Kefalonia is a huge island that has dramatic and diverse scenery. It has several scenic inlets and bays. The island also consists of a fascinating history characterized by many archaeological finds from the Mycenaean era. You can reach Kefalonia by air and flights to Kefalonia are quite regular too. It also consists of a castle from the Byzantine epoch. This castle is known as St. Georges castle that took its current shape early during the 16th century and was constructed by the Venetians who almost always seemed eager to build forts near the sea. The aim in mind was mainly to have command over the trade routes. The old fort was constructed built on the mountain located on the edge of a valley called Livatho.

After the castle fell into the hands of the Turks, the Franks and the Byzantines, at the year end as many as 1500 Venetians freed the castle from the Turks. In the process they also took assistance of the Spanish people as well as the Kefalonian people. For the next 4 years the Venetians make a full fledged attempt at restoring as well as fortifying the walls of the castle. The restoration and fortification work was constantly supervised by an engineer named Nicolo della Cimara in 1504. A suburb, also called a borgo was built right in front of the castle. This area is referred to as a Kastro too. The work was done by 40 Venetian local labor and craftsmen.

The road that goes to Argostoli starting at the castle was given a name Strata Communa. This road runs from behind the hill. This road was built so that it was not spotted by the ships passing by. The main street led to the church of the Evangelistria. This church has been built on the other end of the hill. The castle implied a lot of security people in the suburbs and the people of Kefalonia were also comfortable to have the Venetians around instead of the Turks. They were simply overwhelmed and impressed by the kind of knowledge Venetian engineers had. The castle was completed by 1545. The castle has polygonal and asymmetrical walls that are 620 meters long. The area of the walls is about 16,000 sq. meters.

The castle has two sections with the interior courtyard in shape of a horseshoe. The courtyard also has a rocky region right at the middle. It also has 3 main bastions. One of them faces Argostoli, the other faces the sea and the third one faces the village. The whole castle is worth exploring and its construction will never fail to impress visitors.

Paphos is widely known for its monasteries and churches such as the Panagia Tou Sinti Monastery, Ayia Solomoni Church, Panayia Chrysopolitissa Church, and the Panayia Theoskepasti Church. Some other sites of tourist interest include Paphos Odeon, Paphos Castle, Ayios Neophytos Monastery, Panagia Tou Sinti Monastery and Saranta Kolones. You can fly to this wonderful tourist destination as there are many flights to Paphos almost every day from several world locations. If you are traveling with children then visiting the Paphos Aquarium would be a good idea. If you want to enjoy the natural beauty of the region then Akamas peninsula should be your first choice.

The Akamas peninsula is one of the most picturesque locations on the island and is situated towards the western side of Cyprus. The peninsula spans over an area of 230 sq. km. if you are keen on seeing natural habitats, herbs, plants and wild isolated forests in its most natural form then the landscape at Akamas will amaze you to the limit. It has loads of natural beauty, sandy bays and deep gorges where you can wet your feet while admiring the stunning beauty of the setup.

The peninsula derives its name from the son of Theseus. He had taken part in the Trojan wars. The Akamas peninsula accommodates as many as 530 varieties of plant species. Several botanists are found roaming around in the region to explore and photograph newly found plants. This region holds a lot of ecological significance. 126 out the total plant species are known to grow on the Akamas peninsula and are considered to be locally grown in Cyprus. The reason for their easy growth is the unspoiled natural surroundings.

The excellent variety of animals found at the Akamas peninsula is also impressive. Here you will encounter 168 diverse species of birds, 16 types of butterflies, 12 mammals and 20 different species of reptiles. If you observe the existing habitats of animals and birds on the peninsula you will notice how different they are. They are diverse too. This often attracts botanists to the peninsula as these habitats include sand dunes, juniper and pine forests, maquis forests, gorges as well as high cliffs.

Some of the native plants of Cyprus are found at the Akamas peninsula are the Taraxacum aphrogenes, Alyssum, Rubia laurea, crocus veneris, bosea cypria, sedum cyprium, Odontides cypria and tulipa cypria. If nothing has excited you till now then Lara Bay will definitely attract your attention as it happens to be a significant breeding ground for turtles. Here you will encounter hawks-bill and green turtles. These turtles unfortunately figure on the list of endangered species. They have taken residence here at Lara Bay simply because they are not disturbed or threatened here.

