•5:23 AM
You've spent the entire day exploring Istanbul's mosques, monuments and palaces. You've walked through the remnants of Constantinople and the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires and you have the sore feet to prove it! You've returned to your quiet hotel room, had shower, rest and cup of Turkish tea. Now you're ready to hit the city again! But where to go in Istanbul after dark? Here are a few ideas on stepping out in Istanbul!
Bosphorus Cruise
If sore feet are a priority, enjoy an evening of food, drink and live music while cruising between Europe and Asia on one of the world's most magnificent waterways. Put your feet up as you cruise by dramatically lit mosques, palaces and under the city's soaring bridges. Spy on the night activity in the posh Bosphorus neighborhoods of Bebek and Ulus. The price includes a full dinner, drinks, an exciting floorshow with a Turkish belly dancer and round trip transfer from your hotel. Ask a local agency about availability.
Dinner with a View: Hamdi Restaurant
If you're in the mood for something local then head for Hamdi. Located just steps away from the Egyptian Spice Market, this popular place serves typical Turkish fare; hot grilled kebabs, small bowls of colorful mezes, crisp green salads and last, but certainly not least, Baklava! (Dubbed Turkish Viagra buy the locals!) But the real star of Hamdi is the view. Sit on the top terrace and take in views of Galata, the Bosphorus and the magnificent mosques of Eminonu.
Balik Sokak
Just steps away from the Marmara Sea, Balik Sokak (Fish Street) comes alive at dusk with lively restaurants serving fresh fish, meze, raki and lots of beer. Expect live music, impromptu singing and dancing performed by tipsy Turkish men with big mustaches!
Nevizade Sokak
Just off the Beyoglu Balik Pazari (Beyoglu Fish market) and Cicek Pasaji, Nevizade Sokak is a narrow street chock full of bars and outdoor restaurants. The restaurants offer meze, meals and musicians at your table; the bars offer stools where you can park, people watch and enjoy a chilled Efes beer. Some of the bars have terraces on the roof, of course every waiter will swear blind that his bar's terrace is more beautiful than the next guy's! Most places have a fixed-price menu, so ask for prices in advance.
Turkish Night
If you're a fan of music or dance, then a check out an evening "Turkish Night" dinner show, featuring traditional song, dance and costumes from the four corners of Turkey. Favorites include the fast spinning and stomping of the energetic Black Sea Dancers and the mesmerizing whirling of of the famed whirling dervishes. The evening belongs, however, by the lovely belly-dancing ladies who can show you a move or two! Book early at a local agency for good seats. Again, ask at a local agency about shows as they vary in price and program. Full dinner, drinks and transportation to and from your hotel are included in the price.
Nargile Cafe
Corlulu Ali Pasa Narghile Cafe was built in 1709, and is a well-known atmospheric water-pipe (nargile) place near Beyazit, (just 2 tramway stops from Sultanahmet stop, or a short stroll along the tramline.) This lovely hidden spot is where you can try a waterpipe or just relax and enjoy the exotic aroma of an apricot Narghile while sipping Turkish tea or coffee. Kittens will play at your feet. Old men will play backgammon. A great place to unwind after a trip to the nearby Grand Bazaar. The cafe serves a variety of tea, soft drinks and Turkish coffee.
Sultanahmet Hot Spots
Looking for an after diner drink not too far from your hotel? In Sultanahmet, grab a cocktail, raki, Efes Beer or glass of wine at...
Sah Bar: Hidden away from the main Tramway Street, this bar is rocking the alley in the summer, and warm and intimate by the fireplace in the winter. Cosy decor and great music.
Akbayik Street: There are a few bars that go all night long on this street. Check out "Just Bar", popular with locals and backpackers. Great outdoor seating.
The North Shield: Located just off the Gulhane tramway station one stop away from Sultanahmet. More expensive than the first two, but a great place to watch a football match.
