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	<title>Flavour of vacation &#187; Europe</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.virtualtraverse.com/category/europe/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.virtualtraverse.com</link>
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		<title>Romeo and Juliet</title>
		<link>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/romeo-and-juliet/</link>
		<comments>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/romeo-and-juliet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:05:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[attraction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[balcony]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefit of tourism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand name]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bronze]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bronze statue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[century]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[community trust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[course]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[courtyard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Everyone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fast cars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ferari]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[good luck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[house]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hunting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interesting things]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Italy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juliet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lamborgini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[local community]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lots of fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[luck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[name]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nothing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[part]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pleasure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rail journeys]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Replica]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romantic stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romeo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romeo and juliet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romeo and juliet story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scenery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[someone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[standing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[story]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[temptation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tomb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tourism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tourist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tourist attraction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Verona]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[verona italy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[winter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[winter olympic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.virtualtraverse.com/?p=120</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who doesn&#8217;t know about the famous and romantic stories of Romeo and Juliet? I guess everyone knows about them and their love story. The story took place in Italy, and don&#8217;t you know that the balcony of Juliet house does exist. Its in Verona, Italy, if you do happen to be in there, there&#8217;s nothing [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.virtualtraverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/julihous.jpg"><img src="http://www.virtualtraverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/julihous-150x150.jpg" alt="" title="julihous" width="150" height="150" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-122" /></a>Who doesn&#8217;t know about the famous and romantic stories of Romeo and Juliet? I guess everyone knows about them and their love story. The story took place in Italy, and don&#8217;t you know that the balcony of Juliet house does exist. Its in Verona, Italy, if you do happen to be in there, there&#8217;s nothing wrong spending some time to see the living story.</p>
<p>Juliet&#8217;s house build in the 12th century. Many tourists who come to visit to simply enjoy the scenery or look at the wall of Juliet which is so phenomenal.<br />
<span id="more-120"></span><br />
There are many parts of the house that became a tourist attraction, like a balcony, a statue of Juliet, and Juliet walls of course. Inside the house, you could see the bed and her pretty dress. Replica of the tomb of Juliet&#8217;s also in here.</p>
<p>Instead of Romeo and Juliet story, Italy also about winter olympic, wine, and fast cars such as brand name ferari and lamborgini. Experience <a href="http://www.pageandmoy.co.uk/search-results/rail-journeys/europe/southern-europe/italy/" target="_blank">rail journeys in Italy</a> with lots of fun and pleasure, not to mention the food temptation in there.</p>
<p>The balcony is a fairly new part of the house because it was built in 1937 for the benefit of tourism. Not in vain, the balcony became one of the mandatory spot tourists coming. So also with you, if it comes to Juliet&#8217;s house, do not miss standing on the balcony. There, you can feel as if a Juliet who is waiting for her Romeo come.</p>
<p>Besides enjoying Juliet&#8217;s balcony, take a photo with the bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard, too. There are interesting things from this statue, many visitors who come hunting for Juliet touches the chest. This relates to the local community trust. That said, if someone touches the chest of her will have good luck, especially for the romance.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Travel with RV</title>
		<link>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/travel-with-rv/</link>
		<comments>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/travel-with-rv/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:36:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[barbecue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[barbecue place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bread]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cabin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[caravan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[caravan park]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[children playground]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[country]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[course]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gulf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gulf stream travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gulf stream travel trailers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[highway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holiday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laundry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laundry rooms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[location]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[night]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[number]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[orderly environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[park]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[playground]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Practical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[problem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recreation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recreation room]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recreational vehicle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[room]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rv park]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rv supplies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sauna]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[size]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[something]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sort]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[star]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[star rating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[star system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[straight highway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stream]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[street]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strong point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[variety]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vehicle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[villa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.virtualtraverse.com/?p=104</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[RV or recreational vehicle is some sort of vehicle that quite practical to be brought on travel or holiday crossing big highway street. Practical because with these vehicle you don&#8217;t have afraid of where you&#8217;re going to spend a night. 
