World Holiday Guide

Posts Tagged ‘accommodation’

The travel fiasco began with the sound of Xmas music in the midst of the summer vacation season at Will Rogers World Airport.

Prior to it being over, plane delays would cause my child Elena and I to miss a cruise ship and be stranded in a foreign city thousands of miles from home without luggage and a place to remain.

Just before eight a.m. On that Friday in June, we had appeared at the Oklahoma Town airport with plenty of time before our 10:10 a.m. Flight to Atlanta. We were scheduled to arrive just after noon in Atlanta with a long layover before boarding an international flight that would take us, with a six-hour time difference, by 9:45 a.m. The next day to Venice.

We marvelled aloud what we might do with all of the additional time before we needed to catch a Royal Caribbean cruise for an unusual journey on the Adriatic Sea and to cities such as Koper, Slovenia ; Ravenna, Italy ; and Dubrovnik, Croatia. We were initially meant to go to Egypt to celebrate Elena’s graduation from Washington Varsity in St. Louis, but it had been canceled because of the political unrest there. We had thought about other trips, but logistics had forestalled those. Then Royal Caribbean offered a special trip on its second week of a new check-list in the Adriatic. It’s a chance to take Elena on the promised trip.

We researched the trip and its five cities. We were told about the region’s history by relations who had been there. We were excited about visiting and exploring historical destinations for the first time.

Marooned in Oklahoma City

With only thirty mins left before our flight, we anticipated the intercom statement to ski the aeroplane. Instead we heard that all security checkpoints had been closed, and those passengers who had been cleared must abandon to the west side of the airfield.

Being a correspondent, I naturally started posing questions.

I talked to several of the 2,500 passengers who were stuck that day, all with different stories of travel plans that would be delayed. There were stories of a woman bowler going to a state championship, a father taking his sons to Key West, Fla, to go underwater diving, a woman flying into Oklahoma Town for an audition that she would miss, and a Nigerian businessperson in this country for a show. Most expressed concern about my travel plans and wished us the best on getting to Italy in good time. No problem, I announced ; we had masses of time to reach Atlanta for the 6:30 p.m. Overnite flight to Venice.

I was still confident even after the bomb frighten finished in early afternoon when police found the suspicious package contained a bullhorn playing Xmas music, a mobile phone, batteries and wires. But as the hours passed, the optimism faded. We eventually left more than 6 hours later on the same plane to Atlanta that was supposed to leave at 10:10 a.m.

Missing Flight After Flight and Our Ship

Our Atlanta flight arrived just as our original Venice flight was taking off, so we rushed to the world terminal to see whether an 8:30 p.m. Flight to Venice was available. A cranky clerk pounded frenziedly on her keyboard and told us the 8:30 flight was not available. Nonetheless she found an overnite flight that hooked up to Venice through Paris, which gave us lots of time to get to the ship before it launched. The clerk continued to pound at her keyboard for another 30 mins, griping because she thought we had not informed her about our 2 checked bags. We guaranteed her we had, and she started pecking wildly on the keyboard again before enlightening us our bags would arrive in Venice in good time.

We eventually received our boarding passes and made it to the gate just before the doors closed for the Paris flight. As the airplane departed, I was happy that everything was going to work out.

Then the airplane was delayed just about thirty mins before landing in Paris. We rushed to get to the Venice connection, only to be told at the security checkpoint that we must return to the ticket counter because we had not been handed a boarding pass in Atlanta. (Later , we were told that clerks cannot give boarding passes on flights lasting more than six hours.) After running to the ticket counter, we were informed the gates to the Venice flight were closed.

We thought about our options : Book the following flight to Venice and miss the ship’s exit by about 30 minutes or find a flight to the ship’s first stop in Koper. The sole problem is that Koper can’t be reached by plane or train, only by private auto. So we took the first option.

A Place To Remain, But No Baggage

Country House belongs to Rosa Milevoj and Loris Bernaroinelli. Rosa, from Croatia, speaks eight languages and was formerly a cruise liner worker. Her partner, Loris, is proud that he is mistaken for actor Robert DeNiro but speaks small English. He nevertheless , loves the sounds of Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Woman Gaga and other American singers and will dance or sing loudly to the music.

After more than thirty six hours in airfields, we devoured the normal Italian dinner that evening of pasta, cold meats and cheeses, bread and salad, with the red wine that Loris and the Country House graciously served. The dinner guests eat just outside the villa where the owners ‘ little dogs roam the estate and stare at the diners, hoping for a handout or for food to fall from the table. The estate smelled of lilac flowers as the birds chirped softly in the background until Loris made a decision to start singing again. The majority of the other dinner guests were Italian, with one couple being from Britain.
Also,we thought about trip in some non secular place where we are able to find peace and lovely nature like as Medjugorje in Bosnia, where we will be able to find anytime some good Medjugorje accommodations.