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•12:05 AM
Just off the Florida coast lies the closest that heaven ever gets to earth. Amid a chain of over 700 islands you will discover the magical mingling of traditional British Colonial formality blended with the laid-back lifestyle of the Caribbean. The crown jewel of Bahamas is New Providence Island, where Nassau is located with its miles and miles of pristine white beaches stretching out to the endless turquoise sea with the world's clearest waters. But besides the great beaches, the Nassau resort experience also offers you such fun adventures as the opportunity of swimming with dolphins, kayaking on the calm waters, or taking an exciting cruise in a power boat. Nassau also features gourmet dining, a glamorous nightlife, world class casino gaming, scuba and snorkeling, championship golf. You can shop in the famous straw market of Nassau, with its colorful bustle of outdoor fruit and vegetable stands and fresh-fish market; or, the visitor can browse in the exclusive international luxury designer boutiques on Bay Street all within easy walking distance. The dazzling casinos jump with music, color, and the thrill of gaming: craps, slot machines, blackjack, baccarat, and sports book-betting.
The Nassau area offers a host of interesting tourist attractions, such as climbing the 66 steps of the Queen's Staircase up to Fort Fincastle and the Water Tower which is the highest point on the island. Versailles Gardens on Paradise Island is also a sight not to be missed. The Gardens feature elegant terraces with statues and fountains, and a French Cloister. For aficionados of sailing and boating, Nassau harbor offers a huge range of rentals and custom charters at all prices. The many choices and packages available include fully-crewed and catered sailing excursions; day cruises, small sailboat and bareboat rentals for sailors with experience, motorboats, submarine rides, as well as jet skis. Sailing trips are organized around diving, snorkeling, and barefoot picnicking on remote tropical beaches or with onboard dining and cocktails. Nassau Junkanoo festival is often compared to Curacao all inclusive resorts Carnival for fun and celebration. Junkanoo is held from the end of December to the first week of January every year, and it is a huge party-in-the-streets of elaborately-costumed dancers who parade to the music of whistles, cow bells, and goatskin drums.
Visitors to Bahamas should bring comfortable, casual clothing and sneakers or sandals for beach days. Also plan to bring a pair of smart, casual shoes if you favor restaurants which require formal attire. All of the islands offer guided tours, and the visitor can choose one that perfectly suits his or her interests, from bird watching in the lush forest to shopping sprees in town to gourmet sampling tours. Tours conducted by professional guides who are experienced and friendly can be arranged at any hotel. For the adventurous visitor, all of the major islands have frequent jitney service which runs every day until 8 pm. Fares for most one way destinations are 75 for adults, 50 for children. Taxis can be called or flagged down on the city streets. Every large hotel and all inclusive Bahamas resort has a cab stand. The metered rates are low and reasonable and a 15% tip is recommended.
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More @ www.myhotelvideo.com Location: This hotel is located on the peaceful and secluded island of Abaco. The resort is just 282 km east of West Palm Beach, Florida in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. Less than 1 hour away from the US by plane, the resort is perfect for holidaymakers who wish to get away from it all with a minimum of travel time. Facilities: Set on the golden beachfront in a sandy cove caressed by sapphire waters, the oceanfront rooms, suites and cottages capture the true island spirit. This family friendly beach resortcomprises a total of 88 rooms including 4 suites and 12 villas. Facilities on offer to guests at this air-conditioned establishment include a lobby area with a 24-hour reception and 24-hour check-in/check out service, a hotel safe, a mini supermarket, a hairdressing salon, a bar and a restaurant. Guests are offered conference facilities and Internet access and they may also take advantage of the laundry service. There are bicycles for hire and parking is available. The younger guests will enjoy the children's playground, and the fully-stocked games room. Rooms: All accommodation includes centrally regulated air conditioning, a mini fridge and a wet bar, a private patio, satellite TV, Internet access, a direct dial telephone, a hairdryer, a private bathroom with a shower/bathtub, a coffee maker and supplies, an in-room safe and an iron and ironing board. The oceanfront rooms all feature private terraces or balconies. The 1-bedroom suites come with ...
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•1:20 AM
Three major cascades at Havasu Creek create a landscape that is both beautiful and entertaining. At the base of these falls, one of which is Havasu Falls, is a travertine pool filled with cold turquoise water. In fact, the names of the falls, the nearby lake, and even the city all come from the water's beautiful color. ("Ha" means water, while "vasu" stands for blue-green).
