Spreading Love for Lanzarote - lanzaroteguidebook.com

A warm Sandwagon welcome to Nick Ball, editor of Lanzaroteguidebook who lives on the island, in Tabayesco village. I'm happy to share Nick's article in an effort to help Lanzaroteguide's cause - inspiring travellers to visit and explore this uniquely beautiful Spanish island.

Lanzarote – Césars' Empire by Nick Ball

Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, is best known as a bucket and spade beach destination. This small speck of Spain, located just off the coast of West Africa, attracts around 1.5 million foreign tourists every year(the majority of them from the UK)thanks to a clement year round climate and over ninety beaches.

But despite its enormous popularity Lanzarote still remains largely unspoiled – thanks to the work of a locally born artist and architect called Cesar Manrique.

Back in the 1730s around a quarter of the island’s surface area was submerged beneath a sea of lava, following intense volcanic eruptions which lasted for six years.

Fast forward to the 1960s and the island faced another type of burial – this time beneath a sea of concrete. As property developers and hotel chains eyed Lanzarote greedily. Package tourism was just starting to take off in Spain under the protection of General Franco and swathes of the Spanish coastline were starting to disappear – to be replaced by high-rise hotels and apartment complexes.

At this time, Manrique was studying and exhibiting in New York, where he was rubbing shoulders with contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and the Factory crowd. But by 1968 he resolved to return to Lanzarote instead – determined to fight for the island of his birth.

“Those of us born to you, Lanzarote, those of us who know about your magic, your wisdom, the secrets of your volcanic structure, your revolutionary aesthetics, those who have fought to rescue you from your enforced historical isolation and the poverty which you have always suffered, begin to tremble with fear as we see how you are destroyed and submitted to massification.” [Manrique]

The artist was already an influential figure in his own right on the island. But his trump card lay in the fact that his family enjoyed a close relationship with the governor of the island, Pepin Ramirez. Who shared many of Manrique’s fears about the advent of package tourism.

Together the pair successfully secured a ban on all high rise construction on the island. Meaning that only edifices no taller than a Canarian palm tree could be built. They also successfully secured the outlawing of advertising hoardings. Leaving Lanzarote largely as nature intended.

Manrique´s other master stroke was to create alternative tourist attractions to the eco-unfriendly water parks and golf courses that were favoured in most other Spanish sunspots at this time. Instead he resolved to “fuse art with nature” by uniting his own artistic aesthetic with the islands raw, volcanic scenery.

Initially, most locals thought we was nuts. What was he going to do with a mound of rocks? They soon changed their tune, however, when Manrique unveiled his first creation – the Jameos del Agua – the conversion of an underground volcanic tunnel into a breathtaking auditorium and grotto. Two years later he then built his own house and studio from five volcanic bubbles.

Manrique´s work rapidly garnered awards plaudits in the world of international architecture and this in turn started to attract some of the highest profile film stars of the day – such as Petter Sellers, Omar Sharif and Rita Heyworth – to this novel new holiday destination.

Thanks to Manrique, Lanzarote went on to be declared a UNESCO protected biosphere in 1994 – the first island in the world to enjoy such status. His creations are still the most popular tourist attractions on the island today.

About lanzaroteguidebook

Lanzaroteguide was set up to provide quality, original information about the island of Lanzarote for visitors and residents alike. It is written from the perspective of people who live, work and bring up children there.

Unlike many holiday based destination websites all of the articles featured are researched and written by the site's creators. Read more!

Side Trips in #TravelTwitterLand - Tidal Bore Rafting

When does Twitter come into its own for travel lovers?
When it breeds diversity. Twitter makes comment free and available to everyone, which makes self-promotion a level playing field rather than one dominated by the highest bidder. For example, Expedia's Tweets carry no more weight on Twitter than those from authentic experiences site Tourdust. Not only are advertising hierarchies broken down, so too are those of travel journalism and publishing. In Twitter Land, travel articles published by Guardian Travel stand side by side with those from The Travel Tart. Such equality in advertising and publishing breeds diversity and with that comes an infinite stream of new travel stimuli and travelling options.