We returned to the Venice airfield the next morning to retrieve our luggage. I found Elena’s bag in lost luggage though not mine. A clerk then informed me that my bag likely would not arrive during the complete trip because of a baggage system snafu in Paris, regardless of whether it had left Atlanta.

As we began to leave, I noticed a woman with long curly hair and wearing a white sun dress sobbing near the lost luggage window. The baggage snafu had claimed another victim.

Inside a few minutes, we returned to the same Air France clerk, who booked us again at the Country House for one more night. Rosa volunteered to call the airport to whine about my bag, and it was entertaining to hear Rosa’s Croatian voice talking Spanish to a clerk in Italy. Rosa then found an airfield bag clerk who just happened to be swimming in his Speedo at the bed-and-breakfast’s big pool, found near one of Venice’s many canals. He soon returned with the final verdict : My bag was lost, and we wanted to go to Venice to buy clothes,writes tagza.com.

Puzzled? It’s essentially a little bit of a trick question. Geographically, the Balkan Promontory is regarded as Southeastern Europe – the landmass south of Austria and Hungary and east of Italy. It’s famous for craggy and remote mountains, spectacular shore and intensely partisan populations. The Adriatic is to the west, the Black Sea to the east, Greece at the southernmost tip.

But politically, the answer is dependent upon the year. 5 centuries of war, oppression and ethnic conflict have melted and made states on the Balkan Peninsula multiple times over. If you answered Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania or Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) – A-plus! They all have coastline on the Adriatic Sea. If you assumed Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, or Kosovo – C-plus. Balkans, though not Western Balkans. Yugoslavia? No go. It collapsed over ten years ago.

The better news for travelers? An increasingly stable array of independent nations based slightly on ethnic populations, but also on the economic imperatives of newly found independence : capitalism, development and tourism!

Dubrovnik, Croatia, is now a top destination on Eastern Mediterranean cruises, like the one Bud and I did in 2003. Our Dubrovnik guide lived thru the 1991-92 Serbian siege, and bullet holes were still everywhere. But Maria’s positivism was contagious. “Come back,” she entreated. “After the roads are fixed and borders opened, you are going to love it.”

7 years on we landed in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, on the first leg of a four-country Western Balkan trip. Customs and immigration were smooth and efficient and our rental car, a Czech Skoda Fabia, waited just steps from the terminal.

We would drive northeast thru Slovenia’s Julian Alps, south along coastal Croatia and down to Montenegro’s beaches. We would finish over Montenegro’s mythical mountains and into BiH to end in Sarajevo. Perhaps best, we were flying solo – no package tours, no booking agent. Just us!

Euro-GPS

We brought a GPS with a preloaded Eastern EU chip. First stop : classic Lake Bled. Our GPS let us choose : back roads or road. We took the littlest roads and were instantly smitten. Each home sported lush window boxes. In the foothills of the Julian Alps, each town reached higher, with taller traditional pines, and roads narrowing to single lanes, regularly weaving thru steep pastures. Around one corner a spotless church sat on top of a brilliantly green hill.

Lake Bled’s Grand Hotel Toplice was impressive and historical. It housed Nazi Officials during World War Ii, and was so renowned that the officials had to pay for rooms, even though they were the occupying forces. The Toplice was full of chatty Brits and sporty Germans, and life revolved round the lake – shaded walkways along the coast, swans paddling about, boats with brightly colored covers to ferry visitors around. Beautiful!

Our next stop took us even higher, to a sporthotel in Kranjska Gora. Sporthotels are distinctly Western european : spare decoration, few luxuries, but large rooms to hold skis and bikes. At the Toplice we were told that Americans visit infrequently. In Kranjska Gora, Americans are not common. We were treated like stars and urged to visit the ski jump at nearby Planica where the world record for ski-flying was set in 2005 : 717 feet “airborne” coming off the end of the jump.

We were cautioned about the drive over Slovenia’s 9,300-foot peak, Mount Triglav, at the eastern end of the Alps. It was stormy and misty. The route was very steep and narrow with fifty or even more switchbacks. “Follow a bus,” they revealed. “It will lead you.”

Great guidance! We turned up at our next stop, Lipica, in fine shape and ready to visit the famed Lipizzaner Stud Farm in its 430th year of breeding and coaching the fascinating white horses. We caught the dramatic “Airs Above the Ground” equestrian show and marveled at the chic facility with dressage faculties, lodging, restaurants and marriage chapel as reported tagza.com.

An especially successful tourist season in Dubrovnik, Croatia – Five star hotels show the best results!

Dubrovnik is a city of a singular political and cultural history. It is a home to several remarkably poets, painters, mathematicans, physicists and other scholarsand it is one of the most popular visitor destinations on the Adriatic-Sea coast.

