The AIDAmar

22 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Cruise Ships Reading Time:  5 minutes

AIDAmar in Geirangerfjord, Norway © Drdoht/cc-by-sa-3.0

AIDAmar in Geirangerfjord, Norway © Drdoht/cc-by-sa-3.0

AIDAmar is a Sphinx class cruise ship, built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg for AIDA Cruises. She is the sixth Sphinx series ship, preceded by sisters AIDAdiva, AIDAbella, AIDAluna, AIDAblu and AIDAsol. AIDAmar was delivered on 12, May 2012 during the 823rd Harbour Birthday Hamburg. Her home port is Genova.   read more…

Westport on the west coast of Ireland

21 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Westport House from the boating lake © Laurel Lodged

Westport House from the boating lake © Laurel Lodged

Westport is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland. The famous pilgrimage mountain of Croagh Patrick, known locally as “the Reek”, lies some 10 km west of the town near the villages of Murrisk and Lecanvey. The mountain offers a striking backdrop to the town. The church on the summit can just be made out with the naked eye from Westport.   read more…

The Atlantropa Project

20 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  8 minutes

Atlantropa project © Devilm25/cc-by-3.0

Atlantropa project © Devilm25/cc-by-3.0

Atlantropa, also referred to as Panropa, was a gigantic engineering and colonization project devised by the German architect Herman Sörgel in the 1920s and promulgated by him until his death in 1952. Its central feature was a hydroelectric dam to be built across the Strait of Gibraltar, which would have provided enormous amounts of hydroelectricity and would have led to the lowering of the surface of the Mediterranean Sea by up to 200 metres (660 ft), opening up large new lands for settlement, for example in a now almost totally drained Adriatic Sea.   read more…

Nyons, the little Nice in the Rhône-Alpes

19 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Nepomuk

© Nepomuk

Nyons is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France.   read more…

The Mein Schiff 1

18 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Cruise Ships Reading Time:  7 minutes

Mein Schiff 1 at St. Georges, Grenada © Caribbeanyachtbroker

Mein Schiff 1 at St. Georges, Grenada © Caribbeanyachtbroker

Mein Schiff 1 is a Century class cruise ship owned and operated by TUI Cruises. She was built in 1996 at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg as Galaxy for Celebrity Cruises, and renamed Celebrity Galaxy in 2008. In May 2009 she transferred to the fleet of TUI Cruises, a joint venture between Celebrity Cruises’ owner Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and TUI AG. The ship was renamed Mein Schiff (English: my ship) on 15 May 2009. In November 2010, she was renamed to Mein Schiff 1. In May 2011, the Celebrity Mercury has been restarted as Mein Schiff 2 for TUI Cruises. Her home port is Valletta on Malta.   read more…

Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens

16 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  4 minutes

© grandebretagne.gr

© grandebretagne.gr

The Hotel Grande Bretagne is a luxury city hotel in Greece, one of the most luxurious in southeastern Europe. It is located in central Athens immediately adjacent to Syntagma Square, on the corner of Vasileos Georgiou A’ and Panepistimiou Streets, and is now part of the Marriott company.   read more…

Gmunden on Lake Traunsee

16 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Aerial view of Gmunden and Ort Castle © Hannesrb

Aerial view of Gmunden and Ort Castle © Hannesrb

Gmunden is a town in Upper Austria in the district of Gmunden. It has 13,000 inhabitants. It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of goat, lake, brine, vegetable and pine-cone baths, a hydropathic establishment, inhalation chambers, whey cure, etc. It is also an important centre of the salt industry in Salzkammergut.   read more…

Oceanside in California

15 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Oceanside Pier © Bill Newman

Oceanside Pier © Bill Newman

Oceanside is a coastal city located on California’s South Coast. It is the third-largest city in San Diego County, California. The city had a population of 183,000. Together with Carlsbad and Vista, it forms a tri-city area. Oceanside is located just south of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.   read more…

Warwick on the River Avon

14 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Warwick overview © flickr.com - David Alonso Pérez

Warwick overview © flickr.com – David Alonso Pérez

Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire. The town lies upon the River Avon, 11 miles (18 km) south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. It has a population of 25,000.   read more…

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