Of all the world’s musical pilgrimage sites, Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion has to be the best known shrine. Hundreds of thousands flock to the rather impressive complex in Memphis, Tennessee to pay homage to The King every year, and while there are vague pretences at keeping it dignified, this is Elvis we’re talking about – subtlety doesn’t really factor in.
There’s a hell of a lot to see at Graceland, and the basic package gets you a tour of the gardens and rooms where old snakehips lived.
However, go for the full works and you can get as much Elvis as you can possibly handle. On top of the usual tour, you can visit his own private automobile museum and have a mooch around two of his planes.
Even more bizarrely, you can also check out 56 of his OTT stage outfits in a special area devoted to Elvis’ Jumpsuits. Perhaps the highlight of the VIP tour is getting the chance to look at many items that were personal to Elvis. These include gifts he gave to his parents and the deeds to Graceland.
More information at Elvis.com
Showing posts with label tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tour. Show all posts
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Gibraltar's World War II tunnels - the secret city in The Rock
During the Second World War, Gibraltar was thought to be a key military target. The British Government assumed that Germany would want to get hold of its small territory in order to get control of the Mediterranean.
It was a major strategic base for the Allies too – both in terms of being the headquarters for the North Africa campaign and refuelling ships.
As part of all this activity, over 50km of tunnels were drilled into the Rock, with stores, command and communications centres, electricity generators and sleeping quarters all included. It took just three years to dig out this secret city, and somehow the Germans never found out about it.
A small section of this mindblowing underground network is open to visitors on guided tours.
An ex-army guide leads visitors through the accessible parts - the rest is still used by the military to train Afghanistan-bound troops in tunnel warfare – and the adventure is packed with tales of conditions, mischief and mind-blowing logistics.
Allied leaders were frequent visitors during the war, and it is possible to see the rooms in which they made key plans. The dank underground barracks where soldiers would be cooped up for six days a week are also on display.
Intriguing graffiti, carefully fortified lookouts and the equipment used to sustain life in the Rock are also part of the tour. For anyone with even a passing interest in history, engineering or tales of derring-do and plotting, it’s a brilliant experience.
Getting to the World War II tunnels in Gibraltar
Nearest international airport: Gibraltar has its own international airport, although in practice
By public transport: It’s possible to trudge up the Rock to get to the innocuous entrance where the tour starts, but a cheap cab ride is a much better bet.
More information
It was a major strategic base for the Allies too – both in terms of being the headquarters for the North Africa campaign and refuelling ships.
As part of all this activity, over 50km of tunnels were drilled into the Rock, with stores, command and communications centres, electricity generators and sleeping quarters all included. It took just three years to dig out this secret city, and somehow the Germans never found out about it.
A small section of this mindblowing underground network is open to visitors on guided tours.
An ex-army guide leads visitors through the accessible parts - the rest is still used by the military to train Afghanistan-bound troops in tunnel warfare – and the adventure is packed with tales of conditions, mischief and mind-blowing logistics.
Allied leaders were frequent visitors during the war, and it is possible to see the rooms in which they made key plans. The dank underground barracks where soldiers would be cooped up for six days a week are also on display.
Intriguing graffiti, carefully fortified lookouts and the equipment used to sustain life in the Rock are also part of the tour. For anyone with even a passing interest in history, engineering or tales of derring-do and plotting, it’s a brilliant experience.
Getting to the World War II tunnels in Gibraltar
Nearest international airport: Gibraltar has its own international airport, although in practice
By public transport: It’s possible to trudge up the Rock to get to the innocuous entrance where the tour starts, but a cheap cab ride is a much better bet.
More information
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
The Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
A tour to the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, involves stunning coastal scenery, honeycomb rocks and a tall tale about the giant, Finn McCool.
Walk along the County Antrim coastline
The walk to the Giant’s Causeway on the County Antrim coast in Northern Ireland is fabulous, with cliffs and bluffs jutting out into the angry sea. There’s a wealth of colours in the rocks, grass and trees, but it’s the huge collection of hexagonal stepping stones that make this a World Heritage site.
While the coastline is pretty cool from afar, it’s really only up close that the magic of the Giant’s Causeway reveals itself. There are thousands and thousands of these rock columns, all tessellated together as if in a sprawling honeycomb.