A Side Trip in #Travel Twitter Land took me to Tidal Bore Rafting, Nova Scotia, Eastern Canada
It's highly probable that even without Twitter I would have eventually stumbled across this long established rafting company set on the Shubenacadie River. A commissioned author writing about adventure travel holidays may have featured it in my Sunday newspaper's travel supplement, or perhaps Tidal Bore would have made it into the Sports or Accommodation listings of the guidebook that I'll one day lug around Eastern Canada.

But as it happened on Twitter, Tidal Bore followed Sandwagon, Sandwagon checked out Tidal Bore. I read all about them on their website, flicked through images of their wooden Rafters Ridge Cottages (overlooking the Shubenacadie River). Five minutes later I was left pondering the possibility of staying with them as soon as possible, to raft the world's highest tidal bores.

Who are Tidal Bore?
The original rafting company on the Shubenacadie river, Tidal Bore Rafting Park & Cottages have more than 25 years experience of riding the waves on this unique tidal river.They have thirteen cottages situated over 180 acres of peaceful riverside land.

What makes bores so exciting?
Every 12 hours a tidal bore forms in the Bay of Fundy as the tide enters the Bay and moves up river. The force of the incoming tide stops the river in its tracks and reverses it almost 40 km backwards. The bore gathers height and strength as it nears the head of the Bay and enters the Shubenacadie River at Maitland. It can speed up to 12km an hour and you'll hear it before you see it.

Rafting adventures are offered from May 1st to October 31st. The cottages are open all year round.

Follow Tidal Bore at Twitter
or
Visit their website

Tidal Bore have been Tweeting away on subjects like these
Nova Scotia has one of the largest populations of Bald Eagles in the world. Many nest along the Shubenacadie River http://bit.ly/EFZk6

Riding the Tidal Bore in Brazil. The longest wave in the world. http://bit.ly/Ts3xX

Did you know approximately 100 billion tons of seawater flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy twice a day?

Do you have any inspiring side trips in #TravelTwitterLand to share? Read more!

Travel writing and photography medley - Marrakech, May 2009 with Travellers' Tales

The latest newsletter from Travellers' Tales recently hit my inbox. Here's the news...

Kick start or improve upon your travel writing and/or photography skills on the following 3-day trips to the souks and kasbahs of Morocco.

Atlas Mountain Photo Adventure(May 6-10)
Shoot the top sights of the Atlas Mountains - dramatic ruins, Berber villages
and lush oases - based at an enchanting auberge with swimming pool, half-way to
the Sahara Desert.

Marrakech Writing Weekend(May 10-13)
Make like a travel writer on location in the vibrant souks and medieval streets of the fabled pink city, based in a beautiful riad in the ancient medina.

No experience required. For full details and to book click here
Read more!

Porto's Atlantic Coast - surfside coffee at Praia dos Ingleses

I caught the number 500 bus from Porto's São Bento train station. About 18 stops later at Castelo do Foz, I'd reached the Atlantic Ocean.

Walking from Foz pier, along Avenida D. Carlos I, I rounded the road into Rua Coronel Raúl Peres. Cue expansive horizons and large, dark rocks smoothed and shined by the waves.

Café Praia dos Ingleses dominated this stretch of coastal road, and it called me in for coffee. Wooden steps led down onto a spacious decked terrace filled with white, unfussy tables and chairs. The sense of being at one with the waves was wonderfully tangible.

Indoors it also hit the laid-back surf atmosphere right on the head. The same unfussy tables and chairs filled half of the room, giving way to squidgy orange and brown leather beanbags set around low, dark wood coffee tables. Could there be a better place to spend the day working at a laptop or watching the turning of the tide through the café’s floor to ceiling windows?

