travel – Emily's Rovings

A Labyrinthian Interest – Summer Journal Series Part 1

With the beginning of summer and a little more free time on my hands, I decided to attempt a sort of Summer Journal Series for my blog. (Incidentally, if you have any ideas for blog musings for the fall, please leave a comment! I am happily open to suggestions! :))

Anyway, many of my readers seemed to like the virtual travels I did last year, so I decided to kick the series off with virtually travelling to three extreme mazes around the world!

Labirinto della Masone

In the fascinating world of Labyrinths and mazes, the Labyrinth della Masone stands out as the world’s largest Labyrinth, and is made from bamboo! The website (https://www.labirintodifrancomariaricci.it/en/labirinto-masone/home-en/) includes history of the maze and its buildings as well as beautiful pictures of the buildings at the maze.

From an arial view, the maze looks like a giant star with a square shape imbedded in the centre. From a ground view, the pathways of the maze are lined with bamboo, leaning inwards in places as if to create a sort of archway. The effect of the bamboo closing in looks magical!

(Photos from: https://www.labirintodifrancomariaricci.it/en/labirinto-masone/labyrinth/#section4)

The Pineapple Garden Maze

Not only does one get to wander their way around inside a giant pineapple with this next maze, but there are also eight “secret stations” that lead visitors to the botanical garden at the centre of this maze! I absolutely love this maze, simply because, as the name implies, it is shaped like a Pineapple.

This maze is also the largest maze in the world! (Not to be confused with the largest labyrinth in the world – Labyrinth della Masone.) At this point, you may – as I was – be questioning what the different between a maze and a labyrinth is. I was surprised to discover that a labyrinth is simply a path that you follow. It can be windy, but does not leave the possibility open to becoming lost. Whereas while in a maze, one can find themselves lost in all the pathways and dead ends.

Detouring just a little sidestep, as I was researching what the difference is between a labyrinth and a maze, I came across some other interesting little facts about mazes and labyrinths. Below are a couple of fun maze definitions I came across!

“Bottleneck – A passage connecting one area of a maze to another, and that must be traversed in order to solve the maze. Every solution to the maze must go through the bottleneck.”

“Vortex – Three or more passageways that spiral into each other, to a central junction, where one must then choose a passageway leading back out. Vortices are disorienting because it is difficult to predict in what direction a passageway leading out will ultimately lead. Multiple vortices linked together can be particularly confusing to navigate.”

(Quotes from aMAZEing Art, http://amazeingart.com/maze-faqs/maze-terms.html)

Labyrinth of Villa Pisani

(Photo from https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/villa-pisani-labyrinth.html)

I then found myself exploring the Villa Pisani National Museum and its maze within its garden. The large garden includes part of Brenta river and is decorated with beautiful statues.

The labyrinth itself is formed from beautiful lush green hedges and looks as if it were straight out of a fairy tale. Its square shape is inhabited by a circular shape in the centre, in which lies a single tower structure at the heart of the maze, with a spiral staircase leading to the top of the tower.

Every maze and labyrinth has a fascinated story associated/behind it, but an interesting little legend about the Labyrinth of Villa Pisani is that supposedly Hitler and Mussolini would not even attempt to complete the difficult labyrinth; and Napoleon tried to finish it, but could not find his way through. (Information courtesy of https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/villa-pisani-labirinto)

I hope that someday we will all get to visit these fascinating mazes and labyrinths in person; but for the time being, it was a pleasure to share my virtual exploration of these amazing places with you.

Ready for more adventures!

Until next time! <3

PS Find the secret word hidden in this blog post! There will be a new word for each Summer Journal Series.

Hint: First letter. 1, 2, 5, 7, 12, 14

Comment if you figure out the word! 🙂

Travelling Around the World – My Final Week

Week five is here! It has been five weeks of virtual travelling, and I have seen so many amazing new places! This week’s plan was as follows:

Week 5: “Travel” to Peru and Brazil

Challenges:

Virtually visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Choose what you think is the most beautiful spot in both Peru and Brazil.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I never did very well with the “visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day”, much to my chagrin. However, like last week, I did virtually “visit” seven tourist spots, just not on different days of the week.

