Traveling to Puerto Rico

History

Puerto Rico was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.The first name of the island was San Juan, which is the same with the nowadays capital city of San Juan. After the discovery of the island by Christopher Columbus, it was settled by explorer Ponce Leon (the island was a Spanish possession for four centuries). The Spanish-American War ended in the Treaty of Paris, due to which the island became the possession of the USA. According to the passed law Puerto Rico is authorized by the USA to have its own constitution.

Climate

If you think about the best time to visit Puerto Rico, you should take into consideration that Puerto Rico enjoys round summer temperature of average 26C, and it has a maritime exotic climate (there are little seasonal changes throughout the year). The climate has a lot with the climate in the USA. The high season is between December and April. The second peak season is July and August. If you want to avoid crowds of tourists then you should plan your trip from May to November. It is important to know that during the low season from May to December, it’s the hurricane season from June 1 to November 30. Puerto Rico has become a famous Spring Break Destination.

Getting to and around Puerto Rico

There are many flights and cruises to Puerto Rico year round. As far as Puerto Rico is a US territory, for the US citizens there are no passport controls to the island, and vice versa. Accordingly, the flights between Puerto Rico and the USA domestic and state issued driver’s license and identification card are sufficient for boarding a flight from or to Puerto Rico. The requirements are the same with flights to Hawaii.

What Places to Visit in Puerto Rico?

There is a variety of activities and opportunities for the tourists visiting Puerto Rico, starting from the picturesque landscape, spectacular surfing sights to challenging golf course and the perfect sunbathing beach. What to visit the best sights in Puerto Rico?

Bioluminescent bays. There are microscopic organisms living in the waters of Bioluminescent bays that dart away from the movement. A kayak tour is what you need to do during the new moon as it is this time when these microscopic organisms can be noticed in the water.

Blue Flag in Puerto Rico.The Blue Flag is a voluntary program that has proven to provide a high quality serviced for bathers in Puerto Rico, as well as throughout the world.

Casino. Most of the luxurious hotels and casinos are situated in the capital city of San Juan. San Juan is the perfect place to stop for the lovers of gambling and to travel through the island.

El Yunque. One of the must-sees in Puerto Rico is the El Yunque rain forest that spreads over the mountain. Walking uphill you will appear in an amazing rain forest. Flora and fauna are rich in varieties.

Golf. Driving a short distance away from the San Juan Metropolitan area, you will find over 15 championship golf courses.

Outdoor activities. The adventures are not limited with the San Juan, as many small tour companies provide guided tours of the Central Mountains in Utuado, Repelling in Arecibo, kayak tours of Lake Guajataka, and horseback riding on the beach in Aguadilla. Some tour operators also offer low cost or free lodging.

7 Musts to See in Barcelona

When you travel to a certain destination, you try to get best of it by visiting all the notable sights, especially when you are short of time. The best thing is to have the planning of the places you want to see and things you want to do in advance, which will help you to avoid disappointment of an unfulfilled trip. In case of Barcelona, there will always some place you didn't manage to visit, or things that you couldn't do for the lack of time.

Park Guell is a small piece of land from a fairy tale.

1. Barcelona is a city to be discovered on foot. It's a perfect time to get away from tourist bus and metro and to head to the city's most impressive buildings, streets and parks. Buildings and architectural works by Antoni Gaudi will inspire you with their original and modern architectural solutions. The most famous works by him, which in a must list are the Sagrada Familia, one of the impressive buildings ever; Park Guell, which is a small piece of land from a fairy tale. Different buildings and colorful stone structures lead you up to the top of the park, to enjoy the view of the city. You shouldn't skip La Pedrera, a classic building of modernism, which is now listed in the UNESCO Heritage List.

2. Barcelona is home to many artists and architects. Picasso is among those artists who spent his youth on this graceful landmark. To go back to the traces of history and his artwork you may visit the Museu Picasso, which houses dozens of well-know works by the artist.

3. To enjoy spectacular views of nature and architectural works, one needs to climb the magical mountain of Montjuic. You will find the place tourist-free to some extent, though you need to gear up the hill. Palau Sant Jordi, considered to be the jewel of Montjuic, is well-known as the 'Olympic Ring' of the mountain. The building was inaugurated in 1990, with a design by  Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. Over 17,000 people may follow sports games in Palau Sant Jordi.

