Amalfi Coast - Italy Travel and Leisure

Stretching about 50km along the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula, most famous for the town of Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana) is one of Europe’s most breathtaking. Cliffs terraced with scented lemon groves sheer down into sparkling seas; whitewashed villas cling precariously to unforgiving slopes while sea and sky merge in one vast blue horizon.

Overview

Like the rest of the region, the Amalfi Coast lies in a Mediterranean climate, featuring warm summers and mild winters. It is located on the relatively steep southern shore of the Sorrentine Peninsula, leaving little room for rural and agricultural territories.The only land route to the Amalfi Coast is the 40 kilometres (25 mi) long Strada Statale 163 which runs along the coastline from the town of Maiori in the east to Positano in the west. Thirteen municipalities are located on the Amalfi Coast, many of them centered around tourism.

The Amalfi Coast is known for its production of limoncello liqueur as the area is a known cultivator of lemons, known as sfusato amalfitano in Italian, which are grown in terraced gardens along the entire coast between February and October.Amalfi is also a known maker of a hand-made thick paper which is called bambagina. Other renowned local products are a particular kind of sardines (local Italian: alici) from Cetara, and the colorful handmade ceramics from Vietri.

Site: Costiera Amalfitana (Amafi Coast)

Location: Italy

Year Designated: 1997

Category: Cultural

Reason: This quintessentially Mediterranean landscape blends centuries of artistic and architectural accomplishments with one of nature’s perfect panoramas.

* * *

Italy's Amalfi Coast boasts a classic Mediterranean landscape, a sensual blend of both natural and cultural wonders. The breathtaking terrain includes dramatic coastline topography scattered with terraced vineyards, orchards, and pastures—often with enchanting views of the vibrant waters below.

Kind climate, abundant resources, and natural beauty have drawn people to this coast for many centuries, and the Greeks, Romans, Normans, Saracens, Arab-Sicilians, and many others have left their mark. Amalfi communities often cluster along cliffs, their terraces blending into the rock to add their own picturesque charm to the natural beauty of the coast. Upon closer inspection, towns like Amalfi and Ravello are home to many examples of artistic and architectural excellence—not a surprise, since this stretch of the Sorrento Peninsula has long attracted famous artists of all stripes.

Amalfi itself thrives as a picturesque tourist center but in the 11th and 12th centuries the city centered the Amalfi Maritime Republic and was a naval power to be reckoned with throughout the Mediterranean. Amalfi’s ports also saw extensive trade with North Africa, and the city retains cloisters of Arab-Sicilian architecture throughout, as well as the Arsenale—a partially preserved medieval shipyard from a glorious era.

 In Paestum, columned temples to Poseidon, Hera, and Athena stand in what was, from the seventh century B.C., the Greek city of Poseidonia. These breathtaking structures are among the best preserved of their kind to be found anywhere in the world.

Until the 1800s the coast’s steep terrain meant that overland access to the region was possible only by mule. While many oases of quiet can still be found here, particularly away from tourist centers, the Amalfi Coast has changed irreversibly since then. But echoes of far more distant eras remain, including ancient cathedrals, gardens, and Roman villas like Anacapri’s Villa di Damecuta, possibly built by Tiberius.

One of the most enjoyable things to do on the Amalfi Coast is to simply find a spot where you can soak it all in. Among the top locations is Monte Solaro, a B&B in Anacapri with stunning views of the twin bays Salerno and Naples.

How to Get There

Trains connect Naples with Sorrento and Salerno. Boats also run to many Amalfi Coast towns during the warmer months.

When to Visit

Consider visiting in the spring (May) or fall (September-October), when the crowds drawn to this world-renowned beauty spot are at their lowest.

How to Visit

There are many ways to experience the coast but none quite like an end-to-end drive of its precipitous, winding, coastal highway. The National Geographic Road Trip: Amalfi Coast, Italy offers one outstanding itinerary. For those who’d rather leave the driving to others, bus services run up and down the coast.

10 Unusual Asian Delicacies

Asia is known not just for its diverse cultures and traditions, but also a galore of exotic food that often surprises and astonishes, sometimes not to a positive effect. Now to list all the unusual food found in this colorful region would be simply impossible, they are just too many. So instead, we are starting out here with a list of just ten unusual delicacies from all over the region. Know of any other delicacies that you feel should make the list? Let us know and we’ll compile them on our future update!

