Theme Week Italian Riviera – Portofino

30 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Portofino Panorama © Andi Buchner

Portofino Panorama © Andi Buchner

Portofino is a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort located in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is crowded round its small harbour, is closely associated with Paraggi Beach, which is a few minutes up the coast. Other nearby beaches include Camogli, Chiavari, Lavagna, and Sestri Levante.   read more…

Cassis in southern France

29 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  7 minutes

Cassis seen from the cliffs © Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner

Cassis seen from the cliffs © Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner

Cassis is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southern France. It is a popular tourist destination, famous for its cliffs (falaises) and the sheltered inlets called calanques. The wines of Cassis are white and rosé, and not to be confused with crème de cassis, a specialty of Burgundy which takes its name from blackcurrants (cassis), not the commune.   read more…

Theme Week New Zealand – Napier, the Art Deco Capital of the World

28 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

ASB Bank and T & G building © Pseudopanax

ASB Bank and T & G building © Pseudopanax

Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke’s Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about 58,800 as of the June 2011 estimate. About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighbouring cities are often called “The Twin Cities” or “The Bay Cities” of New Zealand. The total population of the metropolitan area of Napier and Hastings is about 122,600 people, which makes Napier-Hastings the fifth-largest metropolitan area in New Zealand, closely followed by Tauranga (pop. 116,000), and Dunedin (pop. 115,000), and trailing Hamilton (pop. 203,400).   read more…

Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife

28 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Playa Jardín © Daniel Gainza

Playa Jardín © Daniel Gainza

Puerto de la Cruz (which in English translates as and was formerly known as “Crossport”, although nowadays it is usually known in all languages by its Spanish name) is a city and municipality located in Spain, on the north coast of Tenerife island, in the Orotava Valley. It is located 4 km (2 mi) west of La Orotava, and 37 km (23 mi) W of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and 25 km (16 mi) from Tenerife North Airport both on the TF5 Motorway. In Spanish the inhabitants are known as portuenses. The municipality is the smallest in area in Tenerife.   read more…

The seaside town of Granville in Normandy

27 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Beach, Casino and upper town © Mussklprozz

Beach, Casino and upper town © Mussklprozz

Granville is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France. The residents are called Granvillais. Administratively, the island of Chausey is part of the commune of Granville, which includes a small harbour. Granville is situated on the Cotentin Peninsula at the mouth of Bosq and Pointe du Roc (Cap Lihou) which in part closes in the north of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel.   read more…

The port city of Brest

26 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Rue Saint-Malo maisons © Moreau.henri

Rue Saint-Malo maisons © Moreau.henri

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon. The city is located at one of the occidental edges of continental Europe, hence the expression «Europe from Brest to Brest». Counting 142,722 inhabitants, Brestois and Brestoises (2007 sensur), Brest is the main metropolitan area (reaching 300,300 inhabitants) of Western Brittany, only third behind Nantes and Rennes in the whole Brittany, and the 22nd populous city of France; moreover, Brest provides services to the one million inhabitants of Western Brittany. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture (regional capital) of the department, Quimper, is much smaller.   read more…

Mykonos in the South Aegean

24 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Elias Beach © Squirmy2000

Elias Beach © Squirmy2000

Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of 85.5 km2 (33 sq mi) and rises to an elevation of 341 m (1,119 ft) at its highest point. There are 9,320 inhabitants. most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also known as Chora. Tourism is a major industry. Archaeological finds indicate that the Ionians settled on Mykonos in the early part of the 11th century BCE. In ancient times, Mykonos, due to its proximity to the then highly populated island of Delos (situated about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away), became very important as a supply island and possibly as a getaway location for Delian citizens.   read more…

Bath on River Avon

23 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Abbey of Bath © Nikater

Abbey of Bath © Nikater

Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in South West England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Bristol. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough in 1889 which gave it administrative independence from its county, Somerset. The city became part of Avon when that county was created in 1974. Since 1996, when Avon was abolished, Bath has been the principal centre of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES).   read more…

The Bosphorus, the link between Europe and Asia

23 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

Bosphorus seen from the Bosphorus University © Mehmet Ergun

Bosphorus seen from the Bosphorus University © Mehmet Ergun

The Bosphorus or Bosporus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles strait to the southwest together form the Turkish Straits. The world’s narrowest strait used for international navigation, the Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea.   read more…

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