Category: Passion

Through my passion blog entries, I’ve detailed all the places I’ve visited around the world. A place I haven’t visited but hope to in the future in Turkey. There are many locations around Turkey that I’d love to visit such as Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Ephesus, Antalya, Bodrum, Troy, and Ankara.

The architecture and history of Istanbul, one of the most famous cities in Turkey, fascinates me. Because the city has been the capital of three empires (Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman), the unique mix of European and Asian cultures along with its rich history would be exciting to explore.

Some of the city’s impressive buildings that I’d like to visit are the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sofia is a Byzantine-era church that was  converted into a mosque and now serves as a museum. Its revolution and change through time and different eras would be interesting to learn more about.

Cappadocia is also a destination in Turkey I’d love to visit. It’s fairly well-known for its unique rock formations formed from volcanic activity and hot balloon rides. In fact, its rock formations are known as fairy chimneys as they are tall, and cone-shaped. According to the History Channel, Cappadocia has rich history with evidence of human habitation dating back to the Paleolithic era (Source). Another popular activity is to partake in the hot balloon rides that provide a panoramic view of the rock formations. It would be very exciting to explore the Derinkuyu Underground City, which is one of the largest and most well-preserved underground cities in the region.

Pamukkale is a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its natural hot springs. I’ve visited a hot spring in Iceland, and it was such a unique experience that I’d love to do again. In Turkey, however, the mineral-rich waters are believed to have healing properties. Also, the word “Pamukkale” means “cotton castle” in Turkish, which accurately describes the extreme white landscape of the site (Source).

Ephesus, Antalya, and Bodrum are all historic cities that I’d love to explore. They all feature ruins such as the Library of Celsus, the Temple of Artemis, the Great Theatre, the Hadrian’s Gate, and the Castle of St. Peter. There are several architectural feats located in these locations that would be very exciting to visit. The extent of rich history and and culture in Turkey always amazes me.

Another place I’d love to visit for my time there is Troy. Located in the northwest of Turkey, Troy is an ancient city famous for its association with Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad. As a big fan of Greek mythology, I think it would be exciting to explore the ruins of the city and gain a glimpse into the complex lives of Trojans and their war with the Greeks.

There are several destinations and places I’d love to explore in Turkey. The architecture and rich culture of the city never fails to amaze me. Particularly, the city’s ability to transform and reinvent itself through three empires – Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman.

In this passion blog, I’ll be covering my short but sweet experiences in Tuscany and Florence. Tuscany is located in central Italy and its capital is Florence. It’s home to famous Renaissance art and architecture, most notably Michelangelo’s David Statue.

In Tuscany, we first stopped by Siena, a beautiful medieval city known for its Gothic architecture and the Palio horse race. This city is located in the heart of Tuscany, full of history and stories. Its city center has even been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In Siena, I recommend visiting the Duomo di Siena a stunning cathedral and a prime example of Gothic architecture. Its black and white striped marble walls, intricate sculptures, and stunning glass windows make this worth a visit.

The Palio is a famous horse race that takes place in July and August in the Piazza del Campo (the largest square at the heart of Siena). If you’re in Tuscany during that period, definitely experience this thrilling spectacle! The Piazza del Campo is also worth a visit, it’s a great place to take in the city’s atmosphere and enjoy good food. Some local specialties include pici (a type of thick, hand-rolled spaghetti), ribollita (a hearty vegetable soup), and wine. Its rich history and culture make Siena worth the visit. From art, architecture, or food, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

In Tuscany, I’d highly recommend visiting Val d’Orcia. I’d consider it probably one of the most scenic valleys I’ve ever seen. Located in the southern part of Tuscany, its rolling hills, small villages, and historic sites make it a great place to explore. Though we originally didn’t plan on visiting Val d’Orcia and stumbled upon it, it’s worth creating time to visit.

In Florence, a relatively smaller city, we spent the day exploring museums, statues, and restaurants, and taking in the city’s ambiance.

The first destination I recommend visiting is the Duomo, a cathedral known for its magnificent dome. The Duomo is a popular tourist destination, so booking a tour well in advance is important as it’s often sold out or has very long lines.

