Archaeological Area of Agrigento

Julio Moreno Italy, UNESCO World Heritage Site , , , 2 Comments
Archaeological Area of Agrigento

Concordia - Archaeological Area of Agrigento

Location: Agrigento, Sicily, Italy

Visited: July 29th, 2012

Background and Opinion:

The Archaeological Area of Agrigento, also known as the Valley of the Temples (Valle Dei Templi) is one of the best preserved signs of Greek civilization and architecture still standing today. With the earliest building, the temple to Heracles, being built at around 890 BCE, the history of the temples spans almost 3000 years. By comparison, when Angkor Wat was completed, this site was almost two thousand years old! Just the fact that anything remains is a minor miracle. The main structure, the temple of the Concordia is almost completely intact giving one of the most insightful views into ancient Greek architecture.

The archaeological area is divided into two main zones across southern Agrigento. On one side of the road, upon entering the area, is the temple to Zeus and Polloux. Not much remains of these besides a few scattered columns and some large atlases, an architectural column in the shape of a man (possibly Zeus himself?) Despite this, it is still quite incredible to see. On the far side of the temples was a hidden garden which cost 5 Euro to enter. While I am going to label this a tourist trap, the jam that the lady in charge sold was definitely worth it (4 Euro). In fact, I am eating it as I type right now, almost a year later (maybe not a good idea).

Atlas - Archaeological Area of Agrigento

The other side of the ruins has the more impressive and complete temples of Heracles, Hera, and Concordia.

Before coming across this Open Travel article, I actually had no idea Read more →

Ancient Rome Adventure and My Detailed Italy Itinerary

Julio Moreno Italy, Travel Itineraries , , 0 Comment
Ancient Rome Adventure and My Detailed Italy Itinerary

I have a sneaking suspicion that people don’t really dislike the idea of a planned out trip, they just hate the work that comes with the ‘planning’ part of it. Many hard core travelers rave about how they just ‘go with the flow’ without plans and see where that takes them. Some of them even shun the idea of planning as ‘not real traveling,’ evident in this forum discussion. I like that idea too, but I like to have a back up plan as the pieces don’t always fall into place. I have seen countless of these travelers searching for things to do in the hostel they are staying in during the trip! To me, this is a complete waste of time which could be spent actually enjoying a new place. Trust me, you don’t want to be that guy who spends his day staring at a map and trying to figure it out the day of.

Recently, I was looking at my old pictures and found one of a map of Italy. It was a Google map which I made during the brainstorming part of my summer of 2012 trip to the land of Ancient Rome. When I was about to hit delete, I thought, “this is the kind of thing I wish I could find online to give me an idea of potential travel routes.” Then, it hit me, why not post my Italy itinerary of what I did on that trip, in the hopes that someone will find it useful, or entertaining at the very least.

Here is my Italy itinerary, with a map of my route along with a short run through of what happened.

[Note: Because I was traveling with my mother and brother, the itinerary was a lot more rigid than I prefer. Nonetheless, it went great!]

The Actual Route I Took:

[cetsEmbedGmap src=https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=A29+Racc&daddr=Via+Imera+to:SS162dir+to:Viale+Regina+Margherita+to:Via+Senese+to:Superstrada+Firenze+Pisa+Livorno+to:Corso+Buenos+Aires+to:SS11&hl=en&ll=41.820455,12.282715&spn=8.888613,21.643066&sll=45.437008,12.335587&sspn=0.130812,0.338173&geocode=FSy0RgIdOE7IAA%3BFSxTOQIdmU_PAA%3BFXCHbwIdv_jZAA%3BFSCCfwIdyuC-AA%3BFft0mwIdVUmrAA%3BFarTmgIdsmqeAA%3BFc_qtQIdXn2MAA%3BFf5itQIdl-q7AA&mra=mi&mrsp=7&sz=12&t=m&z=6 width=700 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no]

 

July 28th

* Fly to Bologna, Italy for an overnight layover – This went as planned, with no time to Read more →

5 More Awesome Korean Foods (Main Dishes) pt.2

Julio Moreno Food Lists, Main Dishes 0 Comment
5 More Awesome Korean Foods (Main Dishes) pt.2

This list is OUTDATED! I’ve combined all Korean Food lists into this single post.

Who doesn’t like food? One of the things I look forward to the most while traveling, besides visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is the wonderful array of things I can eat in other countries. Korean food does not disappoint with a wide variety of dishes at very affordable prices [mostly]. If you missed my list of top 5 favorite Korean foods, main dishes and snacks/street foods, go here and here (respectively). Here are another 5 dishes to fill up your stomachs.

In no particular order:

1) Pork Belly (bacon) / Samgyeopsal / 삼겹살

Korean Food - Samgyeopsal
Credit: Wikimedia.org

Samgyeopsal is one of the most Read more →

Travel Planning for Novices in 6 Steps pt.1/5

Julio Moreno Travel Planning, Travel Tips 2 Comments
Travel Planning for Novices in 6 Steps pt.1/5

If you are like me 10 years ago, the idea of traveling is very appealing to you, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you surf the net looking at cool UNESCO World Heritage Sites, watch National Geographic and say, “some day,” or even talk to your friends and shoot around “dream vacation ideas.” When you get older, you realize that traveling, while easy in theory, takes some skill unless you are willing to fork over a bunch of money and have someone do it for you. You know, those “spend 7 days and 6 nights in the luxurious….for the low low price…” advertisements you see everywhere which are never really a ‘low low price.’ Most people kind of give up, and never really travel anywhere in their lives.

It is my hope that you are reading this because you want to know how to travel longer, more often, and with less money. Unfortunately, this is one of those things that they don’t teach in school (and they should), which is a shame for people who have a true, innate passion for traveling. This is a very basic guide on how to plan for a travel trip without breaking the bank, and with a few assumptions.

Assumption #1) You haven’t traveled ever, or maybe just once or twice.

Assumption #2) You are not rich, so you want so do this as cheaply as possible.

Assumption #3) You only have 1-2 weeks of travel vacation available due to your job or other responsibilities.

[This is part 1 of a 5 part series of travel planning skills for novices, beginners, intermediates, advanced, and experts]

Step 1: Make a List

 

Travel Planning for Novices List
Credit: iammommahearmeroar.net

Think about Read more →

3 Stupid Things People do in Other Countries

Julio Moreno Top 10 Style Lists, Travel Tips , 0 Comment
3 Stupid Things People do in Other Countries

While you’re on vacation, I understand that you are excited and aren’t exactly yourself. You might do things that you wouldn’t normally do, eat things that you wouldn’t normally eat, or even flare up a romance you wouldn’t normally go for. An expected part of traveling is taking risks and stepping out of your comfort zone in the attempt to understand another culture better, or of course, it could simply be to have fun. However, there are a few things that, as much as I think about it, I can’t seem to understand why anyone thought it was a good idea. Here are three stupid things people do in other countries:

1) Wear hideous clothes

Stupid Things People Do - Clothes
Credit: www.thedailygreen.com

You are preparing for a trip, and while packing your bags, you come across some clothes that you received as a gift but Read more →