RV usually being used for camping or some other activities, but you should know, that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>RV or recreational vehicle is some sort of vehicle that quite practical to be brought on travel or holiday crossing big highway street. Practical because with these vehicle you don&#8217;t have afraid of where you&#8217;re going to spend a night. </p>
<p>RV usually being used for camping or some other activities, but you should know, that using RV requires big and straight highway, because of its size. In some countries because of the number of RV communities, they have RV park facilities, in here they will be able to park and fill water for their RV supplies, of course with some small costs.<br />
<span id="more-104"></span><br />
Just like hotels, caravan or RV park have a variety of rating with the star system. The higher the rating the more facilities owned and also more orderly environment. The problem is the higher rating means more expensive price. Caravan park, who has obtained rating 3-4 usually have a pool, sauna, children playground, recreation room, beyond the general things such as laundry rooms, barbecue place, a small shop that sells bread, milk, gas and other foods.</p>
<p>The cost of staying at a caravan park depending on the star rating as well, such as facilities usage (camping, cabin or villa), time (during holidays and week-school children usually end up around 15%), the number of people staying and location. Currently some country such as Australia and USA have big caravan society and RV park.</p>
<p>It is obvious that practical is something considerable as strong point using caravan or RV. Using <a href="http://www.boatnrv.com/-used-2010-gulf%20stream-wildwood-vid81013550-215908a" target="_blank">gulf stream travel trailers</a> as your caravan and experience the different and how convenient holiday with RV.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Family Vacation</title>
		<link>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/family-vacation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/family-vacation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:16:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clothes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collectibles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[continent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Disney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disney films]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disney place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Donald Duck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eternal memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[favorite places]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fiction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[getaway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hideaway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[icon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[illusion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[including games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[item]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[matter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[memory]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mickey Mouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[television]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[toddler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vacation getaway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vacation place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world of fiction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.virtualtraverse.com/?p=82</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What is the best place for family vacation and when is it? If you&#8217;re looking onto that, then you might found Disney place, is the correct place whatever your ages is. It was proven that Disney still favorite places to go to especially if you brought your children with you.
If you&#8217;d like to know why [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What is the best place for family vacation and when is it? If you&#8217;re looking onto that, then you might found <a href="http://www.shopwiki.com/wiki/How-to-Plan-a-Disney-Vacation" target="_blank">Disney place</a>, is the correct place whatever your ages is. It was proven that Disney still favorite places to go to especially if you brought your children with you.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to know why its still became favorite hideaway vacation place, then <a href="http://www.shopwiki.com/wiki/Disney-Films" target="_blank">Disney films</a> or movies might be the main reasons. The world of fiction and illusion presented by Disney attract children to see them visually alive outside the television. Not including games that encourage them.<br />
<span id="more-82"></span><br />
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck might their first icon marketing the places, which are now could be found in each continent. Their <a href="http://www.shopwiki.com/wiki/Disney-Collectibles" target="_blank">collectibles item</a> also became most selling and attracting, thanks to movies and entertainment they presented in there.</p>
<p>No matter your family vacation getaway is, during peak, mid, or off seasons, its important to prepare several things, especially if you&#8217;re traveling with toddler. Depending on the seasons, you must prepare your comfortable clothes, also don&#8217;t forget camera to take eternal memory and other <a href="http://www.shopwiki.com/wiki/Travel-Essentials" target="_blank">essential travel</a> stuff.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Meandering through the Yorkshire plains</title>
		<link>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/meandering-through-the-yorkshire-plains/</link>
		<comments>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/meandering-through-the-yorkshire-plains/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:42:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accommodation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anything]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bath]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[breathtaking countryside]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[case]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[catering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[catering cottages]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[countryside]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[destination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[difference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exploration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[failure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holiday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holiday of a lifetime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hotel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hotel rules]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[land]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lifetime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[location]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[master]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mountain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[natural beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nightmare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[past]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[perfect vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[presence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[quarters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[right]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rule]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self catering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[simplicity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[solitary land]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sort]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[timetables]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trip]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vacation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wilderness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yorkshire]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.virtualtraverse.com/?p=77</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Where you stay in Yorkshire can be the difference between a nightmare and the holiday of a lifetime. Being an increasingly sort after destination, Yorkshire is far from being a comfortable solitary land that it was in the past. There could be many in numbers at one hotspots the really does make your trip different [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Where you stay in Yorkshire can be the difference between a nightmare and the holiday of a lifetime. Being an increasingly sort after destination, Yorkshire is far from being a comfortable solitary land that it was in the past. There could be many in numbers at one hotspots the really does make your trip different and a complete failure sometime. Normally, you would want a virgin location to be quiet where you can get drunk on the mountain air and the surrounding wilderness. But the very presence of so many visitors right from the time you start changes it all.</p>