1979 the historical center of Dubrovnik has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.There are a lot of famous buildings like Duke’s Palace, plenty of museums, cloisters, churches and some awfully old buildings, like the Nursery Trsteno, the oldest arboretum in the world built in 1492,or the 3rd oldest dispensary in Europe which date is returning to 1317.

The patron of the city is Sveti Vlaho (Saint Blaise). You can see statues and paintings of him round the town. The city’s cathedral is named after him “Saint Blaise”.

The habitants of Dubrovnik are even organising a banquet in honour of Saint Blaise each Feb 3876;7496;.
They celebrate these merriment with Mass, parades and they last a few days.
The most significant event in the cultural life of the town is the annual Dubrovnik Summer Holiday.

It’s a traditional festival where all doors are open for artists to amuse the habitans of Dubrovnik and their guests with games, theatre and concerts (classical & hippy music) between 10th of July and 25th of August, since 1950. The Dubrovnik Summer Holiday has been awarded with its first Gold Global Prize for Quality in 2007 and it’s signed in the calender of world festivals as one of the most famous cultural festivals in the world since 1956.

The success of the tourist season is dependent on people who go on vacation, but also those who work – the guests as well as tour operators. And the results for the first seven months were really fantastic. Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik-Neretva County reported the 1st, promising results.

Leaders of the city and county tourism proudly say the accelerating holiday maker arrivals and overnight stays..

Traffic blockages on Dubrovnik streets are visible proof of skyrocketing number of arrivals in the 1st 7 months of this year. “9% more visitor arrivals and 7% more overnite stays are realized. We are planning about 10% increase in tourism results,” recounted Jelka Tepisic, director of TZ Dubrovnik.

The results in Dubrovnik-Neretva County are similar. In the first seven months arrivals increased by 7 percent, and overnite stays by five %. Hotel traffic increased by seven %, while the camps and non-public owners noticed a decline of 3 and 2 percent.

“The first information shows mainly the increase in cash compared to last year, but we’re going to see what will happen with the price side of the total business,” claimed Vladimir Bakic, director of TZ Dubrovnik-Neretva county.

President of Dubrovnik travel agents reveals that the most opulent hotels achieved the best results and are prepared from May to late September. Hostels with 5 stars are literally sold out.

“We are achieving superb costs and according to the situation as it is now, a recession has passed,” said Luca Baca from Grand Villa Argentina – a stunning villa found in an exclusive area, near the historic center of Dubrovnik.

The most plush hotels forecast even better leads to August and September,writes tagza.com.

City of Dubrovnik each year attracts a growing number of holiday makers, and if you look scrupulously, you can understand why – stunning environment mixed with the old town is something irresistible, and leaves everybody breathless, says Emyr Thomas.

The consequential walled city of Dubrovnik is one of the most attractive and famous towns of the Mediterranean and a UNESCO International heritage site. It’s a sea port located on the Adriactic coast and is an all year long popular holiday maker destination with plentiful accommodation.

The town was peppered by Serbian forces in the Yugoslav War but has now been principally revived. The center of Dubrovnik is a pedestrianised area, Dubrovnik also has a sizeable number of coastal promenades, marinas and piers and there are a bunch of sandy and pebbly beaches in and around Dubrovnik. Popular activities include hiking and swimming in sea. The climate of Dubrovnik is distinguished by warm and dry summers and mild winters. The average air temperature in the coldest month (Feb) is 4.6 C and in the warmest month (Aug) 26.2 C. July has 12.4 hours of sunlight a day.

To Visit : Sponza Palace 16th C (fine example of a renaissance building) and the Rectors Palace (Gothic-Renaissance). The 2km fortified town walls, the Cathedral of the Presumption of the Virgin Mary. The Dubrovnik Museum in the Duke’s Palace keeps 15,500 exhibits in its cultural and historical dept. The Maritime Museum (situated in the fortress Sveti Ivan) has a number exhibits on an abiding display, related to the maritime affairs of Dubrovnik and Croatia on the whole, with a particular focus on the history of the Dubrovnik Republic. The museum of the Franciscan monastery keeps all inventories of the old pharmacy, as well as the works of Dubrovnik jewellers, painters and embroiders. The museum of the Dominican monastery exhibits valuable examples of Dubrovnik painting from the fifteenth and the 16th centuries, as well as sculptures, jewelry, manuscripts, incunabula and notes (music).

The treasury of the Dubrovnik cathedral keeps the relics of St. Blaise, patron of Dubrovnik, and countless paintings and artworks. The Rupe Ethnographical Museum presents standard jobs and the rural architecture of the area of Dubrovnik, nationwide costumes and hand-made textiles. Very attractive is also the Aquarium of the Institute of Biology, situated in the fortress Sveti Ivan, comprising fascinating sea species.

