AmazoniaBike | TravelBlog

One of the great pleasures of traveling is meeting wonderful people along the way.  Recently while traveling in the Azores, Clint struck up a conversation with an engaging couple.  Turns out they are heads of a hotel association in Europe called Petit Hotels which consists of wonderful independently owned countryside Inns in Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Kenya and South Africa.

What sets these delightful properties apart from the mainstream hotel scene, is their devotion to Joi de Vivre. Each charming inn is set in a serene location, adorned with stylish furnishings, and boast “highly creative kitchens with gastronomic menus”.  They pride themselves in cooking with local ingredients and presenting memorable dining experiences.  They delight in asking, “Do you love food?”  Now I ask you…. What could be more wonderful than a beautiful inn with fabulous food?

Many of the inns are set along side Sweden’s beautiful crystal-clear lakes, offering opportunities for boating,  to play golf and of course,  indulge in magnificent spa treatments.  Each hotel adheres to “stringent and ambitious quality and environmental policies”.  These properties are ideal for touring, as most member inns are located a pleasant day trip from one to another.  You’ll appreciate that Petit Hotels have designed 10 different pre-planned tours of Sweden and Finland based on different interests and regions.  Each tour guides you from inn to inn, while describing interesting sightseeing stops along the way.

Treat yourself to a virtual getaway to the most unique inns in Scandinavia by leafing through Petit Hotel’s online brochure.  Give it a minute or two to load all the wonderful information, and browse through the pages of delightful properties and fabulous cuisine.  I don’t know about you, but Scandinavia just moved up a few notches on my ‘must do’ list!!!

When I first thought about Tenerife holidays, I immediately thought of loud bars and nightclubs, stag and hen parties and just general mayhem – After holidaying there several times, I now realise that it has a lot more than this to offer holidaymakers of all ages.

Tenerife is a volcanic island, hence its main attraction being Mount Teide – the volcano. Teide is open to visitors all year round and is located in the North of the island, along with the resort of Puerto de la Cruz. I visited this resort for the day and was pleasantly surprised, although more suited to an older clientele, it had nice beaches and a big tourist attraction called the ‘Loro Parque’, which is a bird/animal park that really does make for a great value day out.

Further South, you can find the resorts of Los Gigantes and Las Caletillas along the East coast, which make for a quieter, more relaxed holiday with little fishing harbours and cafés to unwind.

Golf del Sur is another popular resort, only a 5 minute drive from Tenerife South Airport. This has been a firm favourite for years, with golfers originally, but has now grown into a popular tourist resort for all age groups. There are several golf courses nearby and many more further South in Playa de las Americas and Costa Adeje.

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Sea turtles are very intelligent creatures of nature; they continue coming to Puerto Vallarta regardless of the swine flu scare, the border town drug wars, or the global recession! They don’t visit Vallarta for its perfect climate, its eight beautiful golf courses, its world class deep sea fishing, its hundreds of fine restaurants, nightclubs and discotheques, its magnificent sunsets, or the colorful tropical flora and fauna in the surrounding Sierra Madre hillsides; they visit Vallarta strictly for its 35 miles of sandy beaches. However, the fact that they love the beaches around PV is only a small clue as to what makes the sea turtles so incredibly intelligent.

Sea turtles constitute a single radiation that was distinct from all other turtles during the Late Cretaceous Period, the “age of dinosaurs”, at least 100 million years ago. It’s hard to imagine that approximately 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Tertiary Extinction Event (KT Mass Extinction), the planet endured catastrophic events such as massive asteroid impacts and/or tremendous volcanic activity resulting in significant climate changes affecting all of the Earth’s plant and animal life. Sea turtles were among the few species to survive these traumatic events and related climate changes.

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