Blue Dot Travel Blog

A major highlight of our visit to Sicily was Villa Romana del Casale, a Roman Villa built in the first quarter of the 4th century and located about 3km outside the town of Piazza Armerina Sicily, southern Italy. It contains the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world, and has been…

No one can visit Sardinia without becoming aware of the island’s ancient Nuraghes, built between 1500-1200 BC. They are Bronze Age circular towers built with local rock without mortar of any form. We visited the Nuraghe Losa which contains a tall inner chamber that tapers like the bee hive tombs in ancient Greece. Originally it…

Often when you mention to a friend or family member that you plan to tour Iran or have an interest to, it is often met with a question of "Why?" Unfortunately many people think of Iran as dangerous and part of the ‘Axis of Evil’ thanks to the media and frosty relations with the US…

I’m on a research trip with my wife Kate, doing our homework for a tour to what is collectively knows as The Guianas. We travel from Guyana to Suriname, flying into the capital city on a small “caravan” flight, arriving at a small airstrip in the middle of town. Originally we thought we had landed at the world’s…

Located in north-east India and bordering Myanmar (Burma), the state of Nagaland is one of the last frontiers of India and is home to sixteen major Naga tribes - the Ao, Angami, Chang, Konyak, Lotha, Sumi, Chakhesang, Khiamniungan, Dimasa Kachari, Phom, Rengma, Sangtam, Yimchunger, Kuki, Zeme-Liangmai and Pochury plus some smaller sub-tribes. Each tribe is…

The Timkat Festival is a highlight of any visit to Ethiopia. Celebrating the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, it is one of the most important religious events in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar. It is celebrated throughout Ethiopia but the most special place to experience Timkat is in Lalibela with its ten 13th century rock carved churches. Each of…

The highlight for many of us on our Madagascar trip has been the trip to the Big Tsingy. Just getting there is an adventure! After passing through ancient baobab forests we finally reached the Tsiribihina River where we loaded our 4WD vehicles onto the flimsy rafts that we shared with the local Malagasy. We were on our…

Not many people know where Kamchatka is. And not many people can pronounce it, let alone spell it. For the record… it’s a peninsular at the southern end of Siberia, that’s shaped like a salmon - which is ironic because it’s the salmon capital of Russia! It’s a forgotten part of the world’s largest country.…