<p>There are hour long spots scattered all around the place but make sure you cover them in their own natural beauty. The self catering sites like <a href="http://www.selfcatering.co.uk/" target="_blank"> self catering </a> do a great job of it. You get the quarters that present you that quiet stay in the heart of the nature that you so long have desired and imagined. <span id="more-77"></span><a href="http://www.selfcatering.co.uk/yorkshire-holidays.php" target="_blank"> Self catering Yorkshire </a> can be the ideal place to search for you accommodation whereby you become the master of your timetables. At least during the holidays you would want to get a life of complete freedom but this is not the case with the normal resorts and hotels. There are people around that may be bothering you and spare the hotel rules. In the self catering cottages you can choose when to take your food, when to bath, how long to rest and when to start out for your exploration. There is no rule to anything \and that’s what a perfect vacation means.</p>
<p>Stay right in the heart of the traditional countryside of Yorkshire and enjoy the virgin culture of the place. You will be enchanted what simplicity can achieve when you stay in one of the wooden roofed cottages in the breathtaking countryside.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Echoes of the Ancients</title>
		<link>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/echoes-of-the-ancients/</link>
		<comments>http://www.virtualtraverse.com/echoes-of-the-ancients/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adventure worth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aeolian islands]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agrigento]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ancient greeks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[appeal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arab architecture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[architecture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[avola]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[awe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Baroque]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cascade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[century]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cerulean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[citrus orchards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clearest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[color]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[complex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Concordia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[construction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[countryside]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[distance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[divot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[drama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[edge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entrance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exhaust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fahrenheit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feeling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ferry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fire god]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flavors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[force]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fragrant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fresh pasta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gentle waves]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[god]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[greeks and romans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hades]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hasn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hazy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[height]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heracles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horizon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hydrofoil]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.virtualtraverse.com/?p=31</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Standing in the Sicilian sun with your feet washed by the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it’s easy to forget that there’s more to the tri-corner island than beauty. The beaches are magnificent—turquoise waters stretching out to the horizon, soft sand, gentle waves and some of the clearest water in the world. In the distance, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.virtualtraverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/sicily.jpg"><img src="http://www.virtualtraverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/sicily-150x150.jpg" alt="" title="sicily" width="150" height="150" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-33" /></a>Standing in the Sicilian sun with your feet washed by the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it’s easy to forget that there’s more to the tri-corner island than beauty. The beaches are magnificent—turquoise waters stretching out to the horizon, soft sand, gentle waves and some of the clearest water in the world. In the distance, on the rockier portions of the coast, volcanic rock juts out of the sea, its dark color and jagged edge adding drama to the vista. </p>
<p>Inland, the hills rise up and greet the sun, patched with golden fields of grain, vibrant citrus orchards, and the vineyards that produce Sicily’s fragrant nero d’avola wines. The skies are blue, the weather is warm, and somewhere, a few steps down a narrow street, someone is rolling fresh pasta to tempt you back from the shore. <span id="more-31"></span></p>
<p>There’s no mistaking Sicily for part of mainland Italy. Though Sicily has been officially part of Italy for nearly 150 years, it has also been ruled in turn by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Normans, and the island has kept the flavors of each passing wave of conquerors. Only a few blocks beyond the monuments to Vittorio Emanuele II outside the train station in Palermo are palaces and churches with the domes, mosaics, and geometric loveliness of medieval Arab architecture. </p>
<p>Baroque details line graceful, decaying buildings that shade sprawling markets and tanned children playing soccer in the streets. Most visitors come to Sicily for the weather: the climate is warm year-round, and in the summer months the sunshine is constant and temperatures hover around 86 degrees Fahrenheit. But in Sicily, history, culture, and natural wonders are layered on so thick that the trouble is in choosing the adventure, not finding it. </p>
<p>One adventure worth having, though, is a voyage to the Aeolian Islands off the north coast. The ancient Greeks and Romans called these islands the home of the winds, and their breezes offer some relief from the constant beat of the sun. One boasts the forge of the fire god himself: Vulcano, a volcanic island reachable by ferry or hydrofoil with sulfur baths and dark umber beaches. </p>
<p>Here, the intrepid and long-winded can climb to the top of the sleeping volcano that spewed forth much of the island and peer into the crater once said to be the entrance to Hades. Though it hasn’t erupted in a century, Vulcano’s main crater is far from extinct, its peak smoking with sulfur from multiple exhaust holes and the giant divot of its mouth still muddy-looking and dangerous. </p>
<p>The rock that surrounds the crater is as brittle and sharp as ceramic. Signs warn that hikers should spend no more than a few minutes at the top, lest the fumes intoxicate or poison them. Still, with the wind blowing freely on the sweat spent making it up, the feeling and the view are well worth the scorching hour-long climb.</p>
<p>While the ancient Greeks assigned their gods’ homes on the outer islands, though, they worshiped them on Sicily itself. And after experiencing Vulcano’s primordial power, you can remind yourself of the force of human culture in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. Here a complex of Greek temples was hewn from the native red sandstone and erected on a ridge overlooking the countryside, with the hazy cerulean smudge of the Mediterranean visible below the swell of the fields. Modern Agrigento rises to one side, and majestic sandstone forms cascade down the slope, linked by a pale road the Romans called the Sacred Way. </p>
<p>Each temple has its own appeal. The temple to Hera offers the best view and perhaps the most picturesque profile, perched atop the high point on the temples’ ridge. The sanctuary to Concordia is nearly intact despite the twenty-odd centuries since its construction, and dark shadows hide its inner depths even at the height of the day. </p>
<p>The temple of Zeus, meanwhile, is massive and almost completely destroyed, its ruins now poetically crumbling courtyards and staircases among the aloes and olive trees. The temple of Heracles demands humility, one row of its massive columns still standing and each one three times as wide around as the arm span of the average man. Together, the complex inspires awe—after two millennia, its structures are not only standing, but ethereally beautiful and seemingly indestructible. </p>
<p>Sicily’s mysteries are too many and too varied to explore in one short trip. But like the striking beauty of the island itself and the cultural marks so many have made on it, the memory of them will surely endure.<br />
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