International Travel News

Travel Briefs

January 2010 issue | Appears on page 79

Spanish / English-speech app

With the Jibbigo software application (or app), you can speak/record a sentence or two of either Spanish or English into your iPhone 3GS and it will respond with both an audible and written (on the screen) translation. It cannot be used to translate a conversation on the iPhone.

Jibbigo has a vocabulary of over 40,000 words that are particularly useful to travelers and medical doctors. The software runs on the phone, itself, so it does not need to be connected to the Internet. The app...

January 2010 issue | Appears on page 80

Retro London tours

The company smallcarBIGCITY (phone +44 [0] 7891 998 328 or +44 [0] 2075 850 399) offers six guided tours of London. Up to three people tour in a Mini Cooper driven by a chauffeur/guide dressed in retro 1960s garb, with ’60s music on the sound system.

Tours range from the 30-minute “Royal Tour” for £54 (near $90) per Mini, touring major London landmarks, to the 5-hour “Tale of Two Cities,” which combines an hour’s tour of London and an hour of Paris (with transit between on the...

January 2010 issue | Appears on page 80

Jolly olde Monopoly

Britain’s National Trust has created a UK version of the board game Monopoly which can be purchased in the US through The Royal Oak Foundation (New York, NY; 800/913-6565).

Half of the price of $100, which includes shipping, is a tax-deductible donation to the foundation, which supports the National Trust in preserving Britain’s cultural and natural heritage.

On the British set, “Park Place” has become Derbyshire’s “Hardwick Hall”; “Pennsylvania Avenue” is now “Snowdonia,” and...

December 2009 issue | Appears on page 15

Sydney Harbour Bridge

On Oct. 2, BridgeClimb Sydney opened the Sydney Harbour Bridge Visitor Centre (3 Cumberland St., The Rocks, Sydney, Australia; www.bridgeclimb.com), featuring display galleries, interactive exhibits and a digital, high-definition cinema detailing the bridge’s history from preconstruction through the present day.

Open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9-5 Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. The center is fully accessible.

December 2009 issue | Appears on page 15

Carmelite Priory Museum

In Malta, the Carmelite Priory Museum (Carmelite Priory, Villegaignon St., Mdina, Malta; phone +356 2702 0404, www.carmelitepriorymuseum.com) opened its priory and church to the public in June.

The Carmelite Church, built in 1675, has an unusual elliptical floor plan, and the newly restored priory shows how the Carmelite friars lived. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. €4 adult.

December 2009 issue | Appears on page 23

Catacombs closed

The Paris catacombs are closed indefinitely because of damage caused by vandals in September.

Visited by over 200,000 people each year, the catacombs are part of a large network of underground tunnels which are stacked with human bones. Photos of the damage showed skulls and bones scattered along the walkways.

December 2009 issue | Appears on page 23

Free to do in Wales

The Visit Wales tourism website has a guide to the top 20 free attractions in Wales.

Museums, national parks, walking trails and more are listed. A link even provides times and locations of more than 80 male choir rehearsals.

Visit www.usa.visitwales.com, click on “search” at the top right and type in “Top 20 free attractions” in the search box on the next page.

December 2009 issue | Appears on page 48

Abraham’s Gate reopens

In northern Israel, the 4,000-year-old Abraham’s Gate at the Tel Dan Nature Reserve reopened to the public in March after extensive work by the Nature & National Parks Protection Authority.

Composed of sun-dried mud brick on a foundation of large basalt stones, the gate has been restored to its original height of 22 feet. It serves as a link between the two towers below its arches, the earliest complete arches ever found in the world.

The reserve (wheelchair accessible) is...