Serenia's Travel Bucket List

The Cote d'Azur, better known as the French Riviera, stretches along the coast of Provence from Toulon north to the Italian border and covers the cities and towns of Hyeres, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Grasse, Nice, Antibes, Monaco, Monte Carlo and Menton.

Strictly speaking, the town of Grasse is not actually on the French Riviera coast, but it is considered part of the riviera due to its location - just a short drive from both Nice and Cannes - and its speciality - perfumes.

Grasse has been the centre of the world's perfume trade since the 18thC due to the fine climate and sheltered habitat that permitted extensive flower farming, though of course these days most perfumes are synthetically produced. Still, two-thirds of France's flavours and scents are produced in Grasse every year and it's an essential stop for 'nose' training.

The photo above shows the famous Fragonard Perfume factory in Grasse, with multi-language tours, a cafe and a gift shop.

This is, of course, the famous Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, which is in the Basque Country of Spain. I personally think it is extremely cruel and unusual punishment, both for the bulls and for humans. It turns out that the bulls actually are forced to run the "gauntlet" if you can call it that, 8 times every day for 6 days every July. Why humans feel the need to deliberately put themselves in danger, I will never know.

But it is the Basque culture, history and language that fascinates me. Their language is not like any other language known to man, so where did it come from? Also one must pass through the Basque country when one is taking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Martin Sheen recently made a movie about the pilgrimage.

Photo credit - Webshots Blog

This is Valletta - the capital city of Malta. As a city Valletta was founded in 1530 by the Knights of St John Hospitallers after being forced to leave their old home on Rhodes Island in 1523. The Knights of St John then spent 7 years wandering around Europe looking for a home, Finally it was agreed that they could have Malta - considered to be somewhat worthless. The Knights of St John ruled Malta for the next 270 years only being defeated and disbanded in 1798 after Napoleon tried to invade. But during those 270 years, the Knights built many cathedrals (Malta is very religious - Roman Catholic) and several grand cities such as Valletta, Mdina and Rabat.

Malta is believed to be the island where St Paul was shipwrecked as stated in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.

Malta also has 2 major ancient temple sites at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra both going back many thousands of years. They have been dated to around 3500 BCE.

Before the Knights of St John settled on Malta the islands were ruled by the Arabs, the Venetians, the Turks, the Spanish and the French. Consequently the Maltese language is quite unique in that it has developed out of all these languages with Arabic being dominant.

I first discovered Malta when I read the novel The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monsarrat. The country fascinated me so I began reading everything I could about Malta. I still do read anything and everything I can about Malta. I cannot wait until I get to Malta to see it for myself. Photo credit - Malta Tourism Authority
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Andorra is one of the smallest countries in the world. It is also a tax haven and as such is NOT a member of the European Union although it does use the Euro as its currency. Apart from being a tax haven, Andorra also boasts some incredible skiiing in winter, However since I don't ski very well, I am perfectly happy to visit Andorra during the summer.

The official language of Andorra is Catalan - which comes from Catalonia on the southern border. Catalonia is the region of Spain that surrounds Barcelona. But Andorra also uses both French and Spanish languages as well.

Education in Andorra is compulsory from age 6 to 16 and there are 3 school systems - Andorran, French and Spanish. So depending on which one you choose, your child will learn Catalan, French or Spanish. Currently about half of all Andorran school children attend the french language school systems. The other half attend the catalan and spanish systems.

There is one university in Andorra which opened only in 1997 and so far has only a few courses - nursing, computers and business. Otherwise higher education must be obtained from France or Spain.

Photo credit - Wikitravel - Andorra La Vella - Capital City of Andorra

The five places I most want to visit in Italy are Aosta, Venice, Naples, Pompeii and Sardinia. I have no real desire to see Rome. I can see Rome any time by watching the movie Angels and Demons - which is set in that city.

