Posts for 'Vacations, Tourist Spots' Category

Matička Praha - 'little mother Prague' - was largely undamaged by WWII, and the cityscape is stunning. Its compact medieval centre remains an evocative maze of cobbled lanes, ancient courtyards, dark passages and churches beyond number, all watched over by an 1100-year-old castle.Kidnapped by communism for 40 years, Prague has become one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations. Its traditional pubs and eateries have been augmented by a wave of gourmet restaurants, cocktail bars and trendy cafes - though you can still feast on pork and dumplings washed down with a beer.

When To Go

While attractions across much of the Czech Republic are closed or keep limited hours outside the summer season, Prague caters for visitors all year round. Periods when the tourist crush is especially oppressive include the Easter and Christmas/New Year holidays, as well as May and June. Many Czechs go on holiday in July and August, during which time the supply of bottom-end accommodation actually increases, as student hostels are opened to visitors. If you can put up with the cold and the periodic smog alerts during weather inversions, hotel space is plentiful in winter (outside Christmas/New Year), and Prague is gorgeous under a mantle of snow.

Bulgaria has changed swiftly over the last decade, though in the villages you can still find folk who ride the donkey to work, eat homegrown potatoes and make their own cheese. The difference now is that they wash it all down in front of a satellite TV.When Bulgaria ran away with the topsy-turvy capitalist circus, no-one told its people they were swinging without a safety net. But what the visitor encounters now is a country struggling valiantly to adapt and people who remain remarkably hospitable in the face of social and economic chaos. Urban Bulgaria, especially Sofia, is much changed.

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The littlest and southernmost of the Scandinavian countries, Denmark offers a storybox mix of lively cities and rural countryside. Ancient castles, ring forts, jazz festivals, the sleekest modern design you'll ever see and the people who invented Lego - who could ask for more?Danish Vikings once took to the seas and ravaged half of Europe, but these days they've filed down their horns and forged a society that sees itself as a benchmark of civilisation, with progressive policies, a commitment to free speech and a liberal social-welfare system.

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In many ways, Wales is just what you picture it to be: rolling moorlands, glaciated mountain areas, mellifluous male-voice choirs, tongue-twisting place names, Rugby Union, 'Bread of Heaven', romantic castles, people with querying lilts, cheese on toast and old mining towns.But Wales is more than this. Apart from the fantastic walking and cycling that's available in the country, there's also a wealth of water and adventure sports, horse riding and fishing. Add to this some fine festivals and Cardiff's nightlife, and you have a great destination awaiting you.

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Latvia is the small, flat and largely boggy meat in the sandwich between its Baltic neighbours. It packs a lot in though: start with Rīga, its vibrant coastal capital, and move on to photogenic castles, music festivals and scenic river valleys.

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Sarajevo, is the principal metropolitan and biggest built-up center of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an estimated population of 304,136 (as of December, 2006). It is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, and the de jure capital of the Republika Srpska entity, as well as the center of the Sarajevo Canton. Sarajevo is located in the Sarajevo valley of Bosnia proper, surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated around the Miljacka river. The city is famous for its traditional religious diversity, with adherents of Islam, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Judaism peacefully coexisting there for centuries.
Although settlement in the area stretches back to prehistoric times, the modern city arose as an Ottoman stronghold in the 15th century. Sarajevo has attracted international attention several times throughout its history: In 1914 it was the site of the assassination that sparked World War I, while seventy years later it became the host city of the 1984 Winter Olympics. More recently, Sarajevo underwent the longest siege in modern military history during the Bosnian War. Today the city is recovering and adjusting to a post-war reality, as a major center of culture and economic development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Naples is the principal town of the Campania province and the County of Naples in Italy. Its metropolitan area is the third largest in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. It is located halfway between the volcano, Vesuvius and a separate volcanic area, the Campi Flegrei, both of which form part of the Campanian volcanic arc. The city itself has a population of around 1 million, the inhabitants are known as Neapolitans, napoletani or poetically partenopei. It is rich in historical, artistic and cultural traditions and gastronomy. The Neapolitan language is the geographically most diffuse Italian language, similar variations of the Neapolitan dialect ('o napulitano) are spoken throughout most of Southern Italy.
Between 1266 and 1861 Naples has been the capital town of the Kingdom of Naples (later of the Two Sicilies), usually simply indicated as "the Kingdom", other Italian states having different denominations. This history, coupled with its size, has given Naples the unofficial status of being the Capital of the South (in Italy). In the modern day, the city is served by Naples International Airport at Capodichino, a civil airport hosted by a military one, once outside the town, now surrounded by built up area.

Ljubljana is the principal and biggest town in Slovenia. The capital of Ljubljana is the enriching, scientific, financial, political and managerial center of Slovenia. It is situated in central Slovenia, between the Alps and the Mediterranean. The city is divided into several quarters, formerly municipalities, the main ones being Siska , Bezigrad , Vic, Moste , and Center, which also correspond to the main electoral constituencies of the city.
Its transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and industrial tradition underlie its leading economic position. Ljubljana is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies and all government ministries. It is also the seat of Parliament and the Office of the President of Slovenia.

Rotterdam is, in conditions of residents, the subsequent biggest municipality in the Netherlands after the capital, Amsterdam, and the largest town in the province of Zuid-Holland (South Holland). The city has the largest port of Europe. It became the world's busiest port in 1962, until it was first overtaken by Singapore, and then by Shanghai since the 1990s. It is situated on the banks of the river Nieuwe Maas ("New Meuse"), one of the streams in the delta formed by the Rhine and Meuse rivers. The name "Rotterdam" derives from the city's origin at a dam in a small tributary river, the Rotte.
On 1 January 2006 (source: Statistics Netherlands), the municipality covered an area of 304.22 km square with a population of 588,500. The population of the Greater Rotterdam Metropolitan area Rijnmond ("Mouth of the Rhine") is about 1.2 million. In 1965, the municipal population reached its peak at 731,000, but by 1984, it had decreased to 555,000 as a result of suburbanization.

Dublin is the principal of and biggest town in Ireland, close to the border line of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Founded as a centre of Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's capital since mediæval times. The city of Dublin is the entire area administered by Dublin City Council, but can also refer to the contiguous suburban areas that run into the adjacent counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. This area is sometimes known as 'Urban Dublin' or the 'Dublin Metropolitan Area'.
The population of the administrative area controlled by Dublin City Council was 505,739 at the census of 2006. At the same census, the Dublin Region population was 1,186,159, and the Greater Dublin Area 1,661,185 (estimated by the CSO to reach 2.1 million by 2021). Today, approximately 40% of the population of Ireland live within a 100 km (60mi) fan radius of this east coast city.
A person from Dublin is known as a Dubliner or colloquially as a Dub, or, pejoratively, a Jackeen.In a 2003 European-wide survey by the BBC, questioning 11,200 residents of 112 urban and rural areas, Dublin was the best capital city in Europe to live in, and Ireland the most content country in Europe.