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Welcome to the Travel with a Challenge Cruise and Train Travel Theme page, presenting our complete collection of feature articles showcasing European river cruise and barging vacations, worldwide small-ship expedition cruises and freighter travel, and exciting senior-friendly train journeys. Click on the images or titles to enter each richly-illustrated feature story.

Our Cruise & Train Travel Theme Page sponsor is Ecoventura, a global leader in sustainable tourism, celebrating 20 years as an expedition cruise company in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, and providing an authentic experience in small compatible groups. The fleet of three identical superior first-class 20-passenger motor yachts, Flamingo Eric and Letty, and the 16-passenger luxury dive live-aboard, Galapagos Sky, offer comprehen-sive full week itineraries every Sunday from San Cristobal including the outer, most specta-cular islands in the archipelago.

Step aboard an elegant river cruise ship with Travel with a Challenge editor, Alison Gardner, to sample a week of stimulating exploration along the Rhone and Saône Rivers from Arles in southern Provence, through Lyon and on to Chalon sur Saône in southern Burgundy. Every day the 130 guests have much to see and do!

Sail from Montréal with Alison Gardner, Travel with a Challenge editor, aboard a 450-passenger cruise-ferry navigating the St Lawrence River and its Gulf to Québec's isolated Les Îles de la Madeleine (Magdalen Islands), brimming with personality, colorful history, unique landscapes, Acadian culture, and distinctive cuisine.

Join anthropologist and travel writer, Susan Stafford, as she explores the upper reaches of Peru's Amazon Basin. Abundant wildlife viewing, pink-toed tarantulas, colorful stinkbirds, and visits to isolated Amazon villages are all accomplished from a comfortable river boat custom-built for international visitors navigating in a challenging environment.

Travel writer, Alison Gardner, samples the famous vacation train’s GoldLeaf Service on a luxury two-day rail journey full of wildlife sightings, frontier history and spectacular scenery. Join her from Jasper, Alberta through the Canadian Rockies, across British Columbia to Vancouver and the blue Pacific.

NEW CONTENT AND IMAGES FOR ONE OF OUR MOST POPULAR FEATURE ARTICLES EVER! Explore Europe's diverse cultures, cuisines, countrysides and historic towns from the unique perspective of a canal-based vacation. Ranging from all-inclusive luxury hotel barges to budget barge charters, meet operators who deliver memorable experiences in style.

Between Croatia’s historic cities of Split and Dubrovnik lie the major islands of Korcula, Hvar, Vis and Brac, coveted and occupied by many masters from Greek and Roman times through the 20th century. A traditional wood and polished brass motorsailer with plenty of cabin comfort and super-fresh Dalmatian cuisine is home for an exploration of these “Jewels of the Adriatic”.

Guests on a Dalmatian sailing cruise are treated to an authentic insider glimpse of culture and history on Croatia’s little known Island of Vis, where the guide proudly points to gravestones marking his family’s roots there for more than 500 years and hosts these international visitors at his family vineyard and winery.

Explore the Scottish Highlands from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea on a one-week barge cruise through the Caledonian Canal, Loch Ness and other lakes [lochs] of the deeply-chiseled Great Glen. There will be heather-clad hills and clan castles that reflect this ancient land’s colorful history, and the famous Scotch whiskey is guaranteed to be on the educational agenda too!

Born and raised in India before settling in Canada 30 years ago, Margaret Deefholts shares her lingering passion for her birth country with a ride into the mountains aboard an historic miniature railway chosen by the United Nations in 1999 as a cultural World Heritage Site.

Sail the South Pacific on a 16-day adventure with travel writer, Margie Goldsmith, as she boards a very modern freighter delivering cargo to the remote Marquesas Islands year round while introducing up to 200 passengers per trip to the best of traditional Polynesian culture and heritage, 900 miles from its home base in Tahiti.

Both novice and veteran sailing enthusiasts will be inspired by our thoughtful spotlight on worldwide Sail Training adventures for the older traveler where historic, multi-masted Tall Ships offer satisfying physical challenges and the immeasurable camaraderie of team work.

Leave the cruise ship masses behind and sail deeper into the unscheduled, unexpected wilderness areas of Alaska's Inside Passage where wildlife, dramatic landscapes and glaciers up close and magnificent are essential ingredients of small-ship explorations.

All aboard for a three-part exploration of Mexico's fabled Copper Canyon, including a spotlight on a unique rail journey, the canyon system's natural history and geology, and perfect places to stay and explore along the way.

Helena Zukowski whisks readers from Singapore through Malaysia to Thailand while sampling the luxurious trappings and gastronomic delights of Eastern & Orient's restored rail car service.