Finally, visit the Island of Lokrum which lies just off the coast of Dubrovnik, feted for its botanical gardens.In a near vicinity one should visit little city of Cavtat and island and city of Korula.The Nationwide Park Mljet is natural and cultural attraction worth of visiting along with some other pitoresque places in Dubrovnik region such as:Orebi on Peljeac penninsula,Metkovi located on brook Neretva estuary,Molunat-southernmost village in Croatia,small fishing villages of Zaton and Slano.

Events : The Once A Year Dubrovnik Summer Festival which puts on live plays, concerts and games. (middle of July to finish of August)

Feb three banquet of Saint Blaise (guardian saint of Dubrovnik).

Besieged by traditional walls, it boasts striking Renaissance and Baroque features and countless cafeterias and trattorias proudly offering fresh seafood. Staying in two hostels, Bellevue and Excelsior, touring the town and enjoying the evening, Emyr Thomas shared his discoveries with readers.

Hotel Bellevue

Dubrovnik Hotel Bellevue is located about thirty feet above the beautiful Miramare Bay overlooking the shocking crystal blue Adriatic Sea. In Bellevue, he was welcomed with grins and was enjoying the evening on the massive terrace with a coffee and a wide ranging view.

Hotel provides an alternative fast trip to the beach by non-public lift, and there are informal bistros on the beach and local bays ideal for sunbathing and swimming.

Bellevue has 91 well supplied airy rooms and suites that are chicly decorated and offer beautiful sea perspectives. The Presidential Suite has an enormous dining room, separate living room, two fully kitted out lavatories and a balcony with beautiful view on the Adriatic.

Hotel Excelsior

Dubrovnik Hotel Excelsior welcomes travellers since 1913. And it is one of the classic five star hotels in Dubrovnik.

With a view over Lokrum and Old City, Hotel Excelsior boasts a stunning terrace which is good for dining, enjoying a cocktail or simply drinking coffee.

Exclesior Hotel has 141 standard room and seventeen luxury suites and remodeled villa Agava with three bedrooms, besieged with five terraces, offering an amazing view.

Hotel also offers a spa center and indoor pool in a chilled and intimate setting.

Vapor eatery in the Bellevue hotel offers a superb view of the bay and the likelihood of enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and wonderful food, and Emyr Thomas strongly suggests oysters for an appetiser and John Dory risotto.

At the Excelsior, there are four exceptional cafes that offer real national and international dishes.
One of the most well liked city restaurants, Nautika, situated near the walls of Dubrovnik, offers locally grown food and recipes, a meal that offers are easy, yet stylish. Good food combined with a quaint view of the city walls provides a noteworthy experience.

City tour with expert guides will satisfy everybody’s curiosity, and climbing the steep steps of the town walls is actually worth the effort because it provides additional information about the layout of the town, damage caused during the war and the mend and rehabas reported tagza.com.

By taxi, you can go to the hills above the town from where you can enjoy wide ranging perspectives enjoying a cup of coffee or tumbler of wine.

October is the time to find incredible value in cruising, particularly on this one from Cruiseholidays.ie, sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas from Venice to Malaga. The ship will visit Dubrovnik, Malta, Cartagena and Gibraltar on the way. The price tag, from 599pps, includes an overnite in Venice and flights too. Tel : 01-8173555 or 021-2429555.

Away

DISCOVER Bordeaux in the autumn with a special package from the local traveller office. The two-night deal includes hotel, steered city tour, wine tour, complimentary bottle of wine in your room, and free entry to major sites of interest. Costs in two-star hostels are from 105pps and in three-star hostels from 144pps. See bordeaux-tourisme.com.

A Way to enjoy Croatia is on a two-centre holiday. Stay for four nights in the Hotel Croatia, Cavtat (near Dubrovnik) and three nights on the islands of Mijet in the Hotel Odisej. Departs September 24th with a week from 739. See croatia.ie, tel 01-8780800.

SEE BUDAPEST this autumn with three-night packages from Topflight. Enjoy a night at the State Opera, a steered city tour, airport transfers and hotel accommodation from 249pps. Flights with Aer Lingus cost from 150. Tel : 01-2401700 or topflight.ie.

AUTUMN is a great time to visit Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen with flights from Dublin with SAS. Take a weekend visit and 2 nights BB in a central hotel from 299pps. Tel : 0818-332500 or cassidytravel.ie.

ON Sep 16th Irish Ferries will host a wine fair on its Oscar Wilde sailing from Rosslare to Roscoff. French wine producers will be offering tastings, give advice and preview some wines that may be purchased at a discount of 12.5 percent. Passengers can make a short journey of it with two-night hotel accommodation and return ferry travel from 199pps, based mostly on four passengers, returning from Cherbourg on the 19th. Tel : 0818-300400, irishferries.com.

