I traveled solo and on the cheap in Turkey for nearly all of May ’09. I described my visits to Bodrum (Oct. ’09, pg. 14), Selçuk (Jan. ’10, pg. 30) and Marmaris (March ’10, pg. 47). Heading south along the Aegean coast, I next hit Fethiye; the bus trip — a great way to see the country — took three hours (TL16, or near $11), and again I used the Pamukkale Bus Company (phone 0 232 892 3961).
New Zealand is a beautiful, sparsely populated country with warm, friendly people. We enjoyed it tremendously in February ’08 on a trip arranged through ElderTreks (Toronto, Ont.; 800/741-7956) and conducted by Walk ‘N’ Tours NZ.
by M. Lewis Stein, Irvine, CA
by Sandra Scott
• Founded in 1990 by Leonard Bernstein, the Pacific Music Festival is a celebration of classical music held annually in Sapporo, Japan. For two of the last three years, I’ve attended the festival’s Picnic Concert, held the last Sunday of July in Sapporo Art Park.
My wife, Margi, and I met Zambativ Tuvshintulga on a 2006 Pacific Holidays tour of Mongolia, where he was one of our local guides (Aug. ’07, pg. 59). Tuvshin wanted us to see the west and north of Mongolia, too, so when we made plans to attend the Beijing Olympics (Dec. ’08, pg. 32), we contacted him and he arranged a tour for us to follow our China visit.
The MS Deutschland, a 520-passenger ocean liner of Peter Deilmann Cruises (Alexandria, VA; 800/348/8287, www.deilmann-cruises.com), offers theme cruises, including classical music cruises. I was aboard for the Sept. 18-Oct. 1, 2008, classical music cruise from Hamburg, Germany, to Monte Carlo, Monaco.
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 US, Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.) 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 BRUCE PALMER of Pullman, Washington:
I visited the famous UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra, Jordan, in October ’07. A daytime visit is a long and hot walk but definitely worth the effort. For me, however, the highlight was the lesser-known night trip to the Siq and Treasury.
Starting at the Petra Visitors Center, you walk down the road through the kilometer-long Siq (a narrow gap between rock faces) to the famous Treasury. The entire route is lit only with lanterns on the ground (actually paper bags each with a candle inside) and moonlight.
My wife, Diane, and I flew to Scotland on Aug. 12, 2007, for what was our fifth visit to the Edinburgh International Festival (The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2NE, UK; phone +44 [0] 131 473 2099, www.eif.co.uk) and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (180 High St., Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 1QS, UK; phone +44 [0] 131 226 0026, www.edfringe.com).