International Travel News

Focus on Archaeology

November 2020 issue | Appears on page 23

The Māoris of Aotearoa (Second of two parts)

By Julie Skurdenis

For three weeks in February 2020, my husband, Paul, and I explored much of New Zealand. Of the six areas we visited — Auckland, Bay of Islands, Queenstown, Franz Josef Glacier, Christchurch and Rotorua — Rotorua was easily our favorite (Oct. ’20, pg. 27).

This was primarily because of the richness of Māori culture found in and near this city located on North Island, one of the two major islands making up New Zealand (the other being South Island). As if Māori culture...

October 2020 issue | Appears on page 27

The Māoris of Aotearoa (First of two parts)

By Julie Skurdenis

Undoubtedly, New Zealand is a country of spectacular beauty. Consisting primarily of two large islands — the North Island and the South Island — it is in the South Pacific Ocean. New Zealand is a land of snow-covered mountains, deep lakes, long fjords and verdant valleys as well as gentle hills, sandy and craggy coastlines and farmland.

I first visited many years ago. The opportunity to return came in February 2020. Besides the abundant natural beauty that my husband, Paul...

July 2020 issue | Appears on page 28

A bit of old Portugal in Spanish Uruguay

By Julie Skurdenis

Buenos Aires has always been one of my favorite cities. I try to visit as often as I can to enjoy its elegant cafés, superlative steakhouses, ubiquitous street and flea markets, great museums and parks and, above all, tango, of which I can’t get enough.

But when cosmopolitan living gets a bit much — especially on month-long visits — my husband, Paul, and I like to slip away for a few days to a far simpler place. Our getaway place is not even in Argentina but is just...

June 2020 issue | Appears on page 35

Where Buenos Aires was born

By Julie Skurdenis

Plaza de Mayo lies at the very heart of Buenos Aires. In 1535, King Carlos I of Spain sent the conquistador Pedro de Mendoza y Luján to establish a fort on the Río de la Plata in what was to become Argentina. This fort was the site of the settlement Mendoza called Santa María del Buen Aire, today’s Buenos Aires.

In 1580, another conquistador, Juan de Garay, moved the settlement a mile and a half from Mendoza’s site, awarding tracts of land to members of his expedition....

April 2020 issue | Appears on page 48

Reborn — Palace of the Grand Dukes in Vilnius

By Julie Skurdenis

The story of the Palace of the Grand Dukes in Vilnius, Lithuania, and its rebirth began for me many years ago.

I traveled to Lithuania for the first time in the mid-1970s during the bleak years of the Soviet occupation of the country (1940-41, 1944-90). There was no palace visible then, only a park next to Vilnius’ Cathedral (which the Soviets had turned into an art museum). The park covered the site where a palace had stood for centuries until it was destroyed by the Russians...

March 2020 issue | Appears on page 49

A trio of Latvian castles

By Julie Skurdenis

Riga, Latvia, was the second stop on a month-long trip that my husband, Paul, and I took to the Baltic states in May-June 2019. As with Tallinn, Estonia, our first stop (Feb. ’20, pg. 47), we had allotted eight days for Riga and, as with Tallinn, we could have spent all eight days exploring this vibrant city on the Baltic Sea, with its Old Town, wealth of Art Nouveau buildings and nearby seaside resort town of Jūrmala.

We also wanted to venture into the Latvian countryside to...

February 2020 issue | Appears on page 47

Estonia - A bishop’s castle in Old Livonia

By Julie Skurdenis

Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, is one of the gems of the Baltic states, a cluster of three small countries that also includes Latvia and Lithuania. They are all located along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea in Northeastern Europe.

It would be easy to spend all of your time in Tallinn without venturing beyond. Its Old Town alone, with Hanseatic-era guildhalls and merchants’ houses, kept my husband, Paul, and me happily occupied for three days of our 8-day visit in May...

January 2020 issue | Appears on page 50

A trio of Oaxacan sites

By Julie Skurdenis

The city of Oaxaca lies about 290 miles southeast of Mexico City in an area enclosed by three valleys. In these valleys developed some of the richest cultures of pre-Columbian Mexico: first, the Zapotecs, whose earliest noteworthy archaeological site, San José Mogote, dates from the 7th century BC (perhaps even much earlier, to the 15th century BC), then, much later, the Mixtecs, who probably arrived in the valleys in the 9th and 10th centuries AD.

Two of Mexico’s foremost...

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ITN first printed a feature article by Julie Skurdenis in 1983. Five years and nearly a dozen ITN features later, she began writing the "Focus on Archaeology" column, which continues to this day.