Posted by Jill Bowen on Fri 28th September 2007 at 08:51 PM, Filed in Europe
Kyrenia is an intriguing mixture of old and new with its 6000 year long history is an idyllic Mediterranean town. It’s bounded to the north by the sea, and to the south by the Fivefinger Besmark mountain range and offers some of the most magnificent scenery on the Island.
Shops selling traditional items rub shoulders with designer outlets, jewellery shops and bespoke tailors. During the day it’s a sleepy town, an easy place to while time, with holidaymakers searching for bargains, maybe being measured up for pairs of trousers or suits. A word of caution, do make sure you understand the quotation you are given for items. We had two pairs of trousers made-to-measure for which we were quoted a figure that we thought was for both pairs. When we returned to collect them it became apparent that the price was per pair of trousers. While cheap by UK standard for made to measure – not quite the bargain we were anticipating.
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Louisville USA – October 6-7, 11-14, 18-21, 25-28, 2007, held at the Louisville Zoo.
This is one for the kids, not actually on the night of Halloween, but on the four weekends in October leading up to Halloween. If your kids find scary just too much to cope with, then this is for them; a sweet, fun filled early evening event more storybook than frightening.
It’s full of children’s favourite characters and gentle trick or treating for the under 11’s.
Who will they meet and what will they see as they wander round the Zoo?
The giant talking pumpkin – Mumpkin, greets all the visitors to the evening when they arrive
See Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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Posted by Jill Bowen on Mon 17th September 2007 at 03:18 AM, Filed in Europe
The unspoilt gem.
What do you look for when choosing a holiday destination? Do you want glitz, disco’s, full on night life, crowds, designer shops? If yes, then this article is not for you.
But, if you’re looking for unspoilt countryside, beautiful beaches, a laid back slow way of life. An area that mass tourism has not yet totally spoilt? Then yes, go to Northern Cyprus before it opens up the hoards – which I’m sure will occur only too soon.
There are three main towns on Northern Cyprus, Nicosia, the divided capital; Famagusta with it’s castle and spooky ‘ghost town’, and Kyrenia. I will not deny that there is building work going on. The outer environs of Kyrenia are a patchy building site, as is part of the coastal road. Inevitable as more tourists discover the area, which, to some extent is still frozen in time.
Kyrenia Harbour:
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Posted by Jill Bowen on Fri 14th September 2007 at 03:12 AM, Filed in Europe, October
3-7th October 2007 (Annual)
The Nottingham Goose Fair goes back some 700 years. It’s amazing how some of these ancient customs in England are still going strong, getting bigger as each year passes. It’s not actually a fair full of geese; its origins are a ‘Goods Fair’, first held to enable people to stock up of goods before the onset of winter. The charter goes back to the 1160’s when Henry11 granted it with the right to hold a fair for 8 days. Various Kings added to the Charter throughout the following centuries to increase the size and status of the Fair.
The name ‘Goose Fair’ dates from 1541, originally it was held on 21st September and whenever possible, geese were sold at the Fair (but not exclusively). The geese were walked from great distances to the Fair, 20,000 of them came from the Lincolnshire Fens – first having their feet tarred to make the walk easier! In 1752 there was a change of calendar when the Gregorian calendar was adopted, the Fair was then moved to October. By the end of the 18th century the Fair had changed, and it was not purely for solely buying and selling produce. New attractions were added, including Madame Tussuad, wild animals and theatrical events.
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…commonly referred to by holiday reps and tour guides as ‘Chicken Pizza’!
One of the main reasons for holidaying in Mexico a few years ago was to visit the famous historical Mayan sites. Not knowing much about Mexico we opted to stay in Cancun – it seemed to have a good choice of hotels (we stayed in the Moon Palace - more of which later) and plenty of things to do in addition to being within reasonable striking distance of a number of key architectural sites. All of which is true, but with hindsight I would have stayed further down the coast (south) in Playa del Carmen, but that subject deserves a blog in its own right.
Not being one for organised tours we decided to get a hire car for a couple of days and make our own way there. The organised tours seemed to give only a few hours at the site and weren’t sure it would be enough, besides I have an aversion to being herded like a sheep! For us it was the right decision. The drive from Cancun was pretty straightforward – dual carriageway most of the way and the site was signposted towards the end. Also, we found we wanted quite a bit of time there – from memory we spent something like 6 hours there and I am not sure we saw everything.
Temple of Kukulcan / El Castillo
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