Located on the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Grand Canyon National Park, Havasu Falls stand 120 feet high. The falls claims one of America's most beautiful campgrounds and backpacking area. For example, beneath the falls lies billowing cottonwoods under 400-foot rock walks which, along with the falling water, creates a striking lullaby for campers.
Although beautiful, getting to Havasu Falls can be quite an adventure. The most popular route begins in Seligman, where drivers can take I-40 to exit 123. After exiting, visitors should drive 33 miles west on Highway 66 to Indian Road 18. At this point, drivers should turn right and drive about 60 miles to a parking lot at Hualapai Hilltop at the end of the road. Alternatively, drivers can access Indian Road 18 via Kingman by driving 50 miles east on Highway 66, which is approximately 6 miles past Peach Springs.
A visit to the falls entails more than just a long drive, however. Once visitors are a Hualapai Hilltop, the journey really begins. Visitors must endure a 10-mile hike from the hilltop to the falls. While the first 1.5 miles is a steep decent down to the bottom of Hualapai Canyon (a trek that you must make back up on your way home), the rest of the hike is mostly flat. Tourists will hike 6.5 more miles to the Hualapai village, followed by 2 more miles to the campground.
Although a trip to the falls includes hours of driving and even more hours of hiking, most would agree that the pristine setting is worth it.
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•4:58 PM
The Caribbean islands are not large but they have paradisaical surroundings with beaches and vegetation typical of the tropic, some of them with volcanoes. In Cuba, beaches and vegetation are richer and larger than in the rest of the small islands. They are different from each other, that is why they are divided into different groups: the Bahamas Islands, and the Greater and the Lesser Antilles. The first ones are mostly small, coralline, completely plain, without mountains or watercourses where the beaches and other sea features are the main attraction; the other two groups of Antillean Islands have, as their main attraction, its nature as well as the bird and marine biological variety, a fact that differentiates them from The Bahamas.
Even between these two groups of Antilles there are notorious differences. One of them is the presence of archipelagos. From the Greater Antilles, (Cuba, Jamaica, La Espanola and Puerto Rico), Cuba is the only one that has an archipelago so numerous. The same happens in the Lesser Antilles, among which Islas Virgenes (The Virgin Islands), the American as well as the British, are the most similar to Cuba in this aspect. The rest of the small islands have a few tiny islands around them, including Cayman Islands.
The Cuban archipelagos have remained almost intact since its discovery by the Spanish; this is due to the fact that they were never attractive for settlement except for the Island of Youth (formerly Island of Pine trees) and the Turiguano Island, where there was only a small village. In some other keys were only groups of fishermen who did not settled in, just stayed occasionally. While the Caribbean Islands looked forward developing tourism, the Cuban archipelagos stayed almost unaltered.
There were interesting natural elements in these islands (known as keys in Cuba), some of them very attractive, such as the wild horse flock in Cayo Romano (the third largest Cuban island), but the economic conditions at that time were not favorable for the development of tourism.
It was not until the decade of the 70' and the 80' of last century that these places were thought of as a tourist attraction because some of them had excellent beaches, were close to the Main Island (Cuba) and did not have dangerous animals that could harm visitors.
Studies were carried out about the possibility of exploiting these territories without affecting the environment or barely affecting it. Nowadays, man has influenced the area in several ways with different effects, the most important for the environment being fishing, tourism and the proclamation of protected areas.
Fishing is practiced with the widely accepted techniques in part of the area and supervised by competent authorities, without affecting the sea biological variety and closely watching the closed seasons. Harbors do not affect the preservation of the environment, they have been in the area for many years and their influence is checked by institutions of the Ministry of Sience, Technology and the Environment (CITMA), which also regulate everything regarding the protection of the environment all over the country in every production and service center.
