Eleuthera in the Bahamas

7 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Sunset explored at Tippy's Beach © flickr.com - Trish Hartmann/cc-by-2.0

Sunset explored at Tippy’s Beach © flickr.com – Trish Hartmann/cc-by-2.0

Eleuthera refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the smaller Harbour Island. Known in the 17th century as Cigateo, it lies 80 km (50 miles) east of Nassau. It is long and thin—180 km (110 miles) long and in places little more than 1.6 km (1.0 mile) wide. Its eastern side faces the Atlantic Ocean, and its western side faces the Great Bahama Bank. The topography of the island varies from wide rolling pink sand beaches to large outcrops of ancient coral reefs, and its population is approximately 11,000. The principal economy of the island is tourism.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Margarita Island

25 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Juan Griego Pier © The Photographer

Juan Griego Pier © The Photographer

Margarita Island (Isla de Margarita) is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. Primary industries are tourism, fishing and construction. Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive on Margarita Island in 1498. The local natives were the Guaiqueries people. The coast of the island was abundant in pearls, which represented almost a third of all New World tribute to the Spanish Crown. Margarita Island was fortified against the increasing threat of pirate attacks, and some fortifications remain today. It was the center of Spanish colonial Margarita Province, established in 1525.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Maracaibo

24 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Calle Carabobo © The Photographer

Calle Carabobo © The Photographer

Maracaibo is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the second-largest city in the country (after the national capital Caracas) and the capital of the state of Zulia. The population of the city is approximately 2.7 million with the metropolitan area estimated at 3.9 million. Maracaibo is nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada (“The Beloved Land of the Sun”). Zulia´s main income comes by the oil extract and refinery, Agriculture: Coffee, rice, maize, cassava, cocoa, sugar cane. Production livestock and Mining: Clay, limestone, coal and sand   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Cumaná

22 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Mochima National Park - Playa Blanca © flickr.com - Luigino Bracci/cc-by-2.0

Mochima National Park – Playa Blanca © flickr.com – Luigino Bracci/cc-by-2.0

Cumaná is the capital of Venezuela’s Sucre State. It is located 402 kilometres (250 mi) east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first settlements founded by Europeans in mainland America and is the oldest continuously-inhabited, European-established settlement in the continent. Attacks by indigenous peoples meant it had to be refounded several times. The municipality of Sucre, which includes Cumaná, has a population of 420,000. The city, located at the mouth of the Manzanares River on the Caribbean coast in the Northeast coast of Venezuela, is home to one of five campuses of the Universidad de Oriente and a busy maritime port, home of one of the largest tuna fleets in Venezuela. The city is close to Mochima National Park a popular tourist beaches destination amongst Venezuelans.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela

21 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Cumaná © panoramio.com - Guillermo Esteves/cc-by-3.0

Cumaná © panoramio.com – Guillermo Esteves/cc-by-3.0

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal republic on the northern coast of South America, bordered by Colombia on the west, Brazil on the south, Guyana on the east, the Dutch Lesser Antilles to the north and Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east. Venezuela covers 916,445 km² (353,841 sq mi) and has over 31 million people. The country has extremely high biodiversity and is ranked 7th in the world’s list of nations with the most number of species. There are habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rain-forest in the south via extensive llanos plains, the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.   read more…

San Salvador Island in the Bahamas

9 March 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© bahamas.com

© bahamas.com

San Salvador Island (namend after John Watling as Watlings Island from the 1680s until 1925) is an island and district of the Bahamas. It is widely believed that during Christopher Columbus‘ first expedition to the New World, San Salvador Island was the first land he sighted and visited on 12 October 1492; he named it San Salvador after Christ the Saviour. Columbus’ records indicate that the native Lucayan inhabitants of the territory, who called their island Guanahani, were “sweet and gentle”.   read more…

Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic

17 February 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Ben Kucinski/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Ben Kucinski/cc-by-2.0

Punta Cana is a resort town within the Punta Cana-Bávaro-Veron-Macao municipal district, in the municipality of Higüey, in La Altagracia Province, the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. The area has beaches and balnearios which face both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and it has been a popular tourist destination.   read more…

Coro in Venezuela

14 February 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Iglesia de San Francisco © flickr.com - Grégory David Escobar Fernández/cc-by-2.0

Iglesia de San Francisco © flickr.com – Grégory David Escobar Fernández/cc-by-2.0

Coro is the capital of Falcón State and the oldest city in the west of Venezuela. It was founded on July 26, 1527 by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It is established at the south of the Paraguaná Peninsula in a coastal plain, flanked by the Médanos de Coro National Park to the north and the sierra de Coro to the south, at a few kilometers from its port (La Vela de Coro) in the Caribbean Sea at a point equidistant between the Ensenada de La Vela and Golfete de Coro. Thanks to the city’s history, culture and its well-preserved Colonial architecture, “Coro and its port La Vela” was designated in 1993 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, thus becoming the first site in Venezuela to be vested with this title. Since 2005 it is on the UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger.   read more…

Theme Week Panama – Colón

27 January 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com - Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0

Cruise ship terminal Colon 2000 and Colon Free Trade Zone © flickr.com – Roger Wollstadt/cc-by-sa-2.0

Colón is a city and sea port beside the Caribbean Sea, lying near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is the capital of the Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama’s second city. Originally, it was located entirely on Manzanillo Island, surrounded by Limon Bay, Manzanillo Bay and the Folks River, but, since the disestablishment of the Panama Canal Zone, the city’s limits have been redefined to include Fort Gulick, a former U.S. Army base, as well the former Canal Zone towns of Cristobal, Margarita and Coco Solo.   read more…

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