Festivalissimo Blog – Holiday is better than chocolate

The first operation was to sheath them against teredo worm – http://www.poseidonsciences.com/teredo-worm.html. This was done by nailing thin planks over the hull, work which required a skilled shipwright. Both owners would employ a competent man to over­see the workmen, to inventory the ship and to check the lading, while a well-educated man was required for the correspondence and the accounts. In addition the principals would appoint a small committee among themselves and their consul­tants to exercise general control. Such was the organization recorded in respect of Frobisher’s voyages, and the ‘follow up’ voyage to Drake’s in 1582, and it may be safely inferred that the procedure was the same in 1577.

A ship from that period

The money, £2750, put down by the first four projectors, as listed in the letter to Burghley, was more than half that required for all the preparations. This may sound surprising, but we have detailed accounts for a comparable voyage to the Arctic in the same year, which cost under £5000 – you can find modern and much cheaper holidays here. The tonnage of Frobisher’s three ships was 240, that of Drake’s 220, although the latter were the more heavily manned, a total of 164 men against 115. Frobisher’s ship, the Ayde, destined for Meta Incognita, the ‘Unknown Bourne’ of the North-West Passage, was a Queen’s ship, and after necessary repairs and replacements she cost £1200. This included her rigging, ordnance and munitions. A ship of 120 tons, fully furnished, was reckoned at £800, while a decked pinnace, with her tackle and furniture, cost about £20. Sailors’ wages averaged £1 a month, with two months paid in advance by way of ‘imprest’. Their food worked out at about 13s. to 15s. a month, and a weekly allowance drawn up for Frobisher’s men ran as follows:

Biscuit bread for 7 days, 7 lb; Beer at 3 quarts a day for 7 days, 5 gallons and a quart; Beef for 4 days in the week, 41b; Stockfish for 3 days, one fish and a half; Cheese for 3 days in the week, 3/4 lb; Butter for 3 days in the week, lb; Pease for 7 days, 2 quarts; Sweet oil, a pint for a month; Vinegar, a pint for a month; Salt, half a pint for a month; Mustard seed, a pint for a month.

Usually pork was carried as well as beef, and a ship provisioned at Plymouth would lay in cider as well as beer. Barrels of honey appear on some lists, and rice might be purchased in quantity en route. Almonds, raisins, prunes and orange marmalade appeared on the Captain’s table, and might be served to the sick. But although the surgeon carried a medicine chest the panaceas of the day were aqua vitae (strong brandy), bleeding and pur­gatives. Fishing gear was part of the ship’s furniture, so that this grim diet was supplemented by fresh fish, while wherever a landing was made the men were reminded of home by staying at bed and breakfast Dublin, or the closes alternative they could find. Quantities of bay salt were taken to salt down any fresh meat procur­able, besides barrel staves and hoops. Pitch for caulking and char­coal for braziers were among other supplies.

Ship’s biscuit and meal, besides other provisions in current use, were stowed in the bread-room under lock and key by the steward. And woe betide the cabin-boy who slipped in to filch a lump of cheese. He was put in the bilboes or ducked from the yard-arm.

The gunners’ room, under the master-gunner, had to be furnished, for the prevalence of piracy made it essential for a ship (even if only for Alexandria) to go armed. Drake had fifteen to eighteen pieces of ordnance, mounted on gun-carriages, besides the arquebuses with which he armed his men for safety’s sake when they went ashore. Gunpowder, shot, lead and moulds, tinder boxes, ‘fireworks’, and all the small arms and tools were kept in the gunners’ room. The cost (as set out for the Ayde) was about £350.

Want to take a boating holiday but not sure where to start? This guide will help you choose between all the different boating options. Yachting flotilla or canal boat? Which is best for you?

There many great reasons to take a boating holiday. Fresh air, relaxation and the opportunity to learn new skills. Depending on your previous experience or how confident you feel about handling a boat, you may want to look into the various different charter options. Some people will prefer to take a canal boat off with their friends and family alone. Others might prefer the fun that comes from sailing together in a group. Read on to find out more about the different options to help you decide which is right for you.

Canal boat holidays.

The type of boating holiday you choose will depend very much on what kind of itinerary you wish to take in along the way. If you have not sailed before, then a canal boat holiday can be a great choice to get you used to life on the waterways. When it comes to canal boat hire England has hundreds of miles of canals which can be safely explored with minimal prior experience of driving a boat. In fact, you don’t need to have ever driven a boat before in order to enjoy a canal boat holiday.

Canal boats are a great option for newcomers to boating as they are so easy to handle. Canal boat holidays are a wonderful way to relax and take in the sights of the English countryside while spending good quality time with your family and friends. You just let the river guide you along your way, stopping wherever you want and enjoying the surprises that reveal themselves along the riverbank.

