White and blue houses, a nice and busy port, plenty of shops and even more terrases.

Here is what Star Clippers cruise company writes about Hydra :

It looks barren and rocky, but the narrow harbor of Hydra hides a surprise, a town of stately mansions all built around 1800 by blockade runners who had made fortunes outwitting the British during the Napoleonic Wars. Many of Hydra's merchants were also celebrated naval heroes during the Greek fight for independence from Turkey in the 1820s. Another surprise is that there are no cars, so if you want to see the spectacular view from the Monastery of Ilias you'll have to ride a donkey to the top.

Additionally you have to know that Leonard Cohen stayed on this island for a while and he composed even a few world hits here!

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It starts already when arriving. Through an immersed crater wall one enters the volcano crater.
We had to go ashore with a tender and than we had climb the crater wall. We could make a choice in between a) a mule climb (pittoresk) b) an elevator and c) walking.
Of course we have choosen for the 'walking'

Once on the crater rim, you can have a walk along the rim with fascinating romantic views of the inondated crater and the white and blue colors of the houses.

What an experience!

A little volcano history :

Santorini is one of the 5 volcanic centers making up the southern Aegean volcanic arc. Coming out from the deep blue sea, the volcanic cliffs are topped with white houses and churches.
Layer upon layer of red volcanic rock form a visual demonstration found nowhere else on earth.

The Kameni island in front of Santorini is still active. The latest eruption of steam and ash dates back from 1928!

Hotels in Santorini

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Rhodos city is a medieval wall embraced city with great shopping arcades and even more terrasses.

Modern history of Rhodos city :

The English bombs that fell on the medieval city of Rhodes in 1944 claimed human lives and destroyed a great number of buildings, leaving large gaps in the urban tissue. One of the first Decrees of the Greek administration designated those areas as reserved for future excavations and a number of edifices as safeguarded buildings.

In 1957, a new city plan was approved by a Decree and in 1960 the entire medieval town was designated as a protected monument by the Ministry of Culture. In 1961 and 1963 new Decrees were issued concerning the new city plan. They provided for the widening of existing streets and the opening of new ones. These were not implemented in the old city due to the resistance of the Archaeological Service. In 1988, the old town of Rhodes was designated as a World Heritage City by UNESCO.

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Modern lift equipment brings you to the Scheidegg train station area.
From there on you can ski down to Grindelwald, Wengen, etc.

Did you ever skied where a James Bond movie was filmed. Here you ca !

The Shilthorn summit was the prlce for a spectacular movie part. In winter you can do the same without helicopter stuntwork.

Although the level is not snow guaranteed (not as high as the ski aereas in France

Hotels in Grindelwald - click here

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Ski Regions in and near Grindelwald

Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen

Lies in the heart of the Jungfrau Region and at the foot of the world-famous Eiger North Face. The Kleine Scheidegg-Männlichen ski paradise comprises of 19 modern lifts and 110 beautifully prepared slopes and belongs to the most popular winter sport regions in Switzerland.

Grindelwald-First

Bärgelegg-Snowpark, Grindel-Superpipe, Oberjoch-Run with timing, Boardercross, 50 km of skiing fun and even a "30 limit" zone, the Grindelwald-First ski area is an absolute must for ski and snowboard fans and those aspiring to be it.

Mürren-Schilthorn Mürren

At an altitude of 1'650 m - 3'000 m, Mürren-Schilthorn is the highest winter sport resort in the Bernese Oberland and guarantees optimal ski conditions well into spring.

Bodmi

With it's sunny location and beginner's lift, the nursery slope on Bodmi is the ideal area for beginners of all ages.

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We were very fortunate with this rental as we enjoyed the space and the luxury at 100%

Unfortunately there was no whirlpool or swiing pool.

The condominium was located near the complimentary besstop or near one ot the chair lifts

+

Skiing in Breckenridge is GREAT!

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Aspen maybe world famous for the 'Celebrities' on the slopes, but we enjoyed Vail much better than Aspen.
It might have been the bad weather (it was snowing al the time), but the terrain in Vail is more diverse than in Aspen.

What we liked in Aspen were the Christmas Lighted streets and the 'expensive' shops with beautiful clothes and jewelry.

Also nice in Aspen is the free shuttle one can take while parking in the village parking.

Aspen is a *** skiing area to my opinion.

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The building was just in front of the public parking and next to the icefree village streets of Vail.

Ski lifts where at 150 meter walking.

+ most important, Vail has GREAT skiing and wondeful backbowls

I liked Vail a lot - it gets from me a score of ****

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We stayed overnight in a few quinta's (Madeira villa's) and made walks in a couple of valleys. One of them was Quinta Jardin do Lago in Funchal

Madeira is a claud catcher, as the atlantic clouds try to invade the slopes of the island.
The clauds make easy and intermediate strenght walks affordable.

