Travelers Booking Vacations Should Consider Cortona
December 4th, 2008 by Trevor Iwending, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
Once a sleepy little Italian hilltop town, Cortona is enjoying a rebirth as a tourist mecca. The book “Under the Tuscan Sun” and its sequels, along with the hit film based on this book, people have discovered Tuscany’s Cortona is a delight.
Conveniently located between Rome and Florence, this town of 30,000 people is located on a lovely hill in Tuscany. You can find whatever you want to do here, from museums to biking to restaurants.
Cortona has a long and interesting history, longer than many people realize: The Etruscans built the city’s walls 2,600 years ago. You can still see Etruscan stone work at Porta Guelfa and at Porta Montanina. If the Etruscans fascinate you, you can see more at the Museo dell’Academia Etrusca, which has artifacts from the Etruscans and the Egyptians as well as many historic artworks, books and other items.
Don’t just look at the city walls, interesting as they are. Go inside to the Piazza Garibaldi. From there you can see beautiful Lake Trasimeno. There is also a beautiful church and a park, at the center of which is a fountain decorated with two playful dolphins of bronze. Take a break, sit down and enjoy the view.
Once you’ve rested to Piazza Grande, with its 6th century town hall. On the first Saturday of each month, there is a market where you can find gifts, food and other wares to buy for yourself and others. If shopping is your thing, come to Cortona at the end of August for the National Market of Ancient Furniture at Cortona’s Casali Palace.
Stuck for the time? Look for the Torre del Pulcinella, the town clock that uses cymbals rather than bells to announce the time.
Cortona is full of history, obviously. Nowhere is this more evident than at Cetona Belvedere. This ancient cemetery has caverns, grottoes and other ancient sites.
If exploring is your thing, go to Montepulciano on one of the largest mountain peaks in the area.
If you’re fond of religious history, go to the Great Cloister of the Monastero di Monte Oliveta Maggiore (monastery of the Mount of Olives) to see the frescoes of St. Benedict. Signorelli painted these in the 15th century. Also be sure to see the church of Santa Maria Del Calcinaio, a unique octagonal church. Other religious treasures can be seen at the Museo Diocesano. It houses the Cortona Altarpiece with its six beautiful small paintings that frame the piece.
When visiting Cortona, rest assured that all the usual tourist amenities are available to make your trip easy.
Cortona is deservedly coming into its own. If you get a chance go and see it for yourself. It is a trip you will long remember for its beauty, its heritage and its people. Travelers booking a trip should call their travel agents for more information.
Five Reasons to Book a Fitness Resort Vacation
December 4th, 2008 by Ada Denis, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
Fitness travel is an emerging new trend when it comes to vacations. There was a time when the words “fitness” and “travel” do not seem to fit in the same sentence. That is because we had this general connotation that traveling entails gaining weight since the most common things we do during vacations are to relax and to eat.
These days, however, we are given the option to explore the world while working on the pounds that we wish to lose. Whether it is on a fitness cruise or any other fitness tour, many people are choosing this kind of vacation to, not only bring home priceless extraordinary travel experiences, but also to bring home a priceless healthier and stronger new you.
Seated in locations far away from the urban areas, fitness spa resorts detach their visitors from the stress that they have to deal with from the everyday responsibilities and problems. That alone appeals to a lot of people who are looking for a relaxing vacation. If that is not reason enough, here are five more reasons why you should choose a fitness resort on your next vacation:
1. Destinations. Fitness vacations provide everyone with the best venues for the programs that the different fitness tours prepare. France, Spain, Italy, Wyoming, Costa Rica, the Caribbean - what more can you ask for? The fitness resorts are committed to bringing visitors like you to fun, exciting and unique travel destinations, and providing you with the comfort, peace and accommodating service that you truly need and deserve. The tour programs take you to remote destinations that have a calming and tranquil environment. Or, you can opt for a more energetic and lively tour through ancient metropolises. The choice is yours. Wherever you choose to go, you are guaranteed to love the place.
2. Programs. The programs that fitness vacations facilitate are very comprehensive. A month prior to your week-long fitness tour or cruise, a health coach or fitness personnel will contact you for physical assessment. This is to find out the kinds of activities that you will be able to physically endure during your vacation. During this time, the health coach gives you a personalized and structured program that you can work on alone at home. The idea is to get you physically prepared for your tour as well as to help you to achieve the maximum results during your tour. The fitness program does not end as soon as the tour ends. In fact, nutritional and physical counseling by the health coaching staff is conducted until a month after your tour.
3. Support Group. Naturally, individuals seek the company of those they can most relate to when undergoing challenging and life-changing events in their lives. Fitness spa resorts serves as a venue where people with the same interest in active traveling or goal of losing weight meet and act as inspiration and motivation for each other. There are certain studies that prove that the gathering of participants in groups delivers better positive results. It is always good and fun to meet new people. With the same company you get to keep during your one week of fitness touring, you might even gain personal or professional relationships that will blossom into something very significant in the future.