The first place I decided to “visit” was Machu Picchu in Peru. These gorgeous ruins make a breathtaking scene laying in the Andes Mountains three hundred meters above the Urubamba River. Something that I found was very interesting about Machu Picchu is that there is a secret temple nearby. This temple is called Temple of the Moon, and it was built on Huayna Picchu.

To get to this secret temple, one must traverse the ‘Stairs of death of Huayna Picchu’. There are 183 meters of these steep, cliff-side steps which one must use in order to reach the Temple of the Moon.

The next place I decided to visit was Ica and the Sand Dunes at Huacachina. Here, there is a beautiful resort built in an oasis surrounded by massive sand dunes. Visitors to this resort can enjoy sand boarding or riding in dune buggies in the giant sand dunes nearby.

The third place I decided to travel to was Barranco. This city drew my attention immediately, with its bright colours and beautiful foliage! It is a very artsy-looking city, complete with street art, coffee shops, and picturesque streets.

One of the most interesting places that I visited virtually was the Puente de Los Suspiros, or Bridge of Sighs. Here it is said that if one makes a wish and holds one’s breath the entire way across the bridge, that your wish will come true!

After Barranco, I headed over to another stunningly colourful city – Pelourinho in Brazil. This beautiful city is full of historical buildings, including some lovely churches and monasteries.

I also decided to visit the city of Ipanema on the “same day” since it looked so beautiful with its white beaches, as well as fascinating-looking rocky mountains in the background. The pictures of this beach are absolutely stunning, and were fun to peruse!

The next place I visited was Fernando de Noronha in Brazil. This beautiful archipelago is composed of twenty-one islands/islets, and is found 354 km off the Brazilian shore. I found the colour of the water particularly stunning. The bright blues of the ocean contrast very nicely with the dark, rocky islands that dot the Atlantic’s waters.

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park was next up on my virtual tour through Brazil. This spot is truly such an amazing-looking area. Its soft-looking white sands stretch far even as they surround azure pools of rain water.

My final final destination for this “trip” was Bonita, Brazil. Freshwater there has beautiful tropical fish, which greatly interested me, as I feel like it would be so interesting to get a close look at tropical fish! Also, I found a cave in Bonita, Gruta do Lago Azul, very fascinating, as it is more than two hundred feet deep, and looks amazing! A very interesting fact about this cave is that it has prehistoric fossils in it!

As for the second travel challenge, the most beautiful spot I found in Peru was Cordillera Blanca. This beautiful collection of mountains and valleys caught my attention immediately, and I quickly decided that this was the most beautiful spot that I had seen in Peru on my “travels”.

The most beautiful spot I found in Brazil was Iguaçu Falls. The breathtaking group of 247 waterfalls most definitely immediately qualified for the most beautiful spot that I saw in Brazil during my virtual travels!

I am so glad to have been able to travel the world virtually throughout these last five weeks! I sincerely hope you have had a wonderful time following (and hopefully travelling!) along with me over these last several weeks!

Week 4 – My Adventures in Ireland and Russia.

Week four has come and gone already! The round the world trip is nearly complete, but not without a few more adventures around the corner.

My itinerary for week four was:

Week 4: “Travel” to Ireland and Russia

Challenges:

Virtually visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Virtually find the perfect spot to have a picnic in Ireland!
Virtually find the most interesting-looking building in Russia!

Unfortunately, the visiting one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day became more of a “visit seven tourist attraction in one day” sort of excursion. (Thankfully this is a virtual trip, otherwise I would be exhausted!)

The first place I decided to visit virtually was Russia. In fact, I “headed” straight to Moscow, where I “visited” the stunning Saint Basil’s Cathedral. This beautifully unique building was commissioned to be built by Ivan the Terrible in 1555 to 1561. The architecture of this building is quite interesting. There really are not any other buildings like this bonfire-shaped cathedral.