4. Even if you are not fanatic about art works, you shouldn't miss one of the world's largest museums dedicated to Spanish surrealist artist Joan Miro. The museum houses a collection of over 220 paintings and 150 sculptures by the artist. Another museum you shouldn't miss is a Catalan art museum, MNAC (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalanya), which is a nice corner representing Catalan art from the Roman period to the 20th century.

5. To get to know the city, one should go back to its history; it's always good to find out some piece of history when you visit a new city. Each street and neighborhood in Barcelona are a piece of history. To find out its historical heritage, you may visit Museu de Historia de Barcelona (MUHBA), which has different sections related to various historical events of the city, which are located in different shelters, in the central Barcelona.

6. Barcelona is home to many magnificent churches going back to Roman times. Even if you are not a religious person, you will find the architecture of those  churches as one of the amazing and inspiring one. Among them is the Gothic Cathedral, the construction of which started in 1298. The Cathedral is famous for its  cloister with 13 geese dedicated to the saint patron. 

7. In Barcelona, there are small beaches along the Mediterranean. To take a deep breath of fresh air one should take a towel, sun cream, as well as your umbrella, and head to one of those beaches. To have a break from every day move, it's a perfect choice to take your favorite book and lay on the beach.

(The places to visit in Barcelona are not limited to this list. The upcoming articles will illustrate other places of interest  that are worthy to be visited).

What to Do in Barcelona?

In the previous article, I was highlighting the seven musts one should do while in Barcelona. As any other city, the mission of a traveler is not fulfilled with only visiting places of interest, but checking out the possible activities to participate in such as festivals, parties, visiting popular restaurants and cafes. Here below I am going to point out some key things to do to get most of Barcelona.

Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in the world, where a number of
 international festivals - the Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona,
Primavera Sound, Sonar and Cruillia are oranized. 

Sweeten Ears with Music

Barcelona is home to many concert halls, each of them having a unique architectural solution outside, and a splendid inner design. The Grand Teatre del Liceu is among them, decorated with red carpets, spectacular carvings and gold leaf. Places like Razzmatazz and Apolo are famous for live music venues. Do not be afraid to check tickets, as the entrance is not always that expensive. Barcelona is one the most visited cities in the world, and it’s not by chance that several international festivals – the Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona, Primavera Sound, Sonar and Cruilla – are organized in the city.

Delicious Food

Once you are in Barcelona it’s a good opportunity to try seafood products in some of the best restaurants and cafes of the city. The kitchen trend goes with tapas, pintxos and vermouth. Pintxos are a bite-sized food; they are served with small pieces of bread on the top. It derives from the initial Basque Tapas. To eat the food, you need to use dozens of toothpicks, and most of the bill will cover the toothpicks payment. Eskual Etxea is a perfect place to enjoy pintxos.

For trying tapas, you may go either to a place where patatas  bravas are served with tapas, or you have got the option of visiting tapas bars, to try the local beer as well.

Vermouth hours are a tradition with Barcelona. To keep the tradition on, weekends are a perfect time to meet with local people in search of vermouth places.

Get the Barcelona Style

Streets in Barcelona boost in fashionable shops with fancy products. As any other big city, it is full of world-famous fashion brands. But once in Barcelona, it is preferable to check for some local brands like Zara and Mango. But those who are a real ‘fashion fan’ you shouldn’t miss Zazo&Brull, where you can find beautiful textures at an affordable price.

Party For a Week

If you can party non-stop, September is the very time to arrive in Barcelona. Festes de la Merce is the city’s biggest festival, which started as a religious parade. The nowadays’ Festes d la Merce is celebrated in the form of weeklong parties, dedicated to Catalan culture. Nearly each neighborhood in Barcelona its festival to celebrate; one of the most attended is in Gracia neighborhood, organized in the middle of August.

Get into the Barcelona Night Life

If clubbing and night life is another spectrum of your interest while travelling, then Barcelona clubs are there to host you with parties and different DJ sessions. Sala Apolo and Razzmatazz have different themed parties like Nasty Monday, Midnight Calles, and many more. To attend the party of your mood, you should first check out the party theme for the day to avoid unexpected surprises. 

When Is The Perfect Time To Visit Corsica?

The island of Corsica is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. It is located in the south of France, to the south west of Italy. From the Italian island of Sardinia, it is possible to see the Corsican town of Bonifaccio which is in the extreme southeastern part of the island.

The island of Corsica is one of the twenty seventh regions of France. Before the French conquest of 1769, the island maintained freedom with its independent Republic of Corsica starting from 1755. Prior to the Corsica Republic, the island belonged to the Republic of Genoa -Italian Republic that had numerous lands in the Mediterranean from the early 11^th century to 1797.

