Do you love city walls?  Ancient walls?  Historical walls?  Mediaeval walls?  We think they add an extra dimension to any city.  You find them in cities with history… usually lots of it.

There are many cities around the world where the old city inside the walls has been preserved.  It’s fun to see what lurks inside those walls….

If you’re looking for a reason to travel, something like finding cities with walls is another lure to get you going.

Hopefully you didn’t miss our story about the W-A-L-L-E-D City of Rabat in Morocco, and how just hearing it mentioned, in just that way, set my hubby to dreaming about travel as a boy.

There are many other great cities with walls… or at least parts of their walls.

We just got back from exploring Jerusalem.  We were told before we left that we probably wouldn’t want to be inside the old city after dark, but those walls called to us.  We just couldn’t stay away, so we dove right in and found a friendly, welcoming, little restaurant the very first night.  The warning was unfounded.  We loved walking the walls and exploring old Jerusalem in daylight and in the dark.

Dubrovnik, Croatia is a real jewel of a walled city.  There was a lot of damage during hostilities a decade ago, but those famous red roofs were repaired with an international effort, and walking the city walls is a great introduction to that charming little city.  We just couldn’t stay at a hotel on the outside… we had to find a B&B inside the walls.

Lucca, Italy has great walls too.  We stopped there one time just because it was getting late, and we needed a place to stay.  Little did we know the treat we were in for.  You can walk the walls, and inside the city, you can find a ring of shops and restaurants around an oval plaza, the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, where the old Roman amphitheater was… a delightful place for an outdoor dinner.

Avila Spain is surrounded by tall, formidable walls, amazing for a city of its size.  Things are pretty austere inside the walls, but there’s a lively area for tapas and dinner right outside the walls.

There are plenty of cities where you can walk sections of the walls.  The city of York has had walls since Roman times.  York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England, though most of the walls have been rebuilt since the Romans started them.

The Romantic Road towns of Germany have well preserved city walls…. walk the walls of Rothenberg ob der Tauber, Norlingen and Dinkelsbuhl.

Carcassonne in France is famous for its walls… they almost look like a double ring around the city.  The fortifications have been completely restored.  Aigues-Mortes, further south in France, also has well preserved walls.

You see bits and pieces of the old city wall in Krakow, Poland….  Lots of cities have preserved parts of their old walls.  More cities have bits and pieces of their walls preserved than have the whole wall.

You can visit ancient city sites… like Mycenae in Greece.  The city is in ruins, but the Cyclopean Walls are still there to see.  (Called that because of the size of the stones.)

Circling the globe, there are walls around the old city of Cartagena, Colombia and the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri in India.  We had a great time bicycling the city walls in Xi’an China.  It was fun to peer over the walls and watch groups of people exercising and playing music.

The list of cities with walls goes on and on.  And of course, the ultimate wall… though it isn’t a wall around a city… is the Great Wall of China.

If city walls intrigue you, go and find a city that has them.  It’s one more great reason to travel and explore.

You’ve heard of Stonehenge, but how about Carnac? No?

It’s in Western France, in Brittany (Bretagne). If you liked seeing Stonehenge, Avebury and other ancient monuments, you should plan a trip to Brittany. Rent a car in Paris and drive…. it’s about a 6 hour drive southwest of Paris.

This whole area is an important site in France for ancient megaliths.
The stone circle at Stonehenge is more photographed and easily recognizable, but for the sheer number of stones and amazing geometry you can’t beat the grand alignments at Menec and Kermario. (more…)

A drive along the Mosel River gets you into a quiet, romantic corner of Germany.  (This river is called the Moselle where it meanders into France.)

We recommend that after a day or so, you leave Frankfurt behind, and see the castles of the Rhine.  Once you’ve experienced the Rhine River Valley, you’re ready to round the corner to the Mosel River.  This area sprinkles smaller castles among romantic, peaceful villages and hillsides covered with vineyards. (more…)

If you’ve flown into Frankfurt, a short drive to the Rhine River will ease you into a trip to Germany.  You could spend a couple of days in Frankfurt, but if you are more into seeing the countryside, the wine regions, the villages… get a rental car and head straight to the Rhine River Valley.

