Travel Tips

To anyone who had felt the united ability of a horse and its rider, there is no other pursuit that is as exhilarating and as liberating as that of horseback riding. The rhythmic sound of the hoofs that drowns out the excited beats of the heart is just a small part of the incomparable pleasure of galloping over the plain.

Another source of inspiration lies in that almost childish delight at exploring a trail with a responsive horse. The greater delight lies in that unfathomable sense of fulfillment of being one with nature. This is why horseback riding is not just a hobby. It is a passion.

On the mountainous terrain of North Carolina, horseback riding is the natural way to explore. This is why there are numerous resorts and ranches scattered all over the state. Some of them are Tandem Hill Farms, Grove River Ranch, Sandy Bottom Trail Rides, and Purple Pony Cottage and Stables. Most of these horseback-riding resorts are located near and around the Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Mountains. A few, however, are built near residential areas. The Coves at Round Mountain, a residential community at Round Mountain is just a stone’s throw away from one of the finest horse ranches in the Old North State.

Round Mountain Ranch is an expansive facility with 20 stalls, 15 acres of rolling green fields, and more than 25 miles of horseback riding trails. The owners of this ranch refer to their place as an equestrian community, simply because they offer more than just an opportunity to ride on a horse.

Round Mountain Ranch offers riding lessons, stalls for lease or boarding, vet services, shoe horses (ferrier), and even round-pen training.

Due to its proximity to Pisgah National Forest, the horseback riding trails at Round Mountain Ranch include winding paths alongside a river, up mountain slopes and through wilderness. The ride is simply unforgettable and satisfying.

Obviously, horseback riders wish to enjoy this gratifying experience as often as they can. With a new mountain home at The Cove at Round Mountain, it is not just practicable to take early morning horseback rides but also possible to own one or more horses.

Pyramid Tours – Explore the Funerary Complexes of the Pharaohs

In ancient Egypt the desire for eternity was the driving force behind the construction of the pyramids, the sheer scale and technological mastery of which continues to be a source of wonder.

Built as tombs for kings and sometimes queens, these world-famous monuments did not stand in isolation, but were designed as part of funerary complexes that included shrines and temples, where priests would summon the spirits of the royal line and make offerings to ensure their immortality.

Between 2700 and 1640 B.C., a smashing number of these gripping structures were constructed and, although many have since been reduced to rubble, dozens of examples still survive today.

Imhotep’s Step Pyramid

The first master Egyptian pyramid builder was an architect by the name of Imhotep. Around 2680 B.C., he was commissioned to build a tomb for the pharaoh Djozer, and, as was customary, work commenced during the monarch’s life.

Imhotep started by building a tomb in the form of a traditional mastaba. These were long flat rectangular buildings, built of sun-baked mud bricks, with walls standing around 12 feet high.

The name mastaba derives from the Arabic “bench,” on account of the tomb’s similarity to a long stone seat typically found outside Egyptian homes in later times.

The forward-looking Imhotep, however, used stone as his medium and continued to add to the tomb until he had created a six-layered, stepped pyramid, standing 200 feet high. The answer was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first monument in Egypt to be made entirely out of hewn stone.

The vast expense and labor involved in its construction is a clear demonstration of the considerable power exercised by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.

Imhotep, who also appears to have been a scholar and physician, was held in such great respect that he was worshipped as a god after his death. His superb achievement still stands today at the ancient site of Memphis, south of Cairo.

The Pyramids of Giza

By the fourth dynasty (approximately 2600 B.C. to 2500 B.C.) the Egyptians had perfected their tremendous architectural skills enabling them to construct the most dramatic and famous of the Egyptian Pyramids, those at Giza.

Unlike the Step Pyramid, the Giza Pyramids – known as Khufu Khafre and Mycerinus – were of true pyramidal form and were originally constructed with smooth white limestone faces. Such was the wonder they inspired that they were considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The largest of the Egyptian Pyramids at Giza, named after and built for the pharaoh Khufu, who ruled between 2589 B.C. and 2566 B.C., stands 481 feet high.

Its construction was an immensely costly business, involving many thousands of skilled workers (not slaves) over a period of some 20 years. The monument contains around two and a half million blocks of stone, whose average weight is more than two and a half tons, with some weighing as much as fifteen.

Most of the stone used was locally quarried limestone. Granite, a much harder stone, was also used for the construction of the burying chambers and internal passages. This was brought by river a distance of more than 500 miles from quarries in Aswan in the south. The stones were then dragged into place by manner of ramps.

Standing next to Khufu are the later Egyptian pyramids of Khafre (471 feet high) and Mycerinus (204 feet). The Khafre funerary complex is also home to the famous limestone statue of the Sphinx, the oldest and largest of the many images of man-headed lions.

The Giza Sphinx

Dwarfed by the colossal pyramids, the Sphinx is, even so, a huge monument, standing 66 feet high and 240 feet long. The statue, whose head is viewed to be that of the pharaoh Khafre himself, was intended to represent a divine protector.

