Tomorrow is the official start of summer 2024. Time to make some plans.
Where will your summer travels take you? Here’s my personal bucket list… the three places I’m hoping to find time to visit this season…
Valencia, Spain
City of Joy… City of Oranges… City of Arts and Sciences… World Capital of Design… European Capital of Smart Tourism… Green Capital of the Future… Gastronomic Mecca…
Valencia, Spain, has earned more than its share of accolades.
The city is geographically blessed, with warm and sandy Mediterranean beaches just minutes from the city center. It boasts some of the best weather in the world, with 2,700 hours of sunshine. That’s 300-plus sunny days per year.
Thanks to its situation in a river basin, Valencia is incredibly lush and fertile. Nowhere is this more apparent than in its beloved Turia Gardens, a city-wide park, the largest in the country. Turia Gardens also provides space for the City of Arts and Sciences, a stunning series of architectural works by world-renowned Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava.
Many European cities are described as open-air museums, but Valencia more than delivers on the promise. To walk its streets is to take in 2,000 years of history. The effortless way the ancient blends with the uber-modern is one of Valencia’s greatest accomplishments.
Valencia is Spain’s third-largest city, home to 800,000 people, but it’s magnitudes smaller than Madrid (with 3.2 million people) and Barcelona (population 1.6 million). It’s more of a collection of neighborhoods than one cohesive city. Locals think of their barrio as their home town. The result is that Valencia feels small, manageable, laid-back, and safe.
Along with award-winning cultural entertainment options, a Mediterranean beachfront, and a safe, friendly environment, Valencia also has top-notch infrastructure, including excellent public transportation, making it easy and affordable to explore this delightful city end to end.
Spain’s southern costas are typically over-developed, over-touristed places short on culture and charm. Valencia is the stand-out exception. It’s in the sweet spot about midway between the rugged and little-visited Costa Azahar (Orange Blossom Coast) to the north and the expat-popular Costa Blanca to the south.
The Costa Blanca offers a wealth of golf courses, spas, and other planned amenities. Valencia is within an hour of those attractions but also distinctly separate. It feels authentically itself—an eclectic, wonderfully livable city that’s not at all bothered that Madrid and Barcelona get all the hype. Valencia is happy to fly under the world’s radar. Woven through all its eclecticism is a sense of peace. This is a relaxed but proud city. We say put it top of your 2024 summer travel bucket list.
Crete is the birthplace of Zeus… home of Europe’s first advanced civilization, the Minoans… and the crossroads of the three continents of the Old World—Africa, Europe, and Asia Minor.
It is also the perfect summer travel destination, a place to laze on the beach, bask in the sun, dive beneath the sea, and indulge in the original Mediterranean diet.
Crete’s history is complex, dating back to the Neolithic era. Chania, a city on the island’s northwest coast, is a microcosm of that history. Its Old Town boasts evidence of every culture and conquest that has influenced the island, including the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Ottomans, and Egyptians.
Inland from its charming Venetian port, Chania Old Town is a labyrinth partly encircled by the ancient city walls. Beyond the walls are the new city and the towering Lefka Ori Mountains, reaching 7,875 feet.
Chania is a hotbed of cultural activity. Along its waterfront is the well-preserved Venetian arsenale, a reconstruction of a Minoan ship, a former Ottoman mosque, an Egyptian lighthouse, and the Byzantine city walls. Twisting and turning through its backstreets past the ancient Old Town buildings—some beautifully restored, others collapsing or preserved in interesting states of disrepair, many housing museums, galleries, boutiques, restaurants, bars, cafes, and centuries-old churches—provides endless distraction. Every summer, outdoor movies are shown in the municipal gardens and the annual cultural festival showcases classic and modern music and theater performances.
In Crete you’re never far from the glistening Mediterranean Sea. The water here is special—crystal-clear, reflecting more shades of blue than you can name. The beaches are outstanding. There are rugged outcrops, sandy beaches, pebble beaches, even pink beaches, some blissfully secluded.
This island is not only about its shoreline, though, and it’s big enough that you don’t have to worry about succumbing to island fever even over an extended stay.
Crete is ideal for lovers of outdoor recreation, offering a variety of landscapes and plenty of space to practice your sport. You can cycle, hike, mountaineer, or go horseback riding or paragliding. There are remarkable natural formations, like the Samariá Gorge, to explore, as well as the Vai palm forest, the largest palm forest in Europe.
Crete is served by low-cost airlines at two international airports as well as boats and ferries, making it is easy and inexpensive to get to.
If you love sunshine and being outdoors, enjoy learning about ancient history, and appreciate a laid-back version of the European experience, put Crete on your 2024 summer travel bucket list.
Summer Travel: Southeastern Coast of Turkey
Turkey is too often overlooked in favor of more established Mediterranean destinations. Here at Live And Invest Overseas, we’ve placed it top of our list for 2024.
Turkey is vast, stretching from the turquoise and azure waters of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas across pine-covered hillsides on to the rolling plains that mark the beginning of the great Eurasian Steppe then over lush green mountains to the Black Sea coast.
Along its thousands of miles of coastline are sleek resorts just meters from the monumental remains of ancient Greece and Rome. It’s a country where the modern and the traditional are juxtaposed, at once familiar and excitingly unexpected.
Turkey is home to one of the world’s greatest cities, Istanbul, Paris of the East and treasure trove of history and culture. You should see Istanbul, of course, but this summer our attention is focused on the province of Antalya on the country’s southwestern Mediterranean coast, specifically, the beach towns of Patara, Kalkan, and Kas.
Kas is a colorful seaside town that stands out for its atmospheric historic center of cobbled streets, open-air markets, and colorful stone buildings draped in bougainvillea. It’s a hub for tourists that manages to remain authentically Turkish.
Kalkan, a half-hour’s drive away, is slightly bigger and more well-to-do, with a large population of British retirees and vacation homeowners. Kalkan is situated around a bay with a small beach and clear waters. It boasts historic architecture and many more restaurants, slick beach clubs, luxury shops, and villas than Kas. Think of it as a Turkish Monte Carlo.
Another 30-minute drive up the coast is Patara Beach, famous for its 11-mile stretch of soft, honey-colored sandy coast considered among Turkey’s best. Naturally protected by the limestone peaks and sand dunes that back it, this peaceful beach is a hatching ground for sea turtles.
All three towns offer staggeringly beautiful landscapes and ocean vistas, as well as interesting culture, affordable and healthy local cuisine, and ancient history, all supported by the famous Turkish hospitality.
These three towns also boast the best weather in the country, with more than 300 days of sunshine annually and mild temperatures year-round.
Turkey is sublimely affordable. You could live in this country on a monthly budget of as little as $550. And you could own your own home here for a song. The per-square-meter cost to own in the most expensive neighborhoods of Istanbul is $1,285. The average cost per square meter in Lisbon, Portugal, by comparison, is five times that.
Turkey boasts international-standard health care and is a fast-growing medical tourism destination. It offers a citizenship-by-investment program and easy options for residency. For all these reasons, again, we’ve put this country dead center of our radar.
See it as soon as you can… and expect much more on Turkey from us this summer and beyond.
Until next time,
Kahtleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Live And Invest Overseas