Nowadays the island is divided into two administrative parts – Haute Corse, that is Upper Corsica, and Corse-du-Sud, that is Southern Corsica. The island is a mountainous heaven with its preserved green forests. The Corsican capital Ajaccio is situated in the Southern Corsica, which has the biggest number of inhabitants. The second largest city after the capital is Bastia, located in the Upper Corsica. Most of the cities have preserved their medieval architecture and represent to their visitor the architectural wonder of their glorious times.

Although the island of Corsica is closer to Italy than France, and the Ligurian Sea separates it from the mainland, Corsica is officially one of the regions of France. One you visit Corsica you will find more of the Italian culture and habits than that of the French one.

People in Corsica have their own Corsican language, though, in everyday life, only the elderly speak it. They teach Corsican language at schools; young people can read and understand, but the common language used is French with a strong Corsican accent and dialect. The accent is much more of an Italian coloring than of a French one. People in Corsica are shy, yet very welcoming and helpful.

The best time to visit Corsica is the middle of May and September, when the island gets relieved from thousands of tourists. One thing you should keep in mind is that, during the off-season, which is from October to May, there is no regular public transportation. The best option for you is to take your car with you, or rent one for heading your desired destinations.

In case you need to use the public transportation as from the main city of Ajaccio, you should go to the Maritime of Ajaccio, where you will find the schedules and the buses just nearby the port.

The Ancient Monument of Stonehenge

The monument of upstanding stones is one of the world famous tourist sites situated in the parish of the town Amesbury. It is nearby the ancient complex of England, which go back to Neolithic and Bronze Age. According to archeologists, the construction of the monument went through several stages. Roughly estimated, the circular stones were built between 3000 BC and 2000 BC (a theory suggests that the first stone of the monument was put as early as 3000 BC). Meanwhile, a radiocarbon dating (a technique to determine the age of organic materials) supports the theory that they started to build the monument from 2400 BC. The site was listed in the UNESCO Heritage List in 1986.

On the spot where the ancient  circular monument, Stonehenge (England) is located,
was a sacred site long before its construction.  

The inhabitants of the place were the Britons, which are supposed to have built the monument for over one thousand years. There are different theories on the purpose of the Stonehenge, each of them mysterious till nowadays. The monument consists of big stones (sarsens) which have an average height of 9 meters (30 feet) and weigh over 20 and more tons. The smaller stones called bluestones, weigh over 4 tons and were brought from the west of Wales. One of the mysteries is that stones weighing twenty tons required a special system of tools to be moved. Most probably these stones were transferred from one place to another by means of water. According to the theory, scientists have determined that men of that time didn’t have to move those stones all the way from Wales. By the end of the ice age, the smaller stones were moved by glaciers to the current area of the Stonehenge.

More than 240 tombs find their place on this site. Most probably this had been a sacred place some 500 years before the initial circular monument was erected. Another theory for the purpose of the monuments is that it was a site for worshiping the sun. The study conducted also reveals that the Stonehenge was a site of prehistoric beliefs. Accordingly, different religious ceremonies were carried out at the place. To understand its religious significance through ceremonies, the archeologists reconstructed the possible way how the pre-historic men could carry out the ritual which took place annually at the site of the Stonehenge.

This investigation revealed not only the Stonehenge is a sacred place, but also indicated its ancient origins as compared with Cursus (it is considered to be much older, than the upstanding stones of the monument). According to an archeologist from Birmingham university, it is possible that Curcus is even an older construction than the circular stones nowadays.

In the 1960s, there was a theory, according to which the site had an astronomical significance. Later on critics come forward to argue this theory by admitting that, at that time, the inhabitants of the area would probably lack that depth of astrological knowledge, and, moreover, the weather in England could hardly allow them to carry out any astrological activities and studies. Another point of view is that, the site of Stonehenge was cured, and many people visited the place to get healed.

As one of the world famous pre-historic monuments, the Stonehenge attracts over one million visitors each year. Some of the stones have been moved from the area to save them from collapsing. During the years restoration and excavation have been carried out, the latter revealing more henge of stones. 

Three Days of Peace and Music: Woodstock

'Three Days of Peace and Music' is the alternative name of the Woodstock Festival, a three-day's concert, accompanied by a huge crowd of music lovers and rock'n roll. It was organized  by four youngsters; Joel Roseman — John Roberts, Artie Kornfeld, and Mike Lang in 1969 (from August 15-18) at Max Yasgur's dairy farm, New York, USA.