Funchal Film Festival is held every year to celebrate the culture of art and fiction films. Film enthusiasts from all over Portugal as well as several neighboring countries flock around Madeira where the festival is hosted. As the craze of films is building up everywhere in the world with increasing fervor, the crowd attending the film festival is also increasing almost with the same pace. The festival mainly covers fiction feature films of 35mm reel.

While some arrive at the Island for the film festival to admire the talent displayed by the novice and experienced filmmakers, there are others who come solely to enjoy their time looking for properties in Portugal or buy the famous embroidered tablecloths. There are still others who find time off to visit the old churches, parks and gardens maintained in a remarkable manner throughout the country. Whatever your reason, it is easy to get here, as there are several charter flights to Funchal from different countries in UK.

The Funchal Film Festival is held in the month of April every year. The various categories included for the festival are Best short movie, Best Actress, Best Actor, Funchal Gold and Silver awards, Special jury award, Premiere Madeira and a Public award. There are also two honorary awards in all. The Life Achievement award for 2010 was presented to Geraldine Chaplin. Geraldine Chaplin started her career at a young age of 8 years with her fathers film called Limelight. Some of her popular films are Welcome to L.A and Mama Turns a Hundred. The other honorary award is the Tribute to Terry Jones.

The special jury award was bagged by Duane Hopkins for her great work in the film called Better Things. The jury in the festival is formed by notable people from the film fraternity who understand and have experienced film-making first hand. The jury for 2010 Film Festival included Beatriz Silva who has been an educator, director and producer of films in Uruguay and other parts of the world. Some of her noteworthy works include a film called En La Puts Vida. Other jury members this year were Phyllis Mollet, Fernando Vendrell, Giacomo Martini and Stjepan Hundic.

The festival organizers usually screen a film and sometimes all the films nominated for a particular award, as the festival is a week long. The competitive program includes International competition for feature films, International competition for Short films and the most popular in the country, Competitive films produced in Madeira Island. Artists and talented visionaries from several parts of the world grace the occasion with their presence. You will also find some students from known film institutes attend the various ceremonies and local trips organized by the sponsors. It is indeed a grand occasion that has inspired one and all.

The Feast of Ria Formosa is a delight for the seafood lovers. This yearly festival is bound to capture the hearts of all the foodies no matter which region of the world they belong to. The festival is aimed at celebrating the bountiful harvest of all type of seafood including fish. It is organized in the month of August and held at Jardim dos Pescadores for a period of six days.

The region of Ria Formosa is well known for its bounty of different species of fish, crustaceans and mollusks, with Olhao being the largest fishing port in the area. Though the event was a simple tradition in the past, it has now gained international importance with people coming from all over the world to enjoy the sumptuous meals prepared by some of the most celebrated chefs of Portugal.

Located towards the eastern coast of Faro, Ria Formosa is basically a fishing community, where people make their living either through fishing or caring for oyster and clam nurseries. The area is truly gifted by nature and provides livelihood as well as nourishment to the people residing in the surrounding areas. Most of the fish is caught from the Ria Formosa estuary. Clams are one of the most sought after seafood of the area and are always on the menu in the local restaurants.

The prepared seafood are all innovatively decorated with salad and other garnishing to show both talent and make the whole display attractive to visitorssome are even prepared right in front of your eyes, making your mouth water. They are all displayed in different types of plates and dishes, ranging from ceramics to earthen pots. There is a wide variety to choose from, available at some competitive rates.

Those wanting to attend the festival must purchase tickets that cost 8 to10 Euros, however the entry for children under the age of six years is free of cost. The ticket charges for children between the ages of 7 to 12 years are 3 to 5 Euros. The tickets can be purchased from the Festival box office placed at the entrance of the festival. The prices for the tickets are different during every festival, so you will find out the actual cost when you reach the venue.

There are several flights to Faro, which is well connected with all the major cities of Europe. Ria Formosa can be easily reached via Faro, in case you are planning to be there for the festival.

