Mastery of Europe’s major cities — Rome, Paris, London, Vienna — is the mark of a good traveler. Teeming with color, energy and cultural vibrancy, these places, while expensive, richly reward the thoughtful traveler.
There are plenty of ways to thrive in big European cities without going broke. And the good news is that, in so many ways, the less you spend, the more you’ll engage in the life around you.
At the Magao Grottoes in northwestern China’s Gansu Province, a $50 million “digital exhibition center” opened in September 2014.
Also known as Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, this Silk Road site in the Gobi Desert dates back 1,600 years and comprises almost 500 caves covered in Buddhist murals and holding more than 2,000 sculptures.
At the Museum of Russian Vodka in St. Petersburg, a 30-minute tour covers the history, production and traditions of vodka and concludes with an optional tasting of some of the 213 varieties. Tour, RUB300 (near $5.30); tour plus tasting, RUB450. Open daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
More than 150 objects held at London’s British Museum since being collected in Australia, many from the times of earliest contact between indigenous peoples (Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders) and nonindigenous people (British), will return to Australia for the exhibit “Encounters,” Nov. 1, 2015-March 28, 2016.
Among the objects are a wooden shield believed to have been taken by James Cook in 1770, a mid-1840s Tasmanian shell necklace and an 1870s dilly bag.
8 days, 7 nights, Aug. 28-Sept. 4, 2015. Highlights: Start in Bangor, Maine/in St. Andrews by-the-Sea on the Bay of Fundy, bird-banding station/Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium/by boat, explore Passamaquoddy Bay, home to eagles, seals, porpoises/in Halifax, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic/Peggy’s Cove village/in Old Town Lunenburg, Ironworks Distillery. Land, from $3,995 ppdo or $4,990 single. Round-trip air (Chicago-Bangor, Halifax-Chicago), approx. $600. Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL; 312/939-2438, www.sheddaquarium.org).
An exhibit of Byzantine-era gold and silver coins and medallions — discovered 50 meters south of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem in April 2013 during the excavation of a sixth-century-AD building — is being held until Jan. 30, 2016, at the Israel Museum (11 Ruppin Blvd., Hakirya, Jerusalem, Israel; phone +972 2 670 8811, www.english.imjnet.org.il).
ILS54 (near $13.50) adult or ILS27 senior or child (under 17).
You would think that a town with history stretching back 5,000 years, one which was once a Roman military spa town and which was Charlemagne’s capital during the eighth century, would be a well-known tourist destination. This is true for Europeans, but, with the exception of my fellow history buffs, Aachen remains virtually unknown to Americans.
In Pamplona, Spain, and featuring artworks by Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and other artists as well as sculptures and more than 14,000 Spanish photographs and 100,000 photographic negatives from the 19th century to the present (many from the Spanish Civil War), along with performing arts, the Museum of the University of Navarra (Campus Universitario, 31009 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain; phone +34 948 42 56 00, http://museo.unav.edu/en) opened on Jan. 22.
The city of Rouen — where Joan of Arc’s trial and execution took place almost 600 years ago — was scheduled to open a museum in her honor on March 21.
Celebrating 500 years of printing in the city, the “Leipzig imPRESSES” exhibit, March 28-Oct. 4, 2015, includes 15th-century plates from the first printer in Leipzig, prints from Martin Luther and sheet music plus working printing presses.