In the northern area of the coastline of the Costa Blanca in Spain is a city called Denia. This area hosts weather that is mostly the same as that in the other regions of the Costa Blanca, which is long hot summers and mild winters, with little rain. Basically you’re looking at about three hundred and twenty days of sunshine every year. Not bad ha?
There are two airports that the city is located in between, therefore you can fly into either Valencia airport or the more popular Alicante Airport. Both will give you about an hour and fifteen minute ride into Denia. Your best bet after landing in the area is to rent a car, this way you have freedom to travel around at will. Either airport will have the car rental, or as they call it car hire companies located in them. You’ll want to reserve your car well in advance, especially if you’ll be visiting the area during the more popular summer months.
Unlike the more touristy areas along the Costa Blanca, Denia is actually more of an authentic Spanish town, or what’s known as a working town. You’ll get a feel for the Spanish culture and get to actually meet and mingle with some of the locals of the area. However, the more attraction and tourist areas aren’t so far away that you cant’ get to them with your rental car if you so wish.
Unlike some of the bigger tourist areas, Denai doesn’t close down after the summer vacation season has ended, giving you the chance to travel in the less crowded off seasons, where you’ll get to visit local bars, restaurants, and stores.
If you’re looking for the ultra relaxing trip, then you can visit one of the Spa’s that are located in Denia. These are located both by the near the mountain as well as the beach areas.
If you want to see some history, there is a castle in Denia that was built back in the sixteenth century, which is a great landmark of the area. You can go on a tour through the castle anytime throughout the year. The views from inside the castle can only be described as breathtaking, which lookout all around the surrounding area.
You can also get a nice taste of nature in Denia as well. Between the Spanish towns of Javea and Denia are the Montgo mountains which separate the two. On this mountain you can enjoy many walking routes that will let you explore the mountain. You can do this either with a group or on your own, and the experience is great to let you enjoy nature and relax while you’re on your vacation. Between walking in nature and spa’s you can hardly go wrong.
Let’s not forget however about the 20 kilometers of beaches along the coastline of Denia. These beaches are extremely clean, earning the town the Blue Flag award for excellent water quality as well as sand quality. What better vacation offers more relaxing activities than one in Denia Spain?
Robert Carlton’s detailed reports are published on large numbers of websites with information about Spain. You can come across his abstracts on alicante-spain.com/denia.html Denia over at alicante-spain.com/denia.html alicante-spain.com/denia.html and other sources for Denia knowledge.
James Crawford is the father of Steamboat Springs, Colorado having settled in a
cabin on Soda Creek in 1874. Instead of becoming “Crawfordville,” legend has it the
town was named for the rhythmic chugging of a hot spring that disgorged mineral
water 15 feet into the air. The medicinal springs brought the first settlers to the
valley and later the town became an international ski jumping mecca with the arrival
of Norwegian champion Carl Howelsen in 1913. Today outdoor enthusiasts and dog
lovers don’t wait for the snow to fall to make their way to Steamboat Springs.
In town, the Yampa River Trail system links Steamboat Springs with the
surrounding mountain area. The trails provide easy dog walking along the Yampa
River and through city parks. More than 150 hot springs gurgle around Steam-
boat Springs. Following the Hot Springs Walking Tour takes your dog to seven
historic springs, including Heart Springs. The origin and history of each spring is
detailed on interpretive signs. Look for the descriptive brochure in the Chamber
Info Center (1255 South Lincoln/Highway 40).
To get out of town head for the Spring Creek Trail, an 8-mile round-trip that
begins at the corner of Amethyst Drive and East Spring Street. The route is an easy
canine hike on a well-graded trail that meanders up to the Spring Creek
Reservoir and Dry Lake Campground.
Just north of town is Fish Creek Falls, a 283-foot plunging waterfall that is the
town’s leading visitor attraction. Canine hikers will know it as the starting point for
the Fish Creek National Recreation Trail. Long wooded inclines at the beginning of
the trail give way to a steep, rocky climb before leveling off in alpine meadows on
the 5-mile journey to Long Lake. Continuing past Long Lake, you shortly reach the
Continental Divide. The elevation gain on this out-and-back trail, Forest Service
Trail #1102, rises from 7400 to more than 10,000 feet and and patches of snow in
shady spots will delight your dog even in summer.