Dalaman is a central town in the Mulga province in the west of Turkey. This region is well known for its natural appeal, beauty and culture. It is also known for its bustling international airport where a lot of flights to Dalaman arrive.

Dalaman has a generally pleasant and mild climate. The average temperature in summer is around 25-35C/77-95F and around 15-18C/59-64F in winter. And even in the winter, you still get at least 5 hours of sunshine a day.

With this in mind, you are sure to have an excellent and quiet time at the spectacular resorts of this district where you get to relax as well as enjoy various water sporting activities above sea level and under water. These resorts are quite safe and child-friendly and there are great rides and other activities to keep the children occupied. The largest and most popular is the Marmaris beach resort on the Aegean coastline which has attracted a lot of tourists from everywhere. This charming beach with fine sand is surrounded by lush green vegetation, palm trees and steep mountains.

Another lovely and unique resort is the Gokova which is part of where the term ‘Blue cruise’ originated from. The surroundings in this resort are magnificent and picturesque. It is extremely safe for swimming plus you get to enjoy a sailing trip around the coast while you get to enjoy lovely meals on board. Nightlife in these resorts is something to look forward to. The entertainment, food and drink are quite amazing. You will find lots of clubs, street bars and cabarets where you can also enjoy some Turkish nights. This will also be a perfect time to sample some Turkish delights and exquisite cuisines.

You can treat yourself to some retail therapy at Dalaman’s wonderful bazaar where you can buy variety of things and souvenirs for your loved ones. Or you can choose to pamper yourself at some of Dalaman’s exotic floras and faunas with fresh air and soothing mud baths. You will find quite a number of them in the district.

You can also visit some of Dalaman’s historical sites, monuments and some archaeology museums. The famous ones are the Ottoman fort and Kaunos archaeological site where you get to see nice artefacts, rock tombs and Roman baths. Or you can choose to visit some of its striking ruins in Fethiye.

I truly feel for all those tourist who got stuck on Malta due to the ash cloud. The only consolation I can offer is that, when it comes to the weather, April is the best month of the year to be on Malta and I really hope they’ll make the most of their prolonged stay.

Swimming has always been a popular sporting pastime of the Maltese and, in addition to the numerous great swimming locations around the coast of the island, there are some impressive swimming pools. Earlier this month, hundreds of children came from all over Europe to take part in a swimming training camp and competition which was organised by the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta.

The swimming event, which started on the 8th of April, was part of the larger Malta Rally, a regular event organised by the Malta Tourist Office to welcome international boys and girls to the island to take part in a multi-sports tournament during the Easter school holidays. The event included sports such as football, rugby, netball, hockey, swimming, tennis, golf and basketball. The participants had access to training sessions run by experienced coaches and they had the pleasure to meet other children from local schools and teams. Malta will host a similar event during the October school holidays and many schools and children’s sports club from the UK have already signed up.

Apart from the sports events, there also was a social programme including karaoke, magic, quiz evenings and trips to local attractions around Malta. There was so much going on that one would almost expect that tourists who specifically came to Malta for the Malta Rally haven’t had the opportunity to chill out on the beach. Let’s hope that they use their extra time on the island to make up for this!

Relatively few resorts were promoting large events during march, preferring to wait until the new holiday season really starts at Easter. In Tunisia, music festivals are relatively thin on the ground anyway, so it was unusual to find a new festival taking place during March this year.

The Festival de Musique Fusion a Monastir started on the afternoon of 12th March and continued through until Sunday evening on 14th March. The organisers saw the festival as an opportunity for new and upcoming groups to have the chance to perform in front of larger audiences. Various styles were on display, but the classification of “Fusion” was more a term to allow a broad mix of acts to perform rather a style that could be used to describe any of the acts themselves.

The festival took place in the Cultural Centre of Monastir with four acts performing each day. Tickets were available for each day at a price of 6 Tunisian Dinar (which is only around 3 pounds in UK currency) or visitors could purchase a three day pass for 15 Dinar.

