Located along the southern coast of Sicily, outside of the city of Agrigento, the Valley of the Temples is not a valley at all! The archaeological and landscape park is located on a ridge overlooking the city.
Extending over 1300 hectares, this UNESCO World Heritage Site includes ruins of the ancient city of Akragas and its surrounding territory. One of Sicily’s main attractions, the park is the largest archaeological park in Europe and the Mediterranean basin and receives about one million visitors each year.
The Valley includes the remains of seven temples that date back to the 5th century BC. The Temple of Concordia is the best preserved and was the highlight of our guided walking tour through the park.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
The Temple of “Hera” dates back to 450 BC
Temple of HeraclesTemple of Concordia
Surrounding the temples were beautiful century-old olive trees:
Following our visit to the valley, our lunch, which was originally listed as being “at a local restaurant in Agrigento” turned out to be a wonderful surprise! We were brought instead to the home of Marcello and Rita who grew the vegetables used in the delicious multi-course home-cooked lunch for us.
Home grown and made sundried tomatoes and bruschetta were just a couple of the appetizers to start off our tasty lunch.
After lunch, we were led downstairs to a workshop to see a beautiful collection of “carretti,” Sicilian horse and donkey carts that were made by his father, Raffaele, and to hear the story about them. His collection is recognized by UNESCO and was stunning!
Our home for the night was at Vecchia Masseria an agriturismo (farm stay). Incredibly picturesque and charming, this was our favorite accommodation of the trip. There are hundreds of pictures of the property posted on Trip Advisor, but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the property, so I can bring you some of my own:
Coming up next: SICILY & AMALFI COAST #12: MARVELOUS MOSAICS & A WONDERFUL WINERY
About that “break” I mentioned at the end of my last post; we went on an Overseas Adventure Travel tour to Peru. As soon as I complete my blogs about this tour, I will begin my posts on our amazing and fabulous adventure!
Meanwhile, back in Italy, while the rest of the group went on an optional tour, Bruce and I opted to spend the day exploring on our own. We walked to the charming town of Iseo to catch the ferry to the island of Monte Isola, and we immediately knew we wanted to save some time to see more on the way back.
(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)
Scenes of Iseo, while walking through town to the ferry.
This mother was cruising near the ferry with her baby hitching a ride on her back.
Looking back at Iseo from the ferry.A view of the mainland from the lake.Monte Isola
Monte Isola, located in the middle of Lake Iseo, is 1.7 square miles in size and has a population of less than 2,000. It is a beautiful island that peaks at just under 2000 feet, making it a challenge to traverse on foot. We set out to hike one of the loops that took us through the cobbled-street town, and along the waterfront.
We saw mothers with their babies all along the waterfront!
We then turned inland to traverse the island’s steep interior. When I say steep, I mean steep! On one of the roads, a sign warned a couple of cyclists about the steep grade as they walked their bikes up the incline, huffing and puffing. I wondered if they muttered to each other, “Tell me something I don’t already know!” Meanwhile, cyclists flew by in the other direction, as they raced downhill. There was no walking path for pedestrians and no shoulder, so we carefully navigated as bikes and a few cars flew down as we walked up.
Celebrating our achievement of making it to the top, we enjoyed the spectacular views of the lake down below and Iseo off in the distance. It was definitely worth the hike up, even if it was challenging and clouds threatened to drench us along the way. (Fortunately, we stayed dry!)
Bruce enjoying a cold Coke Zero on our way back down.
We’re almost there!
After we completed the loop back to town, we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the ancient, cobbled-street town with its steep and windy back streets. Ancient is a subjective description, but there is indication the town was a Roman settlement dating back to 905! This town has history!
More recently, Monte Isola’s little commune became famous when artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude created an incredible temporary installation, The Floating Piers, in 2016. These are a few photos I shot of the photo exhibit that was on display along the waterfront:
The skies cleared for our ferry ride back to Iseo, so we enjoyed weaving our way in and out of the streets after we arrived, exploring around each corner.
We passed by this little privately-owned island on the way back to Iseo.
