by Scott W. Clemens | Oct 1, 2014 | Travel, Travel blog
text ©2007 by Scott W Clemens I’ve been planning a family vacation to Ireland. In the past I used Frommer’s travel guides to research our destinations and lodgings, as well as brochures provided by my travel agent. This time I decided to do most of my planning on the...
by Scott W. Clemens | Sep 28, 2014 | Travel, Travel blog
(Favorite Day Trips from San Francisco — Part Three) text and photos ©2013 The San Andreas Fault, where the North American Plate meets the Pacific Plate, runs through the Santa Cruz Mountains, which separate San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. San...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 9, 2012 | Travel, Travel blog
Text and photos © 2009 by Scott W. Clemens The view north from Timber Cove Inn One of the things I like most about San Francisco is that you can get out of the city and into the country in short order. Within half an hour you can be on the fringes of...
by Lucy Gordan | Jun 12, 2012 | Travel, Travel blog
©2012 Last year I published two interviews in Epicurean-Traveler.com with Basel’s two top chefs, Peter Knogl and Tanja Grandits. Not to diminish their talents and charm, but Basel, all too often underrated, with its beautiful medieval Münster (cathedral),...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
Gold is an expensive commodity today, but none more so than Welsh Gold, for it is the rarest of all. After a history spanning 4,000 years, the last gold mine in Wales closed in 2007. Guided tours are available of the Dolaucothi mine in central Wales, first worked by...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
From our vantage point it’s easy to see castles as romantic reminders of knights, damsels and the quest for the Holy Grail — the Renaissance Faire view of the past. The reality is that castles were built to keep enemies out, and they give us a window...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
Dickens’ description of Ye Olde Bull’s Head in The Uncommercial Traveller is as follows: “Take the old-established Bull’s Head with its old-established knife-boxes on its old-established sideboards, its old-established flue under its...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
I highly recommend procuring the services of a local guide for at least a part of your trip. Our tour guide, Idwal Jones, was a veritable fountain of information on Welsh history and culture, and of course most helpful in the matter of pronunciation and...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
Llangollen is one of the most beautiful villages in Wales, and perhaps the hardest to pronounce, given that the double L in Welsh is pronounced something like an aspirated “thl” and takes some practice to get even half right. The homes and businesses are of another...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
The two most obvious attributes of any country, those that most reflect the culture, are architecture and language. In Wales, where bilingualism is mandated by law, the Welsh language is everywhere around you. Every sign, menu and brochure is printed in both...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
While the 2010 Course at Celtic Manor Resort near Newport, in South Wales, was built expressly to handle the crowds of enthusiasts and media for the 2010 Ryder Cup, it is just one of many to choose from. With over 200 courses in Wales, you...
by Scott W. Clemens | Nov 11, 2010 | Travel, Travel blog
Trains stir romantic visions of travel, the anticipation of new sites to see, the excitement of being bound on a journey. The irony of our love of steam trains is that from a 21st century perspective they evoke a time of leisurely travel, while...
