Theme Week Apulia – Martina Franca

25 December 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Piazza Plebiscito and the Cathedral © Tango71747cc-by-sa-4.0

Piazza Plebiscito and the Cathedral © Tango71747cc-by-sa-4.0

Martina Franca, or just Martina, is a town and municipality in the province of Taranto, Apulia. It is the second most populated town of the province after Taranto, and has a population of 49,000. Since 1975, the town has hosted the annual summer opera festival, the Festival della Valle d’Itria. Martina Franca is located in the Itria Valley, close to the provinces of Bari and Brindisi.   read more…

Theme Week Apulia – Brindisi

24 December 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  16 minutes

Kitesurfing at Torre Canne © Giorgio Galeotti/cc-by-4.0

Kitesurfing at Torre Canne © Giorgio Galeotti/cc-by-4.0

Brindisi is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an important role in trade and culture, due to its strategic position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city remains a major port for trade with Greece and the Middle East. Its industries include agriculture, chemical works, and the generation of electricity. The city of Brindisi was the provisional government seat of the Kingdom of Italy from September 1943 to February 1944.   read more…

Theme Week Apulia

23 December 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Quartieri Settecenteschi in Foggia © panoramio.com - trolvag/cc-by-sa-3.0

Quartieri Settecenteschi in Foggia © panoramio.com – trolvag/cc-by-sa-3.0

Apulia is a region of Italy, located in the southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. The region comprises 19,345 square kilometers (7,469 sq mi), and its population is about four million. It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, and Basilicata to the southwest. Its capital city is Bari. Apulia’s coastline is longer than that of any other mainland Italian region. In the north, the Gargano promontory extends out into the Adriatic like a ‘sperone’ (“spur”), while in the south, the Salento peninsula forms the ‘tacco’ (“heel”) of Italy’s boot. The highest peak in the region is Mount Cornacchia (1,152 meters above sea level) within the Daunian Mountains, in the north along the Apennines. It is home to two national parks, the Alta Murgia National Park and Gargano National Park. Outside of national parks in the North and West, most of Apulia and particularly Salento is geographically flat with only moderate hills.   read more…

Port-Cros National Park on the French Riviera

15 November 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment Reading Time:  5 minutes

Port-Cros © Richard Gertis/cc-by-sa-2.5

Port-Cros © Richard Gertis/cc-by-sa-2.5

Port-Cros National Park (French: Parc national de Port-Cros) is a French national park established on the Mediterranean island of Port-Cros, east of Toulon and Hyères. The area around the islands of Porquerolles, Port-Cros, Île du Levant and others, is located ten kilometers off the French Riviera. It also administers natural areas in some surrounding locales.   read more…

Tripoli in Lebanon

15 July 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

Tripoli Souk © Bertramz/cc-by-sa-3.0

Tripoli Souk © Bertramz/cc-by-sa-3.0

Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Tripoli overlooks the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and it is the northernmost seaport in Lebanon. It holds a string of four small islands offshore, and they are also the only islands in Lebanon. The Palm Islands were declared a protected area because of their status of haven for endangered loggerhead turtles, rare monk seals and migratory birds.   read more…

Étang de Thau in Southern France

1 February 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  7 minutes

Barrou Neighbourhood and the Étang de Thau with its Oster farms seen from Sète © Christian Ferrer/cc-by-sa-3.0

Barrou Neighbourhood and the Étang de Thau with its Oster farms seen from Sète © Christian Ferrer/cc-by-sa-3.0

Étang de Thau or Bassin de Thau is the largest of a string of lagoons (étangs) that stretch along the French coast from the Rhône River to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the border to Spain in the Languedoc-Roussillon. Although it has a high salinity, it is considered the second largest lake in France. Located between the towns of Sète and Marseillan in the Hérault département, the Étang de Thau is shared administratively by the communes of (running clockwise): Balaruc-le-Vieux, Balaruc-les-Bains, Frontignan, Sète, Marseillan, Mèze, Loupian and Bouzigues. The Bassin de Thau provides a habitat for a variety of wild animals, notably birds such as herons and pink flamingos and a rich marine fauna, including bivalves (oysters and mussels), jellyfish, fish, and algae. Periodically in the spring and summer, the Thau Lagoon has algae blooms of Alexandrium catenella which sometimes reach such high levels that it results in contamination of the lagoon’s bivalves with algae toxins.   read more…

Union for the Mediterranean: Bon voyage!

