Search results for "island of love"

In Ireland cliches come to life... a green landscape brushed with rain... a wild coastline bordering a windblown sea... the sound of an Irish fiddle in a cozy village pub warmed by a turf fire and lively conversation. Scenes straight out of the movies. Literary, poetic, gifted in the art of conversation, the Irish extend their love of language even to the names of counties and towns, which roll off the tongue like music: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Kilkenny. For a taste of Irish culture, from the Abbey Theatre to traditional music, proceed directly to Dublin, where Joyce, Shaw, and Y...

Grenada's greatest natural assets are, well…its natural assets. Beach lovers have their pick of more than 40 ribbons of sand. Grand Anse, with two miles of white sand and sheltered waters, is the best known, but secluded strands abound within easy reach along the east coast – if you have a 4-wheel-drive. And you'll want one on this island of tropical rain forests, waterfalls, mountain lakes – and some of the most rewarding hikes in the Caribbean. One of the rewards? Take a deep breath: The scent of spices – nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and clove – is always in the air. Grenada...

At the very center of Polynesia, Upolu and Savaii are the twin islands that truly fulfill the South Seas vision of palm-lined, white-sand beaches and blue ocean beyond the reef. And in the capital of Apia, which has at least some of the trappings of a modern city, you’ll also find a slightly timeworn, sultry townscape out of the old South Pacific. Until 1997, the country was known as Western Samoa – long famous throughout the South Pacific for Fa’a Samoa, a way of life in which traditional customs (dance, a love of kava, and the art of tattooing among them) and strong community ties shape ...

More than 1,100 islands lie off the coast of Croatia, and for many visitors the crown jewel of this Adriatic archipelago is Korcula. The island, along with the rest of the isles in the Dalmatian chain, managed to escape the violence of the sad and lengthy conflict that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, and today travelers are once again returning to rediscover Korcula’s charms. Likely as not, they begin in Korcula town, where a network of narrow, cobbled streets dating to the 8th-century line this walled medieval fortress. Not surprisingly, here at the edge of the Medi...

Aruba is not your typically lush margaritaville. Located deep in the southern Caribbean, just 15 miles off the coast of Venezuela and outside the hurricane belt, its arid interior landscape appears to be straight out of Arizona. But people sure do love it. Like its sister isles of Bonaire and Curaçao (together, the three make up the "ABC" islands), Aruba has a character and architecture defined by its Dutch heritage and its proximity to South America. As a modern vacation spot, this Netherland Antilles island covers all the bases, with deluxe resorts, powdery white sands, 27 dive si...

It's not hard to fall in love with an island. In the 1950s an American sailor fell hard for the beautiful bays, beaches, and steep hills of St. John, and because the sailor happened to be Laurance Rockefeller, he bought more than half of the island. Luckily for all of us, Rockefeller gave away most of his purchase to help create Virgin Islands National Park. Today that 11,000-acre park is an oasis of untrammeled nature in the U. S. Virgin Islands. You'll need a 4X4 to cover most of the island, and seasoned visitors to the island often arrive with both hiking boots and swim fins in ...

Like Seychelles, its neighbor to the northwest, Mauritius enters the 21st century as an exotic alternative to more traditional sun-and-fun beach destinations. This Indian Ocean crossroads has seen its share of cultural collisions – Dutch, French, British, Indian, and Creole – and today those influences flavor the island's colorful mix of religious festivals, as well as its spicy cuisine. French colonial buildings line the streets of the capital, Port Louis (where the Natural History Museum exhibits include a replica of the ill-fated, extinct dodo bird), and hikers can explore a world o...

Tahiti, Otahiti for the first Europeans, the "Island of Love", the "New Cyther" for Bougainville, the myth of paradise, of Rousseau's good savage, all those names to describe the same beauty of this island, symbol just by itself of the entire French Polynesia. Two volcanos emerged from the waters compose the island of Tahiti : 3-million year old for the Tahiti Nui (the Big Tahiti) volcano, and only 500,000 years for the one of Tahiti Iti (the Little Tahiti) also called the Peninsula (Presqu’ile)

your idea of vacation fun starts with sand, sun, sea, and nonstop action, then you'll love Cancun. It wasn't always that way. In the 1970s Cancun was just a long sandspit and a small fishing village. The Mexican government, however, had a different future in mind for those white-sand beaches and that turquoise water, and now the resort island is dotted with about 100 hotels that can handle some to 2 million visitors a year. Much of the Cancun experience has been crafted to reflect popular American tastes. If you want to party till dawn, it's no problema. You can also shop till ...