Iseo
We decided to have pizza for dinner at a little place I found on Trip Advisor, Forno Di Porta del Camo. Check out the link for my review, “Great Owner & Great Pizza.” We will never forget the owner or his pizza. We laughed about it the entire way back to our hotel!
Next up: SWITZERLAND & NORTHERN ITALY #16: TRAVELING TO TRENTO
If Road Scholar hadn’t cancelled our tour of the Scottish Highlands, we would have spent two weeks exploring the region. Bruce and I didn’t want to completely miss out, so we booked a day trip out of Edinburgh. We always prefer a small group experience, so we opted to go with Rabbies, since their tours are for a maximum of 16 people, and they get an excellent rating on Trip Advisor.
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
The Highlands, located in the northwest region of Scotland, are renowned for their natural beauty. The area is sparsely populated, mountainous, and green – a lovely place to drive through in between stops on our tour.
Stirling Castle
After passing Stirling Castle, stopping at Loch Lomond (the largest lake in the UK), and seeing Loch Long; we visited the 18th-century town of Inveraray, located on the western shore of Loch Fyne. The main draw was seeing Inveraray Castle, which was built over the course of 40 years, beginning in 1744. Although it was closed the day we were there, we were able to walk around the castle and enjoy the beautiful grounds.
Loch Fyne, at the town of Inveraray
Inveraray Castle
The town of Inveraray
During the tour, we learned a few interesting tidbits and facts about Scotland. Although the population of the country is about 5.4 million, the sheep numbers peak at about 12 million in the summer time. Excellent produce is also grown in the lowlands for export, but they are best known for having “the best strawberries in the world,” according to our guide, Andrew. Top food and drink exports include chocolate, whisky, salmon, and lamb. Interestingly, although they export their lamb, they import lamb from New Zealand. Go figure…
Language in Scotland can be a challenge. Although English is the main language, there are also many dialects of Scots and Scottish Gaelic spoken. (There are 270 words for “snow,” for example!) The dialect of English spoken is referred to as Scottish English; and, I can tell you from personal experience while riding the public bus in Edinburgh, it is impossible to understand. Fortunately, most of the people we talked to spoke easy-to-understand English!
This was my favorite quote of the day from Andrew: “Football (soccer) is a gentleman’s game played by thugs. Rugby is a thug’s game played by gentleman.” (After watching all of the episodes of Welcome to Wrexham to date, I would have to agree!)
Back to our tour, we made another stop to get a view of the abandoned Kilchern Castle and to enjoy the views (and sheep!).
Kilchern Castle
A hotel near the castle
By now, I was bummed I hadn’t yet seen a Highland cow; however, Andrew surprised us at our next stop. Yay! This is one of the oldest breeds of cows in the world, and their shaggy hair gives them a cute look. I didn’t realize this, but a cow’s horns are for body temperature control. Blood circulates through them, and the horns will feel cool at the tips and warm nearest the head.
Our final stop was at Doune Castle, one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Scotland, and is best known for the filming location of the TV show, Outlander. It was also featured in Monty Python’s Holy Grail and The Outlaw King. Built in the late 1300s, it was a key stronghold of Robert Stewart, Duke of Abany.
The tour was long, but we were happy to get to see the Scottish Highlands, even if just for one day.
Next up: Touring the Scottish Parliament & Scenes Around Edinburgh
The Royal Edinburgh Ticket we had purchased for the hop-on-hop-off double-decker bus tour included entrance to the castle, palace, and Royal Brittania Yacht – three of the attractions we wanted to see in Edinburgh. We also wanted to see the Royal Botanic Garden, which happened to be free of charge. It had worked out nicely to divide and conquer; see the castle and palace on one day, and the gardens and yacht – both on the blue bus route — on the following day.
It had rained prior to our stop at the gardens, which was quite welcomed as far as we were concerned. We practically had the gardens to ourselves, having arrived just when they opened; and, rain drops add and interesting element to flower photographs.
