Posts Tagged ‘Portugal’

Wine travel


2010
03.10

Wine has been an integral part of many civilizations since a long time. Wine formed an important part of the culture in many countries ever since the origin of mankind. Many of our wine making skills dates back to our ancestors who originally invented the process of producing the finest wines in the world. Although the methods for fermenting grapes to produce wine may have grown more refined today but their basics originate from the procedures laid down by our ancestors. Many of the craziest people in world hang about at different places to experience the finest wine quality produced throughout the globe. These trips for tasting wines are growing more and more popular each day. Exclusive visits to specific wine producing areas are planned for an exotic experience of tasting wine at a place where it originates.

Many of the countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Germany, California and those in the Mediterranean region are all known for producing wine. Yet the finest wines in the present day scenario are believed to come from France. France has lately emerged as most popular wine producing country offering too many varieties of wines available throughout the world.

Recreational trips are developing many new themes for travel each day and the tour operators are coming up with new ideas to attract prospective customers. Due to the ever-growing popularity of wine in our community many wine tasting trips are organized either individually or by groups. Also many tour operators organize trips to wine producing regions where wine lovers can have great pleasurable moments. Trips can be to any local wine rearing area or somewhere far off where one can reach comfortably only through air. Some places are very famous for making finest wines and people are usually attracted to the popular spots that produce wines so that they can taste the best wines at their original place. Also many high profile companies that produce wine send invitations to their valued customers as a business promotion plan, so that the customers can have a taste of the recently launched flavors of wine. Whatever be the reason a wine tasting trip is always an exhilarating experience for a wine explorer.

Wine tasting trips can last for a day, a week or more than that depending on the available time and the choice of destination. Many tour organizers also combine wine trips with an exotic location for lodging and a lavish food style coupled along the trip so that the travelers have an experience of lifetime. Among all possible destinations France has emerged as the mast preferred spot for wine enthusiasts. It gives a feeling like experiencing heaven on earth when one is on any personalized wine exploration tour.

Wine exploration can be great for wine novices and wine experts as it makes them familiar with the most popular wines and also the best selected ones. Anyone serving wine for tasting needs to take care of every small details of the surrounding to create a perfect ambience for the occasion . The glasses used should be tapering towards the sides and the color of class should always be transparent. One must remember that visitors are here to taste wine and not to drink it hence the quantity poured must be very small around one-third the size of glass. Enthusiasts of wine always immensely cherish wine exploration trips.

Euro Travel


2010
01.16

If youre going to Europe, and planning on traveling, rather than staying in the one place for the duration of your vacation, and you dont want to spend a fortune, theres two or three alternative ways that you can travel throughout the continent.

The first option would be to take what you might call the traditional budget alternative, which would generally be backpacking and traveling by train. Nothing wrong with that at all, and by using a pass on the trains (known as a Eurailpass, and available in the USA from http://www.raileurope.com/eurorail/index.htm) you can certainly reduce your spending, whilst journeying widely throughout many countries.

There are, however, a couple of down sides to this traditional budget planning.

First, whilst it can often be exhilarating and exciting to meet and travel with strangers on a train, equally, sometimes, its nice to have your own space to enjoy the journey, on your own.

Secondly, by definition, trains can only take you as far as the railway station, and railway stations are not always placed where you want them to be placed. In other words, if you have definite target places that you want to see, then you might end up having to take a train, then a bus or taxi (for who knows what distances) before arriving at your destination. This shouldnt be a problem if the place you so desperately want to visit is in the city, but what if it not?

And, of course, trains run to their timetable, not yours!

An alterative to trains are planes. Flying within Europe is now extremely cheap, and can be reasonably convenient, especially if you are visiting a country that it widely geared up for tourism.

For example, right now, it is possible to fly from the UK to beautiful Salzburg in Austria for GBP19 one way (approximately $35) or to Istanbul in Turkey for GBP31. See http://www.easyjet.com or http://www.ryanair.com for more information on availability of flights and fares.

Budget flying, however, carries with it many of the disadvantages of the trains crammed into small seats next to someone you have never met before, the inevitable delays and so on.

So, heres my suggestion. If you are lucky enough to be planning an extended European adventure, (at least one month) then make it a real adventure of which you are in total control.

Travel by car. Then, you can go exactly where you want, when you want, you can choose your own company, and, basically, youre the boss. Maybe you are now thinking, nothing so revolutionary in that, car hire is not exactly a new idea, is it?

No,. it isnt, but Im not suggesting that you use Hertz, Avis or any of the other global car rental companies.

Im suggesting that you do what I did some years ago for a three month tour of Europe.

BUY a car a used model, something relatively cheap that you can then resell at a later date, before you fly home. Make sure that its a fairly basic model, something that is widely available throughout Europe (so that any required spare parts will be cheap and plentiful) and that its mechanically straightforward no turbochargers or superchargers so that if anything does go wrong with it on your travels, repairs will be simple (i.e. inexpensive) as well.

In my case, I traveled to Europe, bought an estate car (a station wagon) in France for $750, drove some 10,000kms throughout France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and so on, and sold it for $650 three months later. Apart from a couple of minor repairs (a new battery) and the cost of the gasoline, I lost exactly $100 on the deal.

In the meantime, I had gone exactly where I wanted, when I wanted and done exactly what I wanted to when I got there! Truly, the freedom of the open road!

Yes, it was travel on a budget, but it was definitely not what I would think of as budget travel! To read more, http://webbiz99.com/eurotravel/index.php