Blog
Spain and Morocco Tour: In the Path of Medieval Islam
May 2 – 16, 2020 | Robin Vose
In 711, an army of Arabs and Berbers landed on the Iberian Peninsula, and over the next seven years, through diplomacy and warfare, they brought most of present-day Spain and Portugal under Islamic control. For more than 700 years, until the Christians retook the land in 1492 (reconquista), Muslim dynasties ruled al-Andalus, and during this time there was a blossoming of philosophy, arts and sciences.
Megalithic Temples on Malta
Travel with Far Horizons and visit the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, located in Paola, Malta; A prehistoric temple inscribed on the UNESCO world Heritage list.
New Discoveries at Pompeii
Archaeologists have found new graffiti that may end the debate about the exact date of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD. In one of his letters to the Roman historian Tacitus, Pliny the Younger documented the event twenty five years after it...
New Discoveries in Turkey’s Göbekli Tepe
Built several millennia before Stonehenge or Egypt’s great pyramids, Göbekli Tepe is acclaimed as the world's oldest temple at around 12,000 years old. Listed as a UNESCO World heritage property in 2018, this stunning sanctuary complex in south-east Turkey overturns...
What is an Egyptian Dahabiya?
Herodotus said it 2,500 years ago: "Egypt is the gift of the Nile" - and what a gift it is - a narrow strip of cultivatable land teased from barren expanse of desert that is home of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known. The Nile, from the Sudan...
Etruscan Goddess Inscription at Poggio Colla in Italy
Photo by Mugello Valley Project At the Etruscan sanctuary of Poggio Colla archaeologists are working on deciphering a rare inscription found on a temple stone. The translation of the sacred text has revealed the name of a female goddess, Uni. It is thought that she...
Tomb of a goldsmith found near Egypt’s Valley of the Kings
Photo by Khaled Desouki (Agence France-Presse - Getty Images) In Draa Abul-Naga, a necropolis for noblemen and rulers not far from the Valley of the Kings, a 3,500-year-old tomb has been unearthed by archaeologist Mostafa Waziri and his team. The occupant of the tomb...
Cooperative Government and the Ancient Olmec
A strong centralized monarchy, evidenced by a single plaza, characterizes the Olmec sites of San Lorenzo and La Venta. At Tres Zapotes, however, this form of government appears to have been adjusted in order to distribute power between several groups. Archaeologists...
Sport and Politics in the Ancient Maya World
Drawing by Christophe Helmke Two carved stone panels discovered in 2015 by Christopher Andres of Michigan State University and his colleagues at the site of Tipan Chen Uitz in Belize depict ballplayers and are the first of their kind to be found in Belize. One of the...
Discovery at Nim Li Punit in Belize
Photo by Professor Geoffrey Braswell A large carved jade pendant likely made for the Maya king Janaab’ Ohl K’inich has been found by Professor Geoffrey Braswell of University of California, San Diego and his team at the site of Nim Li Punit in Belize. Measuring 7.4...
What is the difference is between ‘whiskey’ and ‘whisky’?
The Scots spell it whisky and the Irish spell it whiskey, with an extra 'e'. This difference in the spelling comes from the translations of the word from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic forms. Whiskey with the extra 'e' is also used when referring to American whiskies....
Traveling through Bulgaria
A post-trip interview with tour manager, Kelly Bryson How long was your trip to Bulgaria and where did you visit? The trip was just over two weeks long and we made a circuit of the entire country, including stops at Sofia, Ivanovo, Madara Rider, Varna, Nessebar, Stara...
Traveling along the Silk Road through Western China
A post-trip interview with 2016 trip participant, Kip Lilly How long was your trip to China and where did you visit? This trip was two and a half weeks long and went west from Xian following the original Silk/Tea/Jade road (Dunhuang, Turpan, Hotan, Kashgar,...
Traveling through Ethiopia
A post-trip interview on Ethiopia with tour managers, Kelly Bryson and Heather Stoeckley How long was your trip to Ethiopia and where did you visit? The main tour – Addis Ababa, Axum, Lalibela, Gondar, Simien Mountains, Lake Tana - was 15 days plus a 2-day extension...