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
The Royal Botanic Gardenwas founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants. Currently, as an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, it is a scientific center for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Covering 70 acres, it is beautifully designed and a lovely place to take a stroll, have a picnic, do photography, or all of the above! They also host many events including live performances, guided tours, and exhibitions; and, it is an important center for education.
Located nearby was the Water of Leighth Walkway, so we wandered through a section of it before returning to the garden to hop back on the blue bus.
The Royal Brittania Yachtwas our next stop for a self-guided tour of the 412-foot-long vessel. Launched by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, it was decommissioned in 1997 as the last in a long line of Royal Yachts stretching back to 1660.
All of the clocks were stopped at 3:01 pm, the exact time the ship was decommissioned. Bruce and I got chills when he looked at his watch during the bus ride back into town; it read 3:01 pm.
Although we had put a lot of miles on our feet by the afternoon, we still had some energy left in the tank to take the bus back into town for a short visit to the National Museum of Scotland. What a gem! On Trip Advisor, it is ranked #3 of 534 things to do in Edinburgh for good reason; it is fabulous. Not only is admission free; but, the exhibits in this massive museum are top-notch. Had it not been so late in the day (we left at closing time), we would have seen more.
So much to see, but so little time. What a fabulous day, though!
Following our Iceland tour with Overseas Adventure Travel, the original plan was to fly directly to Edinburgh, Scotland, and spend six days on our own, before hooking up with Road Scholar for a tour of the Scottish Highlands. We received a phone call from Road Scholar in June, however, notifying us our tour was canceled. I won’t get into the reasons why it was canceled, but we were disappointed. Fortunately, we were able to change the our flight, so we could return home after our six days in Edinburgh. Not that we didn’t want to see more of Scotland; it was high season, and hotels were already booked up.
As an alternative to completely missing the Scottish Highlands, we decided to book a day tour for one of our days, and spend the remainder of our time seeing everything we wanted to see in the city. I had done a lot of research on Edinburgh, so I felt like we had a good plan in place.
But first, why Scotland? I had never been there before; it would be my 70th country. More importantly, I had heard nothing but wonderful things about it! Most importantly, when I first started dating Bruce back in 1986, I asked him what country he would most like to see. “Scotland” was his reply. After all, his first name is Bruce, his middle name is Robert, and he was named after Robert the Bruce!
Somehow, over the years, and throughout all our travels, we never quite got to Scotland. Then, when we finally booked a trip that would have included the country, it was canceled due to the COVID pandemic. Now, we were finally going to see Scotland! (We will see more of the country next year on another trip.)
The first thing we wanted to nail down for Edinburgh was accommodations. My go-to website for advice is always Trip Advisor; however, I had a couple of criteria that were important to me this time around. First, I wanted a location near a bus stop. (The public transportation system in Scotland got rave reviews!) We didn’t mind taking a bus into the city center, but wanted to be close enough for the ride to be short. Second, we wanted to stay somewhere unique for a memorable bed-and-breakfast experience rather than at a chain hotel. Third, the price had to be within our budget. The other criteria are always in play: Clean, comfortable, quiet, safe, and rated 4-5 in Trip Advisor reviews.
We found just the place that ticked all the boxes: Hotel Ceilidh-Donia. Ranked #4 of 169 hotels reviewed on Trip Advisor, it met all of our criteria. The biggest surprise was what I hadn’t listed that ended up being the best part of our stay: Susan, Kevin, and their staff. They made our vacation so memorable! (See my review of our experience.)
Our plan for seeing the city and sights was to purchase the Royal Edinburgh Ticket for the hop-on-hop-off double-decker bus. It is run by Lothian, the same company as the public city buses, and the tour had excellent reviews. The ticket included entrance to Edinburgh Castle with a reserved time slot—a very important feature, so you can bypass the lines of people waiting to get in. (Or, in the case of the week we were there, right before the Fringe Festival, if you didn’t have a pre-booked ticket, it was sold out, every single day!) The bus ticket lasts for 48 hours, so you can ride the bus and hop on and off as many times you like within that time period. The ticket with castle admission cost USD $84 per person, but believe me; it was money well spent!