Tuna Eyes

Where to find: Japan
If you can handle your food staring back at you, feasting on tuna eyes should come as a pleasure. Except for the bizarre situation of having to look at your food in the eye, they are actually pretty tantalizing for its fatty, jelly-like tissues around the eyeballs. Some prefer to eat it raw, albeit the fishy taste, others would rather steam or fry it alongside garlic or soya sauce to spice it up. Selling for less than 100 yen (approximately US$1) in Japan, this is a popular local delicacy worth trying out!

Durians.

Where to find: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia
Either you love it or hate it. This “King of Fruits” has garnered avid lovers and intense loathers alike. So powerful is its aroma (or stench), it could be detected miles away, and the smell lingers in your breath and fingers long after you are done with it. In some areas they are even banned, such is the powerful odor that comes from it! The durian has a shell full of “spikes” which you cut open and take out the fruit. They are the size of a ping pong balls, and the flesh is yellowish, sticky and gluey. Coupled with its distinctive aroma, durians come in two “flavors” – sweet and bitter. It is worth a try, or at least a sniff to experience the acquired taste of the King of Fruits.

Lamb's brains.

Where to find: India
Before anyone gags, lamb’s brains are actually pretty mild and not as revolting as you may think. They are white (when cooked, of course), tofu-like and often considered a gourmet treat prepared with Indian roti and curry. You can enjoy lamb’s brain served in various concoction – fried with tomatoes, egg, masala or even plain.

White Ants Eggs Soup.

Where to find: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam
Walk along the streets of Sukhumvit, Bangkok and you’ll discover a whole new diversity of Thai gourmet. From restaurants to street stalls, the myriad of food will leave you bedazzled. But from delight to shock comes street stalls offering delicacies such as scorpions, beetles, grasshoppers, frogs, usually fried. White ant (or termites) eggs soup are probably one of the weirdest choice out of the rest, but they taste surprisingly good! The soup comes with a mixture of eggs, half embryos and baby ants. The eggs are soft and pop gently in your mouth with a wee bit of sour taste.

Smelly tofu.

Where to find: Hong Kong, Taiwan, China
As the name suggests, this popular street snack is renowned for its pungent smell, often likened to garbage or manure. The smelly toufu is actually fermented tofu, best eaten with sweet or spicy sauces. Despite a smell that turns most people away, even for its enthusiasts, smelly toufu has a light taste and once it tickles your fancy, you could be a fan of it.

Balut.

Where to find: Phillipines
Native to Phillipines, Baluts are half-fertilized duck or chicken eggs boiled with its shell. It doesn’t exactly look inviting as the semi-developed ducklings are already visibly formed. However, the Balut is a popular local dish eaten throughout the Phillipines, believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack. Often served with beer, the biggest challenge in trying out balut is overcoming its unappetizing sight, but most people would agree that it tasted much better than it looks.

Fugu (Blowfish)

Where to find: Japan
This rare delicacy in Japan is only for risk-takers. Intensely dangerous due to its high tetrodotoxin content, which can thwart the nervous systems in minutes and kill in a few hours, this dish is served strictly in licensed restaurants. Like an art, the fugu is delicately prepared through various complicated procedures to ensure that the toxins are thoroughly cleared. It is thinly sliced and often served as sashimi (raw). Dip the meat with wasabi or Japanese soya sauce and pop it gently into your mouth. Some professional chefs prepare this delicate sashimi so there is a minute amount of poison in the meat, giving a prickling feeling and numbness on the tongue and the lips. Fugu is considered a luxury good in Japan, costing up to USD$200 for a full set.

Drunken Shrimp.

Where to find: Shanghai
When I first heard about the dish Drunken Shrimp, my first thought goes to the usual style of steaming your shrimps in a healthy dose of wine and alcohol. It gives the shrimp an additional dash of sweetness, making it a favorite of mine. The actual Shanghainese Drunken Shrimp however, is an entirely different experience – most notably because of the absence of steaming, or any kinds of cooking whatsoever. The shrimps are not only raw, but live! They are served bathed in strong liquor, which helps to make the shrimps less feisty, and you eat the still twitching body right away after you decapitate the poor fellow.

Beondegi (Silkworm Larvae)

Where to find: South Korea
Literally meaning “chrysalis” or “pupa” in Korean, the Silkworm Larvae are a popular snack in South Korea. They are either steamed or boiled, and then seasoned before serving. If you can get through the subtle, nutty aroma, these little guys are crunchy with a unique, strange texture inside.

