This week Explorica introduces three new tours to our already stellar lineup.  All three of these new tours were created due to customer feedback from our avid educational travelers!

Easy on the budget but still grand in its offering, Explorica offers a new single-city tour to the European capital of Germany.

Experience fun-loving Munich through the wide boulevards, scenic squares and popular parks of the Bavarian city. As you pass by Marienplatz, mechanical knights joust and coopers dance to the folk chimes of Neues Rathaus’s Glockenspiel.

Resist the food market temptations and head to Olympiapark, a new suburb built for the 1972 Olympic Games. Then, during your visit in Dachau, get an all-too-real glimpse of Nazi Germany. Walk through a gas chamber and crematorium that now stands as a memorial for the 206,000 prisoners. From its heavy history to its present-day culture, Munich is a must-do European tour.

Check out the entire itinerary

This week Explorica introduces three new tours to our already stellar lineup.  All three of these new tours were created due to customer feedback from our avid educational travelers!

Travel to a different side of the boot-shaped country as Explorica takes you on a new tour from Rome and Florence to the lakes and castles of Northern Italy.

You’ll wander idyllic villages and medieval towers along Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake. As if that isn’t breathtaking enough, feel the love in Verona, the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Re-enact the famous balcony scene during your visit to the famous site of the star-crossed lovers.

Also, experience an architectural evolution at Villa Valmarana ai Nani, one of Vicenza’s urban villas. Here, learn the legend of the dwarf princess and the punishment some say lead to the stone statues. And, find intrigue behind the geometrics of La Rotonda, a square structure crowned with a dome.

Check out the entire itinerary!

This week Explorica introduces three new student tours to our already stellar lineup.  All three of these new tours were created due to customer feedback from our avid educational travelers!

Venture underground, on the streets and underwater in Explorica’s newest Latin-American tour  destination: the Dominican Republic. If you’re looking an experience similar to our popular Costa Rica tours while experiencing  a brand new country, then this tour is for you.

Explore north of San Cristobal where 2,000-year-old drawings cover the walls of the Pomier Caves revealing stories of early inhabitants. Then snap back to modern Santo Domingo where merengue music lures you into one of the Caribbean’s most vibrant capitals. Take your time walking the cobblestone streets in the footsteps of Christopher Columbus. And take in the late Gothic architecture with Romanesque characteristics.

Then go from man-made marvels to natural wonders as you spy hundreds of species of tropical flora and fauna en route to one of Puerto Plata’s best-kept secrets. Cool off from your day of discovery as you plunge down natural waterslides and experience the Damajagua Waterfalls etched out of limestone.

Check out the entire itinerary

La Festa degli Innamorati began as one of many spring festivals that whisk Italians off their feet annually. And although no longer practiced regularly, on the day of La Festa young lovers of yesteryear would meet in parks and under the boughs of trees to whisper sweet nothings into each other’s ears. Interestingly, once upon a time it was also traditional for unmarried girls to wake up early that day. Why? The story goes that the first man who set eyes upon her would become her husband within a year (or at least a man that looked like him).

Yet, Italy still holds true to romantic tradition in many ways. Head to Venice on April 25^th and you’ll feel the love at the Festa di San Marco. Not only is it Liberation Day, commemorating Italy’s liberation from Nazi rule in World War II, but it’s the day that Venetian men traditionally present their sweetheart with a bunch of flowers or a long-stemmed rose. And in Turin, lovers typically announce their engagement on February 14^th. Cosí romantico (or as they say in English, how romantic!)

In fact, the French are so romantic that they’ve even dedicated a town to love—named Saint Valentin—located in the heart of Loire valley. And every year between February 12^th and 14^th its residents hold a Valentine’s festival. Visitors travel from near and far to renew marriage vows, pin love notes to the Tree of Vows and even have letters stamped with the St. Valentin postmark. Yet, although this festival d’amour holds strong today there is one French tradition whose flame of love has long ago been fanned—the Lottery of Love. (So much so that the French government even made this curious custom illegal.)

Believed to have originated in ancient Rome, the Lottery of Love entailed single men and women calling at their neighbors’ doors on Valentine’s Day to find a dating partner. But when the love turned sour, these newly-single women would build a large bonfire to burn pictures of the men who had hurt them. (They’d even curse and hurl abuse at the men, too—un-ladylike behavior that likely led to the outlawing of the Lottery of Love in the first place!)

But in South Africa, Valentine’s festivities begin weeks before the big day. Visit in early February and you’ll find homes, stores and restaurants decorated with ancient symbols of love—such as hearts, birds and, of course, Cupid. And on Valentine’s Day itself, it’s common for young South Africans to pin the name of their sweetheart on their sleeve. Although South Africans call this tradition Lupercalia in honor of an ancient Roman fertility festival, scholars suggest that the roots of this romantic ritual were actually laid by Pope Gelasius in the Middle Ages. The story goes it’s all because he banned what was considered an immorally pagan Lupercalia festival and replaced it with a day honoring the Patron Saint of Love, Saint Valentine. (A far cry from traditional Lupercalian festivities, when priests would sacrifice two male goats and a dog before anointing the foreheads of noblemen with the sacrificial blood.)

By the way, do you know where the phrase “to wear your heart on your sleeve” comes from? Although it was first recorded in the 1600s in Shakespeare’s play named Othello, during the Middle Ages a knight in battle would pin a lady’s handkerchief to his sleeve as a way of publicly proclaiming his undying (he hoped) love for her. Aw.

