The Joys of Traveling: Exploring New Places and Cultures

Traveling is a wonderful experience that allows us to escape our daily routines and immerse ourselves in new cultures, environments, and ways of life. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, the benefits of exploring new places are endless. One of the most significant benefits of traveling is the opportunity to experience new cultures. When you travel, you have the chance to see how people from different parts of the world live, what they value, and what their customs and traditions are. You can learn about their history, try their food, and discover new perspectives that can broaden your own. Another benefit of traveling is the opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. When you travel, you may find yourself in situations that require you to think on your feet, communicate with people who speak a different language, and navigate unfamiliar territory. These experiences can help you to become more confident, independent, and resilient. Traveling can also be a great way to reconnect with nature and recharge your batteries. Whether you are exploring a bustling city or a quiet countryside, taking a break from your daily routine and immersing yourself in new surroundings can help you to feel refreshed and rejuvenated. So, if you are looking for a way to escape the monotony of daily life, to challenge yourself, and to experience new cultures and environments, consider traveling. Whether you plan a trip to a nearby city or a journey to a far-off land, the joys of exploring new places and cultures are waiting for you."

A walk around Lake Garda, Italy

Lake Garda is one of those iconic beauty sports with its turquoise blue waters framed by mountains rising steeply upwards with their peaks topped with snow. In summer the place gets extraordinarily busy as coaches bring in an endless stream of tourists choking its narrow roads. But in spring, when the season is just getting started, it’s mercifully quiet and temperatures are warm enough to hike in shorts and tee shirt.

I base myself in Riva del Garda, the northernmost town on the lake, at the foot of the Alps. Dramatic daunting cliffs rise up on either side looking at first almost impenetrable but closer inspection reveals narrow paths etched into their sides. It’s these that I’m going to be following over the next few days.

I can see one, impossibly working its way up along the Western edge of the lake, the Strada del Ponale, and that’s going to be my starting point. Apparently it was constructed in the 1840’s by entrepreneur Giacomo Cis but he died before it was completed in 1851. The modern road runs along the lakeshore through a series of tunnels and I turn off to start climbing. Unfortunately there’s a sign saying that it’s closed due to renovations and I can’t proceed.

Day 1: Strada del Ponale to Pregasina -12km, ascent/descent 470m

Instead I go and collect my car and drive to the beginning of the path I was planning to reach after the Strada del Ponale. I park by the Regina Mundi Madonna statue, staring out across the lake, and leave the road to follow the old route zig-zagging down the hillside. It turns abruptly and then starts to climb, following the Ponale valley inland on a cobbled road past a shrine and the remains of a mill.

Regina Mundi Madonna Statue

I reach the road again briefly before a steep ascent through woodland, passing a series of trenches from WW1. This was the front line of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the mountain was strongly fortified.

I reach the saddle Bocca da Le at 800m and am rewarded with terrific views over the lake.

Scala Santa leads to the village of Pregasina

Then there’s a further scramble up to the summit of 859m Monte Nodice riddled with fortifications. To reach these the soldiers cut a spectacular series of steps into the rock, the Scala Santa, and I take these down to the village of Pregasina, where I sit and enjoy a well-earned beer on the terrace of the Hotel Panorama. Below me wind-surfers and yachts are taking advantage of the afternoon breeze on the lake. It’s a short walk downhill back to my car.

Day 2: Torbole to Tempesta and Monte Brione – 22 km, ascent/descent 1047m

Next day I set out in the opposite direction to the village of Torbole following the lakeshore east. It’s too early for the wind-surfers as the lake is like a mirror, but joggers and cyclists are out in force. After 45 minutes I reach Torbole and take the scalinata, a flight of steps up through olive groves much admired by Goethe.

The Village of Torbole

This leads through a Parco Avventure, designed for kids on mountain bikes, to the start of the Sentiero Panoramica Busatte-Tempesta, a path running 200m above the lake.

It leads through a Mediterranean oak forest, fragrant with aromatic plants and the spring flowers are just beginning to appear. It’s easy walking, made even simpler by a series of raised iron walkways that bridge sheer rocky outcrops that would otherwise be impassable. After an hour I’m just above the small lakeside village of Tempesta where there’s an option of catching the bus back. Instead I climb higher up the mountain and make my way back to Torbole on a parallel path.

It’s still early so on my way back to Riva del Garda I decide to tackle Monte Brione, a great slab of rock rising like a mattress from the flat northern edge of the lake. I turn off by Porto San Nicolo, next to a stone fort built in 1860, and the path leads upwards on a series of steps. Obviously this was an important strategic point and I pass the colossal Forte Garda, recently restored, climbing past bunkers and gun emplacements, the path hugging the cliff edge

I can appreciate the thinking of the military planners as there are unbridled views of the surrounding area. Another fort, the Batteria di Mezzo guards the upper half and the summit is crowned with an array of radio masts protected by wire fences. I make my way down through olive groves planted above half hidden bunkers. After WW1 this part of Austria became the Trentino and part of Italy and the fortifications never saw battle.

Day 3: Limone sul Garda and the Valle del Singol – 10km, ascent/descent 880m

Limone sul Garda

For my final walk, I’ve saved the most difficult for last. It’s a beautiful sunny morning as I drive 15 minutes south along the western shores to the beautiful village of Limone sul Garda. Space is at a premium here and the parking is expensive but it can’t be helped. Soon I’m following a stream up the Valle de Singol on a cobbled road. It’s steep and the mountain crags tower above me and I branch off left up though conifers.

