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Big Adventure

Grab your passports ladies and gents! It’s time to lift those wheels off the tarmac and head for Europe - a place begging to be explored and experienced

Europe, the world’s most industrialized and intensively managed continent, is going wild. During the past three decades it has witnessed conservation successes with the most unexpected species: Europe today hosts 17,000 bears, 11,000 wolves and 9,000 lynx. Wolves are spreading in France and Germany and into the Netherlands and Denmark. There have not been so many wolves in Sweden since the 1800s.

To understand what lies behind this surprising comeback, take a look at to what extent it has been brought deliberately. Is it from massive, successful reintroduction programs? Have large wilderness areas free from human influence been secured to host these abundant predator populations? The answer is as bewildering as the creatures comeback: humans have been passive witnesses to these predators’ return, not the actors behind it.

A combination of European regulations such as the Bern Convention and Habitats Directive, secure land tenure.

-TheConversation.com

A beautiful point on the coast of Cinque Terre looking out over the Mediterranean Sea.All photos by: Francesca Schorer

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CinqueTerre

The Necessities

The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian

Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. “The Five Lands” compris-es five villages: Monter-osso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coast-line, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Over the centuries, peo-ple have carefully built ter-races on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate devel-opment. Paths, trains and boats connect the villag-es, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. The Cinque Terre area is a very popular tourist destination.

The villages of the Cinque Terre were severely affected by torrential rains which caused floods and mudslides on October 25, 2011. Nine people were confirmed killed by the floods, and damage to the villages, particularly Ver-nazza and Monterosso al Mare, was extensive. The first historical documents on the Cinque Terre date back to the 11th century. Monterosso and Vernaz-za sprang up first, whilst the other villages grew later, under military and political supremacy of the Republic of Genoa. In the 16th century to oppose the attacks by the Turks, the inhabitants reinforced the old forts and built new defense towers. From the year 1600, the Cinque Terre experienced a de-cline which reversed only in the 19th century.

-Wikipedia

If you’re going to really enjoy this

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Terre

Lucca

ENORMOUS LoveAs soon as you enter this country you feel like you’ve come upon a different kind of home

Lucca was founded by the Etruscans (there are traces of

a pre-existing Ligurian settlement) and became a Roman colony in 180 BC. The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre can still be seen in the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.[4]

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early 6th century.[5] At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the 6th century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. During the 8th - 10th centuries Lucca was a center of Jewish life, the Jewish community being led by the Kalonymos family (which

at some point during this time migrated to Germany to become a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry). Lucca became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the 11th century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the 10–11th centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

After the death of Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself an independent commune, with a charter in 1160. For almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the Malaspina; Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe. Dante’s Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca.

In 1273 and again in 1277, Lucca was ruled by a Guelph capitano del popolo (captain of the people) named

Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca. The Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over

the city to another condottiere, Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy.

-Wikipedia

Below: The Lucca Wall, pictured here, is one of the greatest attractions for this quaint city, especially with its beautiful chestnut trees.Opposite page: Here, the beautiful and colorful architecture of the Cinque Terre coast is shown to be an obvious highlight of these famous towns.

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In a word: Majestic. This place, these mountains, these rivers, these waterfalls, these hous-es, this way of life is just majestic. A word used to describe unicorns and other unbleievable things, I can’t think of any other word that could better describe SwitzerlandLike something straight out of a fairytale or Hansel and Gretel, Stwitzerland lives up to and greatly surpasses

an expectations you have of it. Especially Interlaken and it’s surrounding mountain towns. On the train ride in you can’t help but press your nose up to the glass like a kid and crane your neck to im-possible angels to ensure that you can capture all the beauty before it speeds by and you’re trying to take in the next waterfall or mountainside.

These mountains and towns have more to offer than just being reathtakingly beautiful. They offer experiences that you’ll never forget. Take a hike on one of the seemingly infinite options of trails. As you look around when you’re walking around for 3 hours and gaining 2,000 feet of elevation, you will think that you’re walking around in a post card. Every time you turn around to look at the view around you, each time will offer an amazing sight that you can’t possibly get sick of.

-Francesca Schorer

Meet the Mountains

IMMENSE B

eaut

y

Junefrau - 13642 ft.

Monch - 13475 ft.

Eiger - 13026 ft.

The most eligible bachelors of the Swiss Alps

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IMMENSE B

eaut

y

Breithorn - 12409 ft.

Schreckhorn - 13380 ft.

Wetterhorn - 12143 ft.

Tschingelhorn - 11736 ft.

On a hike along the base of the Eiger mountain, one can see one of the endless breathtaking views of Switzerland.