The Seaside Village Of Aegiali
December 23, 2007
The Seaside Village Of Aegiali
by: Jakob Jelling
Aegiali, in the Greek Cyclades, is a very beautiful seaside village full of outstanding beaches and picturesque landscapes. Besides this, Aegiali offers a wide variety of facilities and therefore tourists could be almost sure of finding practically anything they might need while being in this destination.
Aegiali’s cuisine is very appealing too and there are several typical dishes that tourists should not miss, especially those containing Mediterranean fish. Night life at Aegiali is also very nice and those visitors who enjoying going out and partying until late would also be able to have a good time in this city.
It is also often easy to find a hotel or a room in Aegiali since there is several of them spread throughout the city. Despite of this, it is always advisable to ask in advance and count with a reservation whenever it is possible in order to make sure of finding a place where to stay after arriving.
Among the main attractions offered by Aegiali there are its beaches. Aegiali and its surroundings count with many attractive and several outstanding beaches spread throughout the coastline. This way, this destination is also ideal to all those who enjoy the sea, the sand, sunbathing, or practicing beach sports.
Do You Really Need A Fishing Guide?
December 22, 2007
Do You Really Need A Fishing Guide?
by: Dan Farrell
“Do I really need a guide?” is one of the most frequently asked questions from anglers going on their first fishing trip to a remote lake. It’s impossible to accurately answer that question with a “yes” or a “no”, but we can give you the information you need to know to answer the question yourself.
Guides can frequently be worth having as long as you know just exactly what you’re getting.
For example, hiring a guide is no guarantee that you’re going to catch a ton of trophy fish. The guide will take you to the places known to have fish, but catching them is still up to you.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, the guide can only help you so much. But, that said, if that’s the case, a guide may be well worth it to you.
Since you will be arriving at a lake you’ve never been on before, and you only have a few days to catch fish… a guide can really be a big help. Without a guide, you could spend several days just trying to find out where the fish are.
A Few Ideas For Weekend Road Trips
December 21, 2007
A Few Ideas For Weekend Road Trips
by: Gregg Hall
Tennessee, Johnson City to Gatlinburg
So dang gorgeous, these 90 miles of rural Tennessee might inspire you to grab a banjo and strum an Appalachian love song.
Take U.S. Route 11E toward Davy Crockett’s birthplace (Everyone: “Born on a mountaintop…”). At Greenville, where two
homes of Andrew Johnson anchor a presidential historic site, veer onto U.S. Route 321, skirting the majestic Great Smoky
Mountains National Park. Next day, depending on your preference, visit the park or, for mountains of a different kind, nearby Dollywood.
Florida, Overseas Highway
Only car-crazy America would link a 105-mile long chain of islands — from Key Largo, just south of Miami, west to Key West —
with a highway, U.S. Route 1. “You’re on either a bridge or a causeway, surrounded by shimmering water,” says Janet Groene,
author of Great Eastern RV Trips. “It’s a lovely, lovely drive.” Two tips: Crowds are smaller during spring and early summer, and
catch the sunset at Key West’s Mallory Square Dock.
South Dakota, Pierre to Mount Rushmore
Uganda Hotels - The Boost For Tourism
December 21, 2007
Uganda Hotels - The Boost For Tourism
by: Jackie Kisibo
HISTORY
Hotel growth in Uganda started in the19th century, a decade after independence during the colonial period. This saw the growth of accommodation, transport and infrastructure in Uganda (tourism.) The political instability during the 1970’s and 1980’s led to the decline in the hotel industry as well as tourism. Hotels were closed, destroyed and made into police barracks like the Nile mansions.
The taking over of power in 1986 by the National Resistance movement (NRM) led to the revival of the tourism industry. Uganda has consistently worn foreign and international relations, support of large international organizations like World Tourism Organization, and has attracted internal and external investors. This has led to the rehabilitation of leisure and tourism facilities like hotels.
Visitor arrivals have grown due to the increase in tourism demand from the 512,000 in 2004 to about 700,000 in 2005.Uganda’s tourism sector has continued to grow and is expected to earn the country over $500m (about sh905b) this year from $360m (sh651.6b) last year.
HOTELS/ACCOMMODATION
Uganda has a wide range of excellent hotels and accommodation facilities located in all regions of the country. These are mainly located in the main towns of Kampala (Capital City), Jinja, Entebbe, Gulu, Mbarara, Mbale, Fortportal, Arua.
Learning about the Story of Citrus: Florida’s Natural Visitor Center
December 20, 2007
Learning about the Story of Citrus: Florida’s Natural Visitor Center
by: Susanne Pacher
One of the things that Florida is known for is, you guessed it, is orange juice! The citrus industry has been playing a big role in Central Florida for many decades, and considering its importance, I wanted to learn a bit more about it.
So with the help of the Orlando Visitors and Convention Bureau I was able to locate “Florida’s Natural Growers”, a citrus-processing cooperative that produces the well-known “Florida’s Natural” brand of juices. The cooperative was founded in 1933 and today more than 1000 independent growers are part of this cooperative processing and marketing organization.
Florida’s Natural operates a 540 acre fruit processing center in Lake Wales, about an hour south of Orlando. They are now the largest employer in the Lake Wales area. The facility also offers a visitor center which educates tourists on the history of Florida’s citrus industry, and the science and processes behind citrus juice production.
