Far Horizons Blog
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...
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...
Life aboard a Turkish Gulet
By Jennifer Tobin, Study Leader I’m an early riser so my day begins at dawn. I put on a bathing suit under my sundress and leave my small wooden cabin, climbing the stairs to emerge on deck. Long cushions occupy the stern of the boat and I snuggle into some pillows...
Chaco Canyon – Did You Know?
Located in the northwest corner of New Mexico, Chaco Canyon is 70 miles from the nearest town and reached only by rutted dirt roads. And yet, throughout the valley floor are vast stone edifices some towering as high as 4 or 5 floors and containing hundreds of rooms....
Did You Know about Iceland?
Iceland has one of the first democratic parliaments in the World?
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...
Did You Know about the Egyptians?
The oldest international peace treaty was between the Egyptians and the Hittites?
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.
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...
Did you know this about Iceland?
More books are written, published and sold per person per year in Iceland than anywhere else on the planet.
Why Bulgaria?
Bulgaria, bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east, is a cultural melting pot. Greek, Slavic, Ottoman, and Persian influences are displayed in their wealth of fascinating...
Did You Know?
Remember the fable of mythical Icarus who, on wings crafted of feathers and wax, flew too close to the sun? Made of feathers and wax, the sun melted them and Icarus fell and died. His father, Daedalus, a great inventor who is credited with creating the Great Labyrinth...
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 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,...
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...
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...