For casual chilled out, beachside appeal, Café Praia dos Ingleses definitely fitted the bill. The music playing was unobtrusively ambient and the customers were totally at ease, gazing out of the windows and sipping hot or cold drinks. It was also impossible to imagine the young, friendly waiting staff that stood staring at the hypnotic rise and fall of the ocean, ever getting into a flap. My small coffee was cheap at €1, and satisfyingly strong. And the WIFI was free.

I travelled to Porto from London Stansted with Ryanair. I stayed at the Rivoli Cinema Hostel, and used the Communicarta transport map that is featured in Thomas Cook’s CitySpots Porto guide. Read more!

Teach English in Castile-Leon, Spain - Escape The Hanger!

New Year, newly inspired to escape your mind-numbing hanger of an office? Then this opportunity to escape to Spain for a while might grab you.

The Spanish Government and Vaughan Systems are currently seeking Volunteer Teachers for a new English Language Education Project. Native English speakers are being offered the chance to teach English for two months while living in the northern Spanish region of Castile-Leon.

Working with pre-school children and early elementary school students, volunteers would help teaching assistants bring English Language studies to life in the classroom. The Spanish curriculum for pre-school and elementary school is almost identical to that found in primary education around the world. The students are aged between 3 and 8, with classroom size between 25 and 35.

In exchange, the project offers housing and a small monthly payment, plus insurance and opportunities for weekend excursions and activities. The maximum stay for the volunteer would be three months.

Available in various locations throughout the Castile-Leon area, these limited positions are open from 13th April 2009. For more information and to apply contact Project Coordinator Mayte Ziga at mziga@vaughantown.com or visit vaughantown.com

Vaughan Systems, founded by American Richard Vaughan, is the largest in-company language training firm in Spain, with over 300 trainers providing more than 350,000 hours per year of language training to over 5,000 executives and technical personnel in more than 520 companies, with such names as Microsoft, Ericsson, Accenture, Citibank, Ford, Pfizer, Coca Cola, etc. Vaughan Systems already brings some 1,500 volunteeers to Spain every year for a locally-famous adult English-learning program called VaughanTown.

Thanks to travelwriters.comfor all of the information above. Read more!

Side Trips In # TravelTwitterLand

Since joining Twitter about a month ago, I've become privy to some of the most up to date and insight travel conversations online. I'm currently following 413 other travel obsessed micro-bloggers based around the world.

Some are bloggers looking to share their news, some are journalists spreading and hunting the latest buzz, and others are tour operators using Twitter to promote their products. It's a friendly world where conversation is encouraged yet kept manageable by a 140 character limit per Tweet. Updates and replies just trip off the keypad.

From now on I'll be sharing my experiences of Twitter, once a week. It might be a travel news story or a profile piece on one of the many new websites, businesses and blogs that Twitter has exposed me to. And, in the spirit of Sandwagon, I'm avoiding the travel bandwagon in favour of the new, the different and the spirited.

And Sandwagon has just hit the 300 Followers mark. Follow Sandwagon here! Read more!

Trips that will kick start your spirit

Maybe it's the time of year or maybe it's because I'm fast approaching the big three-zero, but I've recently been pondering life changing trips...a lot. You know the ones I mean. These are breaks from real life that pull back your eye lids to a vision of life's infinite possibilities. Possibilities, so exciting, that when you head home (if you do) there's no more scratching around working out what to do next with your fleeting existence. These are the trips that cause a paradigm shift in your very being and set you away on a next stage in life.

Mine, so far, haven't been showstopping exotic or obscure but very influential.

1997, Ibiza - two weeks spent the friends on the Mediterranean's White Isle. Floating the day times away on clear blue water, watching the sunset and fire eaters at the Cafe del Mar, then dancing in the open air to uplifting house music until the sun came up again. There was something a little spiritual in the air that year - the sun and the sea energised me. My first taste of travel hedonism left me wanting much more...

1999, Interailing In Europe - It was the last year of the 20th Century, my final year at University, I was turning 21 and I wanted some damn direction! A month travelling around certainly sorted that out, immersing me in the variety of life's opportunities that were available right on my doorstep: Continental Europe. My dedication to the travel publishing industry was decided on that trip, as was my path to the nearest capital city. And so to London...