On our first day in Edinburgh, we rode the bus into town, and then took care of business before sightseeing. “Business” included checking out where we would be starting our Royal Edinburgh bus tour in relation to where the city bus dropped us off. There were four different buses (red, orange, green, and blue) with different routes and features; however, we wanted to make sure we took the green bus with a live on-board guide—much better than listening to a recorded narration!
Next, we had booked a Scottish Highland tour for later in the week, so we wanted to locate the bus station on foot, so we would be sure to have a smooth commute on tour day. (More on that tour in a future post…)
Once we had those details ironed out, it was time to hit the Royal Mile, the main thoroughfare of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Edinburgh Castle is on one end, and Palace of Holyroodhouse is on the other end; so, I can see why it is such a popular pedestrian street. Those are two of the most-visited tourist attractions in Edinburgh!
I had read the reviews; the Royal Mile ranks #8 of things to do in Edinburgh. Some rave about it, and others say it’s a tourist trap with too many shops full of “Scottish” souvenirs made in China. They’re both right, and I wouldn’t have left Edinburgh without seeing the Royal Mile. (As it turned out, we ended up walking its entire length several times over the course of our stay in Edinburgh!)
Sure, there were a lot of tourist shops. I walked past most of them, didn’t purchase anything in any of them, and only spent five minutes browsing in the largest one located near the castle. I am always curious to see what is made in each country I visit, so I popped in, took a look around, and snapped a couple of shots. If you like plaid, Scotland is the place to shop! I’m not a plaid person…
What I loved about the Royal Mile was the architecture (so much history!), the hanging flower baskets, and a large part of the thoroughfare being closed off to traffic. It was a safe and comfortable place to walk.
Besides seeing the Royal Mile, Bruce and I rambled all over the city on our first day! By the time we took the bus back to our hotel, we were happy to return to the quiet and lovely residential neighborhood where our little hotel was nestled.
Just by chance, for dinner, we found a casual and reasonably-priced Thai restaurant located just a ten-minute stroll away. Papaya Thai Street Foodwasn’t yet rated on Trip Advisor, but we were hungry, and Thai is our favorite cuisine. We decided to take a gamble. What a find! It was so good I gave them Trip Advisor’s first review! (I later found them on Google; 20 reviews and a perfect score of 5.) It was the exclamation point on a wonderful first day in Edinburgh!
Below are photos I shot on and near the Royal Mile during a couple of different days walking in the city as well as a few snapped from the top of the double-decker bus.
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
Dunbar’s Close Garden. There are several closes off the Royal Mile– alleyways that lead to private property and closed to the public. This little slice of heaven off the busy Royal Mile is gated; however, it is open to the public for free during daylight hours.
View from a cross street of the Royal Mile
New Calton Burial Ground, located near the Palace of Holyroodhouse just off the Royal Mile
This little garden was located adjacent to the Palace of Holyroodhouse
Viewed through the window of a restaurant on the Royal Mile.
This was a not-so-wee bite we picked up at the Zebra Coffee Co. on Bank St., just off the Royal Mile. The window display was too tempting to ignore! These cookies were so tasty, we returned for another one the next day.
If you were to ask somebody what tourist activity comes to mind when they think of Iceland, visiting the Blue Lagoon would probably be on their short list. Trip Advisor has 19,660 reviews posted as of this writing, so it’s a popular place! Some would call it a tourist trap, but our Overseas Adventure Travel tourvisited the lagoon on our last full day in Iceland, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!
Located in Grindavik, not far Keflavik International Airport, the large geothermal lagoon is rich with silica, minerals, salts, and algae, giving it a beautiful milky-blue color. The water is comprised of 70% sea water, 30% fresh water and maintained at a steady 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Included with the basic package is a silica mud mask and a drink at the swim-up bar.
The lagoon is located in the middle of a lava field and near the Svartsengi geothermal power station; so, the heated water from the power station supplies the lagoon.
Somehow, after exiting the locker room showers and entering the large and crowded lagoon, I managed to find Bruce as well as other members of our group. I had brought my waterproof camera into the lagoon with me, so we all decided to begin our spa experience with the mud mask for some fun photos. What a scary looking bunch!
