San Diego Scenic Drive

This beautiful city in Southern California is just across the border from Tijuana, holiday destination of many-a-million Americans. But as they hurry across the border they are missing something, because San Diego is a major destination in its own right. To make full appreciation of this laid-back place easy for visitors, the 95 km (59 mi) San Diego Scenic Drive guides them around the city. It is clearly marked with blue-and-yellow signs, illustrated with a bold white seagull.
A good starting point is on Harbor Drive at the foot of Broadway, on the Embarcadero (waterfront).

Follow the signs carefully and no important sights or outstanding attractions will be missed. Amongst too many to list individually, high points along the way include Harbor Island (wonderful views of San Diego Bay), Spanish Landing, Point Lorna (historic lighthouse), Cabrillo National Monument (commemorates the first European visitor, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542), Sunset Cliffs, Ocean Beach, Mission Bay Aquatic Park (endless beaches), Soledad Mountain Park (best view in town), the University of California and Salk Institute, La Jolla Cove and Cave, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Sports Arena, Old Town State Historic Park (former Hispanic town centre), Hillcrest, Balboa Park (museum and cultural focus), the financial district, Seaport Village (a trendy shopping complex) and back to the starting point.

That's not quite it - the route continues on to the historic heart of San Diego, the Gaslamp Quarter - once the home of opium dens, gambling halls and saloons, now a vibrant entertainment district. If you're not sidetracked there, continue to the end of the San Diego Scenic Drive in the ultra-modern Horto Plaza, where you can spend the rest of the day shopping and dining ... a fitting end to a rewarding day spent exploring this beguiling Californian city.

HOW
By car

WHEN TO GO
Any time

TIME IT TAKES
A relaxed stop-and-go day

HIGHLIGHTS
One of the world's best collections of historic ships at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and the nearby aircraft carrier USS Midway, now a floating museum.
The SeaWorld Adventure Park - everything from performing orcas and sealions to a variety of thrill rides.
Balboa Park, largest urban cultural park in North America, complete with Spanish revival buildings dating from the Expositions of 1915 and 1935 - find 15 museums, the Old Globe Theatre complex and lush gardens.
Also in Balboa Park - the world famous San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park.

YOU SHOULD KNOW
Be prepared to say 'Hello sailor' - San Diego is the traditional home base of the US Navy's mighty Pacific Fleet.
Hotels in San Diego

Rome to Catania by train

You may well puzzle over the idea of a train running all the way from Rome, in mainland Italy, to Catania in Sicily, but this is a rare journey where the train boards a ship to cross the sea. It may be faster to fly, but you would miss watching the landscape changing from a European aspect to a harsher, almost North African one as it slips by. Leaving Rome's main station in the morning. the suburbs finally give way to plots of well cultivated land interspersed with small houses, many only half-built, multi-coloured washing flapping on lines in the sunshine. Yellow and white flowers brighten the fields and the trees begin to appear smaller and more gnarled. 

 

After drawing into Naples, its shabby, colourful tenements strung with washing, the line turns to run parallel to the coast. You'll catch a glimpse of the island of Capri and the Sorrentine peninsula, and soon the landscape becomes one of bare, rocky hills, abandoned villages, with an occasional sprinkling of modern houses. The beach too, looks somewhat abandoned: with few people and just the odd fishing boat out to sea. Finally the train pulls into Villa San Giovanni, where the carriages, uncoupled, are rolled onto the ferry, and taken across the Straits of Messina, where they are rolled back onto tracks and re-assembled. 

 

During the crossing, passengers either stay in their compartments or climb the stairs to the deck, where they can relish the sight of Sicily and Messina gradually drawing closer. The journey down Sicily's eastern coast takes you past citrus groves, crumbling castles, prickly pears and cactus. You even get a good enough look at Taormina to want to visit it properly, as well as passing the imposing mass of Mount Etna, before eventually arriving at Catania, the island's second city and seaport.

 

HOW

By train

WHEN TO GO

All year round. but April to November is probably best.

TIME IT TAKES

Ten to thirteen hours, depending on Italian Railways

HIGHLIGHTS

The journey itself - having the time to realize you are travelling and watching southern Italy pass by.

The Vatican City and St Peter's.

Rome's famous ruins, such as the Colosseum, the Forum and the Catacombs.

Exploring Mount Etna.

Catania - the two markets in the historic centre.

YOU SHOULD KNOW

The Straits of Messina were described in Homer's Odyssey as one of the most treacherous passages on earth, guarded by sirens who tempted sailors to their deaths with songs. Ships had to pass between two monsters, Scylla, who plucked sailors from their ships and ate them alive, and Charybdis, who sucked entire ships into the whirlpool it created. 

Hotels in Rome and Catania