Alytus, center of the Dzūkija region

11 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Aerial view of Alytus © Auriukux

Aerial view of Alytus © Auriukux

The sixth largest city in the country, the biggest regional economic, administrative, cultural and educational centre of Southern Lithuania. Alytus occupies 40 square kilometres with more than 68 thousand inhabitants.   read more…

The North Sea spa town of Cuxhaven

10 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© cuxhaven.de

© cuxhaven.de

Cuxhaven is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint of 14 km (east-west) by 7 km (north-south). Especially its town quarters Duhnen, Döse and Sahlenburg are popular vacation spots on the North Sea and home to about 52,000 residents.   read more…

Samnaun, the holiday and shopping region

9 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Samnaun Village © Fiesch

Samnaun Village © Fiesch

The former smugglers’ paradise of Samnaun located in the Swiss, Austrian and Italian triangle has developed into a holiday resort for hiking enthusiasts and mountain bike riders. In winter the cross-border winter sports region of Samnaun and Ischgl (Austria) caters for the most discerning of visitors. All year round shrewd shoppers reap the benefits of the only tax-free resort in Switzerland.   read more…

The seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea

9 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

End of the Southend Pier © geograph.org.uk - Julieanne Savage

End of the Southend Pier © geograph.org.uk – Julieanne Savage

Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated within the Thames Gateway on the north side of the Thames estuary 40 miles (64 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. It is home to the longest leisure pier in the world, The Southend Pier.   read more…

The TRANSROMANICA as Major Cultural Route of the Council of Europe

7 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union, Bon voyage Reading Time:  3 minutes

© transromanica.com

© transromanica.com

TRANSROMANICA was officially recognized as a “Major European Cultural Route” by the Council of Europe in August 2007.   read more…

Erfurt, Thuringia’s capital

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

Haus 'Zum breiten Herd' and Guild Hall on Fish Market © TomKidd

Haus ‘Zum breiten Herd’ and Guild Hall on Fish Market © TomKidd

Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin within the wide valley of Gera River, a tributary of the Unstrut. To the south, the city is surrounded by the Steigerwald forest.   read more…

Vichy, the queen of the spa towns

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

Palais des Congrès - Opera © FRED

Palais des Congrès – Opera © FRED

Vichy is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It belongs to the historic province of Bourbonnais. With 80,194 inhabitants, Vichy’s urban area is the second largest in the Auvergne region behind Clermont-Ferrand. It is known as a spa and resort town and was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944.   read more…

Sankt Augustin in the Rhineland

3 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Monastery of Divine Word Missionaries © Marcus Bentfeld

Monastery of Divine Word Missionaries © Marcus Bentfeld

Sankt Augustin is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is named after the patron saint of the Divine Word Missionaries, Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430). The Missionaries established a monastery near the current city centre in 1913. Sankt Augustin is situated about eight km north-east of Bonn and three km south-west of Siegburg.   read more…

The port city of Saint-Malo on the Emerald Coast

2 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Port of Sablons © Pline

Port of Sablons © Pline

Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine. The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season. With the suburbs included, the population is about 135,000. The population of the commune more than doubled in 1968 with the merging of three communes: Saint-Malo, Saint-Servan (population 14,963 in 1962), and Paramé (population 8811 in 1962). Inhabitants of Saint-Malo are called Malouins in French.   read more…

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