There wasn’t enough time to check out the restaurants, hotel, spa, gift shop, hot-pots, steam rooms, sauna, or even the waterfall that provides a hydraulic massage. Darn, that would have been awesome! Time went by so fast, we had to leave before we knew it. Too bad, because we found the experience to be quite enjoyable and relaxing. As an extra bonus, we left with very soft skin!
On the way back to the bus, we had just enough time to stroll the walking path through the geothermal pools that were located adjacent to the parking lot.
Upon our return to the hotel, we had to say goodbye to Haflidi, our bus drive. We’ll miss you!
We were fortunate our last day in Reykjavik was so beautiful. We spent our free time in the afternoon walking the city, doing more photography at Harpa (which I shared previously) and seeing Circuleight, an interactive installation. Their website describes it as, “Circuleight features designs and real-time interactive visuals inspired by eight elements: lava, basalt, glacier, water, flora, algae, microorganism and volcanic gas.”
The music was an original score by renowned Icelandic composer, singer and songwriter Hogni Egilsson.
The best part of the experience was having the entire room to ourselves for much of our time in there! We ended up staying and watching a repeat of the 20-minute program, shooting video, and taking still photos.
Check out these short videos of me and Bruce, and you can see how the patterns followed us across the room:
What a fun way to wrap up our visit to Reykjavik!
During our walk around the city, we reflected on our experiences in Iceland and all the wonderful sights we were so fortunate to see. After so many years of wanting to see this amazing country, I am happy to say it was so much more than I hoped it would be.
Our last day in Iceland was gorgeous!
Our tour concluded with a lovely farewell dinner with the group, and Thorunn reviewing all we had seen throughout our time together.
The following morning, we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland, the subject of my next blog series. Stay tuned!
Coming up next: Excited to See Edinburgh!
Note: If small group travel is of interest to you, I highly recommend Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). Although Bruce and I travel together, they do not charge a single supplement for those who travel on their own. Singles also get their own room at hotels. If you book, you can get $100 off your trip by providing my name and customer number (Elaine Krugman, #3018126) as the person who referred you. I will also get $100 off future travel– a win-win!
This was the most unique bathroom stop ever! And, yes, it really is carved into real rock.
Continuing on our journey, we stopped to see John Wesley Powell Museum, in Green River, Utah. Powell first explored and mapped the area in the 1870’s. The museumis located on the river, and they had a lovely walking path we wandered along to take in the views of the river.
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
Shot from the bus window on the way to Dead Horse Point State Park
Dead Horse Point State Park was our next stop; and, yes, the “dead horse” was delightful! The park gets its name from a rock formation that looks like a horse, when viewed from up above at a distance. We took in the spectacular views from the visitor center, which had an attractive walking path with beautiful blooming cacti and trees all around.
Can you see the horse? It’s a profile, and the ear is in the upper left quadrant.
On a clear day, the visibility from the viewpoint can reach nearly 100 miles. It was hazy off in the distance, but we could see snow on the mountain tops. There were also a couple of bright blue pools that seemed completely out of place. They were solar evaporation ponds for a mine owned by Intrepid Potash, Inc. Potash is potassium chloride, a salt found in the Paradox Formation. Salt deposited from ancient seas made up this formation as it evaporated and was buried by other sediments.
Off in the distance, you can see the bright blue pools.
Water is pumped down into the formation to dissolve the salt. This salt water is then pumped into the shallow, vinyl-lined ponds. A blue dye is added to speed up evaporation.
Finally, twenty-ton scrapers, guided by lasers, harvest the dry salt. A local refinery transforms this concentrated form of potassium chloride into plant fertilizer.
I was truly baffled, seeing this in the middle of a state park. I didn’t know what to think…
Green River Overlook was our last stop in Canyonlands. At 6,000 feet elevation, it provided a great perspective of Green River down below – especially since we had walked along the riverbank earlier in the day.