Steamboat Springs is located northwest of Denver, on US 40.
Doug Gelbert
I am the author of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog and the widely praised The Canine Hiker’s Bible. As publisher of Cruden Bay Books, we produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of canine hiking books found at hikewithyourdog.com hikewithyourdog.com Articles in the Doggin’ America series of dog-friendly parks can be found at DogginAmerica.com DogginAmerica.com
During the warm months I lead canine hike tours, guiding packs of dogs and humans on hiking adventures. Tours, ranging from one-day trips to multi-day explorations, visit parks, historical sites and beaches. My lead dog is Katie, a
German Shepherd – Border Collie mix, who has hiked in all of the Lower 48 states and is on a quest to swim in all the great waters of North America!
However, some scientists and naturalists prefer to seek and watch wonders which were not created by human beings, and they are sure that nature is the best creator, sculptor and builder. They think there are other seven wonders in the world which are worth study and watching even more than Egyptian pyramids. One of such natural wonder is considered to be the Grand Canyon which is quite unusual in color and architecture. It is one of the oldest natural sculpture in the world which keeps evidences of Ice Age and times even earlier. The Grand Canyon stretches two hundred and eighty miles long, four to eighteen miles across and more than one mile deep.
Having kept evidences of the Earth history aged hundreds of centuries the Grand Canyon is a unique natural sculpture which now demonstrates the world history with wonderful and incredible mix of colors that no any artist could really describe or paint.
Another creation which is considered to be the natural wonder is Glacier Bay in Alaska. It is the land of glaciers, big fiords and perpendicular ice walls shining in the sun. seals, white bears and whales add this picture so unique color that one could hardly imagine or draw. Glacier Bay has the highest mountains rising straight from the sea. The great glaciers grow slowly, become fantastically large and then slide majestically toward the sea leaving behind new soil were the cycle of growing begins again.
The next article will be dedicated to other five wonders created by nature. They are the Mammoth Cave, Victoria Falls, Baikal, Mountain Everest and Yellowstone National Park.
The article was produced by the writer of masterpapers.com.
Sharon White is a 5-years experienced freelance writer and a senior manager of masterpapers.com/romeo_and_juliet_essay.htm” target=”_blank essays writing services support team. Contact her to get masterpapers.com/law_essay.htm” target=”_blank law essays tips and masterpapers.com/quarterly_essay.htm” target=”_blank quarterly essays tips.
Festival in the Desert is a world-renowned, three-day music festival held in the desert village of Essakane, about 45 miles northeast of the legendary city of Timbuktu in Mali. Music lovers travel from all over the world to experience this exotic, one-of-a kind event in the Sahara Desert.
Many Tuareg tribespeople attend Festival in the Desert, some traveling for weeks by camel for the privilege of taking part in this annual event. Surrounded by men donning colorful head-wear, women draped in flowing fabrics and gold, too many camels to count, and sand as far as the eye can see, this is truly a look into the “real Mali” for foreign travelers.
During the three days of the festival, camel rides and races, traditional singing and games, expos and conferences take place during the day. In the evenings, over 40 groups will perform an extraordinary mix of traditional, modern, and Western music.
Festival in the Desert is so compelling that it has attracted artists as diverse as Mali’s most popular female singer Oumou Sangare, desert blues performer Ali Farka Toure, one of the world’s top kora players Toumani Diabate, Native American rock group Blackfire, French rap group Kwal, English rocker Robert Plant formerly of Led Zeppelin, and Malian political rock band Tinariwen.
The eighth edition of Festival in the Desert is slated for January 10-12, 2008, and continually gains momentum and recognition. As such, a feature article on the festival titled “Showtime in the Sahara” is running in the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair Magazine.
