YOU MUST BE DREAMING
Based in Fort Collins, Experience Plus has been offering bicycling, walking and hiking vacations since 1972. One of its most popular is coming up, a cycling tour through classical Greece, from Athens to Olympia Oct. 2-14. Participants hop on 24-speed bikes and begin in the heart of Athens with a stroll through the Plaka (old Athens), visiting the Acropolis and toasting the journey with ouzo. Then it’s on to the island of Poros (via ferry), followed by Nafplio, Akrocorinth and the palace of Agamemnon. You’ll ride along the Gulf of Corinth before taking a train into the mountains (although the truly fit can also grunt the 3,000-foot climb lined by cherry trees) and then enjoy a well-earned rest day in Zakinthos. Visit a Frankish castle after ferrying back to the mainland in Kastro, and then bike to Olympia and the site of the first Olympics for the final day. Cost is $3,625 per person and includes the bicycle, accommodations in three-star hotels, sag support, dinners with wine and 12 breakfasts. In addition, Experience Plus has a pre-tour fitness program designed to help travelers get ready for the tour. And if you can’t make it in October, the 2007 dates are May 8-20 and Sept. 24-Oct. 6. Call 800-685-4565 or visit experienceplus.com.
REAL DEALS
The week’s best travel bargains around the globe.
Vue Pointe Hotel on the Caribbean island of Montserrat has half-price rooms during its renovation. Rates Aug. 1-Oct. 15 are $60 per night (including 20 percent taxes and service charges) for a cottage with a kitchenette. Info: 664-491-5210, vuepointe.com.
Lease a car in Europe for at least 17 days through Renault Eurodrive and get an automatic for the price of a manual transmission. For example, a 17-day rental in Paris of an automatic Renault Clio during early September is $849 (plus $10 handling fee); the usual price is $125 more. The deal is good through 2006 on new bookings. Info: 800-221-1052, renaultusa.com.
Save 40 percent on Silversea’s 10-day “Accent on Brazil” cruise roundtrip from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The cruise, which departs Dec. 13, now starts at $3,777 per person double (plus $325 port charges and fees); the brochure rate starts at $6,295. Info: 877-215-9986, silversea.com.
– The Washington Post
BOOK YOUR VACATION
It’s beginning to seem as though there are as many books about travel as there are travelers. The quality of the writing can be all over the map, though, and weeding through the travelogues that are simply lists of situations rather than thoughtful analyses after thorough digestion of the experiences can be discouraging. What a treasure, then, is the set of small, fat books in the Armchair Traveller series ($19.95 each, Haus Publishing), plump with delightful stories from places well known to way off the beaten path. “Along the Ganges,” by Ilija Trojanow, for instance, follows the author’s trip along the river, where he encountered the modern and the ancient struggling to co-exist by the holy waters, while “Jewish Journeys” comes from author Jeremy Leigh, a teacher in Jerusalem who pulls from biblical sources and literature to provide context for places such as Kiev and Rome. “Tasting Italy,” by Alice Vollenweider and Tim Beech, gives recipes and mouth-watering accounts of regional Italian cuisine, as well as descriptive insight into the people cooking it. So far there are eight books in the series; we can only hope for more.
TRAVEL BY NUMBERS | Top U.S. Attractions
The top U.S. attractions (with 2005 ranking in parentheses; “-” indicates no previous ranking given), based on traveler popularity, from TripAdvisor.com.
1. Walt Disney World, Orlando Fla. (1)
2. Universal Studios Orlando (3)
3. Discovery Cove, Orlando (5)
4. South Beach, Miami (2)
5. Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif. (4)
6. Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas, (7)
7. Epcot Center, Orlando (-)
8. Grand Canyon, Ariz. (-)
9. Hana Highway, Maui, Hawaii (8)
10. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta (-)
GEO QUIZ
1. Place these countries in order according to their land area, from largest to smallest: Sudan, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe.
2. Place these capital cities in order according to their populations, from largest to smallest: Prague, Lima, Jakarta.
3. Place these countries in order according to their longitude, from west to east: Haiti, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago.
4. Place these lakes in order according to their surface area, from largest to smallest: Lake Titicaca, Lake Huron, Lake Baikal.
5. Place these major cities in order according to their average annual rainfall, from most to least: Berlin, Cairo, Hong Kong.
6. Place these rivers in order according to their length, from longest to shortest: Danube, Elbe, Volga.
7. Place these countries in order according to the length of their coastlines, from longest to shortest: Pakistan, Cambodia, China.
8. Place these capital cities in order according to their latitude, from north to south: Sofia, Tallinn, Kiev.
9. Place these islands in order according to their land area, from largest to smallest: Cuba, Kyushu, Madagascar.
10. Place these countries in order according to their GDP per capita, from highest to lowest: Argentina, Kuwait, Uzbekistan.
ANSWERS: 1. Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone 2. Jakarta, Lima, Prague 3. El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago 4. Lake Huron, Lake Baikal, Lake Titicaca 5. Hong Kong, Berlin, Cairo 6. Volga, Danube, Elbe 7. China, Pakistan, Cambodia 8. Tallinn, Kiev, Sofia 9. Madagascar, Cuba, Kyushu 10. Kuwait, Argentina, Uzbekistan
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