Home

THE SHANNON estuary has a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins and if you stay in Doonbeg Lodge, Co Clare it can organise a ship trip to see the dolphins and do some fishing. Two-night packages in the luxury lodge with dinner one night and ship charter are from 580pps. Tel : 065-9055600 or doonbeglodge.com.

KILLARNEY is comedy central for September 16th and 17th when eighteen top Irish and international comedians descend for a weekend of jests at the INEC. Day tickets are from 27.65 and two-day tickets are from 45. Book accommodation on destinationkillarney.com : the Gleneagle is from eighty per night ; and the Brehon from 99 per night.

AFTERNOON tea is in vogue with 2 hostels in Dublin offering this wonderful treat. Tea at the Conrad includes cupcakes and macaroons with specialism teas for twenty-one. Tel : 01-6028900 or conraddublin.com. In the Shelbourne Hotel, berries are the theme and you can make a night of it with champagne afternoon tea and an overnite stay for 232 per room. Tel : 01-6634500, theshelbourne.ie.

A SKELLIGS Rock special from the Servant Arms Hotel in Waterville encompasses a boat trip to the rock with a packed lunch (subject to weather conditions). A two-night stay with dinner one evening is from 220pps, valid till September 15th but book by September 8th. Tel : 01-2958900 or manorhousehotels.com.

The Following full moon walk with Hilltop Treks is on September tenth in Enniskerry, Corp Wicklow. Make a night of it with a stay in the Summerhill House Hotel for 95 including a bar meal. No single supplement. Tel : 01-2867928 or see summerhillhousehotel.com or hilltoptreks.ie.

FROM RUSSIA with Love is the theme at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin in the Dublin Theatre Holiday from September 29th to October 16th. Stay a night in the hotel and you may have a Russian inspired meal and tickets for Donka : A letter to Chekhov with breakfast for 299 for 2. Tel : 01-6791122 or see doylecollection.com. as reported tagza.com.

Cornfields and towering grain silos line the Minnesota Catholics ‘ approach to the Shrine of Our Woman of Good Help. The smell of dung wafts from close by dairy farms.

But the car park where the motor coach stops is newly graveled, and plans to grow beyond the shrine’s small brick church and gift shop are in progress. Because like this group from Hastings, pilgrims are coming.

It’s here at this modest shrine in the center of Wisconsin farm country, where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared more than 150 years back. Eight months ago, the bishop in close by Green Bay officially validated the apparitions, making the shrine the 1st such holy site in the country and one of only 12 or so in the world.

Since that point, repeat visitors to the site have grown from a couple of hundred a year to a few thousand a week. The Hastings group numbers 19.

For the Minnesota travellers, a miracle isn’t the point of their two-day trip, though they might welcome one. It’s mostly about looking for a closer connection to the Almighty through the mother of Christ.

“It’s like heaven touching earth,” said Joanne Knoll, “It is extraordinarily moving, to grasp she was there.”

A wait of 150 years

Early morning daylight filtered through the clouds at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Hastings last month as the travellers readied themselves for the just about 300-mile journey.

Of the church’s virtually 10,000 members, several have gone on other pilgrimages to places where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared : Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal and Medjugorje in Yugoslavia.

Joanne and Jerry Knoll have led trips to Medjugorje where you can find a good Medjugorje accommodation, and Jerry is a driver for a motor coach company, so it was natural that they’d come up with the idea of this pilgrimage.

“It’s exciting for me because I will be able to get out of this everyday monotony and go over there and relax and pray and not need to stress about anything else,” announced Jerry, 61.

As Jerry Knoll guided the bus east, someone hit “Play” and a DVD informed the story of the shrine.

In 1855, a pious young woman by the name of Adele Brise left her local Belgium and settled on the Green Bay spur with her folks. In October 1859, she was 28 and on her way to a grist mill when she saw a lady dressed all in white standing between two trees. She froze and watched until the vision slowly vanished. The following Sun., the lady in white appeared again to Adele in the same place while she was on her way to mass.

She saw the figure once more. This time the lady identified herself as the “Queen of Heaven” and implored Brise to teach youngsters about their Catholic religion. Brise gave her life to that mission. At first, she traveled the peninsula on foot, going from home to home to teach children. She was eventually joined by other younger women who later helped her found a church, convent and school near the location of the apparitions.

Drawn by reports of cures, conversions and more signs of a divine presence at the shrine, thousands of faithful have paid a visit to the site. Bishops have claimed mass there. However it wasn’t until the tenure of Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, in January 2009, that the church opened an inquiry into the apparitions.

