Athens is a wonderful city with history, culture and entertainment.  The best time to visit really all depends on you.  If you like crowds, warm and hot weather, a vibrant night life and so on; you should go in the summer months (June to August).  This is the time of year where children, teens and adults are out of school or college and those who work as well.  In Europe the summer months are a guaranteed two week vacation so you will see plenty of tourists from that area.  If you prefer quiet and less crowded the rest of the year is your best choice, except for holidays of course.  Keep in mind that the winter months start from about November until February.  If you don’t want to be on vacation with winds, rain and cold you might want to opt out of those months. You just need to choose your dates and book the best hotel in Athens. Have fun!

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The Spanish cuisine was acquired from various cultural influences that include the Roman, Jewish and Arab traditions.  At the same time every region, town and city adapted their unique spin, like it happens in most countries.  Something is added, something taken away from and so on.  You can be sure that most foods will at one point or another include potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, beans and ham.  In Madrid one traditional and favored food includes the “jamon”, ham from the Iberian pig.  This type of ham is darker and with a more distinct flavour than usual ham.  The second food to try that is typical of this area is the bull’s tail.  In addition to these you will have the chance to taste local dishes when you go out for drinks.  In Madrid when you order drinks at a bar they will bring you “tapas” too.  “Tapas” are snack foods that will include local preferred dishes.  Something sweet that is also unique to Madrid is churros with hot chocolate.  This is a must try and the oldest and most renowned place to go for this is the Chocolaterìa San Ginés.

Athens is a one of those tourist cities that has everything.  You can find amazing beaches, relax, night clubs and pubs, great food, and historical sites.  History, architecture and artefact lovers can find so many sites that feed their curiosity and love for Greek culture and remains.  One of the first sites that needs mentioning is the Acropolis and the Parthenon.  These remains are a standing symbol of Greek history and tales, as well as standing in a spot that gives you one of the most panoramic views over the city.  The National Archaeological Museum is where you should go next.  Expect to spend at least a couple hours in it and see a collection of artefacts from the Cycladic Island, Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.  Other sites you should try to see are the Temple of Poseidon, Piraeus Archaeological Museum, Nautical Museum and Lycabettus Hill.

Tourists who come to Lisbon know they are going to see sites and relax, but they will also want to taste typical dishes of this area.  Any place you visit, should have gastronomic exploration as well.  Unless you are that picky of an eater there are some things you will want to taste while you are in Lisbon.  Due to the fact that Portugal is predominately a seafaring nation it is assured that you will find an array of fresh fish and shellfish dishes.  In addition to exquisite seafood dishes the Portuguese like to mix spices and flavors.  Some of the most popular dishes that you will want to try include grilled sardines, which is especially favored in the summer and on their saints’ celebration.  Snacks that you will find in small taverns are things like boiled snails and deep fried green beans.  This last dish, even though most often imported, is salted codfish.  Salted codfish known as bacalhau is considered the national dish and served as a tradition during the Christmas season with olive oil, potatoes and cabbage.

If Andalucia is the most beautiful part of Spain, Granada is the most beautiful part of Andalucia: Granada is a magical city that stands out to the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountain and today we wish to be part of its magic.

Attention to all fashion lovers! That’s a fair that you can’t miss when you visit Madrid!

Madrid International Fashion Fair is being held in Madrid during the month of July, this year it will be held between July16th to 18^th at Feria de Madrid.

Madrid International Fashion Fair is where quality and variety go hand-in-hand on the runway! It’s one of those fairs where business mixes with pleasure. It will be held at Feria de Madrid from 16 to 18 July 2009.

There you could enjoy the outcome of the participation of many international companies on each edition of the fair.Such yearly participation confirmed the event as one of the leading centers for business within the world of fashion.

Of course there’s a strong presence of neighboring European brands. Many European countries like Portugal, France & Italy come to speak one language in Spain which happened to be not Spanish or English, it’s fahsionish!

World-wide brands also participate heavily with their latest trends. Designers from Latin American countries like Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico compete with their European colleagues to reach the goal of leading the world fashion trends.

Feria de San Isidro in Madrid, a biggest event in the capital of Spain.

Yet another religious festival between May 14^th to 20^th . Besides the musical performances, this Saint’s Day of Madrid celebrations takes place in a park carrying his name which is San Isidro Parks.

Enjoy the “Desayuno” in your travel to Madrid. The typical breakfast in Madrid consists of white coffee and buttered or oiled toast (Spanish Breakfast Foods) . Any traveler will surely see that the “madrileño” or the people of Madrid has a passion for the slender, curly fingers called “churros” or the larger “porras”. Also, there’s a typical midmorning snack! It is usually a slice of omlet, but the Spanish way!

London home stay is ideally suited for the international students requiring budget accommodation for a long period. The London home stay also offers the facility of interaction with native English speakers, which is an advantage for international students. Another aspect of London home stay is the fact that the accommodation allows staying among families thus generating a homely atmosphere in an estranged land for international students who have traveled to this far away place for their education.  Home stay London is also available to cost-conscious travelers looking for budget accommodation. The high priced London hotels are beyond the reach of budget travelers thus home stay London with their cheaper rates and homely comfort becomes the ideal option for the budget traveler.  3tmrcpjavy

Eating in Rome. There is nothing more culinary famous than Rome in the world! The city has a well known, and great, reputation when it comes to food recipes or traditions. Food on its own is considered one of the great pleasures of every day life in Rome. Although depends mainly on simple dishes and primitive ingredients, Rome cuisine has a strong taste.