During the last years the tourism industry has developed the exploitation of these small islands, mainly in three of the four Cuban archipelagos. This is the activity that has a major and varied influence on these islands. Hotels, marinas, airports and scuba diving centers have being built and tours to the reefs on small boats have been organized, all of which requires a motorized transportation infrastructure. Not only the four airports, two on the Northern coast (The King's Gardens Archipelago) and two on the Southern coast (Canarreos archipelago) are consistent with this effort, but also the "pedraplenes" (roads built to connect the main island with the small islands and the keys) of which we will be talking now.
Due to the fact that these islands are separated from the main island (Cuba) by not very deep waters and affected by sea streams, and taking into account such local factors as sediment flow and the sea fauna migrations, some roads similar to those existing in other countries with experience on this matter were built to facilitate communication between the small islands and the rest of Cuba; for instance, the road connecting the Florida keys.
Five of these roads, known in Cuba as "pedraplenes", have been built, all of them in the Northern coast: one in Los Colorados Archipelago (Jutia Key) and the rest (four) at Sabana-Camaguey or the King's Gardens Archipelago. We will describe each of them in further articles about the archipelagos.
The fact that these archipelagos are so isolated from the economic, political and social life from the rest of the country has enabled their natural elements to remain almost intact until now. That is why it is so necessary to preserve the most valuable ecosystems for the next generations, where we find representative specimens, taking steps in every archipelago to handle each situation correctly, with the main objective of maintaining their eco-systems as naturally as possible, with strict control of visits, and encouraging on visitors and neighbor communities the love and care for nature.
These measures make possible to regulate the number of visitors. In these areas you won't find tourist facilities or the comfort you find in specialized centers or hotels. Therefore, the entities in charge of safeguarding the protected areas, the National Center of Protected Areas (CNAP) and the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) forming part of CITMA, are the promoters and guardians of these areas in Cuba.
At the archipelagos and Cuban coasts there are National Parks, Ecological Reserves, Flora Shelters, Fauna Shelters and Protected Natural Landscapes, categories included in the Cuban Constitution as well as others proposed by international organizations such as the Biosphera Reserve and the Ramsar Places, among others.
In next articles we will make a tour along the Cuban coasts, starting at the San Antonio Cape.
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Grand Bahama Island is more than just Freeport and Lucaya, more than just casinos, resorts, and tropical entertainment. Outside the city is an entire island filled with gorgeous beaches, natural wonders, including one of the world's largest underwater cave systems, three national parks, and an incredible resource of marine life.
The Bahamas is known to be the origination of the concept of the all-inclusive resort. All-inclusive properties include all meals, beverages, tips and more. These typically include hotel accommodations for a specified number of nights. All-inclusive resorts in the Bahamas may not be as plentiful as on other Caribbean islands, but the big-name resorts such as Sandals and Club Med, can still be found. These all-inclusive resorts offer a variety of vacation amenities for one flat price, which is almost always cheaper than getting those same amenities one by one individually.
Bahamas vacation rentals can provide travelers with maid service, a personal cook, gardener, private pool, jacuzzi, and 24 hour security guards. Bahamas vacation rentals can run anywhere from $100 a night to $1,000 a night. Regardless of your budget, a beautiful vacation rental can always be found. Bahamas vacation resorts are the perfect place for travelers who want to experience everything the Bahamas has to offer, from one convenient and luxurious location.
Freeport Bahamas offers variety of water sports including water skiing, scuba diving, swimming, skiing and fishing that you can indulge in. Aside from these, there are several other water sports and activities that you can enjoy. Freeport Bahamas is a very popular vacation destination, known world-wide.
One of the big reasons for this is because Bahamas vacation resorts are great places to look into if you are interested in finding many activities all in one spot. In addition to providing its guests with a place to sleep, resorts often feature such amenities as golf courses, tennis courts, restaurants, clubs, water activities, boat and other rentals, shopping, and more. Bahamas vacation package rates are easy to find, and even better pricing can usually be had if the individual manages to get a group together for the trip.
It is important for tourists to keep in mind that this country was under the rule of Great Britain for most of their existence, and they retain much of their British heritage. Bahamas vacation guides will also include details on how to plan a Bahamas holiday complete with details related to what should be packed and which places should be visited. They give a list of all possible things starting from a list of all the festivals which are celebrated to all the documents which one needs to carry to the islands.
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