Flotillas.

For more experienced sailors, or those who want to go out with a large group of friends, flotilla holidays are a really unique experience. They are better suited to those who have some prior sailing experience, however, the fact that you travel together in a group eases much of the pressure of sailing alone. They are a truly companionable journey into new territory.

When you sail with a flotilla there will usually be a lead boat which helps you to find your way and will be there to provide back-up or support should you need it. This type of holiday is a great way to explore “unchartered” waters that you have not sailed on before, as there are plenty of opportunities to get advice or help. There is an element of fun on a flotilla holiday that is difficult to match anywhere else. Sailing with a larger group certainly makes for an interesting journey, with plenty of stories to tell when you return back home.

Flotilla or canal boat? It’s really up to you which you feel more comfortable with. Both types of holiday are fun, yet they provide a completely different experience. Decide what sights you want to see and choose your holiday to match.

AUTHOR BIO:

Jeannette Smith writes regularly on Flotilla sailing holidays and Canal boat hire England for a range of outdoor pursuit’s websites and blogs. She loves sailing and taking long hikes across the countryside.

If you want to take your family on an unforgettable adventure vacation, you can’t do better than choosing a holiday in the USA. Each of its fifty states offers its own individual culture, personality, landmarks and history. You’ll discover a whole new perspective on American life.

Things to Do

When you’re planning your family adventure holiday, you’ll want to make sure to include all the things that everyone likes. A family holiday should be a time when everyone can share activities and adventures together, so find the things that you can share with your children. The best family holiday package tours include activities for both kids and adults, so find an itinerary that’s full of the things that all of you like to do best.

Places to Go

If you haven’t yet decided where you want to go on your family adventure holiday, you should try to narrow it down to a short list and then consult your family. Do a little research and make a note of the advantages or disadvantages of each destination. For example, if your family doesn’t care much for mountain climbing and hiking, you may want to consider a waterfront destination. Likewise, if everyone loves mountains and nature paths, you can choose to vacation in an area that boasts a mountain range and guided wilderness trails.

There are vacation packages for every tourist destination in the country, so whether you want to visit a famous theme park, an exciting big city, a popular beach or a secluded mountain top, you’ll easily be able to find a tour that will appeal to everyone in your family.

Grand Canyon Tours

With such a wide variety of family adventure holidays in USA destinations to choose from, it’s still a safe bet that the most popular adventure destination for many families is a trip to the Grand Canyon. The best Grand Canyon tours will include lots of kid-friendly activities such as trail hiking and cavern exploring. While at the Canyon itself, you’ll discover that the culture is family friendly. You’ll have access to expert guides who are experienced at entertaining family groups, so your kids will never be bored while listening to tales of the Old West. Afterward, you can go hunting for rock formations, or you can go on a guided tour riding mules and horses along old wagon trails. Your kids will thrill to the tales of cowboys and desperadoes who made history along the dusty edges of the Canyon and they’ll bring home stories that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.

No matter where you decide to go, it’s always a good idea to join an organized holiday tour group. This way, your itinerary will be planned for you and you won’t have to worry about missing out on any adventures. By joining a family adventure tour, you and your children will also get to meet people from different cultures all over the world and make new friendships that may last a lifetime. No matter whether you have a week or a month to spare, you’re sure to find the perfect adventure package tour for you and your family.
AUTHOR BIO

Portland Jameson writes regularly on family adventure holidays in USA locations and the best Grand Canyon tours for a range of travel websites and blogs. As a musician and writer, she has performed all over the world and written extensively about her experiences.

Driving along the South Tyrol section of the Brenner motorway, I felt as though I were sightseeing from a helicopter. Much of the road is elevated above the tree-tops, while on either side are alpine meadows, vineyards and villages. The drive is a cavalcade of old towns, ancient ruins, time-worn inns, sombre monasteries and fortresses.

Great Heritage. Wherever you look, you find history and art as partners of the natural setting. There are no fewer than 425 castles, manors and palaces, and the trea­sures they contain could fill several museums. Take only the castle of the Counts of Trapp, Churburg in the Val Venosta (Vintschgau), which contains the richest single pri­vate collection of old armour. One awesome piece : the suit of armour belonging to a ferocious campaign­er named Ulrich von Matsch. The glistening metal casing, dating back to 1450, stands nearly seven feet tall and weighs more than seven stone !

Everywhere the cross dominates not only cathedrals and wayside shrines, but the rooms of homes and inns. And the supply of wooden crucifixes is constantly replenished.

