Archive for November 23, 2008
Fantasy
November 23, 2008, 9:41 pm
Have you ever dreamt about having a grand Caribbean vacation and see yourself reading a good book, sipping your smoothies while having your tan under the sun? Or living a billionaire’s life?
Fantasy always gives us a chance to be what we want to be. You don’t have to pay for it since it is for free. We can make things possible by imagining something unimaginable. And doing this can give you little happiness to your mundane and tedious life. This is the time when you can pretend and have a minute freedom from your sad truth. Some of us may have tremendous life experience and the only way to step out of it is to make up something that would lighten our mood. We look for a medium to escape from all the harshness and give ourselves time to watch a movie or read interesting novels. We pretend to be the protagonist and end your day as the hero or heroine of the story.
This may give you a short span of joy but you have to think that this is not always healthy. You cannot waste time by closing your eyes and make up something that is not. We all are having trouble accepting the fact that life cannot always be what we want. We have to strive hard and work to make this fantasy happen. Let this be a motivation ground for each and everyone of us. Your dream speaks your wishes so let your perseverance bring that dream into a reality.
—admin | Comments Off
(posted in the Fantastic Fantasy category)
Lascaux and the Vezere Valley- 4 Excellent Venues
November 23, 2008, 4:05 pmThe Vezere river is a tributary of the Dordogne, and the two meet near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac before the Dordogne continues on toward Bordeaux and the Atlantic ocean. Near the village of Montignac, about 30 kilometers upstream on the Vezere, are some excellent and unique venues, including the famous Lascaux cave. Here are four that can be visited in one day.
1. Lascaux II- Lascaux is considered to be the number one prehistoric site in all of Europe. The paintings on the site date from 17,000 to 15,000 years ago. Shortly after that the cave entrances were closed by mudslides or other natural means, and thus the paintings were perfectly preserved until the modern era. The cave was rediscovered in 1940 by two local boys who were chasing their dog, and several years later it was opened to the public. However, in 1963 it was closed again, as it was discovered that too many people in the cave were causing the paintings to deteriorate. Since then only a few scientists, scholars or art historians per day were allowed in for several hours maximum. For the past few years even those limited visits have been stopped, as new signs of further deterioration have been observed. The French government, however, took up a 10 year project to make an exact duplicate of the cave. This effort, which opened in 1983, uses exactly the same pigments that were used by the Cro-Magnon artists thousands of years ago, and is dimensionally accurate to less than one inch of error. It is called Lascaux II, and is located only about 400 yards from the original cave.
The quality of the artwork is the main reason that Lascaux is considered the finest example of prehistoric cave paintings. Done with only oil lamps for light and using high scaffolding, the prehistoric artists who created this site were highly accomplished artists. Most of the guided visits to Lascaux II are conducted in French, but there are tours in English on most days. One needs to call the Lascaux ticket office in Montignac or the Montignac Office of Tourism to find out if and when there is an English tour on any given day. If you have a group they will probably set up an English tour for you and other English speakers, but this needs to be arranged in advance through the ticket office. Even though Lascaux II is a replica and not the original, it is very well done, very informative, and not to be missed. 2. St. Leon sur Vezere- This is another of the “Most Beautiful Villages of France”. Built in a picturesque loop of the Vezere river, this charming village possesses two castles and one of the finest Romanesque churches of the Perigord. The church was part of a Benedictine priory which was founded in the 12th century. It was built on the ruins of a Gallo-Roman villa. The remains of one of the villa’s walls can be seen on the river side. There is a picnic area next to the church on the banks of the river, and a café is nearby as well. This is an excellent spot to have a pleasant lunch or a refreshing drink.
3. La Roque St. Christophe (St. Christopher’s Rock) is a huge Troglodyte cave complex. For about a half mile in length this majestic cliff rises vertically above the Vezere valley to a height of over 250ft. It is like a huge hive with about 100 caves hollowed out of the rock on five tiers. Excavations have proved that the cliff dwellings were inhabited from the Upper Paleolithic Age onwards. In the 10th century the cliff terraces served as the foundation for a fortress which was used against the Vikings, and again later during the Hundred Years War. It was subsequently destroyed during the Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century. The self-guided tour explains the evolution of human life at La Roque St. Christophe, which took place over many centuries . In fact even Neanderthal fossils have been found at this site and at other locations nearby.
4. Chateau de Losse- This renaissance chateau sits on the right bank of the Vezere river, and it has a large terrace that overlooks the river and offers picturesque views. The chateau is well known for its excellent furniture and tapestries, which can be seen on the guided tours. The tours are in French, but foreign language guides are available, and these are easy to follow so one does not miss anything. The tours are quite good, and one can also visit the well kept gardens and stroll around the outside of the chateau in the former moat area.
As stated earlier, these four venues in the Vezere Valley near Montignac can easily be visited in one day, since they are relatively close and do not take too long to visit any of them. If one is staying nearby, in Sarlat, for example, only about 25 kilometers away, a visit to these sites is well worth the effort.
—admin | Comments Off
(posted in the Hall Of Travel category)
Hello from Ibiza (3)
November 23, 2008, 12:58 amSeptember 30, 2004, 4:15
Sitting here in an Internet Cafe in Cala Llonga on the east side of the island. We spent about 2 hours in Ibiza today, me just sightseeing, climbing up to the fortress and taking pictures, Theresa finally getting her souvenir shopping done.
>From about 1 pm on we have been spending our last few hours at Cala Llonga, a beautiful beach, set in a deep inlet, where we have been relaxing.
Yesterday was by far the most exciting day. We took a ferry from Ibiza to Formentera with the Balerias boat called Ibiza Jet (29.80 Euros for supposedly the faster ferry at 25 minutes, it still took us 40 minutes to get over to the other island.)
Formentera is a lot smaller than Ibiza, about 82 square km compared to about 580. And it’s virtually flat, with only two areas with a long hilly elevation. The highest point is on east end of the island, at Far de la Mola, elevation about 200m.
We rented 2 motor scooters to discover the island, which was absolutely the best idea and the most fun. We had 2 little Piaggio automatic scooters with a 50 cc engine, top speed about 70 km/h, and a cost of 20 Euros a day, crappy helmet included.
We booted around the whole island, Far de La Mola, Far des Cap de Barbaria – an almost lunar landscape with many little figures of rock that must have been built by other tourists.
Then we moved on to Platja de Cala Saona, probably the nicest beach on the island, set into a rocky scenery. Most other beaches we saw (Es Copinar, Es Arenals on the south side of the island) were very flat, sandy beaches, with little scenic interest.
However, the colour of the water, as anywhere on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera is truly amazing, deep blue water with turquoise and light blue patches. I couldn’t believe the colours when I first saw them.
After handing our scooters back, we caught the slower ferry back at 7 and arrived in Ibiza Harbour at about 7:30, all the while standing on the outside deck and enjoying the cool air and the atmosphere of an impending sunset. Then we just shopped for dinner at the local Spanish “Walmart” and had a quiet dinner back at the resort. Although it wasn’t so quiet after all, it was karaoke night at the Gold Crown pub and there was many a singer who wasn’t really meant to be in front of a microphone.
Finally around midnight the ruckus died down and I could get to sleep. Well, tomorrow is our last day in Ibiza, our last chance to enjoy the Mediterranean. Tonight we are going to enjoy some true local Spanish dances in the village of Sant Miquel. Should be interesting….
—admin | Comments Off
(posted in the Hall Of Travel category)
Copyright © 2012 Business Flavor
Entries (RSS)
and Comments (RSS).