Another place I loved is the Piazza della Signoria, a square filled with sculptures including a replica of Michelangelo’s David. This square is filled with local shops that sell artwork, jewelry, clothing, and everything in between. In fact, the picture below is the view the square offers.

If you’re planning on traveling to Florence and Italy, my main piece of advice would be to plan. In the summer months, Florence and Italy are very popular tourist destinations. The lines to visit attractions can be very long, and it may be hard to find hotels or places to stay. I’d also recommend learning some Italian because it makes communication so much easier. In Florence, it was particularly hard for us to navigate the city. Looking back, I think if we knew basic Italian phrases it would have been very helpful to navigate the city and its crowds.

In this passion blog, I’ll be talking about Rome. While Rome has countless places to explore and magnificent architecture, I’ll mainly be covering my experience touring the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is exactly how you’d imagine it to be. The tower rests on clean-cut green grass and has a visible four-degree tilt because of its unstable foundation. Throughout history, the tower played a significant role in human timekeeping with its seven bells (each signifying a musical note).

After climbing all 251 steps to the top, there’s a small gallery filled with notebooks that detail how people used the tower to keep track of time and new discoveries. Reaching the top of the tower is not particularly hard or strenuous, but you may get dizzy climbing up in circles at a tilt. The view from the tower’s top is stunning, as it allows you to see Duomo Square in its entirety. I highly recommend purchasing tickets in advance or at the door and exploring the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The driving distance between the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum is around four hours. So, I would not recommend trying to visit both attractions on the same day. The Colosseum was one of my favorite places. It was insane to learn about the history, and how many monumental events took place in the arena.

The historic Flavian Amphitheater was built in 70 CE as a gift to the Romans. It was intended to hold more than 50,000 people and stayed as one of the biggest theaters ever constructed. The Colosseum is most well known for its gladiator fights, plays, and public executions. In fact, if you book a tour, you may even view the underground portion of the Colosseum that illustrates how many of these events were conducted.

One thing to note is that the lines for the Colosseum are very long during the summer months. So, I’d highly recommend waking up earlier as the lines are shorter and it’s not as warm outside.

I’d also recommend booking a guided tour in advance that allows you to explore the underground portion of the Colosseum or the arena floor. Many of the locations have restricted access, and I felt that there was not much to explore without a tour.

The last place I’ll be talking about is the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill. Although the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill isn’t quite as publicized as the Colosseum and Leaning Tower of Pisa, it’s definitely a place I highly recommend visiting. In fact, purchasing a ticket to the Colosseum gives you free access to visit the Forum and Palatine Hill within a 48 hour time period.

The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill are filled with ruins and fascinating architecture. It almost feels as though you’ve been transported back into the past, and gives you a glance at life in the ancient Roman empire.

The Roman Forum is home to some of the oldest, most important buildings from the Roman Empire. Some monuments at the Forum even date back to the sixth century BC or the first kings of Rome. There’s an extraordinary amount of ruins, shrines/temples, such as the House of the Vestal and Virgins, that are worth viewing.

The Roman Forum is also home to Julius Caesar’s altar, which is located near the Temple of Caesar. Caesar was cremated so there is no actual grave or tomb, but many do leave flowers and notes on his altar.

As you may have noticed, I love traveling around the world and visiting places. Today, I will be highlighting my experience visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany and museums in Salzburg, Austria.

The Neuschwanstein Castle is located above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, as a summer retreat and in honor of Richard Wagner, a world-renowned composer. In fact, many rooms in the castle are inspired by Wagner’s characters and reflect Ludwig’s deep admiration of Wagner’s operas.

The construction of the Neuschwanstein castle began in 1869 and was projected to be completed in three years. However, Ludwig was a perfectionist, and construction continued even after his death in 1886.
This castle is particularly stunning because of its view of the Bavaria Alps. Rested atop a hill, it overlooks the Hohenschwangau valley and provides one of the most scenic landscapes I have ever seen. Neuschwanstein Castle also is known as the ‘Dinsey’ castle as it served as inspiration for Disney’s Cinderella castle.