Sicily: The Heart of the Mediterranean
By Heather Stoeckley “To have seen Italy without seeing Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.” These words from the poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe (who traveled to Sicily 1786-1788) have been the playing in the back of head since...
Unlocking the past in Mexico City
By Heather Stoeckley Mexico City is bursting with color! From the purple-blooming Jacaranda trees that line Reforma Avenue, to the yellow and orange dome that tops Palacio de Bellas Artes, everywhere you turn you are acutely aware of how this place epitomizes sun and...
Orkney Islands, Scotland: Pictish carved stone with dragon motif discovered
(photo courtesy of Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark, archaeologist) The Orkney Islands, an archipelago of 70 islands off the northeastern coast of Scotland, has what some consider to be the greatest concentration of archaeological sites in Scotland. Here, in the eastern...
Myanmar: Land of Golden Pagodas
By Heather Stoeckley If there is one word to describe my experiences in Myanmar, it would be shwe. It means ‘golden’ in the Burmese language, and from the moment of arrival, it epitomizes everything one sees in this enchanting country. This word is frequently used in...
Sri Lanka: Land of Serendipity
By David Eckel In 1754, the English essayist Horace Walpole coined the term “serendipity” to refer to “a happy and unexpected discovery.” The source for his new word was a Persian story about three princes from Serendip, an island in the Indian Ocean that was known to...
Travel through India’s Gujarat and Rajasthan
Exploring traditions in Gujarat and Rajasthan By Jenny Rose I often think of India as a kind of reverse prism of religious and social diversity, continuously absorbing a wide range of peoples and ideas as it radiates its own distinct culture. Far Horizon’s...
Who Were the Hittites? Tour Western Turkey with Far Horizons!
The Hittites occupied the region of Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor, and is now modern-day Turkey) prior to 1700 BCE. It is well thought that they developed a culture from the indigenous Hatti people.
Climate Change Causes Disappearance of Ancestral Pueblo People in American Southwest
Droughts of just five or ten years were enough to prompt major shifts in the small niches where Pueblo people grew maize, their major crop.
Human Existence in Ireland…Remarkable Discovery!
Co. Clare Cave is the site of a remarkable archaeological discovery! And now the date of human existence in Ireland has been pushed back 2,500 years! What does this mean? A rewriting of Irish archaeology and a new chapter in the human colonization of the island....
What’s the Origin of Ireland’s Name?
"In Gaelic myth, Ériu, Banbha and Fódla were three goddesses who greeted the Milesians upon their arrival in Ireland, and who granted them custody of the island. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or simply...
When was Persia renamed “Iran”…and Why?
The Iran Tour with Far Horizons will demonstrate that Iran (also known historically as Persia) is a world both ancient and contemporary, linking the heartland of Asia and the cradle of Western civilization, a bridge between East and West. The name Persia is actually...
Petra: A Cultural and Educational Tour + Luxury Travel!
Far Horizon Archaeological and Cultural Tours journeys to The Royal Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a land that has preserved a remarkable character unlike any other in the Near East, with three full days exploring Petra. Ruled by King Abdullah, the people have an...
Celebrate National Parks Centennial in the American Southwest!
On August 25, 2016, the National Park Service turns 100! People everywhere have embraced the opportunities to explore, learn, be inspired and have fun in the 407 national parks across America. There’s no better place to celebrate the National Parks Centennial than in...
“The Snake Kingdom” of the Ancient Maya!
The Petex-Batún is the most inaccessible and rarely-visited region of Guatemala. Today it is lightly populated, and yet more than 1,500 years ago Maya rulers jockeyed for supremacy as they created immense cities here. During the 1990s mounting evidence indicated that...
The Secrets of PETRA…Join Far Horizons in March 2016!
"Literally carved directly into vibrant red, white, pink, and sandstone cliff faces, the prehistoric Jordanian city of Petra was "lost" to the Western world for hundreds of years. Located amid rugged desert canyons and mountains in what is now the southwestern corner...
Ychsma Mummies Discovered…On Far Horizons Peru Itinerary!
The Ychsma people ruled a large area of Peru, until the Inca conquered it just 63 years before the Spanish Conquistadors came and pillaged Peru in 1470. Now four Ychsma culture mummies — three women and one man— were unearthed by a team of archaeologists at Huaca...