Sardinia has been settled since Paleolithic times although the first permanent settlements did not appear until Neolithic times. These Tower fortresses as pictured above can be found all over Sardinia. There are over 7000 of them. They are called Nuraghi and they date back to 1500 BCE. Villages were built around these towers and since these towers were built on high places, they commanded and controlled the immediate vicinity. Not much else is known of the people who lived in these villages and fortresses.

Over the last 2000 years Sardinia has been settled and controlled by Rome, Vandals, the Byzantine empire, Aragon in Spain as well as the republics of Genoa and Pisa. Sardinia was eventually given to the House of Savoy in 1718 CE which retained control until the Republic of Italy came into being in 1861.

The Sardinian Language is descended from Latin due to the Roman domination but it has also been influenced by Catalan and Spanish along with some ancient Nuragic, Phoenician and Etruscan. Standard Italian is quite different from Sardinian.

Picture Credit - Wikimedia Commons

In south central Turkey (not far from where the Euphrates river rises) there once was a kingdom called Commagene. It was based out of the city of Samosata (modern Samsat) and included the Mountain called Nimrod (modern Nemrut Dagi).

The ruling family were vassals to the Seleucid empire and they also claimed to be of the Orontid family which means they may have been related to the Armenians, but eventually this small kingdom were overrun and consumed by the Roman empire in 72 CE.

King Antiochus I reigned over the kingdom of Commagene from 64-36BCE, and he decided to have a monument built to himself on the summit of Mount Nimrod. There are 2 terraces filled with statues of greek gods. These monument s were re-discovered in 1881 and have been under UNESCO World Heritage protection since 1987.

I would also like to visit Istanbul, Trabzon, Cappadocia, Kars, Lake Van and Mount Ararat all in Turkey.

The only 3 places I really wish to visit in Greece are the islands of Santorini, Crete and Rhodes.

I want to visit Crete and Santorini for the Minoan civilization that flourished on those islands thousands of years ago. The theory is also that Santorini (being an extinct volcano) may also the site of the lost city of Atlantis - but as yet there is no proof for that.

I also wish to visit Rhodes because the Knights of St John who moved to Malta from Rhodes used to live there and because it is the site of one of the ancient wonders of the world - the Colossus of Rhodes which was a giant statue of the Greek god Helios,

Photo credit - Oia Village - Santorini - Wunder Photos

For as long as I can remember, ever since I first discovered them on the map, I have wanted to visit the desert oases in the western desert of Egypt. Even their names sound romantic.

Fayoum
Bahariya
Farafra
Dakhla
Kharga

I do of course want to visit Alexandria, Luxor and the valley of the Kings & Queens (where all the pharoahs are buried). But if I had to choose just one thing - I would choose to take this trip through the desert and visit these 5 oases.

Map Credit - Oasis Circuit - in French
Click the map to get a larger picture

Morocco has always been closer to the Mediterranean cultures than it has to the African Sahara Berber and Muslim cultures. This is largely due to the barrier of the Atlas Mountains. Which is why Morocco has always been more lenient of other religions and other cultures living within its borders.

Another reason for the closeness with the Mediterranean cultures is that over 1000 years ago, when the Moors began to explore their world, they conquered Spain and Gibraltar, and occupied those places for some 700 years. And more recently in Moroccan history, Morocco was a colony of France.

More information about the photo - Kasbah Ruins - Ait Benhaddou - Ouarzazate - Morocco

The first time I ever saw Gibraltar up close was in the opening scenes of the James Bond movie - The Living Daylights (1987) (music embedded) - when special ops soldiers are abseiling down the side of the big rock and are being killed off one by one. James Bond (Timothy Dalton) has to find out why.

I have been fascinated with Gibraltar history & culture ever since. Did you know that the name Gibraltar comes from the arabic name for the big rock? Jebel el Tariq. The mountain of Tariq.

Gibraltar is also famous for its Barbary apes or monkeys. These macaques have living been on the Rock of Gibraltar for several centuries. They were first introduced to Gibraltar by the Moors (between the 700s and 1400s CE) apparently as pets. They originally come from Morocco.