Between its paws is an inscribed granite slab which describes a dream that a prince named Tuthmosis had while resting in its shade during a gazelle hunt. He dreamed that he was approached by the Sphinx, who promised him the kingdom if he cleared the sand that covered his body and that was making breathing backbreaking.

Tuthmosis obliged the Sphinx and went one step further, ordering the construction of mud-brick walls around the monument to prevent further encroachment.

That the Sphinx was good to his word is demonstrated by the 3000-year-old slab placed by Tuthmosis IV, the new pharaoh of the land.

Are You Ready to Tour the Pyramids?

Egypt is home to some remarkable pyramids and our experts can help you plan the elemental tour of the many pyramid sites throughout the country. Come and enjoy the adventure of a lifetime on  Egypt Pyramids Day Tours!

Sunday, Sept 8

Note: Travel Moscow is one of many posts available from Luxury Tours Worldwide, a global travel information provider.

Moscow Travel: I flew in to Moscow from New Mexico six days ago on Aeroflot (Russian Airlines), on a Ilyshin IL-96-300, with 235 seats an airplane of Russian manufacture. I sat next to a plasma physicist returning home from a visit to the University of California at Santa Barbara.  He told me the plane has a perfect safety record.  It was a very comfortable flight with excellent food.

Today is Sunday.  It rained all last night, then ended this morning.  The festivity of Moscow’s 849th Anniversary is ongoing today, with an open air music agenda in Red Square.

I didn’t get up until soon after midday.  It was cloudy and I failed to really realize just how late it was.      My friend Vardan woke me up right after he and his mom got up.  They also slept late.  We had breakfast, then went to the community bathhouse, which was located across the road from Vardan’s school.

It is a sauna with a cold water pool and showers.  It cost us roughly $12 for 2 hours.  We got bottles of mineral water.  According to the bottle the “Indications and Usage” (printed in English as well as Russian) of the water are “chronic gastritis, stomach and duodenum ulcer, chronic colitis.  Chronic lever sic, biliary and urinary ducts diseases, metabolism disturbances.”  No doubt those are some of the things that consuming plenty of mineral water could help!

Vardan additionally paid for 2 bundles of oak branches with green leaves, which were for beating the skin while inside the sauna.  The men and ladies areas are separate, since everybody was going in the sauna and pool naked.

As soon as you initially go in there is a good sized space for changing clothes with 17 cubicles, each one approximately 5X6 feet in size using seats made with brownish leather cushions and solid wood legs.  There were also mirrors, hooks for clothes as well as a bottle opener attached to the wall, and a rug on the floor.  Really pleasant.  Immediately outside the entrance was a store in which you can purchase beverages, including beer, that could be consumed inside the spa.

When removing clothes, people leave them hanging inside the cubicle and get a bath towel that is provided by the sauna.  After that go inside the shower area, that is a large room about fifty ft square with shower cubicles along one side and four rows of marble seats equally spaced up and down the space from end to end.  Every bench is about 3×2 feet made of about 2 inch solid marble supported on cast iron legs.  You receive an empty plastic-type container around 20 inches in diameter and six in. deep and fill it with hot water from taps for that purpose that are located along two sides of the room.  Then you put your bundle of oak branches into the hot water. When you go in the sauna you take your oak branches along with you and use

it to beat your body, which is intended to stimulate the opening of the pores and be restorative.

The sauna itself is a space about 40×100 feet.  There are two levels, the lower level where you enter, and the upper level, which is six steps higher and about six feet above the lower.  Most people proceed to the higher level.  A person on the lower level opens a furnace door which is located approximately five feet above the floor and tosses water inside, resulting in an abrupt increase in the humidity level of the sauna.  Then he takes a round fan about two feet in diameter at the end of a three foot handle and fans it around causing the hot moisture to permeate the atmosphere of the room.  The result is to make the body feel abruptly really hot so that the skin prickles.  It also makes it difficult to breath.  At this moment everyone grabs their oak leaf branches and starts beating themselves, that is each person beats his own body.  This makes a good deal of noise, kind of like a strong wind through a forest of trees.  After a while of this everyone files out to get fresh air and go into the swimming pool.  The swimming pool is cold and feels great following baking in the sauna.  The walls of the pool room have mirrors on three sides and there is a four ft . walkway all around the pool.  The pool itself is about 30 feet square.  It is made specifically for cooling off, and is not really a swimming pool.  The water is about 4 1/2 feet deep.

There are no signs notifying the users of the regulations and liabilities as you see in U.S. health spas.  Obviously Russia is not plagued by liability attorneys.

Off to the opposite side of the shower room from the shower stalls are massage stalls.  Vardan bought us each a massage for $17 that lasted around thirty-five minutes.  A male masseur worked over all the muscles of my feet, legs, arms, lower back, back, neck, head, chest and abdomen.  It was the first such massage I had ever experienced.  It reminded me of the muscle therapy treatment I got once in L.A., which was temporarily painful in the muscles, but supposedly removes toxins from the body tissues.  It was sometimes painful, sometimes relaxing, and by the end it was exhausting.

Following this we went home and had a evening meal of chicken with rice, served with tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, pumpernickel bread, cheese, ham and mineral water.