Hexagonal columns
Clambering over, and hopping from hexagon to hexagon is tremendous fun – a little like a giant version of an odd Japanese board game. There are around 40,000 of these columns. Not all are six-sided – some are five or eight – but it’s the sheer scale and setting that makes it. And, of course, yet another unlikely story – this time about the giant that made it.
How was the Giant’s Causeway made?
If you ask scientists, the Giant’s Causeway was formed during a period of intense volcanic activity. They claim that the molten basalt poured out through a bed of chalk, forming a lava plateau. When it cooled, it did so at varying rates, and thus the unusual column structure was created.
This, of course, is utter nonsense, and the real story goes as the locals tell it. A local giant called Finn McCool made the Causeway in order to make it over to Scotland, where he was spoiling for a fight with a rival giant.
Upon getting to Scotland, he noticed that his foe was much bigger so ran away back home. However, the Scottish giant got wind of this, and followed him over the Causeway to Ireland.
Fear of the giant baby
Luckily, McCool’s wife was considerably cleverer than he was, and dressed Finn up as a baby. After seeing the size of the baby, the Scottish giant was terrified. How big must the dad be? So he turned and fled, destroying the Causeway on the way so that he couldn’t be followed. And that’s true, that is.
Getting to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland
Nearest International Airport: Belfast City and Belfast International Airport are closest.
Using public transport: This isn’t really practical. It’s best to hire a car in Belfast, or join a tour. Allen’s Tours offers a relatively cheap daily coach trip up the Antrim Coast Road that includes the Giant’s Causeway, along with the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and Carrickfergus Castle.
More information: Allen’s Tours
Walk along the County Antrim coastline
The walk to the Giant’s Causeway on the County Antrim coast in Northern Ireland is fabulous, with cliffs and bluffs jutting out into the angry sea. There’s a wealth of colours in the rocks, grass and trees, but it’s the huge collection of hexagonal stepping stones that make this a World Heritage site.
While the coastline is pretty cool from afar, it’s really only up close that the magic of the Giant’s Causeway reveals itself. There are thousands and thousands of these rock columns, all tessellated together as if in a sprawling honeycomb.
Hexagonal columns
Clambering over, and hopping from hexagon to hexagon is tremendous fun – a little like a giant version of an odd Japanese board game. There are around 40,000 of these columns. Not all are six-sided – some are five or eight – but it’s the sheer scale and setting that makes it. And, of course, yet another unlikely story – this time about the giant that made it.
How was the Giant’s Causeway made?
If you ask scientists, the Giant’s Causeway was formed during a period of intense volcanic activity. They claim that the molten basalt poured out through a bed of chalk, forming a lava plateau. When it cooled, it did so at varying rates, and thus the unusual column structure was created.
This, of course, is utter nonsense, and the real story goes as the locals tell it. A local giant called Finn McCool made the Causeway in order to make it over to Scotland, where he was spoiling for a fight with a rival giant.
Upon getting to Scotland, he noticed that his foe was much bigger so ran away back home. However, the Scottish giant got wind of this, and followed him over the Causeway to Ireland.
Fear of the giant baby
Luckily, McCool’s wife was considerably cleverer than he was, and dressed Finn up as a baby. After seeing the size of the baby, the Scottish giant was terrified. How big must the dad be? So he turned and fled, destroying the Causeway on the way so that he couldn’t be followed. And that’s true, that is.
Getting to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland
Nearest International Airport: Belfast City and Belfast International Airport are closest.
Using public transport: This isn’t really practical. It’s best to hire a car in Belfast, or join a tour. Allen’s Tours offers a relatively cheap daily coach trip up the Antrim Coast Road that includes the Giant’s Causeway, along with the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and Carrickfergus Castle.
More information: Allen’s Tours
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Prypyat: The Chernobyl ghost town, Ukraine
Before April 26th, 1986, Prypyat was a model Soviet town. It was the place where dignitaries were taken to see how well the system was working, and was full of young families and high-tech workers.
And then came the Chernobyl disaster. Everything changed.
Prypyat was the town built to service the massive Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, and when the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred, it was rapidly evacuated.