Ancient Art. In winter, when there is no work in the fields, the farmer will reach for his knife and, if the muse is willing, a few days later he will have carved yet an­other individual image of the Sav­iour on the cross. One valley, the Val Gardena (Grödnertal) special­izes in carving replicas of Gothic saints, almost indistinguishable from those carved six centuries ago. More than 200 carvers work there, and 8o per cent of their production is exported.

The South Tyrol’s leading import is tourists, who spend more than 15 million nights there annually. Its population may be only 0.76 per cent of the nation’s, but this province corners 15 per cent of the tourist trade. And the South Tyrol is al­ways in season : almost all of its 3,800 inns remain open all year.

Through the long winter, skiers flock to the 550 miles of prepared ski trails, 30 cable-cars, 8o gondola and chair lifts and 300 T-bars. March and April bring the hikers, who delight in the region’s colour­ful spring. A special treat are the Waalwege, paths along man-made irrigation ditches (the oldest dating from 1333). Smoothly, at a barely noticeable gradient, they climb along the upper boundaries of the vineyards and orchards above Merano.

In summer the place to visit is the Alpe di Siusi (Seiseralm), north-east of Bolzano, a veritable botanical garden that is the largest alpine mea­dow in all Europe. In May it offers a delicate carpet of white and violet crocus; next comes a heavier cover­ing of blue gentian, mountain prim­ula and meadow rose. By the end of June the wild orchids are out.

This vivid floral tapestry draws all sorts of visitors, and one bright June day I found myself walking alongside a priest on holiday from Munich. He had hauled up his soutane knee-high and was proceed­ing barefoot over the wet, mossy ground. Soon we were talking about the flowers. He was an expert. “Mountain flowers are surprisingly cosmopolitan,” he told me. “Some of the species here can be found as far away as South Africa. The edel­weiss abounds on the steppes of Asia. The lady’s slipper thrives in North America and Mexico.”

In the gloaming, as the moun­tains turned rose, the sky ochre, we took a rest. Smiling, as if sav­ouring delicious memories, my el­derly companion told me he had been coming here regularly for 3o years. “And if the good Lord vouch­safes me health, next year again !”

But perhaps the best season in the South Tyrol is autumn, the time of Torggelen, the wine-tasting. The connoisseur starts his Torggelen by strolling through the vineyard country above Bolzano, keeping a sharp eye out for inns displaying fronds of box foliage : the sign that new wine is being served. The wine is accompanied by fresh walnuts, mountain bacon, roast chestnuts and smoked sausage.

But Törggelen is not a bibulous orgy—you’re there to sample care­fully, almost philosophically, the region’s most precious produce.

Cup of Kindness. On the final day of my most recent trip, I went to the famous Sandwirt inn at San Leonardo in Passiria. (The inn once belonged to publican Andreas Hofer, the national hero who in 1809 led an insurrection to expel the occupying Bavarians to whom Napoleon Bonaparte had ceded the province.) As always, the place was crowded, but I spotted an empty chair at a table occupied by students from a local commercial college, who invited me to join them. The wine was served, and we spent a relaxed hour sipping, comparing and conversing. When finally I rose to leave, my companions sent me off with a double chorus of Grüss Gott and Arrivederci. As I stepped out into the cool autumn sunlight, that bilingual farewell lingered gently on my mind, embodying the spirit of this amiable land—a little Austrian, a little Italian, and totally delightful.

Two peoples, two languages—but a common bond of love for their enchanting alpine homeland

For a traveller from the north, it is the gateway to the south: magnolia in blossom, the scent of rosemary in the air, a Mediter­ranean sun in a sky of blue. Ap­proaching from the south, it’s here you enter the north. The mountains close in; glaciers proclaim their presence with an icy breath

Arrive from either direction in the area’s capital—Bolzano in Ital­ian, Bozen in German—and settle comfortably in an open-air restaur­ant. The menu is in German and Italian. Order Tyrolean bacon dumplings or spaghetti Bolognese —both are cooked with a blend of southern love and northern perfec­tionism.

So Willkommen in Südtirol, as the 260,500 German-speaking in­habitants of the region say, or Ben­venuti in Alto Adige, as its 138,000 Italians put it. Either way theymean: Welcome to the South Tyrol.

Until 1918 this region was still part of Austria. Under the peace treaty at the end of the First World War, it became Italy’s 92nd pro­vince, the Alto Adige, and after 1926, Mussolini sought by every means to Italianize the region, in­cluding sending in “colonizers” from southern Italy. The long-root­ed Tyroleans of Austrian stock were resentful. Even as long after as the mid-1960s, violence by terrorists erupted from time to time.

Eventually, the Italians and Aus­trians signed a new agreement, and Rome gave the South Tyroleans their own autonomous government. Today the two language groups are learning to co-exist in their tiny but gorgeous land.

