Mediterranean

San Remo, five-card stud

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Sanremo is a small enclave on the Mediterranean coast of Italy in an area of theItalian Riviera.

The city was founded in Roman times and is a very popular tourist destination known for its cycling and its music festival held there each year.

The city has its own casino and is believed to be the origin of the card game version five-card stud, called telesina. Among the places of interest in Sanremo are theMunicipal Casino, the Ariston Theatre, and the Municipal Casino’s Opera Theatre. The city is sometimes called The City of Flowers because of its important reliance on this part of its economy; the city has its own international flower market, and nearby cities also rely heavily on horticulture and plant flowers for the Sanremo market.

The Sanremo Music Festival is a must do each year, a contest which has been held since 1951 and there is also a song contest for authors, a flower parade, and aFirework International Contest held in August.

Other things to do include the Milan- Sanremo cycle race, the Sanremo Rally which is part of the World Rally Championship, and local Serie A football.

Sanremo’s cuisine is decidedly Italian and Taverna Al 29 is highly recommended serving Mediterranean cuisine. Ristorante Pizzeria Pagoda is also good for Italian fare.

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Ibiza no longer the place to party

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Ibiza (read here other news) is known as the party place but these days the Spanish isle is becoming highly commercialised and over-developed. The thought is that what is happening there is untenable.

The island which sits in the Mediterranean off the coast of Valencia, Spain has seen a high influx of British tourists that has caused some damage to island’s image.

The fix to that problem was to make the island more expensive which hasn’t done much to address the real issues. High end after parties have been banned on the island but the bad behavior still permeates Ibiza.

While it’s marketed as a big spring break destination the crowds which flock there are not the “good” behaving types.

Tour packages, VIP’s, and the very rich make Ibiza their stomping ground. The new look Ibiza is not sitting well. It’s becoming a haven for the spoilt, the rich, the prostituting, and drug dealers.

Two girls have been the latest to be sent to jail for smuggling cocaine from Peru into the fair isle.

The pair call Ibiza home and claim that they were forced by an armed Spanish gang to do the dirty deed.

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Faro, beauty in the Algarve

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Faro (read here other news) is the southernmost city in continental Portugal and is capital of the region known as the Algarve.

The city is located to the Ria Formosa Lagoon which is a nature reserve which serves as a landing point for hundreds of species of birds annually. The city’s beach is around 7 kilometres away and is on a long spit.

Among the city’s main sites are the statue of King Afonso III, Faro’s marina, Faro Cathedral, the old Carmo church, square, and the Civil government building. There is a 30,000 seater sports stadium

Of the events staged in Faro there is the Faro International Motorcycle Rally and a student’s festival in September of each year.

Like much of Portugal, Faro has a Mediterranean climate and enjoys warm to hot summers and generally mild winter temperatures.

The marine life provides a good opportunity for scuba diving while the Old Town is a must-see. The Le Marquis is rated as the top restaurant in the small city with lovely continental cuisine.

Faro is served by the Faro International Airport with flights from other main European cities such as London and Paris. The city is served by many low budget airlines.

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Lisbon, charming town

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Lisbon is the capital and largest city of Portugal nicknamed The City of Seven Hills. This city is unique in that it is the westernmost capital city inEurope and the only one on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and the oldest in Western Europe, and the Belem Tower and Jeronimos Monastery are Unesco World Heritage Sites.

Other places to visit include the Monsanto Forest Park, Castle of Sao Jorge, Luis de Camoes Square, Monument to the Discoveries, and Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos.

There are also a number of museums worth visiting including Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga,the National Azulejo Museum, the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, and the Museu Nacional do Traje e da Moda,Museum of the Orient, the Museu do Teatro Romano, and the Lisbon City Museum.

The city, which sits on the mouth of the Tagus River, has a Mediterraneanclimate with warm winters and summers

The city is served by the Lisbon Portela Airport. A high speed rail network connects the city with other parts of Portugal while a tram network operates in the city.

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Florence, history’s new birthplace

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Florence is a city in Italy’s Tuscany region famous for being the fashion capital of the country as well as the heart of the Renaissance. The city is famous for its history and architecture and is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Among the most famous museums in Florence are the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace. Other sites which may interest tourists are the famous Santa Maria Fiore cathedral, the Campanilewhich sits nearby, and the Baptistery and the Palazzo Vecchio and Ponte Vecchio. ThePiazza della Signoria is in the city’s centre.

The city is on a basin near the Senese Clavey Hills and the Arno River. The city has a humid sub-tropical and Mediterranean climate and has hot humid summers and cool damps winters.

Food is very important in Italian culture and also in Florence as well as wine. The city sits in Italy’s Tuscany region famous for its wines. Not far from Florence is the Chianti region.

The Osteria Vini e Vecchi Sapari is the most highly recommended restaurant in the city where reservations are mandatory. Food includes tripe and lampdredotto, antipasti, and salt less Tuscan bread. The city is served by the Amerigo Vespucci Airport and also has a city bus and tram and railway stations.

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Malta, where centuries of history live

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One of the most densely populated countries in the world, the small Mediterranean island of Malta remains popular among British tourists. The island sits south of the island of Sicily and just north of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea.

The island has a warm climate and many recreational areas which makes it a tourist favourite.There are three Unesco World Heritage Sites on the island which is filled with architectural and historical monuments.

Among them are the Megalithic Temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world. The island has a strong historical background having once been a base for Phoenicians, Hapsburg Spain, Romans, Aragonese, Arabs, Norman, French, and British.

Carnival has had a strong place in Maltan culture and it also has a strong Christian legacy. The architecture has been highly influenced by its Roman culture with classical and marble structures. Mosaic floors and Christian frescos decorate catacombs and Romanesque as well as Southern Gothic movements also have a place in Maltan culture.

The Italian artist Caravaggio painted seven of his works in Malta, two of the most notable being on display on the island.  

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Dubrovnik, pearl of the Adriatic

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Sitting along the Dalmatiancoast of Croatia is the city of Dubrovnik. Nicknamed the Pearl of the Adriatic, the old city was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1979.The city was founded in the seventh century and is considered one of the ten best medieval walled cities of the world.

The city boasts Europe‘s third oldest pharmacy established in 1317. Many old buildings were destroyed in an earthquake in 1667 but several still remain. Among the cities highlights are the Sponza. Palace which now holds the National Archives; Rectors Palace, St. Saviour’s Church -all dating back to the Renaissance as well as the 18th century St. Blaise’s Church.

The wall of Dubrovnik is one of the main features of the city which is a popular tourist destination featuring many top class hotels. Each summer a festival known as the Dubrovnik Summer Festival is held in the city. The festival is 45 days long and involves concerts, games, and live plays.With a Mediterranean climate Dubrovnik has hot dry summers and wet winters. It has its own international airport is also accessible to the rest of Croatia by highway.It is used as the location of King’s Landing in HBO‘s series Game of Thrones. 

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