In the mood for adventure

Im going on a vacation soon, and would like to visit some old, mysterious ruins, or some ancient buildings. Someplace adventureous. I also want to take lots of photos

I would like to go someplace a little less turisty then easter island or matchu pichu(excuse my spelling) but something along those lines.

If any of you have recomendations, or ideas, or would like to share some stories, id love to hear

---enigma---

If I were out for adventure, I would follow up on these findings, and play Indiana Jones.

NASA, UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS UNCOVER LOST MAYA RUINS

Would love to go ~2 weeks on an adventure somewhere.. It should be a place where I've never been (Wont be so hard) and with an all new kind of new biosphere! Like a jungle or something...

The Maya ruins posted above would be pretty cool. Might even find some cool trinkets.. 8)

I have always thought that Angkor in Cambodia was kind of cool.

Hey Enigma, though we dont have much in the way of ancient ruins there are plenty of ancient cave and rock art sites here in australia. Particularly northern australia where im from originally.
If you like taking photos some amazing landscapes, gorges, tropical rainforests and deserts, most within a couple of hours of each other.

www.aboriginalartonline.com...

www.crystalinks.com...

www.northaustraliaholidays.com...

Why do i feel like a travel brochure. Oh and the best thing about coming down under apart from the people, I always have a cold beer in the fridge for visitors, now if that doesnt seal the deal then you are beyond my help.

Cheers...

There are still plenty of sites in Iraq, Iran, Syria, all over the middle east.
Talk about adventure!!! Pretty much free of tourist this time of year!

I have found the Mayan sites in the Yucatan to be extremly fascinating. Chichen Itza is incredible. The precision used in making the Observatory and pyramids are awesome - it's like the stones were cut with lasers. I found it amazing that all of the observatories today look like the one built at that site.


Tulum is situated on the top of a cliff. It's location is surreal. I found myself wanting to stay all day. You can also go down to the ocean for a swim. It's interesting to compare the architecture from each of the different sites. Some will be more advanced than others. I thought the guide said the more advanced architecture was older; maybe the technology was not passed on.


The mayan guides I found to be very knowledgeable. There are several other sites as well - I would try to hit them all. Although the sites are a bit touristy you will not be dissappointed. Wear a hat cause it will be hot!

Another option would be to snorkel/dive in Bimini. I think there are some underwater cites that were once believed to be Atlantis.

[edit on 27-2-2006 by Growling Lion]

We enjoyed Costa Rica when we went there several years ago.

Depending on your budget, you can find a lot of interesting sites to visit... for instance, you can tour European henge sites (here's a site with a lot of info, and there are a LOT of henges and megalith sites around. In England, if you can read Ogham runes, you can find some ancient writings (300 AD to around 600 AD) on stone that you can tie into your tours:
www.stonepages.com...

There's a number of sites in Europe with cave paintings as well -- France is particularly famed for these.

Here in America, I think it's a lot of fun to go visit petroglyph and pictograph sites (just google for them. My favorite is the Fate Bell shelter here in Texas, the White Shaman site in Texas (mainly because it's HARD to get to and not that many people have seen it) and the wonderful Painted Rock and the caves of the Chumash in California.) Canada also has some interesting sacred sites, medicine wheels, and tribal areas -- though it can be depressing (as it is here in America) to see how much of their knowledge and culture they've lost.

Oh... Deer Valley in Arizona is also a good one to visit. In fact, you can do a good ancient site tour simply doing America's southwest.

Hawai'i has some wonderful petroglyphs and pictographs, but FINDING them is another matter. We found several, including that of Kapua and the ones in Volcano National Park. Expect hikes and vague info, but part of the fun is actually locating them (good detective work is needed.)

Australia, of course, has excellent sites -- as an English speaking tourist you can't get into too much trouble out there.

Riskier areas are places where you don't speak the language as well as a native speaker. This is where you need to do your homework (some areas of Mexico are notorious for kidnappings and robbers who prey on tourists, for example, while others are perfectly safe.) If you don't have friends or contacts who live in the country you're interested in visiting, there are a couple of ways you can have adventures without getting into too much trouble (some areas, frankly, are dangerous for foreigners.)

* contract with local tour companies and make your own tour. This is what we did in Costa Rica through our (local) travel agent. Having someone drive you around means less getting lost, better dealing with emergencies (we had roads closed off because of landslides... we would have NEVER figured out that "darrumba" meant "landslide"), and that you arrive at your place of adventure (we were touring volcanos) feeling a lot fresher and ready for the 3 mile hike uphill.

* Go along with one of the citizen science expedition groups. You'll work hard, have fun, and learn a LOT of stuff! Here's a couple of typical tour companies, but you can easily find more:
www.archaeologicadventures.com...

www.discoverytours.org...

extension.ucdavis.edu... (BTW, any local college/university will have flyers for various tours like these)

Or go visit Dracula's haunts: www.enzia.com...

The student tours here look fun though the site is outdated. Still, the names would give you a good idea of where to visit in the US:
www.kayentasci.com...

Canyon de Chelly (this is on our "gotta visit!" list): www.footpathjourneys.com...

If Egypt's a consideration, this site is a good starting place (and has excellent resources for helping you find some of the less-visited monuments): www.touregypt.net...

And of course India is full of sites, as is the whole region. The temples of Sri Lanka look fascinating as well.

First thing to do is sit and figure out a budget, then pick an area preferably with a language you already know OR with a language you feel you can learn (Spanish, for us.)

Another thing to google for is 'archaeoastronomy' where you can visit ancient observatory sites. Those are always interesting to add to a tour, but you have to time your visit to dates that the builders found significant.

Im going on a vacation soon, and would like to visit some old, mysterious ruins, or some ancient buildings. Someplace adventureous. I also want to take lots of photos

Its not amazingly ancient but perhaps youd like to visit the island where our companys doing research?

Take a look at my thread about the pirates of west africa, its in this section of the board.

the main islands there are Sao Tome and Principe, im sure youd enjoy yourselves and i bet youve never met anyone whos been there? even if youre not going to find any ancient ruins (they were only discovered in the 15th century) they are believed the oldest islands on the planet and thus have the greates bio diversity of any.

Regards.

Regards

Due to flight limitations, time restrictions, and some money stuff, ive narrowed it down to Europe, America and canada. More directly im thinking of southern spain, Transylvania, and Romaina.

Thanks again for all the great input!

Other suggestions/experiences would be very welcom.
---Enigma---