The Serra de Tramuntana in Majorca is dotted with beautiful towns and a special charm, but if there were one town on the Costa Nord (North Coast) which you must not forget in your trip through the region, it would without doubt be Valldemossa. This small town is beautiful at any time of the year, but it is perhaps best enjoyed in wintertime when tranquility invades its cobbled streets decorated with potted plants or colorful tiles in honor of Saint Catherine. In fact, if you are lucky enough
Whoever built that hut meant it to last. Four-square and stolid, it stood on the mountain, defying anything the elements might throw at it. This was a real chalet, a world away from the tacky ‘shally’ of the holiday camp.
It was still used for its rightful purpose, too. From within came a lowing, and the dull ‘tong’ of cattle bells. In former times, there’d have been accommodation on an upper story for the herder and maybe his family, for it’s a long, hard climb from the village. But, today, if
Are you looking for outstanding Mediterranean landscape combined with coastal mountains plunging into deep waters and picturesque Italian towns? Let us tell you: the stunning Amalfi coast will offer you all of that and much, much more!
As well as the sheer beauty of the region, you will be able to uncover some wonderful secrets of Italian cuisine while exploring charming Sorrento. But that’s by far not everything. Read on to see our top ten favourite things to do in splendid Amalfi!
Our image of Spain never fails to include a few of the following: flamenco dancers, paella, controversial bull fights and copious amounts of blood red sangria. Travellers come from all over for La Sagrada Familia, to eat tapas in Barcelona, or to visit one of the famed festivals such as the Tomatina or running of the bulls in Pamplona.
There are, however, other, largely undiscovered festivals that the tourist guide books and websites have yet to fully uncover. I'll tell you about a few...
First u
Each year, the Greenwich Wine & Food Festival proves that it represents so much more than a celebration of premier food and wine tastings. As a baseline of activity, nearly 100 wine and spirits vendors, local restaurants and artisan food producers share their goods under The Culinary Village Tent in Roger Sherman Park overlooking Greenwich Harbor and Long Island Sound.
This year you had highlights like Stella Artois pulling glasses of their opulent Belgian Pale Lager and Cidre into take-home souv
Spectacular aircraft photos abound all over the Web these days–shots taken on runways, in hangars, taking off/landing, at cruising altitude. And many of us who glance at them, sometimes think, “how cool,” and move on.
And then… there are the planespotters, along with their closely related–and sometimes overlapping–cousins, aviation geeks (aka “avgeeks”). These gloriously obsessed souls are a dedicated breed in love with aviation and airlines, follow industry news an
Rainy season in Costa Rica is the best time to visit the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. Known as the “everglades of Costa Rica”, its 25,100 acres have been designated a “world protected area” by conservation groups like the Ramsar Convention, for being home to some of the world’s rarest plant, animal and bird species.
Located near Costa Rica’s northern border with Nicaragua, by the small town of Los Chiles, Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge is one of the best places for bird-watching in Costa Rica. The
by Rusty Rae and Sheila Hunter
There is another “Greatest Generation,” although mostly long forgotten — the 300,000 men, women, and children who made the 2,200 mile trek from Independence, MO to Oregon’s Willamette Valley and beyond between 1846 to 1869. You can experience the trials and tribulations of these Americans by visiting the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center five miles east of Baker City, Oregon, off I-84 in the state's northeast corner.
Located in the middle of scrub desert on a hill j
Of the more than 10 million visitors to Japan, destinations like Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima. and Okinawa obviously rank among the better-known names. But there are small cities and towns spread among the beautiful islands of this singular country which are off the beaten tourist track, which show a less familiar, slower paced, in many ways more traditional side to this country. The charming small city (pop. 54,000) of Hagi, up the Yamaguchi prefecture in southwest Honshu, is a superb example.