Gift shop at the Florida’s Natural Visitor Center
The Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour - Entertaining, Informative and a Visual Delight
December 19, 2007
The Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour - Entertaining, Informative and a Visual Delight
by: Susanne Pacher
The Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, founded in 1938 and located just 15 minutes north of downtown Orlando, is one of these lovely side trips that combine beautiful scenery, a bit of local history, some close-up exposure to local wildlife and vegetation with a relaxing outing in a slow-moving 18-passenger pontoon boat, all complete with expert (and sometimes humorous) narration provided by the boat’s captain.
The tour takes you through 3 lakes: Lake Osceola, Lage Virginia and Lake Maitland. On this gorgeous day, with brilliantly blue skies, the boat whisked us past hundreds of beautiful water-front estates, many of which were originally built in the 1920s and originally sold for $20,000, while fetching between $500,000 and several million in today’s booming Central Florida real estate market. Even boathouses are worth between $30,000 and $40,000.
In Lake Virginia we came up close to the grounds of Rollins College, one of the top rated private liberal arts colleges in the South Eastern United States, founded in 1885 by New England Congregationalists. Rollins College is the oldest recognized college in the state of Florida with a small student body of 1,700 students, housed on a beautiful 70 acre Mediterraean Revival Campus. Our expert captain / tour guide mentioned that tuition at the college is $38,000 and the ratio of students to professors is 12:1.
Mount Dora: Southern Charm in Central Florida
December 18, 2007
Mount Dora: Southern Charm in Central Florida
by: Susanne Pacher
In my quest to find unusual destinations to visit in the Orlando area, I stumbled over a little town by the name of Mount Dora just about 45 minutes north of Orlando. I had read that it was a very picturesque small town located on a lake, and one of its main attractions was a scenic railway.
Mount Dora City Hall
Mount Dora is only 27 miles or 43 km northwest of Orlando. It has an elevation of 184 feet above Lake Dora, which makes it Florida’s only “mountain top town”. Indeed the rolling hillsides and winding roads are a welcome unique feature in the generally flat topography of Florida.
Mount Dora’s history dates back to the 1800s. In 1846 Lake Dora was named for Dora Ann Drawdy. She and her husband homesteaded two miles south of Mount Dora. In 1880 the town’s first name was Royellou, named after the three children of Postmaster R. C. Tremain - Roy, Ella, and Louis.
Central Florida’s Wildlife: An Abundance of Diversity
December 17, 2007
Central Florida’s Wildlife: An Abundance of Diversity
by: Susanne Pacher
When you go to Florida, wildlife confronts you everywhere. Especially all the exotic birds fascinated me, often you come up close to subtropical bird species while playing golf or picnicking in a public park.
Central Florida is actually a much more interesting destination for naturalists than I would ever have expected. Both Florida’s plant life and wildlife are surprisingly diverse and Florida is the 3rd most ecologically diverse state after Hawaii and California.
It is a nearly flat lowland that gently slopes to the sea on the east and west coasts. This lowland has unique physical features that are associated with the diverse ecosystems that exist here. The predominantly low-lying topography was created by fluctuating sea levels over time. Coastal features include dunes, barrier islands, lagoons and tidal rivers, which were formed by tides, currents and winds.
The interior of Central Florida is characterized by swamps, marshlands and inland lakes, a haven for birds. South of Orlando is the Lake Wales Ridge, a ridge of sand hills paralleled by flatlands and sandy rolling hills. This ridge used to be an island in earlier geological times when ocean levels were higher. As a result many of the species that exist here are unique to this area.
Golf in Orlando: The Links-Style International Course at ChampionsGate
December 16, 2007
Golf in Orlando: The Links-Style International Course at ChampionsGate
by: Susanne Pacher
Several days after attending the Father-Son-Challenge at ChampionsGate we actually got out and played the International Course ourselves. It was an exciting experience to play a championship golf course just shortly after a major tournament, when it was still in tournament condition with just a few extra degrees of difficulty. The open wind-swept design features a multitude of bunkers and a variety of water hazards, and with a difficulty rating of 76.3, one of the highest ratings in the state, we were duly humbled by the challenges that this course threw at us.
ChampionsGate is an impressive facility with 36 holes designed by famous golf legend Greg Norman. What sets ChampionsGate apart is that its International layout and the National course have totally different designs. The hard, fast fairways of the International course are reminiscent of the great old Scottish and Irish links, while the more modern American-style National course winds through citrus groves and stands of pines, emphasizing challenging shot-making choices and a range of memorable par-3s.
Orlando, Florida - Golf’s Ultimate Theme Park
December 16, 2007
Orlando, Florida - Golf’s Ultimate Theme Park
by: Susanne Pacher
My husband loves playing golf and I am myself am pretty decent at the sport. So it was a given that we would be playing a few rounds in Orlando. We had a chance to sample a number of golf courses first-hand and got a personal appreciation of the great number and variety of golf courses in the Orlando area.
I had a chance to talk with Mike Jamison from Golf Orlando to get a better overview of the extensive golf facilities that the Orlando area has to offer.
1. Orlando is not only the world’s No. 1 vacation destination, but it is also called “Golf’s Ultimate Theme Park”. Please tell us more about that.
Isn’t it interesting how sometimes the most obvious answer to a tough question is sitting right before your eyes, yet it takes you days, months, even years to see it?
Officials of the marketing co-op GolfOrlando realized that recently when they finally nailed the perfect marketing tag line for their 25-course organization.