4. Food. What you eat is truly essential in every travel experience. No matter where you go, no vacation is complete without the taste of your travel destination’s local cuisine. It has always been thought that you have to avoid food in order to lose weight. In fact, fitness vacations serve delectable, mouthwatering dishes for you to succumb into. Bear in mind that food is not only an essential factor of any travel experience. It is also an important factor of having a healthy lifestyle. With a staff of nutritionists to prepare menus, fitness resorts serve their guests with delicious well-balanced meals in appropriate portions. The essence is to keep you sustained for the physical challenges that the tour has prepared for you, and also to help you detoxify and rejuvenate.
5. Health. Who is there to argue that there is no better reason to head off to a fitness resort for your health? With all the travel experiences, great food and friends that any fitness tour offers, none could ever top the health benefits that you are guaranteed to have. The old adage “Health is Wealth” remains true to this day. There is no better way to live your life than living it with a healthy mind and body.
Traveling has always been a rewarding experience. Traveling while gaining health, however, is even more rewarding. In fact, the rewards of fitness traveling are endless!
Trevi Fountain - Rome’s most Famous Fountain
November 21st, 2008 by Sarah Dudleymore, under Vacations. No Comments
A visitor can’t come to Rome without visiting this masterpiece created in the middle of Rome: the Fontana di Trevi.
It’s by far the largest standing and impressive Baroque fountains of Rome. It’s huge: 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide. Rome has an impressive numbero of fountains spread all over the city, more than 3,000, but there is no place on earth like Trevi Fountain.
The fountain is at the juncture of three roads (tre vie). It marks the terminal point of the “modern” Acqua Vergine. One of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome, stretched 22 km (14 miles) away from the city. This aqueduct (Aqua Virgo)also fed water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than four hundred years.
During the last centuries it has gone through many changes and finally in 1629 Pope Urban VIII asked Bernini for a new proposal and design as he thought the earlier fountain was losing its beauty.
When the Urban VIII died the project was forgotten! But in 1732 Nicola Salvi adopted it again and took it over. The fountain was completed in 1762, the orignal Bernini’s project was rejected but there are many Bernini touches in the fountain anyway.
Coin throwing: A traditional legend says that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are sure to return to Rome. For those who are not familiar with the tossing of the “three coins”. They were thrown by three different individuals, the current version is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce!
How your love could be governed by the tossing of three coins into a fountain is still a mystery many people believes in. This act has to be done with the right hand over one’s left shoulder and is said to bring good luck.
Each day approximately three thousands euros are believed to be thrown into the fountain and collected at night. The money has been used to help poor people and homeless in Rome. Nevertheless regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain are witnessed very frequently, including some using a magnetized pole. In 1998 the fountain has been refurbished and provided with re-circulating pumps.
If you are wondering what is the building behind Trevi Fountain…well, it’s called Palazzo dei Duchi di Polis and in the center you can see a modeled replica of the triumphal arch. The center niche has free-standing columns for maximal light-and-shade.
On the outside Oceanus, water is coming out from her urn and Salubrity is holding a cup from where the snake is drinkin. There is a copy of the Roman origin of the aqueducts on the top. Horses and tritons provide a balance, giving maximum contrast with their facial expressions and poses.
The theme of the gigantic scheme that jumps forward it’s called “Taming of the waters”. The mixing of water and rockwork is simply amazing.
Trevi area is definetely one of the most beautiful areas of Rome.
Experience the Best of Italy at These Top Hotels
November 18th, 2008 by Josh Prizer, under Vacations. No Comments
Whether you long to tour the historic sites of Rome or sip wine from the terrace of a Tuscan villa, a trip to Italy is sure to rank as one of your top travel experiences.
Italy offers so many unique and interesting experiences; it can be difficult to narrow them all done for one vacation. Perhaps the best way to approach Italy is to plan to follow several different itineraries and focus on a few unique places. You might decide to combine a visit to Sicily with a driving trip that takes you from Rome to Milan. Another option is explore southern Italy and hit Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and the remote area around Apulia. A unique option would be to head inland and explore the mountain towns and lake regions of Italy.
Travel expert Karen Brown describes a variety of unique itineraries on her much-visited website. These itineraries will help you get the most out of your Italian vacation. As for lodging, her readers have voted the following as Italy’s best hotels:
Locanda dell-Amorosa, chosen by Karen Brown readers as Italy’s “Most Romantic” lodging, is in an ideal spot for those wishing to travel around Tuscany and Umbria. The historic hotel is part of a larger complex that once formed a small town. The stables have been transformed into a restaurant, the main house now offers more than two dozen guest rooms, and each one has been individually decorated. The rooms boast views of the vineyards and surrounding valleys, and they feature antiques and rustic wood-beamed ceilings.
