Since 2002 the 3 day Riviera Maya Jazz Festival has been taking place in Playa Del Carmen (just south of Cancun), Mexico.
The action takes place on Mamitas beach from 8pm and entrance is free. The dates for 2008 are November 27th, 28th and 29th, on some years the festival tips over into December. This isn’t a huge jazz festival and each evening starts with a local band you probably haven’t heard of and much of the music is (as you’d probably expect) Latin-tinged jazz, but there are often some famous faces, notably in 2007 George Benson was on the bill.
Incidentally, to my mind Playa del Carmen is far far nicer than the heavily commercialised Cancun. Yes, it is touristy, but on a smaller scale with a more laid back feel. There is a reasonable pedestrianised mall and great year-round nightlife. It is a great place for walking around, unlike Cancun where you really need a car because it is so spread out and still in reasonable striking distance of many of the following historical sites if that is your thing:
• Tulum
• Chichen Itza
• Uxmal
Posted by Jackie Hewett on Fri 10th October 2008 at 02:50 PM, Filed in Europe, December
December 13th sees much of Scandinavia, but especially Sweden, celebrate the Christian saints day celebration of Saint Lucy (or St Lucia’s Day). The date also marks the winter solstice (shortest day / longest night of the year) in the old ‘Julian’ Calendar which use to be marked by a Swedish festival of lights. The two festivals have now merged into one in Sweden.
Historically, St Lucia was a young girl who was killed for her faith in 304AD, and so martyred. It is said that the reason for her death is that she regularly, secretly brought food to persecuted Christians in Rome who were hiding in catacombs under the city. To free her hands for carrying food and light her way she wore candles on her head. Monks who brought the Christian faith to Sweden retold her story.
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Can there be a reader who hasn’t heard of the infamous chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay? Well, how many of you knew that he can now add hotelier to his cv?
Overlooking Regents Park (at the northern end, in Camden), Ramsay Holdings riginally bought the previously derelict pub for another eaterie, but decided that the building could be turned into something more. The York and Albany London (not to be confused with the New York hotel) has only just opened (21st September 2008) after an estimated £4million spend, but will it be a success?
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There are many many Christmas fairs and markets that take place all over Europe to get you in the festive mood. I’ve listed just some of the main ones. If you can recommend (or otherwise) a particular market please leave a comment.
France
The French markets are famed for their cakes, pastries, chocolates, pates and meats, in addition to arts and crafts and gifts. Most of them start late November, but check dates of individual markets before you go.
Amiens – said to be the biggest Christmas market in northern France and specialised in produce from the Picardy region
Grenoble – starts in December and has more than 50 chalets with chocolates, candles, gingerbread, wooden toys and more. They also have fireworks, clowns, games and jazz bands
Lille Market
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Posted by Jackie Hewett on Tue 7th October 2008 at 03:23 AM, Filed in Wildlife, December
December through to February is the peak season for Manta watching in this region, and this is one of the best places in the world to see them. Yap is actually four islands sharing a coral reef and all islands are covered with pretty dense vegetation and are situated just 9 degrees north of the equator.
Manta Rays have wing spans up to 5 meters (16 ft) and visit the ‘cleaning stations’ in the channels between the shallow lagoon surrounding Yap where cleaner wrasse do the grooming. Whilst 100 or so of these great fish seem to have made Yap their year round home the numbers swell during the winter mating season.
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