Tarantula snacks.

Where to find: Skuon, Cambodia
During the years of terror under the Khmer Rogue, starvation was rife across Cambodia, and the people began eating anything they could get their hands on. The tarantula was one such subject, and the people of Skuon, Cambodia, developed a taste for them, even long after the regime change. These distant cousins of the crab are crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle, with the white delicate meat in the head and body tasting rather like a cross between chicken and cod.

Top 5 Must Do Adventures in Malaysia

The South East Asian country of Malaysia is a mix of two halves, separated by the South China Sea. The peninsula boasts the modern city of Kuala Lumpur, with its sprawling suburbs and adjacent towns, while the Borneo is renowned for their breathtaking, untamed landscapes, wildlife, spectacular diving sites and diverse cultural heritage.

 

From timeless tropical rain-forest and national parks to rugged mountain terrains, there is much to explore and experience in this melting pot of world’s cultures. Here are the top 5 Malaysian adventures for nature and adrenaline lovers alike.

1. Live with the Penan tribe

The Penans are an ethnic group of Borneo. Out of the 10,000 Penans, it is estimated that only 200 are still living their traditional nomadic hunter-gatherer existence in Malaysian state of Sarawak, Borneo.

In the Penan language there are forty words for sago palm, and no words for goodbye, or thank you – or thief. The Penan view the entire rainforest as their home. One that is under severe threat as commercial logging continues to destroy the forest around them.

Groups of up to forty move around a landscape of steep valleys and dense dipterocarp forest interlaced with numerous tributaries of the large rivers draining the islands interior to find stands of the wild sago palm.

   What is this adventure?

• Explore one of the few remaining unprotected areas in Sarawak that has not been logged.
• Live with and learn about Borneo’s most fascinating, secretive and least understood tribe.
• Getting off the tourist track and be integrated into the tribal life.
• Opportunity to appreciate mountains, caves,waterfalls, lakes, forests and wildlife upclose and personal.
• Experience the traditional culture of blow-pipe making, rattan weaving, storytelling, wildlife tracking, medicinal plants and ethno biology.

 

2. Mulu Adventures – hear the call of the wild!

Mulu is Malaysia’s adventure capital. Challenging jungle hikes, magnificent World Heritage caves, the ‘Pinnacles’, home stays in longhouses with native tribes – all set in the prettiest of tropical jungle landscape. Choose to mountain-bike to Mulu, swim or raft the rivers, climb the ‘Pinnacles’ or Mount Mulu, hike the once feared ‘Head hunter’s trail’, burrow deeply in adventure caves, search out wildlife or choose to do it all at a leisurely pace.

    Main attractions around Mulu:

• Deer cave – the single largest cave passage known to man and home to millions of free tailed naked bats
• Clearwater cave – named after an underground river system that flows through the cave systems and culminates with high velocity through this chamber. This is the longest known underground river in South East Asia.
• Lang’s cave – containing gorgeous formations that adorn the walls
• Wind cave – named after its natural air conditioning and containing colourfully named chambers such as King’s and Lady’s chamber.
• Sarawak Chamber – the world’s largest discovered underground cavity located in Gua Nasib Bagus. The chamber measures approximately 700m long, 415m wide and 80m high. In width, you could almost fit 7 units Boeing 747′s from wing to wing. In length, almost 10 units! It takes almost a full day to reach Sarawak Chamber and requires a certain fitness level. It is in the adventure-caving category.
• ‘The Pinnacles’ – a series of limestone razors that mystically jut out half way up Mount Api. The trail is only 2.4kms but the ascension is 1200m up a steep path to a viewpoint looking out over the Pinnacles. This is Malaysia’s 5 star hike!

 

3. Climb Mount Murud , the highest sandstone mountain in Sarawak

The Kelabit highlands is one of Sarawak’s last unspoiled regions with beautiful flora and a cool refreshing climate. The vegetation changes as you ascend and along the way, you witness local life with plenty of opportunities to interact with the friendly natives, mainly Lun Bawang and Kelabit tribes.

The first person to have successfully climbed to the summit of Mount Murud is a Swedish Zoologist and Ethnographer, Eric Mjöherg, in 1922.  Mjöherg was astounded by the many species of plants found there, especially pitcher plants that are endemic to this location. He documented many of plants and flowers, describing the mountain as a paradise which will forever be embedded in his mind.