We continued on to Moab, our base for the next two nights. Moab Diner had good ratings on Trip Advisor, and I enjoyed a tasty, fresh salad there; so, it deserves a shout-out and my last photo of the day.
Less than three weeks after returning from Italy, we were off again to see the Grand Circle of Utah’s National Parks, along with a few state parks and monuments. This time, we did a small group tour with Road Scholar, although “small group” amounted to 24, instead of 16 like we had in Italy with Overseas Adventure Travel.
This was a completely different type of trip than Italy. Instead of a focus on the culture, cultural connections with the locals, connections with our tour leaders, incredible food, and beautiful historic sites; Utah was all about the gorgeous scenery and photography. If you would like to see more pictures and read less stories, join me for a tour of Utah’s most beautiful parks.
We arrived a day early ahead of the tour, so we could explore a little on our own and relax before joining what would be a busy tour. The first flight out got us in early to St. George, so we checked in at our hotel (which, thankfully, was happy to accommodate us ahead of check-in time), and hopped on a bus to town. From there, we walked up to Red Hills Desert Garden, which was ranked #1 on Trip Advisoras a “Traveler Favorites” for St. George. It was a free attraction, the weather was gorgeous, the spring flowers were in bloom, and we were up for a walk after the flight; so, what could be better than that?
Trip Advisor rarely disappoints, and the reviews were spot-on this time. It was gorgeous there! It was such a beautiful and peaceful place to wander around or sit on a porch swing and relax. I chose to put my camera in action:
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
This is behind Red Hills Desert Garden, a beautiful backdrop!
This, Allen, is for you, King Frog!
Apache Plume
Desert Museum Palo Verde
On our way back to the bus terminal, we passed by the power station and saw this “linesman” made out of parts used on power lines. Clever!
Mee-meep! Watch out for Roadrunner! This guy was out in the parking lot of the hotel.
Little did I know, the garden was on the program for the following afternoon with the group, so we returned for another visit. These are my afternoon photos:
Coming up next: Snow Canyon State Park and Bloomington Petroglyph Park
Last week, Bruce and I took a break from the routine to head up to North Georgia. Over the years, we had always passed through the northern part of our state on our way to other destinations. This time, we rented a log cabin on Cherry Lake Mountain, halfway between Ellijay and Blue Ridge.
Bruce found us a cute cabin through Morning Breeze Cabin Rentals that had a beautiful view of Cherry Lake below. We purposely booked it for a week before the crowds would descend on the area for the Ellijay Apple Festival and expected fall foliage color change. The last thing we wanted to deal with were crowds right before our hectic holiday craft show season!
Our cabin (top floor, with hot tub and another deck below)
The view from the screened in porch of Cherry Lake was lovely!
This bear-themed cabin had black bears EVERYWHERE!
Bruce kickin’ back at the edge of the lake
Cherry Lake, located just below the cabin
This is a pond near our cabin that I discovered on one of my Cherry Log Mountain Hikes. Bruce and I returned with his fishing pole; however, the fish weren’t biting.
Another discovery on my mountain hike, just beyond the pond.
If we had written a wish list for the perfect week in North Georgia, it couldn’t have been any better than what we actually got: Sunny and dry with daily high temperatures in the upper 70’s to low 80’s every day until we left. Better yet, there were no crowds! On our back-country drives, we often had the road all to ourselves—perfect for the loop from our cabin to the apple orchards in Ellijay, and then to Amicalola Falls, followed by Dahlonega, and then finally back to Blue Ridge via the curvy (and fun!) GA-60. What an awesome day!
These were the highlights of our week:
Amicalola Falls State Park. Don’t go to North Georgia and miss seeing these gorgeous waterfalls! Located eight miles from the Appalachian Trail, the park is within the Chattahoochee National Forest, between Ellijay and Dahlonega, in Dawsonville. At 729 feet, Amicalola Falls is the third-highest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River.
