The Lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu

13 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Abbay and lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu © Pline/cc-by-sa-3.0

Abbay and lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu © Pline/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Saint-Mathieu lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Pointe Saint-Mathieu in Plougonvelin, around Brest in Finistère. The lighthouse is open to the public. Saint-Mathieu was built in 1835 among the ruins of the ancient Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre. It is a major lighthouse of the French coast, with a theoretical range of 29 nautical miles (around 55 km). It was classified as a monument historique on 23 May 2011.   read more…

Theme Week Algarve – Lagos

11 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Aerial view © Lacobrigo

Aerial view © Lacobrigo

Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal. The main town of Lagos has a population of approximately 22,000 residents, while the municipality supports a resident population of 31,048 inhabitants. Typically, these numbers increase during the summer months, with the influx of visiting tourists and seasonal residents. While the majority of the population lives along the coast and works in tourism and services, the inland region is sparsely inhabited, with the majority of the people working in agriculture and forestry.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy – The seaside resort Étretat

25 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

© M. Pfeiffer/cc-by-3.0

© M. Pfeiffer/cc-by-3.0

Étretat is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region. It is a tourist and farming town situated about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Le Havre. It’s located on the coast of the Pays de Caux area. Étretat is best known for its cliffs, including three natural arches and the pointed “needle”. These cliffs and the associated resort beach attracted artists including Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet and Claude Monet, and were featured prominently in the 1909 Arsène Lupin novel The Hollow Needle by Maurice Leblanc. Two of the three famous arches are seen from the town, the Porte d’Aval, and the Porte d’Amont. The Manneporte is the third and the biggest one, and cannot be seen from the town.   read more…

Theme Week Normandy

21 July 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Bon appétit, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Deauville © Viault/cc-by-sa-3.0

Deauville © Viault/cc-by-sa-3.0

Normandy is a geographical region of France corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two regions: Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. The population of Normandy is around 3.45 million. The continental population of 3.26 million accounts for 5.5% of the population of France. The Channel Islands (referred to as Îles Anglo-Normandes in French) are historically part of Normandy. The principal cities are Rouen, the capital of Upper Normandy and formerly of the whole province; Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy; Le Havre; and Cherbourg. The historical Duchy of Normandy was a formerly independent duchy occupying the lower Seine area, the Pays de Caux and the region to the west through the Pays d’Auge as far as the Cotentin Peninsula. The region is bordered along the northern coasts by the English Channel. There are granite cliffs in the west and limestone cliffs in the east. There are also long stretches of beach in the centre of the region.   read more…

Oban on the west coast of Scotland

7 December 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

North Pier Ferry Terminal at night © Emil Goldberg/cc-by-sa-3.0

North Pier Ferry Terminal at night © Emil Goldberg/cc-by-sa-3.0

Oban (Scottish Gaelic meaning The Little Bay) is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,000. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can play host to up to 25,000 people. Oban occupies a beautiful setting in the Firth of Lorn. The bay is a near perfect horseshoe, protected by the island of Kerrera, and beyond Kerrera the Isle of Mull. To the north is the long low island of Lismore, and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.   read more…

Theme Week Andalusia – Huelva

16 October 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Plaza de las Monjas © Anónimo

Plaza de las Monjas © Anónimo

Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva. It is located along the Gulf of Cádiz coast, at the confluence of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. The city has been inhabited since 3000 BC; it has a population of 150,000. Huelva is home to Recreativo de Huelva, the oldest football club in Spain.   read more…

Recife, the Venice of Brazil

2 September 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Recife and its bridges © flickr.com - Américo Nunes/cc-by-2.0

Recife and its bridges © flickr.com – Américo Nunes/cc-by-2.0

Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,000,000 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper was 1,600,000 in 2012.   read more…

Nazaré on the Atlantic coast

2 May 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Joaomartinho63/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Joaomartinho63/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nazaré is a town in Nazaré Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 82.4 km² and a total population of 15,158 inhabitants. It is in the Oeste subregion. The town consists of three sections: Praia (along the beach), Sítio (an old village, on top of a cliff) and Pederneira (another old village, on a hilltop). The Praia and the Sítio areas are linked by the Nazaré Funicular, a funicular railway. The first church in O Sítio, was built over the grotto to commemorate a miraculous intervention (1182) by the Virgin Mary in saving the life of the 12th century Portuguese knight Dom Fuas Roupinho, possibly a templar, while he was hunting deer one foggy early morning. This episode is usually referred to as the Legend of Nazaré. In memory of the miracle he had a chapel (Capela da Memória) built over the small grotto, where the miraculous statue had been left by King Roderic after the monk’s death. Beside the chapel, on a protuberant rock 110 meters above the Atlantic, one can still see the mark made in the rock by one of the hooves of Dom Fuas’ horse.   read more…

Vigo in Galicien

27 April 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Centre and harbor © Kanchelskis/cc-by-sa-2.5

Centre and harbor © Kanchelskis/cc-by-sa-2.5

Vigo is a city and municipality situated in north-west Spain, in the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia, and on the ria, or bay, of the same name, on the Atlantic Ocean. Vigo is the most populous city in Galicia, and the 14th in Spain.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top