By FELLOWSHIP & FAIRYDUST STAFF AND CONTRIBUTORS
A variety of contributors joined in to share short (250 words or less) summaries of their favorite travels.
2 Minute Travel Review: Porto
BY MIKE AMOS
Last year I was fortunate enough to go to Porto, Portugal on a stag-do for one of my best friends. I travelled a few days earlier on my own, and had a wonderful time. I visited a multitude of places, including Torre de Clerigos, an indoor market, Livraria Lello (an iconic book shop with ties to J K Rowling), Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (a stunningly huge garden with fantastic views and peacocks wandering around it), Monument Church Of St. Francis, and a whole host of other sites, including a few bridges, a beach, and some river-side cable-cars. I was utterly blown away by the beauty of this place, with its architecture adorned with multitudes of ornate tiles, the views across this valley-strewn town were stunning and, to top it off, we all went canyoning with the most fantastic tour group. We traversed, zip-lined, abseiled, and dove, along the most stunning river canyon. The guides were fantastic; they picked us up from Porto and dropped us off again after taking us for a celebratory lunch. It truly was the most memorable of times, and I would greatly recommend visiting Porto.
We used Oporto Adventure Tours for the Canyoning – fantastic service and well worth it.
Some of the sites are mentioned in the following TimeOut article: https://www.timeout.com/porto/attractions/portos-top-10-attractions.
Pictures of the tiled buildings can be seen at this link.
2 Minute Travel Review: Key West and Dry Tortugas
BY HANNAH SKIPPER
Image by Dayron Villaverde from Pixabay
Key West brims with excitement and history. There is a fabulous museum with treasures from a sunken Spanish galleon, President Harry Truman’s “Little White House”, the Audubon House, and Ernst Hemingway’s home, with the descendants of his original six-toed cat still living and bred there. Hemingway’s favorite cafe, Sloppy Joe’s, is also still open for business on Duval St. And the Sunset Festival, where tourists and locals alike gather in Mallory Square every evening to watch the sun go down over the Gulf of Mexico is a must-see with its fun carnival atmosphere. Just mind you watch out for the chicken who roam freely around the island!
Seventy miles (113km) across the Gulf, and accessible only by ferry or seaplane from Key West, the Dry Tortugas is a little system of islands covering only 143 acres. Discovered by Spanish explorers and named for the sea turtles they saw camping out on the beaches as well as the fact that there’s no fresh water, it is the most inaccessible national park in the United States. The main attraction is Ft. Jefferson, an old Civil War era military prison whose most famous prisoner was the unfortunate Dr. Mudd. Scuba diving is also a popular activity.
2 Minute Travel Review: Madonna di Fiesole
BY JAMISON NOENICKX
Photo Credit: Egisto Stani/Flickr
One of the most memorable traveling experiences I have had was to visit the little town of Fiesole, outside of Florence, Italy. As the birthplace of the Renaissance, there is so much history there. Dig deeper and there is even more: artifacts of the Lombard people, even a Roman amphitheater.
Away from the more famous works down the road in Florence, there was a simple and little-known clay sculpture there, a Madonna and Child, attributed to Filippo Brunelleschi. I think the moment I saw it was the moment I first understood what art was. It was so simple but captured either a genius or a love of craft that spoke to my very soul.
Away from the more famous works down the road in Florence, there was a simple and little-known clay sculpture there, a Madonna and Child, attributed to Filippo Brunelleschi. I think the moment I saw it was the moment I first understood what art was. It was so simple but captured either a genius or a love of craft that spoke to my very soul. The image of it I have used here is courtesy of ThatsArte.com.
Several years later, I developed a similar love for the poetry of Gertrude Stein. She is one of those poets that people either love or hate, but when I first read her work, I felt the same genius I had once felt in Fiesole.
So, it caught me by surprise when I recently discovered that in the summer of 1908, she lived there. The one who wrote, “A rose is a rose is a rose,” a man who sculpted a Madonna and Child, myself, and countless others, our paths have all crossed, separated only by time.
2 Minute Travel Review: De Leon and Blue Springs State Parks in Florida
BY HANNAH SKIPPER
Image by McleroyPhotography/Pixabay.com
Less than an hour north of Orlando, you’ll find Blue Springs State Park. Situated along the St. John’s River, it offers canoeing, kayaking, swimming, a guided riverboat cruise, and camping. However, the main attraction really starts to arrive during the winter months. In 1970, researches tagged and traced fourteen manatees who’d come inland to enjoy the park’s year-round 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) waters. In 2018, that number had increased to 485 of the endangered gentle giants, packing in like sardines to enjoy the balmy temperature.
About a half hour farther up the road, you’ll find De Leon Springs State Park. This park was originally founded around the supposed medicinal value of the spring and you can tour a little historical museum to learn about its history. You can also swim, canoe, kayak, go for a guided riverboat cruise, and camp. But the main attraction is a fantastic restaurant built inside of an old sugar mill. The Sugar Mill Restaurant’s most popular fare is pancakes that patrons make for themselves at their own table.
Plan to come early to both parks as they reach capacity very quickly.
2 Minute Travel Review: Montana
BY SAMANTHA WATSON
Image by Pixabay.com
When you think of Montana, your first thought is probably of mountains, glaciers, and pine trees. Now imagine the complete opposite of that. That’s where I live. At the top of Montana is a stretch of Highway 2 called the “Hi-Line”, where the highest part is the Sweetgrass Hills to the northwest and Bear Paw’s Mountain (which isn’t as tall as most mountains) to the southeast. We have wheat fields for miles upon miles and rarely see another person, even when we aren’t in quarantine. There are less trees than people, minus a few spots in the Bear’s Paw. Despite what sounds like a flat, barren place, our area is truly beautiful. Have you ever seen the sunrise over a field of snow when it’s forty degrees below zero? It looks like a field of glitter. To be able to drive just minutes and be surrounded by the beauty of creation is something locals take for granted, but it’s the best part of being here. The majority of Montana is flat and full of wheat, but with a giant sky overhead and miles of sights to see, the Big Sky State is a little slice of Heaven on Earth.
2 Minute Travel Review: Dales Gorge, Karijini National Park, Pilbara, Western Australia
BY BETH AMOS
Image by Graeme Churchard/Flickr
330km from Port Hedland, and situated in the Hammersley Ranges, Karijini National Park has to be one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth. The characteristically Aussie-red soil dotted with dry brush and the odd twisted looking tree, at first glance, seems just like any other part of the deserts which stretch throughout the Central Australian bushlands. It isn’t until you leave the bush camp and descend into one of Karijini’s stunning gorges that you truly discover the treasures that this untamed land has to offer.
My absolute favourite has to be 100-metre-deep Dales Gorge. This gorge-walking adventure truly begins with a leap of faith from the ledges over Fortescue Falls into the deep, turquoise pool below. From there, you can either take the easy, handrailed route to the beautiful Fern Pool, or wade through the creek and start the 2km gorge trail loop to Circular Pool – a place still considered sacred to the indigenous tribes of the area today. The pool is fed by natural springs and groundwater runoff, which drips in a gentle warm waterfall down the mossy, towering red-rock cliffs which surround it. Don’t be fooled though, the pool itself is a blissfully cool respite from the hot Australian sun.
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