Although there are longer hiking trails leading from the lodge to the falls, we opted to park at the Reflection Pool and hike in on the Appalachian Approach Trail to the observation platform. It’s a short hike that parallels the creek running from the falls, and the sound of the water was so mesmerizing. The first observation platform is at the base of the falls, and the views were spectacular! The higher observation platform was just 175 steps up. For those needing rest, there were small rest arears along the climb up. The views were breathtaking!
Blue Ridge. Located 90 miles north of Atlanta via I-575, Blue Ridge is located on the Georgia-Tennessee-North Carolina line. A hiker’s and trout fisherman’s paradise, Blue Ridge was ranked by Southern Living Magazine as one of the 2020 South’s Best Mountain Towns.
The quaint downtown is the starting point for the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway; however, we opted not to ride the train to the Georgia-Tennessee border and just stay in Blue Ridge. There were a lot of nice shops, galleries, and restaurants in a quaint, but not too touristy-looking atmosphere. Thankfully, it wasn’t ruined by tacky Ripley’s “attractions” like Gatlinburg, Tennessee was. (We later drove on our own to McCaysville, GA / Copper Hill, TN; however, the journey was more enjoyable than the destination.)
For us, the highlight of Blue Ridge was visiting The Art Center, home to the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association. Located in the former Fannin County Courthouse, exhibits are on display throughout the building. Our favorite was the Contemporary Southern Folk Art exhibit (ending soon!) on display in the former court where trials formerly took place. The association did an outstanding job turning the courthouse into a spacious and beautiful gallery! Check out their website for upcoming exhibits and make sure to stop by to check them out. We visited mid-week and had the entire place to ourselves! There is no charge, but please drop a donation into the glass bowl as it is a non-profit arts association.
Whenever I research a travel destination, I always search the Trip Advisor website for recommendations. Since the top-rated restaurant was a casual, locally-owned favorite with outdoor dining, it was a must for us. We will definitely return to The Rum Cake Lady Cuban Food Café in downtown Blue Ridge when we visit the area again! The food was delicious, and the restaurant offered vegan and vegetarian options.
This very fierce looking dog guarded The Rum Cake Lady Cuban Food Cafe.
If it’s fried, I ain’t eatin’ it! We passed on this restaurant…
This pig greeted us at Hillcrest Orchards.
Further south in Ellijay, the highlight was hitting the apple orchard trail. Although Mercier Orchards back up in Blue Ridge has the most Trip Advisor reviews, our favorite orchard of the five we visited was Panorama Orchards, located three miles south of the center of Ellijay. Both orchards are rated 4-1/2 stars on Trip Advisor; however, we enjoyed shopping for goodies at Panorama Orchards’ market much more than at Mercier. The apples are priced the same at both markets; however, Panorama has an incredible selection of food items at better prices, including their homemade preserves, jams, apple breads (delicious!) and other bakery items.
In the back of the market, there is a large window where you can watch them making fudge and other candies—all priced better than at any of the other orchards we visited. The fudge (made with fresh cream and butter) is heavenly, so pick some up to bring home.
Panorama Orchards was also the only one that made their own ice cream, and it was priced better than any of the ice cream shops we checked out in Northern Georgia. The Blueberry Cheesecake ice cream was delicious!
We picked up a ½ peck of Honeycrisp apples to munch on in the cabin, and then stopped by on the way home for another ½ peck to bring home with us. They were the best apples I have ever had!
Here are a few more snap shots from our trip. (I still haven’t replaced my broken favorite camera, so all of the shots in this post were with my cheap, sub-par Fuji underwater swimming video camera.)
This not-so-humble 4-story abode (complete with boat house) was located across from Lake Blue Ridge Marina.
I roped Bruce into straddling the state line for the ultimate cheesy picture. SAY CHEEEEZE!
Hmmm, drugs and guns. What could possibly go wrong? This is so typically North Georgia…
I pondered over this shot debating with myself whether I should include this or not. There is just SO MUCH I could say about this that it could take up an entire blog post. Suffice it to say that I would never last a day as this guy’s neighbor. After all, McCaysville Drug & Gun was located just up the street, and I’m sure the owner of this banner is their best customer! I’d be a goner.
