Florence - Italy

Florence (Italian: Firenze) is the capital of the region of Tuscany in Italy, with a population of about 366,500. The city is considered a cultural, artistic and architectural gem.

Florence was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Politically, economically, and culturally it was the most important city in Europe for around 250 years; from some time before 1300 until the early 1500s.

Florentines reinvented money in the form of the gold florin. This currency was the engine that drove Europe out of the "Dark Ages" a term invented by Petrarch, a Florentine whose family had been exiled to Arezzo. They financed the development of industry all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon, to Hungary. They financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War. They financed the papacy, including the construction of the papal palace in Avignon and the reconstruction of St. Peters and the Vatican when the papacy returned to Rome from the "Babylonian captivity".

Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio pioneered the use of the vernacular, the use of a language other than Latin. In their case, Tuscan, which, because of them, became Italian. Because Dante, et al., wrote in Tuscan, Geoffrey Chaucer, who spent a lot of time in Northern Italy and who stole Boccaccio's little stories, wrote in English. Others started writing in French and Spanish. This was the beginning of the end of Latin as a common language throughout Europe.

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain, as well as the capital of the autonomous community of the same name (Comunidad de Madrid). The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million with a metro area population of almost 6.5 million. Madrid is best known for its great cultural and artistic heritage, a good example of which is the El Prado museum. Madrid also boasts some of the liveliest nightlife in the world.

Madrid is located just northeast of the geographical center of the Iberian Peninsula, in the middle of the Spanish central Castillian plateau (Meseta central), at an average altitude of 650m. Nearly all of the most famous tourist areas are located in the center of the city including Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, and Plaza de Colón. The major streets in Madrid include the Gran Via, Alcalá Street, and Paseo de la Castellana.

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia. Having played a central role in the development of the Russian state and its history, Moscow was the capital of the former Soviet Unionand continues to pave the way as Muscovites move into the 21st century. An 860 year-old city, Moscow has many reminders of its imperial and Soviet past. It is a sprawling city with numerous museums, 

Moscow (IATA: MOW) has four main airports:

• Sheremetyevo International Airport, (IATA: SVO) +7 495 232-65-65 .
• Domodedovo International Airport (IATA: DME) +7 495 933-66-66.
• Vnukovo International Airport (IATA: VKO) Tel: (Head Office) +7 495 436-71-9 
• Ostafyevo Airport (ICAO: UUMO) 

Moscow is by far the main air traffic hub of Russia and will continue to be as both Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo are undergoing major development plans.

During the years 1980-1991 all international flights to Moscow landed at Sheremetyevo International Airport, commonly called Sheremetyevo II, which was recently renamed "Terminal F". The home base of Aeroflot, Sheremetyevo II was built for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Sheremetyevo I (now "Terminal B") is an old Soviet era domestic terminal of the same airport. Today Sheremetyevo also has three new terminals - C, D (the new Aeroflot's home) and E.

Mykonos

Mykonos is a popular tourist destination in the Greek islands of the Cyclades group, situated in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Mykonos is located south of Tinos, east of Syros and north of Paros and Naxos.

From the Greek mainland ferries and highspeed catamaran services run daily from Piraeus and Rafina. The highspeeds take half the time but cost twice as much.

The journey between the port of Piraeus (Athens) and Mykonos takes between 3h 30min and 5h 15min, depending on the type of ferry you are taking. On a slow ferry a seat in economy class will cost € 32; on a highspeed service expect to pay € 54.50. In Piraeus all the highspeed ferries to Mykonos depart from Port Gate Ε7; the conventional ferries leave from Port Gate Ε1. Most of the ferries connecting Piraeus to Mykonos stop working by end of October and resume by April.

Lloret del Mar

Lloret del Mar is a resort city on the Costa Brava, Spain, northeast of Barcelona. Lloret is famed for its "young crowd", late nightlife, and the beach.

Girona/Gerona/Costa Brava airport, or by train from Barcelona. There are now buses to Lloret from the airport at €10.You'll find them on the Girona airport internet site. Because of the narrow streets, coaches will often drop people little walk from their hotels. A little more expensive at just over €10 is the (shared) ShuttleDirect which is direct and will drop you off and pick you up at your accommodation. There are also a number of official pick up points round town for bus (shuttle coaches) which you will probably leave from rather than your hotel. You must confirm pickup with the shuttle service up to 72 hours before going home.

Vienna

Vienna (German: Wien, Austro-Bavarian: Wean) is the capital of the Republic of Austria. It is by far the largest city in Austria (pop. 1.7m), as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. As the former home of the Habsburg court and its various empires, the city still has the trappings of the imperial capital it once was, and the historic city centre is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Traditional Vienna is but one of the many façades of this city; the historic center, a UNESCO world heritage site, is sometimes begrudgingly compared to an open-air museum. But Vienna is also a dynamic young city, famous for its (electronic) music scene with independent labels, cult-status underground record stores, a vibrant Monday through Sunday club scene, multitudes of street performers, and a government that seems overly obsessed with complicated paperwork. However, people are willing to go out of their way or bend the rules a little if they feel they can do someone a favor.

Romania

Romania (România) is a country located north of the Balkan Peninsula on the western shores of the Black Sea. It is a country of great natural beauty and diversity and a rich cultural heritage. Romania enchants visitors with its scenic mountain landscapes and unspoilt rural areas, but also with its historic cities and its busy capital. Over the last decade, it has seen significant development and is one of the most recent members of the European Union. Still, it may surprise some of its visitors who are used to western Europe.