When my family and I visited, we booked a guided tour to visit inside of the castle. I highly recommend taking the tour as it was very insightful, and also interesting to see the interior design and paintings inside. Also, it’s fairly easy to access the castle. There is a parking area in the valley, and a shuttle bus to take you to the castle itself. There are also plenty of other methods of transportation you can use to reach the castle from booking a bus tour to taking a train. The castle is open from April to October and October to March.

Photography is not permitted inside the castle, but to the right is a picture of the Singer’s Hall, and to the right to a picture of the castle. Before I visited, I thought this picture was fake or edited, but the castle truly does look like this from the exterior. The best place to get this view is from Queen Mary’s bridge (named after Ludwig’s mother).

I also loved visiting museums in Salzburg Austria, especially the home of Mozart, an influential composer. No reservation is required if you don’t desire a guided tour, but if you do all tours require a ticket to be purchased in advance, and it’s fairly easy to do so online or on-site. The admission fee is around 12 euros, and 18 euros for a ticket with all access. But, prices vary depending on what you want to see, your age, and how many people are going together.

 

Personally, I think one of the coolest parts of this tour is that you can see all the instruments Mozart used from his childhood violin to his fortepiano. A section of the tour also displays an autograph vault, which was fascinating to see. Overall, I found this tour to be very informative as someone who is not as educated on Mozart and his life journey.

There are also plenty of other museums in Salzburg (free to visit) that draw upon the city’s deep musical heritage and historic palaces.

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, or five towns, consists of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Each island is fairly small and offers its own distinct features. My personal favorite was Riomaggiore because of its restaurants and trailheads.

(The picture to the right is Riamaggiore)

It offered incredible scenic views (highly recommend staying here for the sunset), and had a wide range of activities from boat riding to hiking. Moreover, there’s an effective train transportation system with a high frequency of trains in and out of the islands, making it quick and easy to move from/to various locations.

 

Florence

I think that Florence is very special because of its peaceful ambiance and cobblestone streets. My family and I visited two attractions: Piazzale Michelangelo and Piazza del Duomo.

It took us about an hour to walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo (the entire city of Florence is fairly small, so it’s almost all walkable). This location provides a panoramic view of the entire city, and is particularly beautiful during the sunset. There are also several street artists and local artisans selling products around the statue of Michelangelo.

Piazza del Duomo is a large city square filled with swarms of local artisans selling their products. This square also is known for its cathedral, Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore. It is the third largest cathedral in the world, with the largest being St. Peter’s in Rome and the second largest being St. Paul’s in London.

 

Venice

Venice was a very unique experience, as it was fascinating to see how boats replaced cars. Excluding the boat rides, the most memorable experience in Venice was the glass-making demonstrations. An interesting fact is that Venice was the dominant glass producer in the West since the 10th century, and that legacy has continued today.

We visited Murano Glass & Venetian Masks where they showed a quick 10 minute demonstration of creating intricate pieces of animals, candy, flowers, and more. The process was very quick, and it was interesting to see how they managed to shape the glass and add color within a few seconds.

For children under the age of 14, viewing the demonstration is free. Otherwise, it costs 5 euros. I highly recommend visiting. If you are interested, there’s also an option to book a tour to view the furnace and gain more insight into the production of these pieces.

Venice is a particularly difficult city to navigate because Google Maps gets very confused. But, don’t panic because the entire city is fairly walkable. Also if time permits, go on a Gondola ride!

**The ‘candy’ and Christmas Tree is made 100% with glass!

Here are a few of my favorite national parks in the west.

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park has a beautiful backdrop of the Grand Teton Mountain Range and includes stunning alpine lakes. It’s incredibly relaxing to take in the scenic views from a lower altitude.

We didn’t spend much time at Grand Teton as we opted towards driving through a loop the park offered.

The driving loop was around 40 miles long and included various points of interest. Some points of interest included specific places to take pictures while others were trailheads.