While the Rhine is hundreds of miles long, it is the short stretch between Koblenz and Bingen that you really want to see.  This stretch is only 36 miles long (58 km).

There are Rhine River Cruises.  You can take a two hour cruise from Bacharach to St. Goar and see the most scenic part of the river. (more…)

There are other Standing Stones and Henge Monuments besides Stonehenge you know.  They are dotted all over the south of England.

You can even find them north into Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Were they burial grounds, or astronomical instruments, or sacred areas to the Neolithic cultures that built them?

We’ve heard all kinds of theories about their origin, but we don’t think you need to get too caught up in the theories to enjoy visiting them.

Stonehenge is the most famous of the stone circles.  One interesting little fact is that it is not, however, a henge.  Let’s get the boring technical stuff over with… Henges are, strictly speaking, circular or oval spaces that are defined by a bank with an internal ditch… so the dirt bank probably came from the inner ditch… right? (more…)

If you want to dive into ancient history in England, Stonehenge is certainly a place to start.  I think it can be argued that it is Europe’s most famous prehistoric monument.

You’ve seen the pictures… of a “mysterious” circle of upright stones in Southern England on the Salisbury Plain… pictures of modern day Druids holding ceremonies as the sun come up during the Summer Solstice.

Maybe you’ve read accounts of Merlin moving the stones by magic.  Whether it’s fact or fiction you’ve been reading… doesn’t it make you want to go?

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A Grand Canyon Mule Trip will make your visit to the canyon truly memorable.  None of this “20 minutes at the rim lookout” for you!  You know that you’re not up to a hike into that wonderland, so you’ve decided to sign up for the mule trip.

You can make this just a day trip part way into the canyon.  The mules will take you on a seven hour ride to Plateau Point on the Bright Angel Trail.  Plateau Point offers a panoramic view of the canyon and the Colorado River.

The mule trips can also be for those who want to head into the canyon for a night or two with a stay at Phantom Ranch.  Phantom Ranch is the only lodging accommodation on the floor of the canyon.

It has dormitory rooms and rustic cabins.  They serve dinner and breakfast to mule trip riders.  The overnight trips generally take riders down the Bright Angel Trail and up the South Kaibab Trail. (more…)

If you’re touring the American West, Bryce Canyon National Park will have to be on your list of places to visit.  Located in south western Utah, it’s a small National Park that is big on scenery… and often wins reviews as a favorite for it’s unique geology.

So what’s unique about it?

Hoodoos.

They’re everywhere you look.  Do you know what hoodoos are?  Wikipedia and the National Park Service describe them this way, “A hoodoo is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badlands.”

Hard rock on top protects softer stone below from rain and erosion.  What you end up with is pinnacles or spires of rock… but hoodoos come in a variety of shapes and sizes and thicknesses. (more…)

The South Rim is the most developed area and where most of the tourists have traditionally gone.  The South Rim is open all year, though some facilities may be closed in winter.

The North Rim is your second choice.  It has fewer visitors and is closed to visitors in the winter.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk is located at the third point of access to the canyon… Grand Canyon West.  This is quite far from the other entrances.  The land here belongs to the Hualapai Nation Indian Tribe.  When we first saw pictures of the proposed bridge on the internet, we thought it was a hoax, but it is real.  It has been built, and it is operating. (more…)

The Grand Canyon is one of those places that you have to see in person.  Pictures will never do it justice.

Descriptions will tell you that it is a great chasm carved over millennia… the Colorado River slicing away at the Colorado Plateau.

People will tell you that it has awe-inspiring views.  Vacationers and holiday makers will tell you it’s a great place to hike or ride the rapids.

All of that is true… but you have to see it.  An amazing fact we heard from a ranger once is that a typical stay in the park lasts five to seven hours, and most visitors stay at the rim of the Grand Canyon for less than an hour.  (We’ve even heard less than 20 minutes!)  How can you do that? (more…)