Romania is a large country which can sometimes be shocking with contrasts: some cities are truly Western Europe; some villages can seem to have been brought back from the past. While it has significant cultural similarities with other Balkan states, it is regarded as unique due to its strong Latin heritage. Things for which Romania is famous include: the Carpathian mountains, Constantin Brancusi, wine, medieval fortresses, Mircea Eliade, Dacia cars, Dracula, stuffed cabbage leaves, Nadia Comaneci, the Black Sea, Gheorghe Hagi, sunflower fields, painted monasteries and the Danube Delta.

Venice - Travel destination

Venice (Italian: Venezia) is one of the most interesting and lovely places in Italy. This sanctuary on a lagoon is virtually the same as it was six hundred years ago, which adds to the fascinating character. Venice has decayed since its heyday and is heavily touristed (there are slightly more tourists than residents), but the romantic charm remains.

This place may not seem huge but it is. Venice is made of different boroughs. The most famous is the area comprising the 118 islands in the main districts that are called "Sestieri" and they are: Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce and San Marco, where the main monuments and sights are located. Other main districts are Isola Della Giudecca and Lido di Venezia. Other important islands include Murano, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto and Burano, but there are several.

Because Venice is on a lagoon, the water plays a crucial role in transportation. Whichever way you arrive, the last part of your journey will be on foot from the nearest waterbus/watertaxi jetty. If you need to carry or wheel bags along the narrow streets, bear this in mind when chosing your hotel location and route to it.

Gibraltar Tourist Destination

Gibraltar, colloquially known as The Rock, (or simply 'Gib'), is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom with a 2004 population of approximately 27,800 people. It sits at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, and is bordered by Spain to the north. The people of Gibraltar are British citizens.

Gibraltar is not part of the Schengen Area or the EU. This means that there are immigration and customs controls when traveling between Spain and Gibraltar. Citizens of the European Union are required to have a national identity card or passport, while all others are required to have a passport to enter. The entry requirements for Gibraltar are not the same as the United Kingdom. Unless exempt from visa requirements, to enter Gibraltar you must have either a Gibraltar visa (to be applied for separately from a normal British visa at a British embassy/consulate), a UK visa valid for at least one year, or a UK permit of residence valid for at least 5 years. If arriving by air, Gibraltar airport staff will refuse entry to anyone who does not comply with these requirements.

Although entry into Gibraltar will technically invalidate a single-entry Schengen visa, in practice passports are checked but not stamped on entry by land, and those with single-entry visas usually get re-admitted to Spain without any problems.

After crossing customs, you may be asked to cross the airfield, being absolutely exposed to planes. DO NOT behave differently in this area. Sometimes, if you are on a tour you can stay on the vehicle and citizens using cars can cross by car.

Malta is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea that lies south of the island of Sicily, Italy. The country is an archipelago, with only the three largest islands being inhabited.

There are no border controls between countries that have signed and implemented the treaty - the European Union (except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Likewise, a visa granted for any Schengen member is valid in all other countries that have signed and implemented the treaty. But be careful: not all EU members have signed the Schengen treaty, and not all Schengen members are part of the European Union. This means that there may be spot customs check but no immigration checks (travelling within Schengen but to/from a non-EU country) or you may have to clear immigration but not customs (travelling within the EU but to/from a non-Schengen country).

Airports in Europe are thus divided into "Schengen" and "non-Schengen" sections, which effectively act like "domestic" and "international" sections elsewhere. If you are flying from outside Europe into one Schengen country and continuing to another, you will clear Immigration and Customs at the first country and then continue to your destination with no further checks. Travel between a Schengen member and a non-Schengen country will result in the normal border checks. Note that regardless of whether you are travelling within the Schengen area or not, many airlines will still insist on seeing your ID card or passport.

Sardinia

Sardinia, with its quintessential Mediterranean beauty, is mainly loved for swimming, boating, windsurfing, hiking, climbing, and camping, with coastal areas tending to become over touristed especially in the warmest month, August. The inner life of the island away from the tourist spots takes longer to appreciate and requires you to peel away the layers of apparent Italianization. After all, the ancient Nuragic civilization of Sardinia of ca. 1500 BC, whose stone monuments still dot the land, predates even the Etruscan civilization in mainland Italy by several hundred years.

Physical Geography of Sardinia

Sardinia is the only region in Italy of Hercynian origin; actually, the Southwest is even older (Cambrian). The mineral riches of Sardinia are the consequence of heavy hydrothermalism during the Permo-Triassic. As in the rest of Hercynian Europe, erosion has taken its toll since the orogeny and has reduced elevations considerably. 30 million years ago, the Sardinia-Corsica block started to detach from mainland Spain and tilted toward its present position. The island is both aseismic and non volcanic.

Cyprus

Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Turkey. After Sicily and Sardinia, Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Although the island is geographically in Asia it is politically a European country and is a member of the European Union.

Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. Despite a constitution which guaranteed a degree of power-sharing between the Greek Cypriot majority and the Turkish Cypriot minority, the two populations – with backing from the governments of Greece and Turkey, respectively – clashed vehemently in 1974, with the end result being the occupation of the northern and eastern 40% of the island by Turkey. In 1983, the Turkish-held area declared itself the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". So far, only Turkey recognizes the TRNC, while all other governments and the United Nations recognize only the government of the Republic of Cyprus over the whole island. The UN operates a peacekeeping force and a narrow buffer zone between the two Cypriot ethnic groups. Fortunately, open hostilities have been absent for some time, as the two sides (now with the growing involvement of the European Union) gradually inch towards a reunification of some sort.