10 Favorite Places to spend vacations
Jones traveled to St. Petersburg to learn the national fighting style of sambo, or self-defense without weapons. It was a serious sport with serious people, but outside of practice Jones experienced homemade vodka and a traditional Russian bathhouse. You can easily find both on a visit to this northern city, where the summer sun offers up long days and “white nights.” The baroque Winter Palace, home to the Hermitage Museum, is a must-see, as are museums dedicated to literary figures from Fyodor Dostoyevsky to Leo Tolstoy. Stroll along the Neva River, visit St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which still shows evidence of shelling from the siege of Leningrad during World War II — and take in a ballet at the Mariinsky Theater.
When Jones landed in Dakar, he immediately felt at home. “In Senegal, ‘ethnic differences’ are about which tribe you're from, not the color of your skin,” he writes in a recent Wall Street Journal commentary. While there to learn lutte wrestling from the national champion and hero, Bombardier, Jones also experienced the country’s warm hospitality and local seafood. He channeled the lion’s spirit with the sim dance and visited a witch doctor. If you go, visit one of six game reserves to see giraffes, rhinos and lions (the national animal), taste ceebu jen (rice and fish), stroll the open-air markets of Dakar, lounge on the beaches of a seaside resort or scuba dive among beautiful reefs and cayes.
The first destination to which Jones traveled for his television show was England, where he played a rough round of rugby with the Blackheath team. He survived the competition, the show rolled on, and London became one of the places on Jones’ must-return list. “I love London,” he says, recalling the crossroads of cultures and languages in Piccadilly Circus. A hot spot this year thanks to a royal wedding and the upcoming Olympics, London always has a lot going on and a lot to see. Be sure to soak up the atmosphere at a traditional pub and, if you can, catch a rugby game to see how American football got its start.
“The Basque region of Spain is one of the most beautiful places on God’s Earth,” writes Jones in "The Sportsman." He traveled to San Sebastian to play jai alai, but reveled in the abundant food, including juicy steaks called chuleta, and warm hospitality over glasses of local sparkling wine, called txakoli, and bite-sized pintxos, similar to tapas. This coastal resort city sits on the Bay of Biscay, and the crescent-shaped La Concha beach is the biggest draw here, other than the food. Dig your toes in the sand during the day, then go restaurant-hopping in the Old Quarter for a taste of what makes this region famous.
In Bassano del Grappa, a town 70 miles north of Venice, Jones experienced la dolce vita firsthand. He was there to compete in a grueling 80-mile bike race up Monte Grappa, but he also discovered the sense of family and tradition that typifies Italian life. He sampled the town’s namesake spirit, grappa, and dined on handmade pasta. The town is famous for its covered wooden bridge, the Ponte degli Alpini, over the Brenta River, which was designed in 1569 by architect Andrea Palladio.
A land of fire and ice, volcanoes and geysers, hot springs and cool waterfalls. During 23 hours of summer daylight, you can do plenty, including dipping into the famous healing waters of the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik. Adventurers will find national parks for hiking, trails for mountain biking, riding tours on the Icelandic horse, and world-class salmon and trout fishing. Jones’ visit to Iceland involved taking part in the traditional strongman challenge, where the indomitable Viking spirit is on full display as participants vie to carry boulders weighing hundreds of pounds.
A lot of things in Australia can kill you: venomous snakes, poisonous jellyfish, crocodiles, sharks and even dangerous waves on ocean shores. That’s where surf lifesavers come in, teams of volunteer lifeguards who save more than 10,000 people a year from death in the surf. Jones trained with them for a week in Sydney and learned that life’s a beach in this friendly and cosmopolitan city. Manly Beach, Bondi Beach, Palm Beach — you’re never far from a stretch of sand Down Under. Revel in the easygoing vibe, but don’t forget the sunscreen.
If you go to Jamaica and only stay in the cruise ports of Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, you’re missing a lot of the real country. Both those places are beautiful and famous for their unparalleled beaches, but as Jones discovered on his trip there to play cricket, “It’s a lush, beautiful country, where British culture and African passion have merged with a laid-back island sensibility.” Travel inland to Kingston, home of the Bob Marley Museum or visit St. Ann’s Parish, where Marley was born. Sample some jerk chicken with a bottle of Red Stripe beer. Cool off in the lush high-altitude forests of the Blue Mountains.
Of the nearly 70 countries Jones has visited, New Zealand tops his list of places for a return visit. The small nation is packed with such variety — open green fields, fantastical fjords, sunny beaches, soaring volcanoes and exciting cities — that it can be hard to absorb it all in just one visit. Most people start in Auckland on the North Island, then wander beyond to explore the beaches of the Coromandel Peninsula, scenic Lake Taupo , and the geysers and hot springs in Rotorua. A hop by ferry or airplane to the South Island puts you within reach of the wine country around Malborough, the fjords of Milford Sound, snowy Mount Cook and wild adventures in Queenstown, where bungee jumping got its start.
Switzerland, land of the Alps and fondue, is also the home of a sport called schwingen, a kind of rugged folk wrestling. Jones learned the hard way that the Swiss are serious about this sport, but he earned their respect for taking their punishing workouts. Travelers to Switzerland can see schwingen in action at local festivals in the summer and fall in the German-speaking areas of the country, such as Bern, Zurich, Basel and Lucerne.
