For a variety of water-based activities, I took a trip to Slovenia, Aug. 12-19, 2012, with Exodus (In the US, contact Adventure Center, Emeryville, CA; 800/843-4272).
5 days/4 nights. Highlights: 900 years of bloody history at the Tower of London/Thames cruise/London ghost walk/13th-century Lacock village/Fox Talbot Museum/Cardiff Castle, WALES, reputedly haunted by Marquess of Bute/Stratford-upon-Avon/“Ghosts Alive” show at Warwick Castle.
7 days/6 nights, Oct. 11-17, 2013. Highlights: Cooking classes from cookbook author Joanne Weir/St. Remy market/chocolate tasting/olive oil, local rosé wine and sea salt tastings/visit Châteauneuf-du-Pape wineries/Academy of Wine & Taste dinner at Château de Clary/Les Baux/Uzès market.
Demonstrating life in Brugge (Bruges) in 1435, the Historium Brugge (Markt 1, 8000 Brugge, Belgium; phone +32 [0] 50 270311) provides a combination of sets, film, special effects and scents in seven rooms.
The main gallery of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum (Jan Luijkenstraat 1, 1071 CJ, Amsterdam; phone +31 20 674 7000), which closed for a €375-million renovation in 2003, will reopen to the public on April 13, 2013.
Equestrian Escapes (Rose Cottage, Common Lane, Duddon, Cheshire, CW6 0HG, U.K.; phone +44 0 1829 781 123) offers horse-riding vacations for any riding skill level in southern England’s Dartmoor National Park, 15 miles north of Plymouth.
An hour and a half northwest of Riga, Latvia, is the Cēsis Castle complex, comprising the Medieval Castle (built 1209) and the manor-house-like New Castle (built 1777), which has reopened with its 18th-century appearance restored.