The town’s 35,000 – 50,000 residents (as with everything about Chernobyl, numbers are disputed) were rushed out of the city within two days.
Their belongings remained behind, as it was thought they would return.
They never did – the radiation levels from the Chernobyl reactor just 2km away still remain too high. And now the model city is overgrowing with plants, weeds and radioactive moss.
On a tour of the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone, one of the ‘highlights’ is visiting Prypyat.
The visit takes in a fairground that was scheduled to open shortly after the Chernobyl explosion – the iconic big wheel and rusting dodgems are still there.
It also takes in a derelict hotel and swimming pool.
But most heart-wrenching of all is walking around the school. Like the other buildings it is overgrown, crumbling and vandalised. But some clear remnants remain.
Library books are spilled over the floor, other books with rudimentary drawings in remain on tables, while the sports hall is still full of rotting basketballs and footballs.
It’s an altogether eerie experience, and the over-riding impression is that humans will never return to Prypyat on a full time basis.
Getting to Prypyat
Nearest international airport: Kiev Borispol
Using public transport: It’s not going to happen. Special permission is needed to enter the 30km-radius exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and the only way to get it is joining a tour group. Solo East Travel is the best bet. The zone is approximately two to two-and-a-half hours north of Kiev.
And then came the Chernobyl disaster. Everything changed.
Prypyat was the town built to service the massive Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine, and when the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred, it was rapidly evacuated.
The town’s 35,000 – 50,000 residents (as with everything about Chernobyl, numbers are disputed) were rushed out of the city within two days.
Their belongings remained behind, as it was thought they would return.
They never did – the radiation levels from the Chernobyl reactor just 2km away still remain too high. And now the model city is overgrowing with plants, weeds and radioactive moss.
On a tour of the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone, one of the ‘highlights’ is visiting Prypyat.
The visit takes in a fairground that was scheduled to open shortly after the Chernobyl explosion – the iconic big wheel and rusting dodgems are still there.
It also takes in a derelict hotel and swimming pool.
But most heart-wrenching of all is walking around the school. Like the other buildings it is overgrown, crumbling and vandalised. But some clear remnants remain.
Library books are spilled over the floor, other books with rudimentary drawings in remain on tables, while the sports hall is still full of rotting basketballs and footballs.
It’s an altogether eerie experience, and the over-riding impression is that humans will never return to Prypyat on a full time basis.
Getting to Prypyat
Nearest international airport: Kiev Borispol
Using public transport: It’s not going to happen. Special permission is needed to enter the 30km-radius exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and the only way to get it is joining a tour group. Solo East Travel is the best bet. The zone is approximately two to two-and-a-half hours north of Kiev.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Tour Chernobyl from Kiev, Ukraine
Holiday destinations don’t get any more unusual than the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But it is possible to go on a deeply disturbing day trip to the scene of the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster.
The day trip starts from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and takes visitors within 100m of Reactor Number Four. This was the one that exploded in the early hours of April 26th 1986, spreading a cloud of radiation as far as Scandinavia.
There are many disturbing things about the tour. Sights on the way to the world’s most notorious nuclear power plant include trees turned red by the radiation, giant catfish swimming in the cooling ponds and houses buried underground in order to contain the contamination.
At all times, the tour guide has a Geiger counter to monitor the levels of radiation the group is being exposed to, while safety precautions include not standing on the moss and not picking up stones or debris.
Reactor Four at Chernobyl is a truly frightening sight. No-one really knows what is going on underneath the cement ‘sarcophagus’, and – most alarmingly – it is clearly crumbling.
It was originally a makeshift containment solution, and a new multi-billion dollar shelter is planned, but for now it’s quite clear that the prospect of a second Chernobyl disaster is not exactly in the realms of fantasy.
Getting to Chernobyl, Ukraine
Nearest international airport: Kiev Borispol
Using public transport: It’s not going to happen. Special permission is needed to enter the 30km-radius exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and the only way to get it is joining a tour group. Solo East Travel is the best bet. The zone is approximately two to two-and-a-half hours drive north of Kiev.
