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Springtime In Green Spain: Time To Get Out Into The Countryside, And Under It!

Springtime In Green Spain: Time To Get Out Into The Countryside, And Under It! Apr 29th, 2013 at 10:00AM: Green Spain has finally emerged from a miserable winter into a glorious if unreliable springtime, so it's time to get out and enjoy the region's natural beauty. The northern coastal strip of Spain consisting of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Region has the best outdoor and underground adventures the country has to offer. Its combination of scenic hikes and extensive caves is ...

Gadling Goes Underground: More Explorations Of Caves In Spain

Gadling Goes Underground: More Explorations Of Caves In Spain Mar 18th, 2013 at 10:00AM: The caves in Spain are famous for their variety and extent. Some delve more than a kilometer into the ground. Others are adorned with prehistoric cave art more than 10,000 years old. Almost all have beautiful rock formations. There's a whole other world under the one we usually see. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm taking a course on caving. My first experience was in Cañuela ...

Caving In Northern Spain

Caving In Northern Spain Mar 14th, 2013 at 10:00AM: After living a year in Santander in Cantabria, northern Spain, I had a problem. I was chronically, unutterably, and perhaps terminally bored. Santander is a sleepy regional town, and while weekend hikes and trips for Gadling helped ease my boredom somewhat, I was still not getting my drug of choice – a long-term, low-level adrenaline high. There's nothing like it. Do something ...

Meramec Caverns: The Coolest Attraction On Route 66

Jun 20th, 2012 at 11:00AM: If you want to beat the heat this summer, there's no better way to do that than to explore a cool and beautiful cave. Missouri is one of the best states to see them. A combination of lots of limestone and plenty of water has honeycombed the state with some 6,000 caves, from tiny little crawl spaces to grand and glorious show caves. One of the most popular is Meramec Caverns in Stanton, ...

Video: The Prehistoric Cave Art Of Cantabria, Spain

May 14th, 2012 at 5:00PM: One of the advantages of living in Europe is that you can visit lots of historic sites with your kids. This fosters an interest in the past, reduces museum fatigue and is a great way to learn together. I live in Cantabria, on the north coast of Spain, a region filled with historic sites from Napoleonic forts to preserved Roman towns. Cantabria is most famous for the prehistoric cave art in ...

Exploring the underground caves of Rio Secreto in Mexico

Exploring the underground caves of Rio Secreto in Mexico Jan 8th, 2012 at 1:00PM: Río Secreto is a surreal and unique natural reserve near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, that was opened to the public in December of 2007. Visitors to the site are able to hike and swim through the azure waters of a 1969-foot long river that sits inside underground caves. Inside these caves, you will find thousands of impressive stalactites and stalagmites, and once below the Earth's surface, ...

Adventure Vacation Guide 2012: Belize

Adventure Vacation Guide 2012: Belize Jan 4th, 2012 at 9:30AM: Belize is the only country in Central America with English as the official language. The small country, measuring 180 miles long and 68 miles wide, is a popular vacation destination for tourists whose native language is English. But Belize is good for much more than just lounging in white sand while watching the shimmering teal waves roll in and out while drinks, ordered in English, are ...

Two day hikes in the mountains of Cantabria, Spain

Two day hikes in the mountains of Cantabria, Spain Nov 30th, 2011 at 2:00PM: As I've mentioned on this blog before, I've moved from Madrid to Santander, in Cantabria in northern Spain. This region is part of what's often called Green Spain, made up of the four northern regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country. I'm loving life by the sea and I've been busy exploring Cantabria's countryside, which offers some of the best hikes in Spain. Green and ...

Hiking in Cantabria, Spain: my first day out

Hiking in Cantabria, Spain: my first day out Sep 20th, 2011 at 11:00AM: As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm no longer living in Madrid and have moved to Santander, a port in Cantabria on Spain's northern coast. Cantabria is part of Green Spain, the area that includes the regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and El País Vasco. This strip of land situated between high mountains and the sea gets plenty of rain and doesn't look at all like the common ...