Palace Travel offers three group tour packages to Festival in the Desert, scheduled for January 2008. For more information, visit palacetravel.com palacetravel.com or call 1.800.683.7731.
Travel costs money. There’s just no way around it: if you want to go from one place to another, it’s going to cost you something to get there. Once you arrive, it will cost you money to stay there. And when you’re ready to come home, that will cost you money, too.
When you travel outside of your home country, though–since I’m American, this article will focus on Americans traveling outside of the United States, but it applies to people of any nationality–there’s another cost that most new travelers don’t consider. That’s the cost of money itself.
There’s nothing magical about money. It’s an arbitrary construct made by governments and enforced by law as a means of exchanging value. (One of the three formal defining characteristics of money, in fact, is that it must be a “store of value.”) And while some countries choose for a number of reasons to use the currency of other countries to operate their economies, most nations exercise their sovereign right to create and print their own unique form of money.
What makes all of this a little tricky is that the value of one form of money versus another fluctuates, literally on a constant basis every second the day on a 24-hour clock. The exchange rate between two currencies is the quantity of one needed to buy a preset amount of the other. For instance, at the specific moment that this article is being written, it costs just over $1.95 in U.S. dollars (USD) to purchase one British Pound Sterling (GBP).
Why currency fluctuates is a function of the international monetary system that is difficult to explain even in complex macroeconomic terms. You might think of it, though, as based on the relative strengths of two economies as defined by their collective wealth, money in circulation, debt, and optimism for future growth, compared to what they were previously. (The last point is critical; many Americans are surprised or even outraged to learn that the U.S. dollar is not the strongest currency, given that the United States has the world’s largest economy. Exchange rates deal with the size of the money supply, not just the size of the economy.)
The reason that exchange rates have such an impact on travelers is because prices in a given locale don’t change based on exchange rates. A double cheeseburger on the McDonald’s Dollar Menu, for instance, costs $1.00 USD, regardless of whether $1.00 USD is equal to 0.65 GBP or 0.50 GBP. If a British woman visits the United States and goes to McDonald’s for lunch, she’s spending dollars, but they’re dollars that she converted from pounds, which is how she measures her personal wealth back home. If the dollar is “weak” to the point–if she can get more dollars for a pound than is usually the case–then she’s buying that double cheeseburger for fewer pounds, which means less money even though the dollars spent are the same.
If that was a little confusing, it’s understandable. Americans don’t travel as much as say, Europeans, because our country is so big. Anywhere that we travel within our borders, which include U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, we use dollars. It’s only when we venture out that we encounter exchange rates. The effect, though, is enormously significant.
When the U.S. dollar is weak versus a foreign currency, it costs Americans a lot more to live in countries that use that currency. As of January 2007, for example, the British pound and the European Union’s euro are both strong against the dollar. That makes the cost of visiting Europe high on a daily basis even if you get a cheap airfare. The longer that you stay, the more impact the high exchange rate will have on your budget.
On the other hand, if you travel to a country where the U.S. dollar is strong, you’ll spend less American money to get the same amount of local currency and thus have a lower cost of living while you’re there. The Argentine peso, for instance, is presently weak to the dollar; take a trip to Buenos Aires, and you can enoy steaks that might usually cost you $35 for around $12 (even though the price hasn’t changed in terms of pesos).
Here are some tips for keeping your spending under control when you travel abroad:
Do your homework. It’s easy to look up prevailing exchange rates at forex.com/” target=”_blank forex.com. It’s a little harder to know what the exchange rate usually is, which is what you need to know to decide whether a currency is strong or weak–for instance, the measure of U.S. strength vs. the Japanese yen is based on blocks of 100 yen, not 1 yen. Web searches can help. Take trips to places with weak currency. At any given time, some currencies are strong to the dollar and others are weak. If you want to see the world for less money, focus on traveling to places where your money will go farther. The rates change constantly, so you’ll eventually get to everywhere on your list. Use cash while you’re there. It’s hard enough to decide whether 5 euros is expensive for a sandwich if you know that the 5 euros cost you $8.00 at the time you made the exchange. With a credit card, the trade is made using the exchange rate at the instant of the sale–which you don’t know.Finally, remember that some countries used pegged currency, which is to say that they assign their currency a fixed value based on another country’s money supply. For years, Argentina pegged the value of its peso at 1:1 with the U.S. dollar, which forced the pesos to hold their value. If a country has its currency pegged to yours, ignore exchange rates because the value you spend won’t change. Exchange rates can be a little tricky to grasp and are among the most complex ideas to truly master. If you plan your travels right, though, you can use them to make your money stretch farther overseas than it ever would at home. That’s one of the secrets of traveling on a budget.
