Antiquities in our backyard — Dingle Peninsula
(1 of 2 on Ireland)
Ruins and Archaeology
Mayan city private stay
In Belize, the Ka’ana resort (P.O. Box 263, San Ignacio Town, Belize, Central America; phone, in US, 877/522-6221 or 305/735-2553) offers a private overnight stay for up to four guests in luxury tents at the base of a Mayan temple.
After all visitors have left, the guests will arrive at dusk for dinner cooked on a traditional Mayan stove and a tour of the site. After breakfast, the guests will take a boat to visit Mayan ruins across the lake.
On The Mayan Path
8-day / 7-night tour of GUATEMALA. Highlights: Guatemala City / market in Chichicastenango / market in Solola / boat trip on Lake Atitlán; visit a lakeshore village / colonial-style Antigua / temples, pyramids in the Mayan city of Tikal. From Miami, from $1,690 double, $1,618 triple or $2,257 single. Tara Tours (Miami, FL; 800 / 327-0080, www.taratours.com).
Machu Picchu tickets
Since mid 2011, the number of visitors at Machu Picchu has been capped at 2,500 per day, and Peru requires tickets to be purchased in advance. While tour operators will handle that for their clients, independent travelers need to make their own arrangements.
A ceremonial implement
Tell ITN about the funniest thing that ever happened to you while traveling in a foreign country. There are no restrictions on length. (ITN prints no info on destinations in the U.S., Canada or Mexico.) The ITN staff will choose each month’s winner, who will receive a free one-year subscription to ITN. Entries not chosen cannot be acknowledged.
This month’s winner is WES PERRIN of Bend, Oregon:
Beyond Machu Picchu
13 days / 12 nights, Nov. 15-26, 2012. Highlights: Incan gold collection in Lima / pre-Inca archaeological sites / witches’ market in Chiclayo/Lord of Sipán’s tomb / Valley of the Pyramids / El Brujo murals / adobe wall carvings at La Huaca del Dragon / 3,000-year-old granite sculptures at Cerro Sechin. Land and internal air, $2,295. Single supp., $590. MexiMayan Academic Travel (Lemont, IL; 800/337-6394).
Kernave: Lithuania’s royal mounds
On my most recent trip to Lithuania, in June-July ’03, I went to celebrate a coronation that took place 750 years before. Mindaugas, honored as the founder of the Lithuanian state and the unifier of its many tribal groups, was crowned king in 1253. He was the only Lithuanian ruler ever to bear this title. Mindaugas’ reign as king was brief, a mere 10 years, during which he repelled the Tartars invading from the south and the Teutonic knights from the west. In 1263 he was assassinated. He was 44 years old.
Greece and Turkey — A voyage into antiquity
by Cynthia Thompson; Lebanon, NH
If you enjoy cruising on a relatively small ship, with the chance to go ashore almost every day to tour interesting sites that, frequently though not always, are archaeological in nature, then a trip on the Aegean Odyssey is the vacation for you.
Precious Journeys Belize
Seven days/six nights. Departures July 1-Nov. 30, 2012. Highlights: Visit Mayan ruins with an archaeologist/swim into Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave/ride on horseback to Xunantunich/3,000 Mayan structures at Tikal/snorkel coral reef off St. George’s Caye/canoe in Barton Creek Cave. Land, from $5,840. Single supp., $2,160. Big Five Tours & Expeditions (Stuart, FL; 800/244-3483, www.bigfive.com).