While there were many reported sightings of Mary, the Catholic church is wary of fabrications and infrequently investigates. The Vatican leaves analyses up to local bishops.

Bishop Ricken appointed Marian students who studied Brise’s correspondence and other supporting documents. They looked into the credibility of her personality and the history of attention at the shrine.

On Dec. 8, 2010, Ricken validated the apparitions, declaring they “exhibit the substance of mystical personality” and are “worthy of belief.”

Our Woman of Good Help became an official Marian apparition site.

The shrine waves

The 8-acre shrine property isn’t in the league of more well known Marian shrines : Our Woman of Guadalupe, in Mexico, with its 20,000,000 visitors a year, or Lourdes, with its healing spring water as reported tagza.com.

Most of us still remember the conflicts which blighted the regions around Croatia, however we forget that this country offers some of the most shocking shores and historic towns in Europe. The golden walled city of Dubrovnik stands in as an ideal destination for those looking for more than a beautiful shore. It draws a big number of tourists from all over Europe and it’s straightforward to see why : the wonderful thing about the surroundings coupled with an old city which has been carefully restored.

The Old City of Dubrovnik is one drenched in history with challenges from nature and man alike. Set within huge city walls, surprising Renaissance and Baroque architecture features alongside a busy colourful city with cafs and cafes offering a sufficiency of dishes with the emphasis proudly on the wealth of fresh seafood available.

Hotel Bellevue

Our early arrival was instantly greeted with warm smiles and swift attendance as we were directed to the hotel’s enormous terrace for a chilled post-journey coffee overlooking the bay while our suite was being prepared. Dubrovnik’s Hotel Bellevue is perched some thirty meters above the quaint Miramare Bay overlooking the stunning crystal blue of the Adriatic Sea.

The lovely hotel terrace provides wide ranging perspectives of the bay and shore and a rather more than acceptable area for whiling away the hours over a few drinks. Alternatively a quick trip down the hotel’s non-public lift takes you to the beach area, the more informal beachside restaurant, and the local bay for swimming and soaking up the Mediterranean sun.

The hotel features 91 spacious rooms and suites, all of which offer straightforward discrimination, are well supplied and, most importantly, provide striking breathtaking sea perspectives. Our Presidential Suite was definitely worth the short wait and boasted well-appointed rooms with a trendy, fresh interior. This suite made up an enormous dining area, separate living room, 2 substantial bathrooms (with an ‘intelligence ‘ shower system to confound many a guest) with the option of extending to a further 2nd bedroom, if required. The balcony was excellently positioned to benefit from the sun throughout the day and more than large enough for 2 folks.

Excelsior Hotel & Spa

The second hotel of the visit, The Excelsior Hotel & Spa has been in operation since 1913, but with heavy latest restorations is Dubrovnik’s classic luxury hotel. Overlooking the island of Lokrum and Old Town it holds an amazing and unrivalled location maximised with the intensive Palm Garden Terrace, a pleasant area for dining, enjoying a cocktail, or just a coffee and afternoon read.

The Excelsior features 141 standard rooms and 17 opulent suites, as well as the recently reconstructed Villa Agave, a 3 bedroom luxurious summerhouse besieged by five terraces with a selection of breathtaking perspectives.

The hotel offered an improved spa and leisure area with a big indoor pool and a small further side pool, whilst still maintaining a cool and intimate feel. The sauna and steam area was a joy with lighting and scents to plug the ultimate in escapism. The indoor pool was located with access to the massive sun-lounging and sea-bathing area, where you can take a dip in one of the most clean shores in Europe, with staff available to serve drinks and food whilst you do so.

Dining in Dubrovnik

The Vapor eatery at the Bellevue offered superb perspectives of the bay and alfresco dining, making it a straightforward choice for a calming dining experience with the benefit of prime quality food to match. Particularly, the smoked oyster starter was a salty delight and the John Dory Risotto starter was full of creamy tastes, both recommendations from the assured and well informed staff.

4 exceptional bistros await at The Excelsior with eclectic smells and tastes of legitimate national and international cuisine. Sensus is the signature fine dining eatery or for a turn away from the normal, jump into Satu, The Excelsior’s wonderful new Japanese trattoria.

One of the city’s most celebrated bistros is Nautika, located just outside of the Old City town walls. This restaurant is proud of sourcing regional food and recipes, keeping dishes straightforward but elegant. This pride in their food shone thru from the warm greeting at the door to the eager and helpful waiters. The food, joined with the pretty view of the coastal town wall, made this a memorable dining experience.

Seeing The Town

A VIP tour of the Old City was arranged thru Adriatic Concierge Services. The well informed guide was clearly passionate about the city’s heritage and regaled stories of its turbulent past. A climb up onto the steep town walls is well worth the effort providing a clearer understanding re the layout of the town but also the damage inflicted in the wars and subsequent repairs.