James C. Samans is the author of Spontaneous Tourism: The Busy Person’s Guide to Travel. He travels more than 200,000 miles each year by air, rail, road, and sea and holds elite status with United, Continental, and Amtrak.
Visit his web site at spontaneoustourism.com spontaneoustourism.com or email him at mailto:author@spontaneoustourism.com author@spontaneoustourism.com.
In recent years the Israeli Spa culture has developed quite a bit, and today you will find an abundance of options and resorts to choose from, ranging from day spas to spa hotels and natural resort. In this article I will explain the different spa alternatives Israel has to offer to incoming tourists.
Day Spas
For those living in Israel it seems like spa culture has flooded the country, and day spas are popping all over the place. Day spas offer a wide range of treatments including all kinds of eastern and western massages (Shiatsu, Twina, Ayurveda, Swedish massage etc.), facial treatments, stress relief (usually Hebrew speaking only) and other facilities and treatments (oil bath, Jacuzzi, Sauna).
Spas that specialize in facials do not usually have the best masseurs, and vice versus – spas that specialize in massages do not usually have the best facial treatment personnel around, so you’ll first have to make your choice of treatment and then look for a spa with that specialty.
Massage and facials prices range from 200 NIS to 360 NIS (45-80$), depending on the spa location, the type of massage, and how much time the treatment takes.
Romantic Spas
Some of the day spas in Israel offer special packages and treatments for couples. Packages will usually include a couples’ massage, a nice meal, use of the spa facilities (Jacuzzi, sauna etc.), and sometimes one other special treatment such as an oil bath.
Prices for such a package range from 600 NIS to 1200 NIS (140$ – 280$) depending on the package components and whether on not it includes a meal.
Spa Hotels
Spa hotels are on one hand the most expensive alternative and on the other hand a very nice option for those looking for a relaxing way to spend some time in Israel. There are about 10 hotels which specialize in spa vacations in Israel, and most if not all of these specializing spa hotels are luxury hotels (4-5 stars hotels).
When shopping around for a spa hotel, you will find that those hotels mostly offer all inclusive packages, including 3 meals a day and will sometimes also throw a daily massage or treatment of your choice into the offered package. Prices for such a package range from 1000 NIS to 2000 NIS (225-450$) per night – depending on the resort and day of week.
Some of the best Spa hotels in Israel are located in the Galilee, and some near the Dead Sea.
Dead Sea Spas
The Dead Sea is one of the most special spa locations in the world. In the recent decade the number of incoming tourists who visit Israel especially in order to stay at one of the Dead Sea spas has consistently increased, and it is a very popular destination for tourists from Germany, Eastern Europe and Japan.
There are two types of spas at the Dead Sea – Private and public spas.
Private spas mainly include spa hotels, which unlike in the rest of Israel are not always all-inclusive, and offer a wide variety of accommodation levels: 3, 4 and 5 stars, as well as 5 star deluxe hotels.
Public spas are either government held or belong to one of the Kibbutzim in the area, and are usually a natural resort with hot spring waters in which you may spend the day. Public spas are not as luxurious and pampering as private spas, but if you are looking for a more affordable offer for a one day trip – this might be a good alternative for you.
Spa Locations
As mentioned before, spa hotels are usually located at either the Galilee or the Dead Sea. Day spas are spread throughout the country, with a very large selection in Tel-Aviv and Herzliya. Public spas and natural resorts are to be found in The Dead Sea, The Negev, and Hamat Gader (South of Ramat Hagolan).