Bands performing included Garby’s, a three piece guitar band who play “world music”, Sofien Safta, a talented musician who plays guitar and harmonica and is a regular performer in Tunisia. Also performing on Saturday were Tunisian band RaZZmataZZ, a five part band whose music style is described as a combination of metal, rock and experimental. This band hails from the Tunisian city of Al Qayrawen, which has some amazing old buildings, some dating back almost 1500 years.

Flythomascook.com operate flights to Monastir from a range of UK airports all year round.

If your family is one of the many that are now finding surfing to be the perfect component of an activity holiday then your choice of location is very important. The Algarve coast in Portugal between Faro and Lagos has some of the best family surfing beaches in Europe.

The popularity of surfing is still growing, with new forms of the sport attracting both experienced participants and younger people. Adrenalin junkies now favour wave riding or freestyle where extreme windsurfing techniques are used to ride waves and make huge jumps. Newcomers to the sport no longer have to endure the effort of learning difficult surfing techniques from the off, with the easier alternative of body boarding proving very popular. This branch of the sport is also enjoyable in beach areas where waves are not big enough to allow surfers to easily stand up.

But where do you take a young family to enjoy the elementary stages of surfing in pleasant and safe conditions? Many UK locations have beaches and waves perfect for body boarding. Gently shelving sandy beaches are all around our coastline but the water temperature leaves a little to be desired. The southern coast of the Algarve between Faro and Lagos provides a perfect alternative. There is a choice of several locations that provide the sea conditions and safe environments families look for, and, with a choice of airports nearby, they are easily reached by flights from the UK.

The Praia de Faro is well regarded as a beginners surfing spot with a large beach and very little current to worry about. Further along the coast Meia Praia, one of the longest beaches in the Algarve, and Praia de Rocha are both favoured spots with the former providing easy surfing for absolute beginners. Praia de Rocha offers a wider range of conditions to satisfy both the beginner and improver and has a huge beach with enough space for everyone to find a great spot. There are also a wide range of attractions around this popular holiday resort.

The International Pharos Chamber Music Festival in Cyprus first started in 2001 and the 9th incarnation of the concert series kicked off this week in the Pasydy Auditorium in Nicosia and the Royal Manor House of Kouklia, close to Paphos. The series of concerts has gained international recognition for the quality of its performances and anyone on holiday in the area who appreciates classical music could take advantage by attending any of the eight concerts.

A group of eighteen world-famous musicians will perform a range pieces including works from Hayden, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Brahms. The world of classical music celebrates two significant anniversaries this year, namely 200 years since Hayden’s death and 200 years since Mendolssohn’s birth so the concerts will include some those composer’s most impressive chamber compositions.

The exciting 23 year old Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova, who recently won the Young British Performer Classical BRIT award 2009, will play in five of the concerts. She has received great reviews recently and The Times wrote she is “destined to be a force in the classical music firmament for decades to come”.

The Royal Manor House in Kouklia near Paphos is a fine venue for such events, being regarded as one Cyprus’ best examples of Frankish architecture. The stone vaulted Gothic Hall of the Manor House can only enhance the performances of the artists.

The coastline around Bodrum has a rich history dating back many through thousands of years of rule by Persians, Ancient Greeks, Crusader Knights and the Ottoman Empire. All that has left the area scattered with enough relics and artifacts to keep today’s archaeologists very happy and the museum in Bodrum is a popular attraction for them.

An exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York included 350 pieces from all over the eastern Mediterranean that showed how culturally development the ancient civilisations were and how they traded with other populations by sea. Some of the artifacts came from an ancient shipwreck that was discovered near the Uluburun Cape in 1983. The ship not only contained items of local origin but also pieces from as far away as Cyprus, Syria and Egypt. The pieces loaned by the Bodrum Museum included a small bronze goddess statue, heavy stone anchors and a ceramic ram’s head.

The museum opened in 1961 and is located in The Bodrum Castle of The Knights of St.John on the harbour. It prides itself on the way in which its items are displayed in appealing and relevant contexts. This is no dull and dusty collection, but rather an inspiring and intriguing showcase of the ancient civilisations that once ruled this part of the world.

The museum was ranked one of the top 12 in Europe in the European Museum of the Year Awards 1995.