Next I “travelled” to Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As soon as I found out that Hermitage Museum was in Saint Petersburg, I was so excited, because one of the composers (Igor Stravinsky) I had studied for my music class last year lived there for a time. I was really drawn to this museum because of the beautiful exterior of the building. It is so ornate, and the colour is so unique that I instantly wanted to know more about it! The Hermitage Museum actually has a website that offers virtual visits, which I thought was very useful considering that one cannot easily travel right now. (If you are interested in seeing more of the Hermitage Museum, use the link provided to take a virtual tour of the museum: https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/panorama/virtual_visit/panoramas-m-1/?lng=en)

The Valley of Geysers in Russia was next on the tour. This Russian natural wonder is the second largest geyser field in the world. The valley contains around ninety geysers and is about six kilometres in length. While “visiting”, I looked at many pictures of the valley, and enjoyed the amazing-looking geysers. The Valley of Geysers was definitely worth the “visit”!

Next, I visited The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. These awe-inspiring cliffs are a popular tourist attraction, and some of these amazing rock formations rise 214 meters into the air! Again, similar to the Hermitage Museum, this tourist attraction has a virtual tour available on their website, which can be found by using the following link: https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/google-360-inside-tour/.

From the Cliffs of Moher, I decided to explore some of the ruins of Ireland. I skimmed past several ruins, until I finally found some that caught my eye – the ruins in Skellig Michael, County Kerry. This stunning island has some fascinating ruins on it, which are definitely worth a visit! The vibrant green of the grass is a magnificently stark contrast to the rock of the island and the ruins that are built on the island. A fun fact about this island is that it is the very island that was used as a film site in Star Wars Episode VII “The Force Awakens”. In fact, as I was virtually exploring the island, I thought it looked very similar to the island depicted in the Star Wars movie, so I looked it up, and sure enough, it was the island!

As an adventurous and exploration-loving extrovert, this next location is right up my alley! Grafton Street, Dublin is a busy spot full of different shops and streets to explore. From watching street performances to shopping to simply grabbing a coffee, Grafton Street has no shortage of adventures to offer!

Of course, what would a trip to Ireland be without visiting a castle or two? I decided to “visit” Bunratty Castle. Bunratty Castle is a medieval castle which was built in the fifteenth century. This beautiful castle now hosts themed banquets, which sounds like so much fun, and a great way to bring history to life in a fun way!

As for the finding perfect picnic spot in Ireland for the “travel challenge”, I decided on Glendalough. Not only is this spot rich in history and beauty, but it is said to be a good picnic spot, having lots of lovely country/forest areas to enjoy. There are many fascinating spots to enjoy and explore in Glendalough.

For the most interesting-looking building in Russia, I was torn between the Hermitage Museum and Saint Basil’s Cathedral. I personally find the Hermitage Museum more stunning, but the architecture of Saint Basil’s Cathedral is so unique and incredible! In the end, I decided to choose Saint Basil’s Cathedral, but it is a hard choice!

I thoroughly enjoyed my “travels” this week! In fact, this was one of my favourite travelling weeks so far. I saw so many stunning sites as I virtually travelled through Russia and Ireland. I am so excited to see what surprises and adventures the fifth and final week of my world travels holds!

My Travels – Week 3

I will admit, one of the “travelling challenges” did not go so well this week. For week three the “travel” itinerary was as follows:

Week 3: “Travel” to Egypt and Morocco

Challenges:

Virtually visit a one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Pick out the top three most interesting things you saw on your “travels”.

I did pick out the top three most interesting things I saw while I virtually travelled in Egypt and Morocco, but I did not visit a tourist attraction/interesting spot each day. (My travelling was sporadic at best this week, unfortunately!)

I did enjoy the virtual travelling I did do, however. Both Egypt and Morocco were stunning places to “visit”. The top three most interesting things I saw were:

1) Oudaias Kasbah in Morocco

This neighbourhood is absolutely stunning, and I thoroughly enjoyed looked at the beautiful pictures of this place. My favourite parts of this area of Morocco are the vibrant, blue walls and unique-looking doors!

