Jun 29, 2011

Woodcliff Lake, NJ, June 28, 2011 – ItalyVacations.com is celebrating the Superstars International Series and the World Superbike Championship with exclusive packages for the ultimate motorsports experience! ItalyVacations.com is offering three-night and five-night packages for three race weekends in Italy: Maserati-Ferrari Superstars Mugello Race Weekend

For part one “J’Alla, J’Alla. Madam, give me bag. Very heavy. Not for lady to carry.” I watch in embarrassment as he is loaded with tonne after tonne. He just stands there obediently, no sign of resistance, not a complaint, just the odd blink and the occasional neigh. Finally, my mule is fully laden and ready to go!! I follow Ibrahim, my

My guide, Jose, looked around at me and put his finger to his lips, “Shh, can you feel the spirits?” I held my breath. Human skeletons and cracked pottery lay scattered on the ground. Obsidian blades that were once used to pierce the tongue and genitals sat near a slate altar at the far wall. We were more than a kilometer underground. I was in Actun

At different sites over the two main islands of Malta and in the surrounding waters are found some man-made features which have been given the name ‘cart ruts’, largely because the first visitors to discover them believed they had been worn by a cart. Their most famous site is at Clapham Junction, named after Britain’s busiest railway intersection, an area

The City and province of Yazd in Iran holds many wonders of architectural significance. A Zoroastrian Fire Temple in Yazd holds a traditional fire, which has been kept alight by Zoroastrian priests, continuously for over 1100 years. Caravansaries, Islamic architecture including the Friday mosque and wind-towers or badgirs, which act as incredibly effective

The hill on which Krak des Chevaliers was constructed, was originally the site of a smaller fort called the “Castle on the slope”. The Emir of Homs, who garrisoned his Kurdish soldiers there to protect the Syrian interior, took it over in 1011. In 1110, the Crusaders under Tancred, Prince of Antioch, occupied the small fortress. It housed a garrison

I had been in Sri Lanka for a week, and now a couple of friends and I are passing through the interior of the island-nation the size of West Virginia. The road’s edge is lined with a four-pronged spacey wire fence standing roughly ten feet high, this marks the Minneriya National Park. Then we spot it – a monstrosity of a mammal standing on the other side

Sometimes, it seems like Ethiopia is all lakes, birds, and monasteries. Dirty swimming water and organized religion I can do without, but after seeing a silvery-cheeked hornbill I doubt that I could keep living my life and not become a serious twitcher – a bird-watcher who tries to spot as many rare varieties as possible. My new found obsession with birds

Never go caving with a whiner – he’ll scare off all the bats. I entered Sof Omar cave with a mandatory guide in tow – a teenager in a leather jacket. As soon as I turned the corner my respectable guide began whining. Was I going to give him a tip? How much? “A tip,” I said, “is determined by how well a job is done,” and he, my

It finally happened. I got there first. I’m never first. Not when it comes to mountain peaks. No, I’ll make it, to this day I only have one “white whale” and it stands above six thousand meters high in Bolivia. On the bright side, I now know the limits of my body when facing elevation sickness. I’ve decided to climb Mount Kenya as

For some amazing hiking options, it really does pay to get out of Vancouver at least once during your stay. One of the best places to visit is Garibaldi Provincial Park, which comprises nearly 195,000 hectares and is perhaps Canada’s most accessible and spectacular wilderness. The park is located 13 km north of Squamish, 97 km north of Vancouver along

Here are a few of my favorite photos from my visit to Costa Rica. To say that nature is one of the primary draws would be a wild understatement. By the end of my first day, I had seen four types of monkeys! Having said this, there is much more to Costa Rica than its nature and wildlife. On a lark, I have been going through all of my photos and all of the

The Stawamus Chief is a 700-metre high granite dome that guards the southern end of Squamish. The Chief is the centre point of a 5-square kilometre provincial park founded in 1997. The park encompasses not only the Chief but also the Stawamus Squaw a slightly smaller granitic dome located a short distance to the north-east. There are a number of maintained

Ah, Madagascar. When I mention places I visit, I am often met with question marks or that sucking sound accompanied by a tense wrinkled spot between the eyebrows. But Madagascar always gets an “Ah.” An “Ah” and a dazed dreamy smile only the purest of fantasies get. People think Madagascar is magic, and in many ways it is. In the right

At 10,000 feet, the air is perceptively thin in the Ecuadorean capital of Quito. Travelers puff and gasp the first few days of their visit. Stone steps and sidewalks seem steeper; footsteps tread slower. This ancient, beautiful city is home to over 2 million residents. It fills the valley at the foot of 15,710 foot high Rucu Pichincha with thousands of