A c
Itapuã is a legendary beach in Salvador de Bahía, one of the last before the city´s perimeter was extended to Lauro de Freitas, which is famous for being the great bohemian stronghold of the 70s. Vinicius de Moraes and the great Bahian singer-songwriter Dorival Caymmi both sang about it. Caetano Veloso also paid tribute to it in his beautiful song Itapuã, with the lyrics: “She was my guide when I was happy and young”.
Praia Itapuã has calm and warm waters, crowned with reefs that keep the waves
Somewhere in the Caribbean between Puerto Rico and St Lucia is the archipelago of Guadeloupe (pronounce gwa-day-LOOP). The French West Indies or French Caribbean are currently comprised of two territories (St Barthélemy aka St Barth and St Martin) and two overseas states -“départements” in French (Guadeloupe along with Martinique). The French West Indies have always looked towards the old continent rather towards their Caribbean neighbors. Flying from the USA, a long journey and a couple of con
I'm something of a language geek, and I'm particularly fascinated by the linguistic patchwork of Europe. I mean, many of us know about Spain's regional languages like Catalan, Basque, and Galician. But when it comes to, say, Germany, Italy, or France, I've found many people tend to assume everybody speaks only German, Italian, and French.
They forget , though (or maybe never knew), that such countries were formed from a, yes, patchwork of regions with sometimes quite distinct cultures and lan
I wasn’t familiar with the Denbighshire area at all, so when I had business there, I really didn’t know what to expect. But, as I drove over the Welsh border, I’d hardly taken on board that the road signs were now bilingual, than I passed a brown sign saying I was entering an "Area of Natural Beauty".
This is countryside as it used to be … fields, trees and hedgerows, not the prairie-like expanses of elsewhere. We are now in the Vale of Clwyd, flanked by the gentle, flowing Clwydian Hills.
We were
Interesting day hikes can be found anywhere, even in Paris. Here’s one, in its western suburbs of Le Pecq and St Germain-en-Laye. It is a fairly urban walk – you will have mainly asphalt under your feet, not grass – and quite an easy one, too. So easy, in fact, that even our geriatric dog could do it.
We start at the RER train station of Vesinet Le Pecq which is a short ride (app. 15 minutes) away from the RER and Metro hub of Etoile in Central Paris, just under the Arc de Triomphe. (Vesinet Le P
At first glance, Wildwood, New Jersey is the exclusive province of motel balcony parties, boardwalk vices like corn dogs, cheap T-shirts, and fried dough along with Morey's Piers grand amusement park rides on the beach. You're getting a roller coasters, booze, and crashing-on-the-beach vibe until you start walking down some quieter residential streets like the corner of Atlantic Ave. & East 22nd Ave. where Summer Nites B&B sits. "100 years ago, our porch overlooked the ocean right across the str
This time of year, the crisp fall weather of the north sends birds packing south to warm tropical climates. Bird migration season in Costa Rica is here.
According to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, approximately 350 bird species from the United States and Canada migrate south to winter in the Neotropics of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. These birds include raptors, vultures, waterfowl, shorebirds, and passerine species such as hummingbirds, thrushes, warbl
PHILADELPHIA: THE STRANGE ADAPTATIONS OF JEWS TO AMERICA
Unlike most other Jewish museums, Philadelphia's National Museum of American Jewish History really is about American Judaism, not biblical history, the Holocaust, or Israel. And this being a museum about an ethnic group in a country where people could forge new paths, one of the themes that touches me in the NMAJH's four floors of exhibitions is American Jewry's 350-year tug-o'-war between traditional practices (e.g. keeping kosher, obs
Central Florida boasts a range of the world’s best theme parks. But it’s also home to a selection of the best animal attractions and wildlife destinations. So if you're coming to Orlando for the parks, try to make some time to stay for the critters! Here are several of the best places for doing that:
Lion County Safari
Lion County Safari is Florida's sole drive-through safari is located in Loxahatchee between Orlando and Miami near the east coast. There are over 900 animals to see; as you’d a