2) The White Desert in Egypt

This unique Egyptian desert amazed me. It is comprised of large, white chalk mountains that give the effect of winter snow! (I absolutely love the snow, so I loved this desert from the moment I saw it!)

3) Abydos Temple in Egypt

This temple is truly breathtaking, with its large pillars and fascinating hieroglyphics. This three-level temple is made from limestone, and was built for the Egyptian god, Osiris. The temple is also unique in that it contains at least seven sanctuaries built for Osiris, Isis, Horus, Ptah, Re-Harakhte, Amun, and Pharaoh Seti I.

Another place that I found particularly interesting while I was “travelling” was Fes el Bali. This city is definitely an interesting place to see, and the tanneries are especially unique locations to visit while there.

Yet another very interesting spot that I found in my “travels” was the Thistlegorm Dive Site in Egypt. Found in the Red Sea, this dive sight contains a shipwreck from World War II. The ship in question was an English ship called the Thistlegorm which sunk in 1941.

Of course, one’s visit to Egypt cannot be complete without a trip to the pyramids of Giza – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This magnificent site does not disappoint. From the great Sphinx to the massive pyramids themselves, this historical site is well worth “visiting”!

As always, I loved the opportunity to virtually visit these spectacular places, and hope you had a wonderful time virtually travelling this week as well!

“Adventure is worthwhile.” – Aesop

My travels – Week 2

Well, here I am! Week two of travelling around the world virtually!

In case you – like myself – you forgot what exactly Week Two was supposed to entail, here is the travel layout that I laid out in my post a couple of weeks ago:

Week 2: “Travel” to Petra, Jordan and the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Challenges:

Find out one really unique fact about Petra.
Pick out your favourite watery creature that you saw while “diving” at the Great Barrier Reef.

On Saturday, I posted a poll on my Instagram to see which destination I should travel to first for week two of my travels. After leaving it to the voters for a time, I came back to find that I was destined to travel to the Great Barrier Reef first! I saw beautiful coral and fish in some amazing underwater pictures, and even got an underwater tour courtesy of a turtle with a camera attached to him! My favourite part of my travels that day was definitely seeing the ocean through the eyes of a turtle – it was truly a unique experience! On Monday, I found myself discovering the different sea creatures of the Great Barrier Reef. I was trying to find my favourite “watery creature” to complete the Travel Challenge for the Great Barrier Reef. Finally, I found the perfect creature – the Mantis Shrimp! This little guy is so intense! At only ten centimetres longs, the Mantis Shrimp does not seem intimidating at first, but do not underestimate them – they are powerful predators!

To find out more about these amazing creatures, check out this link:

https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/animals/mantis-shrimp?fbclid=IwAR2rxipyf1QWT3cSrtZwnCKt6TuZpzVr6tP9TbNfTVbMY2YsACyPIFi4ek8

Tuesday, I “travelled” to Petra, Jordan. I was especially excited about exploring this fascinating city, because ever since I first saw pictures of the Rose City, I wanted to visit it! I found it so intriguing and mysterious, and wanted to know more. My virtual expedition gave me just such a chance. On both Tuesday and Wednesday, I saw some spectacular pictures of Petra. Today, I read up on some of Petra’s history, as well as some different facts about Petra, Jordan. To complete my other Travel Challenge, I found a unique fact about Petra, which was that the city is 85% unexplored by archeologists! I found this fascinating, and think that it makes this the Rose City seemingly all the more mysterious! I also went on a virtual tour of Petra, which was also really interesting. Not only was it a virtual 360 tour, but it was an aerial tour as well, which I found gave a really amazing perspective to the city.

I had fun exploring both The Great Barrier Reef and Petra, Jordan this week! Although very different places, both of these tourist locations had very unique and spectacular sights to see and adventures to offer. I cannot wait to see what I will discover during next week’s “travels”!