The entire drive of the loop and stopping at points of interest took us about 1.5 to 2 hours.

Yellowstone National Park

We spent three full days at Yellowstone National Park, and there was still more to explore. I’d recommend spending 3-5 days or more because it allows you to explore the attractions and experience trails.

My favorite location was the Grand Prismatic Spring. This spring is the third largest spring in the world, and according to Yellowstone, it is the most photographed landmark in the park due to its sheer size and bright colors.

Yellowstone predicts that the Grand Prismatic Spring is as deep as a 10-story building and is larger than a football field (Yellowstone Park). The most unique element of this spring is the variety of distinct colors it offers. A fun fact I learned is that the green, blue, and yellow hues are formed because of thermophile bacteria. 

I highly recommend going on the Fairy Falls trail which offers a perfect view of the Grand Prismatic Spring from above. The trail is fairly short. The roundtrip was 1.2 miles and took us about an hour to complete.

From this viewpoint, you can clearly see the spring and all of its distinct rainbow of colors. Because of the heat from the spring, a large amount of steam is generated on cooler days. This makes it very difficult to see the spring from an eye-level point of view.

           

Arches National Park

One of my favorite national parks was Arches because it offered a completely different landscape from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.

At Arches National Park we hiked towards the Delicate Arch (you may recognize it as a Chrome background)! This arch was popularized because its the largest free-standing arch in the park.

The hike was somewhat strenuous, and under mid-day July heat, it was challenging at times. I would recommend bringing hiking shoes because there’s a portion where you hike on a slick rock slope. And, avoid midday heat!

Passion Blog #5:

Switzerland is paradoxically one of the most uniquely relaxing and adventurous places I’ve been to. Its nature is unparalleled from the Swiss Alps to crystal blue lakes. Though my family and I stayed there for only 3 days in July of 2019, here are some of my favorite places that we visited.

 

Lucerne:

After landing at the Zurich Airport, we stopped by Lucerne, Switzerland. Lucerne is a beautiful city with medieval architecture and is best known for its 14th-century wooden bridge, Kapellbrücke. The bridge connects the city which has a river that runs through the middle. Inside the bridge, there are lots of paintings that illustrate Lucerne’s history. However, some were unfortunately destroyed in a fire that occurred in 1993.

 

Interlaken:

On our second day, we drove to Interlaken, a resort town built on a very narrow stretch of a valley. In Interlaken, our main type of transport was trains! Switzerland has a wonderful, and efficient train system. The trains run very frequently and are a non-expensive way to travel throughout the country.

From Interlaken, we took four trains to visit the Top of Europe, Jungfraujoch (a part of the Bernese Alps and a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites). It sits at nearly 12,000 feet, or 4,158 meters above sea level. The view from Jungfraujoch is unlike anything I’ve seen before. There’s a full 360 view of the surrounding mountains, and tiny valleys. The altitude is so high that you feel like you might be able to touch the sky.

At Jungfraujoch, there’s also a stunning ice palace that has been carved from the interior of Europe’s longest glacier. I highly recommend visiting the ice palace, it was such a special experience. It was also very intriguing to see nearly life-sized figures of prominent people in history carved out of ice.

 

Gindelwald:

On our last day in Switzerland, we took a train to Grindelwald. At Grindelwald, we took a cable car which took us to the peak of the mountain that included hiking trails and more attractions.

One of the first attractions we visited was The First Cliff Walk. This sky walk is about 300 meters long, but takes almost half-an-hour to walk because many tourists do stop for pictures. For me, it was a somewhat terrifying experience because I do have a slight fear of heights. But, the view was spectacular and it definitely worth the panic.

Then, we went on a moderately challenging hike towards Lake Bachalpsee. The hike is 3.8 miles, and took us about two hours one way (stopping for pictures). There were lots of beautiful alpine flowers, and stunning views of mountains from the high altitude. However, the walk back took us about 30 minutes. Partly because of the downhill slope, but mainly because we needed to catch the last cable car from the mountain back to our AirBnb.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Some pictures below!