Valle de Singol

The guidebook warns me about an exposed ledge and sure enough there’s a short section where steel cables provide essential support. I’ve no head for heights but am soon zig-zagging my way up to a beautiful grassy clearing at 880m. This is really the end of the climbing and the path continues mainly on the flat through oak forests to a ruined church at Dalco. It’s pleasantly soft underfoot and a sunken lane leads to a signpost at Dega.

Now comes the steep descent, across gullies of scree, slightly unstable before hitting a wider stone path which twists and turns downhill. Below I can see Limone, sprawling by the side of the lake and in front are the snow covered peaks of Monte Baldo. I reach the road at Campaldo and continue down to the lake. The descent takes around an hour but I’ve enjoyed every minute. It’s a stunning end to three days of fantastic walking.

Greece is not a conservatory ancient ruins, so beautiful they may be, and is not limited to its prestigious past. She has a lot to offer to those who think outside the box.

The scenery is actually where, a priori, there is nothing to see. It is in the lost parts of Greece that we still have the chance to be welcomed with respect for the Greek tradition, that of the Philoxenia the "hospitality" traditional Greeks, who unfortunately tend to disappear in tourist areas.

Greece monuments and islands (but not all) is therefore the most touristic Greece. For years, Greek tourists shunned their own countries; but they caught ...

Of course, the national tragedies that constituted the deadly fires of 2007 and 2009, are still in our memories. But these tragedies has been added the economic crisis - and moral - suffered by Greece since 2009 ...

When we dream of Turkey, one represents it with specific images. It is a hookah smoked nonchalantly watching really blue sea, full bazaars carpets and smells, gleaming brass and jewelry, still coves lapped by crystal clear water, semi-arid steppes on which ensure the a long snowy peaks of the year ... In Turkey, the backpacker will learn that the tulip originated in Anatolia and that there are more storks in Alsace ...

The further away the beaten track, the more we love this country: Turkey is an inexhaustible wealth. Bosphorus to Anatolia, Lycia to the Black Sea, through Cappadocia, this country offers an incredible diversity of landscapes, cultures and traditions.

Kindness, attention, hospitality mock language barriers. Come and meet locals. Convinced of being westerners, Turks are offers cousin, and there is not much to scratch to find the treasures of the Ottoman hospitality.

Life, night and day, not in turmoil border turns sweet to live.

Egypt


Emerged from the depths of time, the civilization of ancient Egypt fascinates all those who have undertaken to trace the slow and majestic course of its iconic river: the Nile. Already at the time of the Greeks and Romans, "tourists" in Egypt marveled traces left by a civilization that had more than two millennia of existence.
With its illustrious figures (Cheops, Ramses II, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen and the 250 Pharaohs, Moses and Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Saladin, Mohammed Ali Mamluk, Champollion, Ferdinand de Lesseps and his canal, Howard Carter, Nasser. ..), with its tombs and temples saved from the waters, colossal sculptures and papyrus-shaped columns, crocodiles and sarcophagi, Egypt dwell permanently the imagination of all who will sail.
But at the Pyramids, beyond the marked cruises and luxury hotels saw an endearing people, it will mix with the bustle of the souks and neighborhoods, sip tea or shisha on the terrace of a cafe, rub shoulders mosques among the most prestigious in the Arab world, talking to people to understand and appreciate appreciate Egypt and the Egyptians.
The Bible long ago evoked the 10 plagues of Egypt, but the one you will suffer nostalgia for a mesmerizing journey ...

China


Today, we can go from Paris to Beijing in 10 hours by plane. If China seems less and less distant, its power of attraction and mystery remain. Since economic liberalization began in 1992, that became the finally available to travelers and backpackers. To go to China, a simple visa enough. No license is no longer necessary to travel in many provinces.
Upon arrival in China, it's a shock. Getting lost in the compact Chinese crowd, watching faces so different, learn a few words of that beautiful language, smell the smells and hear the sounds of the street, to taste the subtleties and the many flavors of the kitchen, really, it is indeed although in another universe.
The trip to China often begins with a visit to Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong. You have to walk long hours in the avenues invaded by cars and bicycles to measure the speed of the changes now at work in this country. Everywhere yards cities bristling with cranes and modern towers. Yunnan Jiangsu, the wind also blows of technological progress in the countryside. This is a country of 1.36 billion people who wants to catch up, to integrate into the world economy without selling his soul to the devil.

Morocco, a name that evokes the Shereefian palaces surrounded by magnificent gardens, souks which escapes the mysterious smell of spices, the fantasia and its vivid rituals.
But it would be a shame to remain at this stage set up in color. The important thing in Morocco, this is what happens behind the scenes. Thus, in a medina, is leaving the widest streets that we are immerse in the popular life of Morocco, and by daring to leave the lanes to access dark impasses that we find the most beautiful city ​​gates, behind which ones the most luxurious palaces flourish ...
Similarly, it is respectfully going to meet people you will discover the true Morocco: the country will leave you a glimpse of his deepest secrets.
Finally, Morocco is also a succession of beautiful and varied landscapes, ranging from coastal areas, mountainous terrain (the sometimes snowy peaks), green valleys, fertile plains, desert plateaus and oases. Travelers in search of nature and open spaces will be filled, especially in the South.