Explorica students at the Eiffel Tower

I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes. Love is all around us. So, let’s go around the globe. (To find out how other countries celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, of course!) Although it’s common everywhere for sweethearts to send each other cards, offer flowers and go on romantic outings, Valentine’s Day hasn’t always been so cookie-cutter cute. Make a date with Explorica and we’ll take you on a romantic trip to South Africa, France and Italy where you’ll discover that Valentine’s traditions around the world are anything but, well, traditional.

Stay tuned!

Machu Picchu (meaning Old City in Incan) is arguably the most amazing site in Peru, if not in South America. So much so, it’s even got archaeologists arguing about its original purpose. Some say this 15^th century Incan city was built as a secret ceremonial center. Though it’s debated whether this was in honor of the sacred Andean landscape or the Incan Sun god, Inti. Others have more cynically suggested that it served as a prison. But by far the most popular theory is that Machu Picchu was built by an Incan Emperor named Pachacuti (considered a Peruvian hero) to celebrate the defeat of a rival tribe called the Chancas.

So what’s so magical about Machu Picchu? Well, not only is it located high up in the Andes, but it’s completely invisible from below. And its inhabitants got all the food and resources they needed in this remote location. Machu Picchu was such a secret that even the Spanish Conquistadors didn’t find it when they came over to South America in the 1400s.

Even more impressive is that not a drop of mortar was used to cement the walls of the city’s 140 buildings containing temples, bathhouses, homes and sanctuaries. Instead, clever Incans cut blocks of stone so precisely that when fitted together you’d be hard pressed to get even a knife in the join.

Sadly, Machu Picchu was abandoned a mere 100 years after it was built. (And it’s probably because the city’s inhabitants contracted nasty diseases, such as small pox, carried over to Peru by Spanish Conquistadors.) But don’t worry because not all is lost in the Lost City of the Incas. Thanks to a dedicated team of restorers you’ll be able to capture some of the wonder of Machu Picchu today as it was back in its full glory.

A student took this photo of Stonehenge while on an Explorica educational tour

Over in Harry Potter’s homeland is Stonehenge. Though even Harry himself might be baffled by this wonder. That’s because its Neolithic builders who lived in England roughly 5,000 years ago didn’t keep written records telling us when, why or how Stonehenge was built.

Luckily, archeologists have been doing some tough investigative work to satisfy our curiosity. They’re pretty sure that Stonehenge’s concentric circles were built in four stages over a lengthy 1,500 year period. (And you thought your municipal workers were slow!) Archeologists even agree that Stonehenge served as a burial ground and a place of ancestor worship. In fact, digs at the site have uncovered remains of people not just from England but from as far away as Germany, France and the Mediterranean.

But it’s unlikely that this was Stonehenge’s exclusive function. Other scholars have suggested that Stonehenge was a place of religious ritual, a tool for astronomy (the stones are aligned to mark the Summer Solstice, the Winter Solstice, and the most northerly sunrise and sunset) and as a place to observe the Sun and Moon gods.

Yet, one question still perplexes everyone. How did Stonehenge’s builders move these massive stone blocks that measure roughly 15 feet and weigh up to 44 tons (or the equivalent of about five elephants to you and me) in an era when the wheel hadn’t even been invented?

Folk tales trying to explain this phenomenon have been flying around for centuries. (And they may even be as good as any modern theory, such as one that alleges that ancient man rolled the rocks to the Stonehenge site.) Take that of a gent named Geoffrey of Monmouth who lived during the Middle Ages. He claimed that the stones had magical healing properties and were brought to Ireland by a tribe of African giants before being transported—by the wizard, Merlin—to England. Talk about making Muggles of all of us!

Wonders of the World

Ever wondered what’s so wonderful about the Wonders of the World? Join Explorica for a mind-boggling exploration into three of the world’s greatest architectural triumphs that have many scratching their heads over how and why they were constructed. We’ll travel to the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, head northwest to England’s mystical Stonehenge, before making a lengthy trip across the Atlantic to the Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru. So grab your Indiana Jones hat and let’s go!

Wonders of the World, Part 1: The Great Pyramid of Giza

So amazing is the Great Pyramid of Giza that not only is it the oldest Ancient Wonder of the World but it’s also an honorary member of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Even more amazing is that in its heyday (that’s 2,500 B.C.) this Great Pyramid was the tallest building in the world, standing at a massive 480 feet. (Or about a third as tall as the Empire State Building). And it held that record for a whopping 3,800 years! Archeologists believe that the Pyramid of Giza was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu, leader of Egypt‘s fourth dynasty. (Incidentally, his name means “the god Khnum protects me.” Though legend has it that he was anything but a protector, except of himself, demanding money from anyone who came near him—including his own daughter.) Enter the Great Pyramid and be dazzled by the number of complicated corridors and pathways (constructed that way to confuse grave robbers) that lead to the King’s Chamber, the Queen’s Chamber, mortuary temples and smaller pyramids believed to be tombs for Khufu’s wives. (By the way, scholars believe that ancient Arab explorers misnamed the Queen’s Chamber because it was definitely not meant to house a queen. It was probably meant to be a back-up chamber for Khufu instead.) Yet, the mystery of the Great Pyramid is more than just that of the mummies (who Egyptians believed would be protected by the tombs forever while their spirits traveled to the afterlife.) It’s the fact that the Great Pyramid was created with such geometric accuracy that modern architects have only just been able to recreate it. And that’s with the help of laser measuring technology. Perhaps it’s only the Great Sphinx of Giza whose watchful eye over the pyramids holds the answer to this great mystery.