A cable car service, near the Old City gate, will take you to amazing heights on top of the hills overlooking the town (over a coffee or cup of wine at the hilltop diner if you wish). The trip, as you’d expect, is primarily for the breathtaking perspectives over Dubrovnik, butWant a total Travel Quote including flight fare, special hotel rates and FREE upgrades? Contact our Travel Expert today! There’s also an especially fascinating tiny war museum detailing this region’s history and beyond for the more discerning guest as reported tagza.com.

If you plan a holiday in Croatia, this Croatian practical info we offer below will help you to plan your activities in advance and steel you to grasp everything will be waiting at the destination when you arrive in Croatia. Additionally, you will be able to gain first hand data on the country Croatia’s rich history and learn how to appreciate more about their culture when you go to Croatia. Here are some useful tips you should consider before going to Croatia.

Geography, Climate and Time Sector in Croatia :

Croatia is situated between south Europe and central Europe. Croatia has a varied topography is composed of hills, mountains, dense and coarse shores located in different parts of the country Croatia. In Croatia the hot season occurs from July to Aug, with temperatures in the limits of twenty-five degrees to 35 degrees Celsius. The ideal time for swimming and sunbathing in Croatia is in the months of Apr, May, June, Sep and October, when the sun in Croatia is sort of high and the heat is so intense.You must come in Dubrovnik,Split and Makarska. In addition, the fall of Croatia falls to Time area CET and EST, with GMT two hours for the summer and GMT 1 hour for the remainder of the year in Croatia.

Visa and Passport for Croatia :

You should prepare two documents if you plan to go on a trip to visit Croatia. Croatia needs travelers to present your visa and passport, along a test to determine that you have sufficient funds for the duration of their stay in Croatia. A roundtrip ticket is necessary when entering Croatia. But UK visitors, Australians, Canadians, USA citizens and Europeans do not have to submit a visa to enter Croatia.

Embassy of Croatia

The office of Croatia permits visitors to bring only a controlled number of items without tax. You can take foreign currency, but will need to put in writing if the amount is just over $ 7.400. They also allow visitors in Croatia to buy Croatian products, but will have to put up the $ eight hundred limit on products or products. Rates exceeding this amount will be punished with a fine to leave Croatia.

Currency in Croatia :

The official currency of Croatia is the Kuna. A Croatian Kuna is presently equivalent to $ 0.1839USD and it varies every day, then you better check the rate of change of Croatia prior to making your travel plans to Croatia. You can change money at banks in Croatia and in the money exchange at the airport in Croatia. You can also use your ATM card in trattorias, if ever you do not carry enough money with you while in Croatia.

Transportation in Croatia :

If you plan to explore the outer areas of Croatia, you can take one of the ferries to cross to other islands in Croatia. Just remember the departure times of the ferries are operating in tough schedule in Croatia. In Croatia there also are buses and trains that travel to other towns in Croatia. You’ll choose to hire a auto and make your own tour of the stunning towns of Croatia, writes tagza.com.

Dubrovnik is starting to become a top class dining town, with a spread of dining experiences, glorious locations by the sea and in the country side.

Whether you want to eat in the luxurious environment of top modern restaurants, or prefer a rustic setting in nature and traditional dishes, all this may be found in Dubrovnik.

A Daily Mail hack visited Dubrovnik lately and was delighted by its beauty and the delicacies she tasted in its restaurants. ‘The fascinating Croatian port has definitely found its place on the map of A-list Western european vacation spots It’s clear that this great important region and its cultural giant of a city proudly adheres to its customs but at the same time is comfortably transforming itself into a modern and glamorous destination to see and be seen in ‘ – she concluded in the article.

In Pile, close to the sea at the entrance to the Old Town, there’s a restaurant Nautika, considered by many one of the most attractive and most prestigious catering facilities in Croatia.

You can taste the best seafood specialties and selected delicacies there, on the terrace offering a spectacular view of the sea and Bokar and Lovrijenac fortresses. Besides glorious service and relaxed atmosphere, you can expect excellent choice of foreign and domestic wines.

Nautica is a place where practice, quality and creativeness unite and make a completely new, “elevated” dimension of the Mediterranean cuisine. Take a look at the clip below for a sneak preview…

Restaurant Proto, set up in 1886. And refurbished in 2002 is found in the core of the Dubrovnik old town. It continues impressive history of fish dishes prepared in a way of Dubrovnik fishing continues. Quality service and hospitality with a rich choice of locally grown wines will actually satisfy even the trickiest guests.

Many famous folks have visited it during its long history, and the cafe boasts with visit of English king Edward VIII, and Mrs.Simpson.