Roberts came forward to be a young investor who wanted to initiate something that would double his fortune. Roseman joined this idea of Roberts' after which an ad followed in The New York Times about investing opportunities for 'young men.'

Woodstock Festival was a three days concert accompanied with
a huge crowd of lovers of music and rock'n roll.

Afterwards, the two young investors met Kornfeld and Lang. The original proposal by Kornfeld and Lang was to build a studio for rock musicians. To raise enough money  for covering studios expenses, they offered to organize a two-day rock concert. They found a location for the music festival in a park, not far from Wallkill, New York.

It was a wrong choice of location for the festival, as the Wallkill inhabitants wouldn't afford dozens of drugged-out young hippies flowing nearby Wallkill. Moreover, in 1969, 2nd July the inhabitants of the Wallkill town succeeded to have the municipality to pass a law banning the organization of the event in their city.

The situation was despairing for the Woodstock festival attendees, who had purchased their tickets in advance. It was only a month before, that a new location was found for the festival. That time Max Yasgur offered his dairy farm to host the Woodstock Festival (Bethel New York).

Many things went wrong with the organization of food, more water, toilets, building playgrounds for children, gates and camping. The reason for it is that the initial estimate of fifty thousand people was low, so that they raised the number to two hundred thousand people. It seemed like everything was arranged at the last moment.

Three days before the festival over fifty thousand people came to Woodstock to put up tents near the stage. For the organizers it was difficult to make so many people to move their location, for it was possible for them to buy entrance-tickets. The situation was challenging for the organizers, which declared the Woodstock Festival to be free of charge. This had both good and bad consequences; on the one hand the organizers were going to lose a great deal of money, on the other hand, a lot of people got to know about the free festival and over 500,000 people made their way to Bethel, New York.

Despite all the organization troubles, the festival started on time and was a great success. Musicians like Santana, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, warmed up the huge crowds of people. A lot of sex, drugs and nudity found their place in the festival by the 'flower generation.'

The Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany)

As a famous tourist destination in Europe, the Neuschwanstein Castle stands to be one of the most famous photographed castles in Germany. With the breathtaking combination of the Bavarian Alps, the castle and the hillside, take the visitors back to the glorious times of the Bavarian Kingdom. The picturesque hillside and the ‘kind’ castle remind us about fairy tales, which was the reason why at the back of Walt Disney’s fairy-tale castle, the Sleeping Beauty Castle, is standing as the Neuschwanstein Castle itself.

 

Walt Disney was inspired with the Neuschwannstein Castle which gave birth
to his fairy-tale Sleeping BeautyCastle.

The romance behind the plan of constructing the castle is one of the extraordinary ones in the world history. As a general perception, castles were built for defensive purposes. This is not the occasion, as one of the Bavarian Kings, Ludwig II, was believed to be living in his world of dreams, instead of the reality. This of his dreams gave birth to the idea of constructing a fancy castle, which would fulfill his goal of having a fairy-tale castle. The construction of the Neuschwanstein started in the eighteenth century. 

A great amount of financial resources was needed to complete the construction. The bankrupt king was denied by the banks to borrow money to complete the construction of the castle, as well as his property was under the threat of being privatized by the banks. The complicated situation made the king order the state to declare him as mad. Shortly after this, they found the body of Ludwig in a lake. Unhappily, the enthusiastic king of  dreams and fairy tales did not have the chance to see the completion of his lovely castle of Neuschwanstein.

The beautiful chandeliers are spread throughout the Neuschwannstein Castle
to accompany its visitors in the dazzling beauty of the interior.  

There was still a lot to accomplish in order to complete the entire construction of the castle. Until the death of Ludwig, there were built 14 rooms, among them the Singers Hall, the Throne Room and the king’s bedroom, all of them lavishly decorated. The third floor of the castle is devoted to scenes from the German legend Swan Knight, which was the inspiration and the dream life of the king. The comprehensive part of the paintings are from the opera of the composer Richard Wagner. The beautiful chandeliers are spread throughout the castle to accompany its visitors in the dazzling beauty of the interior.

To reach the Neuschwanstein Castle, you will need to take a train to the nearby town of Fussen, which is the highest Bavarian town. The town offers a range of services including high quality hotels, restaurants, pubs and souvenir shops.