Michal Moreno is the content editor for israel-travel-tips.com Israel Travel Tips- a travel guide all written by a native Israeli from the insider’s point of view.
On this overcast day we decided to explore other areas of Orlando in more detail. About 10 minutes north of downtown Orlando is Loch Haven Park, an area that holds a number of major attractions, including theOrlando Museum of Art, the Mennello Museum of American Art as well as the Orlando Repertory Theatre, the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orlando Science Center.
We started our exploration off with a trip to the Leu Botanical Gardens. The centerpiece of the gardens is the Leu House Museum, a restored farmhouse dating back to 1888. It is located on Lake Rowena, one of the hundreds of lakes in Orlando, and surrounded by a 50 acre garden of roses, palms and camellias. The complex also features an orchid house with one of the best collections of orchids in the United States. The Leu Botanical Gardens also offer a new tropical stream garden, a kitchen garden complete with herbs and vegetables and a butterfly garden.
Just 10 minutes away is Loch Haven Park, one of Orlando’s centers of art, culture, and science. One of the main attractions is Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), one of Florida’s cultural gems and a popular destination for visitors from all over the world. The collection features American art from the 19th century to the present, African art and art of the ancient Americas. Outstanding temporary exhibitions are drawn from private collections and those of the world’s great museums.
The upcoming exhibition at the OMA is called the “The Art of the Motorcycle”. Based on the landmark Guggenheim Museum exhibition, it explores the motorcycle as both cultural icon and design achievement and offers a thought-provoking challenge to conventional assumptions about art and popular culture in the modern age. The exhibition will run from Jan. 22 – July 23, 2006 and feature more than 70 historic and contemporary motorcycles.
The Mennello Museum of American Art is centered around the Museum’s outstanding permanent collection of paintings by Earl Cunningham (1893-1977). It also houses special exhibitions, publications, and programs that celebrate outstanding traditional and contemporary Amercian artists. The Museum’s Cunningham collection was donated by collectors Marilyn and Michael Mennello of Winter Park, Florida, and was opened to the public on Nov. 22, 1998.
The Orlando Science Center includes ten themed exhibit halls with a large variety of interactive activities for children and adults. A CineDome Planetarium shows large format films and an Adventure Theater as well as five Discovery Laboratories can keep everyone busy for hours. In total the Science Center has four levels of hands-on exhibits, a 200-seat cafe, 7,000 square feet of exhibition space for national and international traveling exhibits. The Orlando Science Center is open Monday to Thursdays from 9 am to 5 pm, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 am to 9 pm, and Sundays from noon to 5 pm.
The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival is a non-profit professional theater that produces professional productions of Shakespeare, classics and contemporary plays, as well as plays for young audiences. The group also develops new plays from readings through World Premieres and fosters innovative educational programs to serve the community.
As a professional theatre for family audiences in partnership with UCF, Orlando Repertory Theatre (The Rep) opened its doors on October 9, 2003. The theatre focusses on classic and contemporary children’s literature. It is a place where young audiences can come and experience the adventure and creative wonder of watching their favorite characters come to life.
Loch Haven’s cultural offerings continue with the annual Orlando International Fringe Festival of theatrical performances. The 10-day, world-renowned festival showcases original works; premiere performances; and first-class improvisational comedy, musicals, drama, mime and dance in 500 shows by more than 300 performers from around the world.
Sculptures outside the The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is Central Florida’s resident orchestra, appearing in more than 105 performances each season. As a fully professional ensemble, the Orlando Philharmonic engages the talents of more than 80 professional musicians from around the globe. The Philharmonic‘s mission is to foster and promote symphonic music through excellence in performance, education and cultural leadership.
For general information about Orlando please contact the Orlando Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions ( travelandtransitions.com travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.
Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest ( travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.
“Life is a Journey Explore New Horizons”.
The story with photos is published at Travel Stories and Photos ( travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/orlando_loch_haven_park.htm travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/orlando_loch_haven_park.htm).