2002, Central Park, New York - Much needed affirmation came sitting on a bench, in the snow, overlooking Central Park's ice-rink, appreciating the iconic architecture that surrounded me. I would continue working in the travel industry. I wouldn't give it up for a better salary and an easier life because moments like these are priceless....

2007 - Sarajevo - Press trip on British Airway's inaugural flight to the Bosnian capital. Experiencing and writing about a city very much emergent on the tourism scene, confirmed my passion for travel publishing and writing...

2009, Destination To Be Confirmed...but I'm looking for ideas.
Suggestions so far, via Twitter include
Authentic Sea Coast suggested Nova Scotia, at the head of the largest bay on the Atlantic Coast with more than 500km of shoreline.

Travelguru pointed me in the direction of their walking and cycling holidays. The Catalan Coast break appeals.

What would you suggest? Which travel experiences have proved pivotal in your life? Read more!

Destinations, London 2009 - six days until it opens for the business of travel inspiration

If I'm honest, Destinations always arrives a little too early for me. I'm only just about back in a swimming routine and my inbox is still bursting at the seams as I carry on ploughing through emails in an attempt to catch up after Christmas and New Year festivities.

The hard working travel industry, however, wake up to the new year far more swiftly than me. Because the period of time from Boxing Day morning, through January and into February is the traditional Peak selling time for holidays. 'Peaks' are all about hitting challenging booking targets, capturing as many deposits as possible: basically banking lots of cash before the holiday season begins and the emphasis switches to 'late' sales.

Destinations: The Holiday and Travel Show, comes to London's Earl's Court on 5 - 6th February (27 Feb - 1 March at NEC, Birmingham). The show gives tour operators and tourist boards the chance to display their wares face to face with the consumer, rather than via lead-in prices online, in shop windows or with expensive, eye-catching TV advertising campaigns.

Now in its 15th year, Destinations' raison d'être is to provide a stage for a more varied mix of travel options and heaps of inspiration to help uncommitted holidaymakers get booking. Special discounts are often offered to incentivise bookings during the show.

Increasingly active at Destinations are travel publishers Bradt and the travel magazine Wanderlust. This is no bad thing at all. I'd much rather see the infectious passion of these two independent travel publishers entertaining the crowds than the flashy stands and soapy strap lines of any multi-national travel conglomerates in the vicinity.

Bradt's stage-stealers at Destinations 2009
Peter Lynch, author of Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering: The Complete Guide, will offer advice to anyone who's contemplating a career break ( 5th Feb, 13.00, Theatre 1)

Adrian Phillips, Bradt's Editorial Director, will interview world affairs correspondent Allan Little ( 5 Feb, 14.00, Theatre 1 )

Bradt's David Horwell, an expert on the Galápagos Islands, will explain how tourism can protect this unique archipelago. It's a chance to learn more about these enchanted islands and see David's stunning photography ( 5th February at 5pm;Theatre 2 )

Bradt's Polly Evans chairs the 'Going Solo' panel (6th Feb 14.00, Theatre 2)

Bradt's founder, Hilary Bradt, interviews BBC presenter Kate Humble on her travels and her pioneering website, StuffYourRucksack.com (6th Feb, 16.00 Theatre 1)

Mike Unwin, series editor of Bradt's wildlife guides, author of Southern African Wildlife and co-author of 100 Animals to See Before They Die gives a talk on Swaziland (6 February at 4pm; Theatre 2)

Activities Abroad won't be exhibiting (just in case any chavs happen to make it into Earl's Court), but these Sandwagon-spotted operators are just a few of those waiting to inspire you:

Addicted To Travel - Online portal specialising in experiential, adventure and different travel experiences.
Arctic Wild Adventures - Family-run adventure holiday tour company providing tailored holidays in Arctic regions
Away From The Crowds - Two brothers' desire to enjoy real travel experiences, whilst remaining in touch with nature and local culture resulted in these original ways to discover the Spanish heartland
Fulani Travel - Tours that do justice to the world’s most culturally rich and diverse continent. Countries visited include Libya, Senegal, Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Sudan.