In the age of mobile communications, it is difficult to set aside a little time for non-public life, family and friends. Nevertheless there’s a place in the Dubrovnik area that was spared the noise, pollution and crowds.

In the gentle Konavle, in greenery of the hundrad years of age wood, on the banks of clear streams Ljuta, there is a bistro where time seems to have stopped. In Konavoski dvori meals are prepared in the precisely same way as ancestors of that region did.

There, you can enjoy the glorious smoked ham, cheese kept in oil, young lamb and veal baked under the iron bell, home-baked bread, grilled trout and other specialities of this respected bistro.

The staff wearing traditional costumes also makes a contribution to the atmosphere of bygone times. Check out the clip below – a visit here will simply resurrect you.

If you find yourself in Dubrovnik at this time of the year be sure to pay a trip to Dubrovnik Summer Festival when medieval walls of the town host world renowned artists as reported tagza.com.

The “Freestyle Cruising” concept is playing out brilliantly on board Norwegian Jade in the Mediterranean this summer.

The ship’s owner, Norwegian Cruise Firm, pioneered the model over a decade ago regimented onboard routines and set dining times wouldn’t be thrust on their passengers. It’s their holiday, after all.

As an alternative passengers would enjoy a profusion of onboard entertainment and dining choices yet with no set schedules or perhaps dress codes to stick to.

As passengers settled into their seven-night, roundtrip Venice excursion this week (port calls included Dubrovnik and Split, Croatia ; Athens, Greece and Izmir, Turkey) what they found was a 2,402-passenger ship which never sleeps.

The corporation passenger mix here onboard can wake to fitness center activities and aerobics, two golfing driving nets, shuffleboard, outsized chess, volleyball / basketball court and paddle tennis.

The pool deck features 2 swimming pools (one adults-only), a water slide and four hot tubs. Jade also includes a full-service spa and salon, a 7,000-square foot boutique, art gallery, Internet center, library, casino, and for evening entertainment, a three-deck theater that plays host to a variety of performances.

Jade offers a supervised facility for kids featuring a play gym, flick theatre with kid’s films, PC center, and a crafts area. There’s also a club for teens and a computer games arcade.

Jade stateroom accommodations run the gamut, too. There’s a suite complex at the top of the ship complete along with 2 magnificent five thousand square-foot garden villas, a luxury owner’s suite, 3 owner’s suites and 10 yard villas, eight of which have a new children’s bedroom.

World Class Dining

Top flight dining places abound on this ship.

That might appear surprising to some great dining is historically the domain of the luxury cruise sector and not necessarily what one expects to find on a mass market vessel.

Jade , however , delivers. There are some 14 dining options, and passengers would be hard-pressed to find comparable dcor, quality and service at even their fave land-based locales.

From U.S. Steak and seafood (Cagney’s), and Tex-Mex (Paniolo Tapas & Salsa), to French (Le Bistro) and Italian (Papa’s Kitchen) offerings, the ship is alive at dinner hour. Most notably, Jasmine Garden is the culinary center. The Asian cafe complicated, located on Deck seven mid-ship, features made-to-order sushi and sashimi, a Sake Bar and a Teppanyaki grill and is clearly a runaway fave with passengers.

Look for Cagney’s, a classical steakhouse from the 1930s and the ship’s signature restaurant, to serve a 32-ounce porterhouse for two ; at Paniolo their tangy signature dish lobster tacos is a must ; and both Le Bistro and Papa’s offer classical French and Italian fare respectively.

And while all the aforementioned speciality cafes require nominal charges ranging from $10-25 per person, Jade still packs a punch with quality food and choice in its no further charge main dining rooms Grand Pacific and Alizar and Garden Caf where alluring buffet spreads are offered including speciality dishes from ports, that the ship just visited. Following a port call this week to Izmir, Turkey, for instance, the culinary team featured Turkish bread with chicken and assorted kebabs.

Dining options are a significant element today in the cruise industry as more ships than previously offer alternative onboard locales for their passengers to enjoy. At Norwegian Cruise Line nevertheless , it is the awfully basis of their “Freestyle Cruising” concept where one is offered a host of major dining choices, relaxed dress codes, and the freedom to eat with whom they desire, when they want at a locale that’s correct for them on the evening of their selecting. As such, all restaurants aboard Jade feature open seating and flexible, extended dining hours.

Speciality restaurant reservations can be made in specific locales just minutes before dining, though to avoid being disappointed, advance reservations are recommended.

Still hungry? Jade offers 24 hour waiter service. The new and expanded menu includes soups, salads, pizza, assorted sandwiches and puddings. There’s also a kid’s menu and a special occasion menu that has a jumbo shrimp platter, a collection of world cheeses and Caspian sea Sevruga caviar, writes tagza.com.