If you are a boat owner, you may be frustrated by the lack of boating supply stores in your local area. The discount big box store just doesn’t have what you need all of the time-especially when it comes to engine parts and more specialized products. If you want to avoid these issues one of the best ways to shop for boating supply products is to go online. The internet is not only a wealth of information about boating supply items, it is a great resource to find virtually any part that you are looking for whether it is a new propeller or a custom seat cover.
A common reason to go to a boating supply store is to upgrade your boat. You may want a more powerful engine than the one the manufacturer installed, or you may just want a better stereo or starter. There is a large group of aftermarket products available to consumers who want to improve their boat and you can easily find what you are looking for at a boating supply site. This is a good option whether you bought your boat new or used, or even if you are working on an antique boat.
One of the routine maintenance chores on a boat is painting it. The paint that you will find at your local home improvement store is not usually the type of paint that you should use on a boat. So, go to an online boating supply store and find a paint that is not only just the right color, but that will keep your boat looking good for years to come and will be environmentally friendly as well.
If you buy boating supply products at a sporting goods or department store, the salesperson may or may not be knowledgeable in your specific boating needs. If you go online there are many websites and online information pages that can give you specific advice about products, upgrades, and repairs. You can even find experts who will answer your specific questions.
To look for that perfectly matched accessory, you may want to first check the manufacturer’s site to see if they recommend any supply store, but then find out if you can get the product for less anywhere else. Check for warranty information, return policies, shipping costs and good customer service as well as price. When you are shopping on the internet it is quick and easy to comparison shop.
Eriani Doyel writes articles about Travel and Leisure. If you would like more information about flboating.com/ boating supply visit flboating.com/ flboating.com
Both myself and my husband travelled a great deal in our previous careers in the UK and began to look for overnight places to stay as an alternative to the usual hotel chains which would often offer highly efficient but impersonal service. I wish I could count the number of nights I would simply order room service and watch the TV in my hotel bedroom simply because I felt I would know no-one down in the restaurant or bar.
So here is our top 10 list of what we would expect to have and experience in any good quality Bed & Breakfast holiday or business stay in the UK.
1. Whether booking by telephone or website, good customer service. We want to know quickly and efficiently what the accommodation offers and where it is located?
2. Is an evening meal an option?
3. Where are the recommended places to eat; and what type of food do they offer?
4. If we are staying more than 1 night, what are the local attractions; what is there locally and even regionally to see and do? Is there information in the house about this?
5. With regards to accommodation, does my room offer ensuite facilities?
6. Will my room have TV, radio, coffee/ tea facilities?
7. Is the house non-smoking?
8. Is there a private room for guests to sit in the evening or afternoon?
9. Any chance of a cuppa and some home made cakes/bread or scones in the afternoon?
10. Can you tell me the best way to get to your area, including recommendations for travelling there, if we are coming from a different country.
This is our essential list, there are many other features and benefits of staying in Bed & Breakfast homes, you will find out what is important to you, simply by having the experience once or twice!
Elaine is a business skills trainer as well as a professional coach. Both she and her husband Ken built a house in the beautiful countryside of Brookeborough , County Fermanagh. In 2007 they decided to offer Bed and Breakfast accommodation and are keen to welcome visitors from all over the world to Fermanagh Northern Ireland. They would like to share with visitors the diversity of the lovely county as well as the broader beauty of Ireland. For more information have a look at aislinghousefermanagh.com aislinghousefermanagh.com
Dog Salmon! Hard to imagine what it might look like. Four-legged fish with floppy ears running up and down the beach! I don’t think so.
The Coast Salish (First Nation people) on Vancouver Island called Chum or Keta Salmon, Dog Salmon. Chum salmon develop a very hooked jaw with fierce teeth at spawning time. Perhaps that is why they were called Dog Salmon. Chum, on average, weigh eight to ten pounds and measure about 40 inches in length. Their ocean coloration of silvery blue green changes at spawning time to splotchy purplish red and with distinct yellow and pink vertical bars on their sides. They are one ugly fish!