Many locals regard Mount Murud as a sacred location. Rumors of many astounding miracles is said to have happened here. Local folks make an annual pilgrimage to celebrate its majesty, therefore, it is no surprise that you will find a large church camp made of many assembled wooden houses on a plateau which can accommodate 1500 people.

 

4. Climb the World’s Highest Via Feratta on Mount Kinabalu

I was the third person to have climbed via feratta when they first opened in 4th quarter of 2007. I can definitely pledge to its WOW factor.

Battling the early morning chill, initial fear of the heights and mild altitude discomfort, the activities offered are not for the weak-hearted.

If you are afraid of heights then this adventure may not be for you as you will be walking on vertical surfaces as well as crossing valleys on cable lines. Although you will be led by an experienced guide, each participant will have the responsibility to look after each other as you are all linked together by a rope.

Besides a helmet and training before the activity, you will be assured double safety on the climb. A climber wears a harness clipped to a steel cable along the route and a second line is clipped to the next climber or the guide. The steel cables that line the route can hold up to 3,000kg of weight. The ladder rungs and footholds are rated to withstand up to 300kg of weight. The routes have been set up by the best via feratta builders from Europe and its no wonder that MT has been awarded a certificate of compliance based on European safety standards for Via Feratta. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves!

 

5. Accelerated Freefall

The Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) course is a private instructor-assisted learning process which teaches you to become a licensed skydiver. Its progression is several times faster than the traditional static line program and has now become very popular for individuals who want to reach the level of a licensed skydiver faster and with proper instruction from a USPA licensed instructor/s.

During freefall, skydivers generally do not experience a "falling" sensation because the resistance of the air to their body at speeds above 50 mph (80 km/h) provides a sense of weight and direction. So you are not exactly weightless, contrary to popular belief! And it gets better. Skydivers reach terminal velocity around 190 km per hour and no longer accelerate towards the ground. At this point the sensation is one of a hard wind!

Thailand: Best Beaches in Phuket

Phuket. The mere whisper of the word evokes hair-trigger impressions from those who have been and, indeed, from those who have yet to go. Whether pro Phuket or con, the province is a dynamo and, Bangkok aside, the most popular tourist target in Thailand.

Deride the crass over-development and haphazard chaos of Patong, Phuket lures millions of package holiday partisans, moneyed globetrotters, backpacker beach bums, tireless wanderlusters and, indeed, all manner of traveller in between year in and year out. All for good reason too.

Phuket simply has it all. Affordable and a considerable 543 square km, the island has enough heft to herald both the promise of a Full Moon Party-like vibe if you so desire, or, for those in the serenity-now camp, the possibility of a pristine beach and chichi resort.

So whether you want to revel or relax, cavort or catnap, Phuket has a beach for you. With that in mind, discover our top picks in the peerless island province for Andaman Sea bliss.

 Kata Beach, Phuket, Thailand

Although Patong loosely translates as “forest festooned with banana leaves”, Phuket’s linchpin hive of activity hardly resonates with that kind of idyll anymore. It is what it is. Outside of the nightlife node our favourite beaches in Phuket include:

Kamala Beach

North of Patong, Kamala is a Muslim village in a pocket of Phuket free from major tourist developments. Some hotels, some remarkable seafood and other than the incessant hum of tuk-tuks, relatively quiet.

Kata Beach

Kata is a welcome departure from the island’s other seaside tourist spots. You can get in a good swim and the coral reef delivers a decent snorkel, with regular bus service to and from Phuket Town from dawn to dusk.

Mai Khao Beach

Discernible stretches of deserted sand make Mai Khao a go-to beach for privacy-seekers.

Nai Han Beach

Anchor the yacht and take a paradisal dip in warm, aquamarine waters: this is Nai Han in the dry season. Come in the wet season, however, and the waves chop like a hasty night market cook. The beach is just north of Promthep Cape.

Rawai Beach

Commune with Chao Ley sea gypsy culture and book a charter past the reefs. Rawai Beach is a rare gem.

Racha Yai Island

Racha Yai Island proves that some of the best beaches in Phuket are still in the province but not necessarily on the main island. This wee island 24 km southeast of Chalong pier on the east coast of Phuket is pure paradise, with a photogenic postcard beach to boot.