The South Tyrol measuer only 2,850 square miles, and from th Brennero (Brenner) pass in the Alps to Salorno (Salurn) at the doorstep of the Italian lowlands is only about a two-hour drive. Eighty-five per cent of its land area lies above the 3,300-foot mark. “Most of our land seems suspended from our cool sky,” Luis Trenker, a well-known local author and alpinist, once remarked. And the South Tyroleans themselves retain their highlander traits : self-reliant and candid, slow and shrewd, pious and touchy.

Going its own headstrong way, the South Tyrol is often considered one of Italy’s “model provinces.” Here industrial strikes are almost unknown, unemployment practi­cally non-existent, crime something that occurs mainly further south or further north. As far as the province’s political leader, Silvius Magnago, is concerned, his main worry is the slow march of the communists into Italy’s central gov­ernment. He and his South Tyro-leans want no communist influence in their region.

There is little room for a new ide­ology in this land of the old faith. In villages, when the bells toll noon­day prayers, even busy men stop and doff their hats.

On the fourth Sunday after Whit-sun, the local feast of Hera Jest (Sacred Heart), huge devotionalbonfires are lit along the mountain peaks. On Shrove Tuesday, chil­dren wearing crowns of brightly coloured peacock feathers and paper roses parade through villages all over the province, in honour of St Gregory the Great. After a church ceremony at which offerings are blessed, they proceed to the village square where they sing and dance to the strains of the local brass band.

It is a different land, dimensioned by its own pace and values. As South Tyrolean author Josef Ram-bold once wrote: “Spend some time going from farm to farm and you’ll learn to talk again about such im­portant things as wind and rain and sunshine, about avalanches and landslides, about the age of wood, about meadows and fields, and about hunger and thirst”

This timeless quality is apparent almost everywhere and in many ways the region’s past functions as an elegant garnish to its present. Take Merano (Meran), once fav­oured by royalty as a spa. Today the guests in the belle epoque hotels range from Rhineland tycoons to maiden aunts from Copenhagen, and on the streets film stars mingle with peasant women doing their shopping. One shop carries sophis­ticated Paris fashion accessories next to hand-stitched braces for the re­gion’s traditional leather shorts.

Through the centuries, the South Tyrol has served as a bridge be­tween northern and southern Europe, a lifeline of trade and com­merce. Here was built Europe’s first high-altitude road, the Romans’ Via Claudia Augusta; then its first high-altitude railway; finally, in 1971, the first alpine motorway.

This concrete monster soars and dips for 76 miles between the Aus­trian town of Innsbruck and Bol­zano, vaulting over the 4,500-foothigh Brenner Pass. To smooth out the motorway’s mountain stretches required 145 bridges and viaducts. The northern approach takes one over the world’s highest motorway bridge, the Europabrücke. Engin­eers calculate that a car, crashing through the bridge’s railing, would take seven seconds to land.

London is a big city and you get lost really easily. Many people are used to use Google maps and find places to eat or have entertainment. Anyway the information there might not be enough sometimes and this is why you should make a research on internet or talk with people who have been to a certain place and can give you a reliable feedback.

Good advice I can give you when it comes to maps for good eaters is to try the so called TripAdvisor. Select and filter the options by “cheap eats” and after that order the restaurant according to the many customer reviews. You can use this link tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g186338-London_England.html . This site has helped me a lot because after I find what I’m looking for I just print it and go to the area I have information about. Other information I can think of right now is the book of Timeout known as “Cheap eats in London”. Except all the useful information you are going to find there, the last ten pages are maps of restaurants and prices of food – after all this is what you have been looking for, right? Each restaurant is marked so it will be really easy to find it.

Actually you have thought of a really good idea. Carrying a map is the best decision you can take and you can find one in almost every major store. All you have to do is to pick up a location that you want to eat. By the way there is one more link you might find useful – london-eating.co.uk/occasions/budget.asp. It has lots of restaurants in there and you can see the prices in each one. In that way you may make a calculation and decide is it worth to give a try to a certain place or not. Important thing you have to know, even if you don’t have a map in your hands is that like every major city all over the world, the restaurants in the city center are more expensive than those situated in the neighborhoods. This doesn’t mean that the food offered there is more delicious – on the contrary, sometimes these restaurants rely mostly on their location and the flow of people, than the taste of their food. You can’t disagree with the fact that a restaurant in the center will be more visited than a restaurant in some quite street. This is why you have to be careful while choosing a place to eat.

At least you won’t find problems in finding Edinburgh apartment because there are plenty of choices. Two years ago I tried to find an apartment Venice but didn’t succeed. The result was the same when I wanted to visit Spain – I didn’t managed to find apartment Valencia. Probably because I started looking for one too late, but anyway, make sure you find your London accommodation in a decent location near the center because everything worth seeing will be close to you.