The Times are producing a 16-page Destinations and Show Guide which will be inserted into The Times tomorrow.

Grab a copy, buy your tickets and plan your trip to Destinations.

Related Sandwagon posts
Destinations 2008

Image courtesy of Destinations: The Travel and Holiday Show Read more!

Free Mobile Application/E-guide to Les Deux Alpes - NEW from Ski-Ride Productions

The barefoot sand dancing nomad inside me hankers after the traditional wonders of travel: an invaluable tip from a cheerful bus conductor or a philosophical point to ponder etched onto a wooden bench top by the ocean.

But even I have to admit that there's room in my rucksack for destination e-guides. That said...as long as the content held by the e-guide is really worth the effort of scrolling and scrolling and scrolling some more to get the info I need.

I carry my mobile everywhere and because it definitely attracts less attention than whipping out a floppy and flapping fold out city map when I'm lost, I'm all for using my mobile for navigation and information purposes when travelling. However, if an e-guide for mobile phones delivers a mere edited down version of guidebook content, rendered devoid of depth following the transfer from print to digital media, then I'd much rather pass on this technology until it offers a little more substance.

But enough about me. Here's more about Ski-Ride Productions' latest TXTguides™ - mobile guide to Les Deux Alpes, France written and updated monthly for ski and snowboarders.

If the SkiSpot guidebooks written by Francis Johnson and published back in 2005 are anything to go by, the content of his e-guides will be far from factually thin on the ground and won't waste travellers' time with superficial and spindly sentences. The SkiSpots guidebooks were densely packed with destination facts and useful piste information, right down to how many snowboards fitted in the lockers at certain ski stations. Reading these original guides from cover to cover, I was stunned by Francis' attention to detail.

Francis Johnston (director & executive author at Ski-Ride Productions) announced:

"I’m delighted to add this great resort and ski area to the Ski-Ride series. Les Deux Alpes is one of the biggest and most popular ski resorts in the Southern French Alps, and a particular favourite with freestyle enthusiasts, with a well-deserved reputation for guaranteed snow and lively apres ski.

Now, anyone planning to visit this great area can use this in-depth guide to fully plan their visit, and then take it with them on the slopes. Since virtually everyone carries their mobile phone with them wherever they go, they don’t actually need to pack anything extra in order to carry masses of up-to-date information at their fingertips".

The resort-specific guides are published in a specially-developed electronic format that allows them to be saved/read on mobile phones with no need for a network signal in order to use them at home or abroad. Plus there's the added bonus of no additional weight in your ski jacket.

All TXTguides™ are licensed free-of-charge rather than sold and readers can freely share the guides with friends via email & Bluetooth. Crucially, the content is also updated every month during the European ski season.

Other titles include:

Val d’Isere & Tignes (Espace Killy, France), Soldeu-El Tarter & Pas de la Casa (Grandvalira, Andorra); plus Arcalis & Pal-Arinsal (Vallnord, Andorra).

There's lots more detail at ski-ride.co.uk/txtguides/


Look out for my full review of Les Deux Alpes TXTguide


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Writing & Photography Holidays from the Experts - NEW at Tourdust.com

Read on if you've always fancied swapping your home office or the local wi-fi enabled coffeeshop for some on-location writing and photography training.

Authentic tour and accommodation website, Tourdust have added two very tempting creative holidays to their site. Both of these professionally-run vocational holidays are set in locations inspirational enough to unblock even the most frustrated writers and photographers.

More to come on Tourdust.com, but for now...

1. Creative Writing with freelance journalist and writer Gillian Bouras - Ancient Olympia, Greece
Having lived in a Peloponnesian village for twenty-five years, this published journalist and author of six books is more than qualified to help you deliver your words to the world. Read more!