I also did ride the Tobagan, a sary fut sfae ride downhill.

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What a beautiful small village. Today it is completely touristic as it is so beautiful.Cute, cozy, a lot of fantastic shops. When you look at returning visitors everyone has bags.

Positano comes certainly in my top 5 of cutest villages ever visited.

Positano is located at the Amalfi Coast and not so far away from Naples.

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While sightseeing in Valencia we arrived at the port and saw a big crowd along the port terminals.

Beautiful woman dressed in expensive clothes and a lot of advertisemnt for Champagne !

Something must go on here. Indeed, Valencia has the rights of organising America's cup for several years and we where accidentically right in it now.

Without paying anything we could bike and stroll along the different stands. We enjoyed a full day doing this. We saw all the participants ships and crew getting out and coming back in to the port.

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My hotels was located next to the hypermodern structures, which made the city a pelinerage destination for modern architecture.

Queen Sofia of Spain opened in 2005 the Valencia Opera House.  It is named for the Queen as 'el Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía'. The opera house was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava who was actually born in Valencia.

Live it is almost better than the pictures and they look already impressive

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Initially we stayed there for 2 nights, but after the first night, we felt so encharmed by the hotel, that we decided to stay 2 more nights and again later for 3 more nights. So, this hotel (hotel comfort, view of the mountains, service and food) made us finally stay for 1 week !

The friendly family owned hotel (owned by Monica and Christian Aubert) and its service (the owners do work closely together with a Swiss Hotel School) where outstanding.
The furniture felt warmly with a combination of elegant colors on wooden walls, we felt immediatly home.

The restaurant is amongst the best of entire Switzerland. Belgian chief cook - Roel Lintermans - was cooking heavenly plates. Even breakfast was an absolute delight !

We were certainly not the only people who were encharmed by this hotel, 1 year later it got the emblem of Small Luxury Hotels of the world !
And ... never change a winning team. The same people (Mr. & Mrs. Aubert and Roel Lintermans) are still servicing as per summer 2007.

If you like the combination of SUPERB VIEWS, THE FINEST WORLDWIDE COOKING and FRIENDLY HOSTS, stay at least a couple of nights in Hotel Caprice Wengen

Pictures of Roel Linterùmans dishes, courtesy www.caprice-wengen.ch.

Elisabeth

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We meant to go for a Switzerland holiday for 1 week staying overnight in about 3 different locations.
The first one was in the Interlaken area. As we had no reservations at all, we stopped in the Lauterbrunnen train stations and found out that we could call with a button activated telephone system, the Wengen hotels higher up the mountain.

We could park our car in a train station public parking, and had to take the cable car train to Wengen.

Wengen itself is a car free village (only some small hotel and service cars may circulate in the village). there are simply no nomrmal roads.

We arrived in making a reservation in Hotel Caprice **** in Wengen, a tremendous hit (see other post). As the weather was beautiful, our hotel was supreme and the surroundings were magnificent, we finally stayed there for the whole week !

We enjoyed making walks in the area. Shilthorn, Murren and Stechelberg, Grindelwald, Kleine Scheidegg, Eiger nordwand and Jungfraujoch, where amongst the most beautiful places we ever visited.

When you go to the European mountains, never miss this area, it is a jewel of the earth.

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We stayed overnight in a small hotel near the market place of Freudenstadt named 'Hotel Warteck' ***.
The cook made delicious dishes and advised us with the best payable wine we ever drunk in Germany.
We really can advise Hotel Warteck in Freudenstadt.

The town itself is ideally located in the middle of the black forest. It is a heaven for walking, horseriding, trekking, etc.

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Anyway, some people convinced me that the adventure was worthwhile doing it.

We made a program so that the slopes of some major Colorado ski areas would be skiied in only 7 days.

To work this out easily, we had to stay in 2 different places for respectively 3 and 4 nights.

The first condo where we stayed was at Breckenridge, the seond in Vail.

The weather was very bad (allways snowing like hell), but we could do almost every planned area.

Day 1 : Brenckenridge.
Day 2 : Keystone
Day 3 : Winter Park
Day 4 : Copper mountain
Day 5 : Vail
Day 6 : Aspen
Day 7 : Vail (planned Beaver Creek - but snoww cover on the road was too thick)

Altough it was snowing most of the time, the fact that the trails where amid forest, gave us enough visibility.

We enjoyed this trip. We can encourage every European to ski in the US for at least 1 time.

There are no cozy chalets on the slopes like in Austria, but the trails and runs are very special and from an outstanding quality.

Another negative point in the US are the expensive daily skipasses. Unless an exception every area has his own skipass. Interchangeability would be appreciated (like in Euope).

We will certainly go back for another adventue.

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Very nearby and high in the hills was the beautiful city of Taormina.
Besides shopping, there are a few very interesting places to visit. roman amphiteathre, some beautiful churches, etc.

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