Hospitality and Italy are practically synonymous, and a stay Il Falconiere Relais is further proof of that fact. This Tuscan hotel was chosen as the recipient of the Karen Brown Readers’ Choice Award for the “Warmest Welcome” in Italy. Just outside of Cortona and nestled in the Italian countryside, the hotel provides an excellent home base for day trips to Florence, Assisi and Siena. After a day exploring, return to the inn for a scrumptious dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. Hotel guests can opt for special themed visits, one of which includes a mini cooking school and another includes guided tours of five different wine regions, such as Chianti and Montefalco.
Albergo Villa Belvedere is proof that you can eat your cake and have it too. This beautiful villa was chosen by Karen Brown readers as Italy’s “Greatest Value.” While not luxurious, the guest rooms are clean and comfortable with simple furnishings, and some have pleasant views of Lake Como. Breakfast and dinner, both filled with hearty fare, are included in the rates, adding to the value of this lakeside retreat. The Cappelletti Family and their warm hospitality are another huge plus, and you’ll be treated more as a friend than a hotel guest.
Pamper yourself at one of the world’s great resorts on the stunning Amalfi Coast at Il San Pietro di Positano. Everything about this hotel is spectacular, from the unparalleled views from the many terraces to the elegant guest rooms to the gourmet cuisine served at the hotel’s restaurant. The list of amenities is enormous - a full-service spa, fitness center, swimming pool and tennis court. Best of all is a private beach cove where you can lounge and sunbathe to your heart’s content. Il San Pietro was chosen as Italy’s best “Splendid Splurge” by Karen Brown readers.
When In Rome, You Must Visit The Sistine Chapel
September 21st, 2008 by Eran Malloch, under Vacations. No Comments
It was Pope Sixtus IV who commissioned and gave the name to the Sistine Chapel. But it was in 1508 that Pope Julius II gave the chapel worldwide fame when he commissioned the amazing Italian artist Michelangelo to paint the 10,000 square foot ceiling with his creative frescoes.
But there is a lot to learn about this beautiful building that you can enjoy during your visit to Rome and Vatican City. For example, the chapel is not far from the Vatican Museum, which is an attraction entirely worth taking a day or more to see what it has to offer. Also the famous St. Peter’s Basilica is walking distance from the Sistine Chapel, and there you can enjoy another magnificent Michelangelo creation “The Pieta,” and you can also admire the dome of the Basilica, which is a masterpiece of architecture in and of itself.
By comparison to many of the other huge buildings in Rome, The Sistine Chapel is relatively small at only 135 feet wide by 44 feet tall. But in this small building are some of the most important works of art in modern history - art works that any museum in the world would be eager to add to their collections. We can be grateful that the Vatican takes good care of these treasures as evidenced by the major restoration work that was done to the chapel between 1979 and 1999.
The list of famous and should-be famous artists that contributed to the Sistine Chapel is impressive. Botticelli has a number of classic works in the chapel, including his 1482 creations, “Life of Moses” as well as “The Punishment of Korah”. Not far from these stunning art pieces are works by Rosselli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and other great artists from this time frame in history.
But it is that magnificent ceiling that will hold your eyes for as long as you can look up. When the Pope commissioned Michelangelo to do this work, all that was there was a bland display of painted stars. It took Michelangelo four long and hard years of intense labor to complete his masterpiece. But the outcome is stunning, as he transformed that ceiling into a magnificent nine-panel master art work that is beyond compare.
For subject matter, Michelangelo drew from various characters of the Old Testament including Noah, a variety of male nudes, Sibyls and of course, the world famous image of Jehovah himself reaching out to mankind through Adam to give life at the touch of his divine finger.
Since the Vatican ordered the painting restored and cleaned in the 1990s, it once again explodes with the colors that the great master wanted us to see. The great thinker Goethe wrote the following words concerning the painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling:
“Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.”
Michelangelo spent 4 years on a custom designed scaffold while painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The paint nearly made him go blind, and he had to design a dozen new inventions or improvements on (then) current technology to finish the job. As just one simple example, he invented a new kind of plaster - intonaco - which is still used today. It has a much improved ability to hold the paint properly to the ceiling (useful when painting upside down) and is also mold resistant.
Michelangelo finished his master work in 1512 but in his mind, he was not done. Twenty years later he returned to the Sistine Chapel to paint one more installment of his vision. It was entitled “The Last Judgment” and it took the master from 1525 to 1541 to finish it. So be sure you look for that artwork as well. It will jump out at you when your eyes come down from the ceiling as it fills an entire wall behind the alter of the chapel.
An engrossing and yet controversial part of the painting is a rendering of St. Bartholomew, which is a self portrait that shows the saint’s skin being flayed. This drew a lot of criticism from people in high places as did his frequent use of nudes in all of his artwork. Michelangelo was such a force in the Italian artistic world that he won the fight to keep his artwork as he created it but sadly much later the paintings were marred when the genitals of the nudes was painted over.
Art lovers or just curious tourists alike cannot possibly stand in the presence of such greatness and not be moved. So as you plan your trip to Rome, you would be remiss if you did not allow some time to visit the Sistine Chapel and take in the artistic masterpieces you will find there.