The day trip starts from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and takes visitors within 100m of Reactor Number Four. This was the one that exploded in the early hours of April 26th 1986, spreading a cloud of radiation as far as Scandinavia.
There are many disturbing things about the tour. Sights on the way to the world’s most notorious nuclear power plant include trees turned red by the radiation, giant catfish swimming in the cooling ponds and houses buried underground in order to contain the contamination.
At all times, the tour guide has a Geiger counter to monitor the levels of radiation the group is being exposed to, while safety precautions include not standing on the moss and not picking up stones or debris.
Reactor Four at Chernobyl is a truly frightening sight. No-one really knows what is going on underneath the cement ‘sarcophagus’, and – most alarmingly – it is clearly crumbling.
It was originally a makeshift containment solution, and a new multi-billion dollar shelter is planned, but for now it’s quite clear that the prospect of a second Chernobyl disaster is not exactly in the realms of fantasy.
Getting to Chernobyl, Ukraine
Nearest international airport: Kiev Borispol
Using public transport: It’s not going to happen. Special permission is needed to enter the 30km-radius exclusion zone around Chernobyl, and the only way to get it is joining a tour group. Solo East Travel is the best bet. The zone is approximately two to two-and-a-half hours drive north of Kiev.
Friday, 25 July 2008
Black Taxi Tour - Falls Road and Shankhill Road in West Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast is something of a rejuvenated city. Once regarded as a virtual no-go area by tourists, the violence and bombings have now largely stopped. Indeed, it is becoming something of a fashionable city break destination.
But it would be wrong to think that the city’s Protestant and Catholic populations now live together in perfect hand-holding harmony. There is still a dividing wall between the two communities in West Belfast, and on either side there are housing estates decorated in a series of astonishing murals.
These brightly-coloured paintings often take up the entire side of a house, and are artistically fantastic (if usually morally dubious).
On the Shankhill Road (Protestant side) and the Falls Road (Catholic side), the murals depict guns and balaclava-clad men or glorify murderers. They are a sign that people aren’t prepared to forget the past just yet.
It is possible to venture around these mural-laden streets independently, but by far the best option is to take a tour in one of the Ulster capital’s famous black taxis.
The drivers are locals, and can take passengers through the history of the areas and Troubles with first-hand knowledge, and often dark, wry humour.
The tours go past Red Hands, Irish and Union flags, the Sinn Fein headquarters and assorted spots where buildings were bombed and people were killed. It’s ugly, but it’s fascinating, and totally unique.
Getting to West Belfast
Nearest international airport: Belfast has two airports – the tiny George Best Belfast City Airport is nearest to the city centre, but most flights arrive at Belfast International Airport slightly further out.
The Black Taxi Tour: There are numerous taxi companies that give tours of West Belfast, picking up from the city centre or hotels. Hotel receptions will happily recommend one, but options include Cora Tours and Belfast City Taxi Tours.
But it would be wrong to think that the city’s Protestant and Catholic populations now live together in perfect hand-holding harmony. There is still a dividing wall between the two communities in West Belfast, and on either side there are housing estates decorated in a series of astonishing murals.
These brightly-coloured paintings often take up the entire side of a house, and are artistically fantastic (if usually morally dubious).
On the Shankhill Road (Protestant side) and the Falls Road (Catholic side), the murals depict guns and balaclava-clad men or glorify murderers. They are a sign that people aren’t prepared to forget the past just yet.
It is possible to venture around these mural-laden streets independently, but by far the best option is to take a tour in one of the Ulster capital’s famous black taxis.
The drivers are locals, and can take passengers through the history of the areas and Troubles with first-hand knowledge, and often dark, wry humour.
The tours go past Red Hands, Irish and Union flags, the Sinn Fein headquarters and assorted spots where buildings were bombed and people were killed. It’s ugly, but it’s fascinating, and totally unique.
Getting to West Belfast
Nearest international airport: Belfast has two airports – the tiny George Best Belfast City Airport is nearest to the city centre, but most flights arrive at Belfast International Airport slightly further out.
The Black Taxi Tour: There are numerous taxi companies that give tours of West Belfast, picking up from the city centre or hotels. Hotel receptions will happily recommend one, but options include Cora Tours and Belfast City Taxi Tours.
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