The good news for food lovers visiting Rome is that restaurants in Rome are quite cheap! Compared to other European cities, regardless of the fame of their cuisines, having lunch or dinner is usually much less expensive.

Restaurants in Rome are divided into categories according to their prices range. Also, you can find particular price ranges in particular places so you don’t have to walk much in search for a restaurant that meets your budget, or taste!

Greece is a very rich country indeed. The people there try to maintain their great cultural reputation that they gained throughout history by holding many events through the year that serves art and culture in many ways.

Since Athens has a lot of events, I preferred to pick up some of these events and tell you a bit about each:

Hellenic Festival:

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The Hellenic Festival is a big one, it takes place in Athen’s  Herodes Atticus Theatre and offers a large range of performances. You can attend modern and ancient theatres, watch magnificent ballet shows, listen to different music like opera, jazz, classical and symphonic music. Many great singers from Greece and all over the worldparticipate as well in this very special event. You can catch the festival from June 2 to September 28.

International Jazz & Blues Festival:

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Another festival for music lovers! The International Jazz and Blues Festival takes place in June at the Theatre of Lycabettus, the same theater which also welcomes every year many other events such as music, dances and theatrical performances from local and international performers.

If  Andalusia is the most beautiful part of Spain, Granada is the most beautiful part of Andalusia: it is a magical city that stands out to the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountain and today we wish to be part of its magic.
As soon as we arrive here, we go to visit the famous fortress of the Alhambra, an architectonic masterpiece where Muslim influences and Christian’s aesthetic meet harmonically.
Here we can spend a lot of hours strolling from the real Alhambra, in all its quarters, to the sequence of courtyards, tree-lined avenues and garden, from the Cathedral, with its numerous chapels, to the Palacio of the Generalife, that extend itself until the mountains.
But we can breathe the true atmosphere of this city into its centre, that we can imagine as a stairway in which every step is like a different city with different origins. In the low part prevails Spain, in its more typical expressions, from the popular culture to the cooking and feast tradition.  After some step we are full immersed into the Arabic world, still today very present, although the Christian colonization, thanks to the vitality of the quarter Muslim -Tzigane of the Albaycìn (opposite to the Alhambra): a triumph of tight and narrow roads, of bloomed courtyards and terraces, of “teterias”, arabesque versions of Turkish baths, but also of particular craftsmen shops.  A splendid holiday spent in the true heart of Spain.

Les Cases d’Alcanar is a little village known for its marine tradition. The boats of the fishermen are painted with plenty of colors and are in a certain way the image of the village itself. They are part of the landscape just like the seafront, the fish sale and the many restaurants facing the Mediterranean sea. Close to Les Cases d’Alcanar the delta of the river Ebre, the main center of seafood in Catalonia where you can find mussels, clams and oysters.

Particularly interesting the fish market of Sant Carles de la Ràpita where you can see the fishermen disembarking their fresh fish on the beach and the gastronomic days of tuna fish at l’Hospitalet de l’Infant.

An area really worth a stop and a nice eating facing the Mediterranean Sea.

Madrid

Palacio Liria is a 18th century architectural gem, faithfully rebuilt after its destruction during the Spanish Civil War. This sumptuous neoclassical palace is barely visible from the famous Calle Princesa, because of the growth of its English landscape garden. Commissioned by King Felipe V’s favorite, the Conde Duque de Olivares, Palacio Liria has been the residence of the House of Alba for the last two centuries.
In order to visit Palacio Liria, a special appointment is needed. Inside Palacio Liria there is one of the most important private collections of Spain, with paintings by El Greco, Titian, Fray Engélico and Velasquez.

Cracow (Kraków) is believed to be one of the oldest towns in Poland and, according to the tradition, it was founded around the year 700 A.D. as a fortress. Cracow is a Cathedral town by the year 1000, the seat of Polish monarchs in Wavel Castle from 1038 and the centre of one of the oldest universities in Central Europe, the Jagiellonian University, established by King Kaziemiers III Wilki in 1384. Cracow in the Middle Ages was a junction point of trade routes from Western and Southern Europe to the Baltic Sea and Byzantium, a town where master builders, painters and artisans flocked-in from all over Europe; the city was incorporated by Napoleon into the Duchy of Warsaw, so it became a free city and the capital town of a mini-republic, then incorporated in the Austrian Habsburg Empire and occupied by the Germans from 1939 to 1945 when it was taken by the Soviet troops. Today Cracow, the 3rd largest city in Poland, with its historic buildings and churches, its museums, its stunning Market Square, its over 175.000 students, its concerts of classical music and jazz, its artistic life, its restaurants and pubs and, the last but not the least, the home of the revolutionary patriot Tadeusz Kosciuszko, of the poet Mickiewicz and of the statesman Jozef Pilsudski.