Hearing the name, “Chattanooga,” always puts a smile on my face, because it sounds so funny to me as many Indian names do. “Chattanooga,” comes from the Creek Indian word for “rock coming to a point.” This refers to Lookout Mountain, one of the city’s major attractions. Although we fully intended to take in the views from Lookout Mountain, the haze over the region during our visit kept us from even getting out of our car. We took a quick drive around, and then headed back down to the Chattanooga Choo Choo.
The first thing that comes to mind for many people when they think of Chattanooga is the Chattanooga Choo Choo, the former train station that became a hotel in the 1970’s. Terminal Station, as the train station was originally called, was a large and modern station for its time. It became especially famous when Mack Gordon (lyrics) and Harry Warren (music) wrote about it in1941 in their tune that Glenn Miller recorded, “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” The song describes the journey of a train traveling from New York City along the Eastern Seaboard until its end at Terminal Station.
Unfortunately, during the 1950’s and 1960’s, rail traffic decreased and the station was ultimately closed. Then, in 1972, a group of businessmen bought the station and surrounding property. They renamed it “Chattanooga Choo Choo” after the Glen Miller song, and they opened up a hotel.
We didn’t stay at the ‘Choo Choo, because the reviews on Trip Advisor were a mediocre 3-1/2 out of 5. Anything less than a “4” rating on Trip advisor is an indication to me to give a place a miss for overnight stays.
The ‘Choo Choo, however, did serve as an excellent base for our daily visits to the city during our three-days in town. Adjacent to the hotel, there is a large covered public parking structure with reasonable parking rates that are less expensive than in the heart of downtown. In addition, CARTA’s free downtown electric shuttle departed from there, so we ditched our car in the lot each day and hopped on the shuttle for our trips to downtown and the North Shore across the river. It was a great way to get around, and we were impressed with Chattanooga for offering this green option that keeps a lot of cars off the downtown streets.
Before heading out on the shuttle, we first had a look around the ‘Choo Choo, so we could get a feel for what Terminal Station must have been like in its glory days.
Domed ceiling skylight
Downtown Chattanooga was a nice place to walk around, especially in the Riverfront district where the Tennessee Aquarium is located. The city did a wonderful job developing the riverfront with plenty of walking and biking paths, public art, and park space.
This clever brick work was in the Tennessee Aquarium plaza.
Tennessee Aquarium
If you visit Chattanooga between early May and late August, try to plan your visit around “Nightfall,” the free downtown concert series that is held in Miller Plaza each Friday, between the first Friday in May and the last Friday in August. The opening act starts at 7 PM followed by a nationally touring headliner at 8 PM. It’s kid friendly and pet friendly, so grab your dog’s leash and bring your lawn chairs (unless you get there early enough to snag a provided chair), and spend the evening. There are food trucks and beer available, or you can bring your own picnic.
We opted instead to have pizza right next door at Community Pie, where they offer New York style, Detroit Style, and Neapolitan style pizzas you can watch them make behind the big glass kitchen window.
Actually, to be honest, we didn’t even know about the concert series. We had planned on eating at Community Pie, and the concert was a happy surprise. When we left the restaurant, we heard a live band warming up, so we wandered over to see what was going on. Cool! A free concert! While we waited for the music to start, we grabbed ourselves front-row seats and people-watched. I also headed over to the grass area to see the craft booths that were set up for the event. There was also a motorcycle show in the blocked off street near where the food trucks were parked, so I grabbed my camera and went to explore.
The entire scene of the well-planned event was just so perfect! What started as a nice surprise turned out to be a very enjoyable way to spend a summer evening. Watching the people happily listen or dance to the music, seeing the children and dogs having a good time, and observing a wide mix of people peacefully congregated to have fun was just a really pleasant, happy feeling.
Good on Nightfall and its sponsors for making that happen. Wrapping up its 32nd season, over the years, Nightfall has brought in a diverse line-up of artists representing many genres of music, and they have developed it into a great series for the entire community.
In my next post, we’ll visit the Bluff View Arts District and the North Shore.
Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools... and CHOCOLATE! 