12 January 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, European Union, Bon voyage, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  138 minutes

Union for the Mediterranean © AndrewRT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Union for the Mediterranean © AndrewRT/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is an intergovernmental organization of 43 countries from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 28 member states of the European Union and 15 Mediterranean partner countries from North Africa, the Middle East (the western and middle part of the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA)) and Southeast Europe. It was created in July 2008 at the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, with a view to reinforcing the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed) that was set up in 1995 and known as the Barcelona Process. The Union has the aim of promoting stability and prosperity throughout the Mediterranean region. It is a forum for discussing regional strategic issues, based on the principles of shared ownership, shared decision-making and shared responsibility between the two shores of the Mediterranean. Its main goal is to increase both North-South and South-South integration in the Mediterranean region, in order to support the countries’ socioeconomic development and ensure stability in the region. The actions of the organization fall under three, interrelated priorities—regional human development, regional integration and regional stability. To this end, it identifies and supports regional projects and initiatives of different sizes, to which it gives its label, following a consensual decision among the forty-three countries. The region has 756 million inhabitants and is scenic, architecturally and culturally very diverse. Cities, lakes, mountains, beaches and national parks offer everything that promises fun, recreation and perfect vacations. The cultural offers are numerous. In addition to many UNESCO World Heritage sites, there are numerous galleries, museums, theaters and opera houses. Of course, there are plenty of shopping and entertainment possibilities. However, holiday pleasure is not untroubled in all countries. At present, Syria and Libya in general, Mauritania (Sahara and Sahel) and Lebanon (North Lebanon and the border regions to Syria and Israel), Palestine (Gaza Strip) should be partly avoided. In all other countries of the Levant and North Africa, increased caution, vigilance and prudence are recommended. At the end of each country portrait is a link to the U.S. Department of State, in order to be able to find out about the current security situation on the ground.   read more…

Augusta on Sicily

30 March 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Baia Arcile © Angelo Pappalardo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Baia Arcile © Angelo Pappalardo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Augusta is a town and comune in the province of Syracuse, located on the eastern coast of Sicily. The city is one of the main harbours in Italy, especially for oil refineries (ExxonMobil and others as part of the complex Augusta-Priolo) which are in its vicinity. The city is situated 35 km north of Syracuse and faces the Ionian Sea.   read more…

Costa Brava in Spain

19 February 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Palafrugell © Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona/cc-by-sa-3.0

Palafrugell © Patronat de Turisme Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Costa Brava (“Wild Coast” or “Rough Coast”) is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain, consisting of the comarques (counties) of Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà and Selva in the province of Girona. Costa Brava stretches from the town of Blanes, 60 km (37 mi) northeast of Barcelona, to the French border. In the 1950s, the Costa Brava was identified by the Spanish government and local entrepreneurs as being suitable for substantial development as a holiday destination, mainly for package holiday tourists from France and Northern Europe. The combination of a very good summer climate, nature, excellent beaches and a favourable foreign exchange rate, which made Costa Brava a relatively inexpensive tourist destination, was exploited by the construction of large numbers of hotels and apartments in such seaside resorts as Blanes, Tossa de Mar and Lloret de Mar. Tourism rapidly took over from fishing as the principal business of the area. Between beaches and hidden coves surrounded by vegetation, are 199 locations in the coastal regions of Costa Brava.   read more…

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