My Virtual Travels – Week One

Last week I laid out my virtual travel plan for travelling virtually around the world, and proceeded to travel to Paris and London virtually, and attempt to complete my travel challenges! Below is the layout and travel challenges for week one:

Week 1: “Travel” to Paris, France and London, England.

Challenges:

Virtually visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Virtually find the perfect coffee shop of cafe to hang out at! <3

I began my travels last Saturday in Paris, France. First, I visited l’arc de triomphe. I looked at some beautiful pictures of this tourist site, and then watched a short virtual tour of l’arc de triomphe. I really enjoyed getting to see l’arc de triomphe “up close”. On Sunday, I “visited” the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and got to see its ornate design. On Monday, I explored Sacre Coeur in Paris. Tuesday, I visited to the Louvre Museum. I found the giant glass pyramid in front of the building very fascinating!

Wednesday, I “visited” London’s famed Big Ben. I looked at some picturesque photos of the enormous clock tower, and watched a virtual tour of Big Ben, which showed the inside of the clock tower where the giant bell is located. Also, I watched “360 video” tour of London, which proved to be very interesting and fun! Today, I visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. As I did before, I took a look at some stunning pictures of the famous tower, and the proceeded to watch part of a virtual tour of it. Unfortunately, I missed visiting a tourist attraction on Thursday, but for the most part, I completed the first travel challenge for week one!

I also searched for coffee shops in both Paris and London, trying to find the best coffee shop to complete the second travel challenge. Partway through my search, I decided that I was going to find the two best coffee shops – one in Paris and one in London. For the best coffee shop in Paris, I chose Cuppa – Salon de Café, since the drinks and food look amazing and very aesthetic, and the shop itself also looks nice. As for the best coffee shop in London, I chose Attendant Fitzrovia. The entrance of this coffee shop really drew my attention, as it is very unique-looking, with an ornate, arch-like doorway which leads to a staircase that descends to the cafe itself. It’s coffee and food look very good as well!

Week one of my virtual travels has flown by, and I am having a wonderful time so far. I hope you have followed along and tried to complete the travelling challenges along with me; and if you have not joined with me on my travels yet, it is never too late to start! I cannot wait to see what this coming week’s travels have in store!

Traveling the World (COVID Edition…)

If you are anything like me, you love a good adventure. Traveling is an adventure that I have dreamed about for a long time, but with all the “COVID craziness” going on, travel dreams have been put on hold… or have they???

I am about to embark on a journey around the world – virtually. It is my hope that this will be a fun time of learning and adventure for not only me, but also for you! That’s right – I want you to come with me!! I am laying out my virtual travel plan so that anyone who wants to can “travel along” and complete my “travel challenges” along with me.

Week 1: “Travel” to Paris, France and London, England.

Challenges:

Virtually visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Virtually find the perfect coffee shop or cafe to hang out at! <3

Week 2: “Travel” to Petra, Jordan and the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Challenges:

Find out one really unique fact about Petra.
Pick out your favourite watery creature that you saw while “diving” at the Great Barrier Reef.

Week 3: “Travel” to Egypt and Morocco

Challenges:

Virtually visit a one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Pick out the top three most interesting things you saw on your “travels”.

Week 4: “Travel” to Ireland and Russia

Challenges:

Virtually visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Virtually find the perfect spot to have a picnic in Ireland!
Virtually find the most interesting-looking building in Russia!

Week 5: “Travel” to Peru and Brazil

Challenges:

Virtually visit one tourist attraction/interesting spot each day!
Choose what you think is the most beautiful spot in both Peru and Brazil.

I am so very excited to begin my travels with you in the upcoming weeks! I will be writing a blog post at the end of each week, to share what I saw and how I completed the challenges I laid out above. I hope that you will join me on what should be a very interesting five-week adventure.

Look out for mid-week travel updates on my Instagram: em_music0

Share your adventures on instagram using the hashtag: #rovingaroundtheworld