When we arrive at Qualicum Beach (which means, “where the dog salmon run”), the last image that comes to mind is Dog Salmon. Qualicum Beach is a quaint village in the middle of absolute paradise. Everything is beautiful from the endless expansive sandy and pebble beaches to the beautiful snow-capped mountains that provide a backdrop to the area. The town has worked hard preserving its heritage which is obvious walking through the downtown area. A heritage style design is predominant, providing a friendly village atmosphere. Everywhere we go from the spectacular heritage designed Quality Foods grocery store to the funky Smithford’s, we meet very friendly people.
The town hall in Qualicum Beach
Photo by Ron Kirstein
Finding a place to stay is not difficult. The area has an abundance of accommodations from bed and breakfasts to motels and resorts. We chose the Seaview Beach Resort because we are having a family get-together. The quaint cottages range from 1-3 bedrooms and come fully equipped. When we walk out our door, within seconds, we are right on the beach. The Seaview is well off the road and sits among modern residential properties. It is very quiet and peaceful. Across the road we discover a large Federal Wild Life Sanctuary. As we walk down the beach and the roadway we are drooling over incredible new oceanfront homes. My wife is scoping out the fire pit where she will roast her marsh mellows just as soon as the sun goes down.
One of the beautiful homes along the sea shore
Photo by Ron Kirstein
Now we are settled in to our cabin by the sea. Besides the obvious, we check around to see what we can do while we are in paradise. Locals inform us that you can beach walk almost continuously for about 50Km (30 miles) along the coast line with the exception of interruptions by two rivers, the Englishman and French Creek. When the tide goes out, it feels like we can walk half-way to the mainland.
Everywhere you go in Qualicum you see immaculate gardens, so we decided to check out some of the attractions. Milner Gardens and Woodlands is a rare property perched on the shores of the Strait of Georgia. It has a 10 acre garden complete with a character home that is used primarily as a tea-house. The garden is surrounded by 60 additional acres of Coastal Douglas fir. Malaspina-University College acquired the site from Veronica Milner in 1996. Veronica’s mother was a cousin of Winston Churchill. Much of the Royal family has visited or stayed at the gardens.
From the tea-room and gardens you can enjoy super-natural views of Georgia Strait and the Coastal Mountains on the Mainland. The Gardens and Woodland is operated by a non-profit horticultural society with a mission to maintain and restore the gardens and buildings. Volunteers and students carry out much of the maintenance of the gardens under the supervision of horticulture staff. I recommend these gardens and walks through the woodlands.
Looking for a tourist trap? Well, the best little tourist trap in BC is the Old Country Market in Coombs. Just a few kilometers out of Qualicum you will find a country market with goats living on the roof. This eclectic market has something for everyone. My favourite is the ice cream bar. It is no ordinary ice cream bar. It is about 40 feet long and offers many choices of ice cream, sorbet and gelato. A single cone cost me just $3.00 and I swear that it had a pound of ice cream in it. After eating the mound on top, I gobbled ice cream to the very bottom of the waffle cone. I consider myself an ice cream aficionado and I have never seen a place so generous. This is a shop till you drop market with vegetables, meats, food specialties, clothes, toys, unique gifts and a whole lot more. It also has a very fine restaurant which seems to efficiently serve a never-ending line-up. It has my vote for the best little tourist trap in the world!
The area boasts some of the best of BC Provincial Parks. If you like to camp, hike, explore the beach or visit spectacular waterfalls you should check out Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, Englishman River Falls Provincial Park, Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park and Cathedral Grove Provincial Park. Other attractions can be found throughout the area by checking the web at tourismmall.victoria.bc.ca/aavanisle/pqattract.htm tourismmall.victoria.bc.ca/aavanisle/pqattract.htm
Ron Kirstein is the owner of a Canadian Travel & Tourism Web
site (since 1995). Ron has traveled the length and breadth
of Vancouver Island BC Canada in search of
adventures; see tourismmall.victoria.bc.ca/travelmagazine tourismmall.victoria.bc.ca/travelmagazine