Green Spain: Exploring Iberia's Celtic north

Green Spain: Exploring Iberia's Celtic north Jul 6th, 2011 at 10:30AM: When people think of Spain, they tend to think of a sun-soaked, dry land with a hot climate and beautiful beaches. For the most part that's true, but Spain's northern region is very different and equally worth a visit. Spain's four northern provinces are often called Green Spain. From west to east, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country are a verdant strip between the North ...

Video: Rappelling: how NOT to do it

Feb 26th, 2011 at 10:00AM: Rappelling, by definition, is the controlled descent down a rock face using a rope. What it is not is the out of control and upside down (fascinatingly slow) descent down a rock face using a rope. I don't have a lot of rappelling experience under my belt, but as a general fan of the outdoors, I have enough experience with the activity to watch this video and wonder how, exactly, this kind of ...

Book Review: Underground England

Book Review: Underground England Dec 14th, 2010 at 2:30PM: England is a land of countless half-forgotten legends and secret hidden places. In Underground England: Travels Beneath our Cities and Countryside, Stephen Smith explores these places, worming his way through damp caves and exploring haunted tunnels under crumbling castles. While he starts with natural caves, of which England is blessed with more than its fair share, he soon veers off into ...

South Australian cattle station debuts tasting room

South Australian cattle station debuts tasting room Dec 3rd, 2010 at 4:30PM: There was a time when Wagyu beef was eaten by only the most sophisticated of travelers. True Kobe beef is from Wagyu cattle that are raised in a very specific manner in the Hyogo Prefecture of Japan. Okay, technically Wagyu is the Japanese term for all cattle, and Kobe beef comes from a strain known as Tajima, but this isn't a genetics class. Kobe Wagyu receive massages to reduce stress and ...

West Virginia's scenic Gauley River: class V rafting, fall colors

West Virginia's scenic Gauley River: class V rafting, fall colors Oct 8th, 2010 at 4:30PM: "Holy crap, what a sausage fest." This was my first thought, as I glanced around the crowded parking lot. It was a cool, drizzly September morning at Adventures on the Gorge, but that wasn't stopping 40 men--many of certain age and wafting last night's whiskey fumes--from preparing to raft the Class V+ Upper Gauley River. I was in Lansing, (southeastern) West Virginia, fulfilling a 20-year goal to ...

Prehistoric cave art discovered in Transylvania

Prehistoric cave art discovered in Transylvania Jun 18th, 2010 at 9:30AM: A group of speleologists exploring a cave in the Apuseni Nature Park in Transylvania, Romania, have discovered what could be Central Europe's oldest cave art. Paintings of now-extinct species rhinoceros and cat were found next to images of bison, a horse, a bear's head, and a female torso. While dating cave art is difficult, based on the style archaeologists believe the figures are anywhere ...

18 unique travel experiences for the well traveled

18 unique travel experiences for the well traveled Jun 26th, 2009 at 8:00AM: So you think you've been everywhere and done everything? Is their something missing when you travel these days? Is the sense of adventure gone? Never fear, because the Times Online has compiled an interesting list of 18 unique travel experiences that are designed to give us a special experience on our getaways. The suggestions on the list run the gamut from adventurous to decadent to down right ...

Massive Cave Discovered in Vietnam

Massive Cave Discovered in Vietnam May 5th, 2009 at 8:30AM: A massive cave discovered in a remote region of Vietnam has been explored for the first time, and is now believed to be amongst the largest in the world. With its main chamber stretching nearly 500 feet in length, and soaring to an unbelievable 650 feet in height. The cavern is called Hang Son Doong, which means "mountain river cave" in Vietnamese, and was first discovered back in 1991, but was ...

In the Corner of the World - Cold and glowing vs. hot and bubbly

In the Corner of the World - Cold and glowing vs. hot and bubbly Apr 23rd, 2009 at 9:00AM: Over the next few weeks here at Gadling, we'll be bringing you updates from our recent travels across New Zealand - in the process, we hope to offer a range of perspectives about what visiting this truly unique and fascinating country is all about. You can read previous entries HERE. You're standing on the edge of a ledge. Covered head-to-toe in a neoprene wetsuit, purple short-shorts and giant ...

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