bosphorus. Just watch out for aggressive carpet salespeople. One other idea is Southern Spain. Barcelona has gorgeous buildings by Gaudi. And Sevilla / Granada / Cordoba have a beautiful mix of Moorish architecture and European culture. The Alhambra is one of the most visited places in Europe, and well worth a visit. And you can linger over mezze and white wine until midnight at least.
We haven’t been to Morocco, but know a few people who have been there and loved it. The country apparently has varied climates — beach, mountain, desert. You can combine adventure and relaxing and culture quite easily. Just thought it would be worth a mention.
Congratulations on your anniversary!