Now that the end of the year draws near, you are bound to have a few spare days. Here’s a great recommendation for spending a delightful long weekend in Gran Canaria. As you will see, it is time enough to get a good taste of one of the pearls of the Atlantic. Why wait to discover it? Four days on the island will yield any number of plans to take a well-earned break from your routine. Here, then, is a compendium of practical tips for making the most of your stay on the island.

Thursday

As soon as you leave the airport, your best bet is to head south and have your first weekend splash in the ocean. Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés await you with their large tracts of pale yellow sand where you can sunbathe safely all year around. If you’re looking to switch off real quick, take an adventurous stroll in the heart of the sand dunes or play golf on one of the quiet courses in the area.

Be sure to visit charming Puerto de Mogán, the ideal spot for promenading and savouring fresh fish in any of the restaurants at the seaside.

Friday

Begin the day by taking a route across the north of the island. And where better than to aim for the town of Arucas, where homes are harmoniously interspersed with banana plantations? Its most striking landmark is the Neogothic Church of San Juan Bautista, built with stone quarried in the municipality itself. Another highlight of your itinerary is the Arehucas rum factory, where the celebrated beverage is made in the oldest and largest rum distillery in Europe.

On the way to the north-western triangle of Gran Canaria, make a point of visiting the Gáldar Painted Cave, a museum and archaeological park based on a large native deposit. If you then press on towards the picturesque village of Agaete, you will marvel at the rugged rock formations adorning the coastline. Enjoy a sunset there and take time to upload to your social networks some stunning panoramas. Your main subject is likely to be the striking dragon’s tail plotted by the cliff faces which the ocean has eroded over millions of years.

Saturday

Time to discover Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a modern, cosmopolitan capital city. Have a walk through Vegueta, the historic old town and stop over at the Christopher Columbus House Museum which boasts a valuable cultural legacy encapsulating the relationship which the island has maintained with the Americas for five centuries. The Calle Mayor de Triana has all you need for a busy shopping day, as it is lined with shops stocking both local brands and international labels.

The Pérez Galdós House Museum, where the universally acclaimed Canary Island writer was born, is another point of interest before heading to Las Canteras, one of the finest urban beaches in Spain. Open-air concerts are held there as part of the “Ruta Playa Viva” (Living Beach Route), one of the most attractive leisure proposals in the city.

Sunday

The rich natural heritage of Gran Canaria reaches its climax in the island’s interior. On Sunday you can drop in on the street markets to taste the best of local cuisine and choose a souvenir from among their regional craftwork. Devotion in Teror involves pampering the “Virgen del Pino” (Virgin of the Pine), the patron saint of the Canary Island diocese. This is where you start a climb up to Tejeda and Artenara.

A phenomenon known as the “sea of clouds” spreads out at your feet, in a breathtaking landscape which Miguel de Unamuno described as a “petrified storm”. Look out over the Roque Nublo and Roque Bentayga outcrops; then close your eyes and engrave that stunning picture in your mind’s eye forever. Why wait to experience it for yourself? Check out our flights here.

Images by the Patronato Turismo Gran Canaria

By Michael Schuermann from Easy Hiker

The French Riviera is best understood not as a region or an area but as a single town, a thin coastal strip of settlements never more than a kilometre deep that is stretched out over a distance of 50 miles, like an extruded French version of Los Angeles.

With two hours in Nice, the capital of the French Riviera, you can even play the game “which is which” – with Monaco standing in for Beverly Hills, Cannes rivalling Hollywood in movie star glamour and Menton probably coming closest to the more charming LA neigbourhoods such as Santa Monica or Venice.

And Nice, the largest town on the Côte d’Azur, would undoubtedly be the equivalent of downtown L.A.

If you are an American, you would probably find nothing strange about visiting the French Riviera without going to see its “capital” at least once. I have a friend who lived in LA for five years and had never once been to the downtown area. For Europeans like me, that is a strange, strange thought.

So we did go to Nice for a day-trip, and so should you if you can.

There are more glamorous towns along the coast, cuter ones too, but few that put all the things that make the French Riviera so great into a single, tight package: urbanity, openness, glamour, beaches. Nice has got it all.

Start at the train station, cross the road and head straight down the Avenue Durante to the beach promenade, ……

… the Promenade des Anglais, probably the most famous street along the Côte d’Azur. Take a brief turn to the right for a look at the Hotel Negresco and its famous pink cupola, rumoured to have been modelled after, ahem, les gazongas of the architect’s mistress (oh, the Belle Epoque!)…

… and the equally splendid Hotel Maison de la Mediterranee before turning back along the coast in the direction of the Old Town.

Key sites include the magnificent Opera on Rue Saint Francois de Paule …

… the Cours Saleya with its daily markets of flowers and antiques …

… and the atmospheric Place du Palais with the Palais Rusca, one of the town’s most famous landmarks.

Once you have explored the Old Town a little, it should be just about the right time for lunch. We suggest you go into one of the many shops that serve a local specialty called Socca, aromatic pancakes made from chickpea flour baked in a wood-fired oven. Served with nothing but a pinch of salt and pepper, it’s simply delicious.

If you have had any doubt as to whether Nice is an Italian town or not: Place Garibaldi with its colonnades and a statue of Italy’s national hero – who was actually born in Nice (when the town was still a part of Italy) –will provide you with all the evidence you need.

Walk from here to the Place Massena, another of the city’s main squares …

… and finally down Avenue Jean Medecin, the city’s main shopping street, back to the train station.

There are many sites for which you will not find the time within a two hour visit, such as the famous orthodox church (you will get a tempting glimpse when you depart or arrive by train), but you can always come back, of course. We know that we certainly will.

By Michael Schuermann from Easy Hiker

Why not take a trip to Nice? Have a look at our flights here!

Innovation and tradition combine perfectly in the city of Vigo. All neighborhoods have a special charm, historic streets, weekly outdoor markets, nature trails, shopping and cultural acitivities. From the Cies Islands to Mount O Catro, Vigo is a perfect urban destination for your holiday.

Here are some tips so you don’t miss the essence of Vigo.

1.- Food Festivals

It is going to be strange visiting the city and not matching any of its food festivals. The annual calendar is full of them, like Vigo Mussel Festival, which is held every September in the park of Castrelos or The Seafood Festival the second weekend in September at the Port of Vigo, which sold more 40 different varieties at affordable prices.

Ria de Vigo has excellent characteristics in terms of water temperature, which makes excellent seafood! A curiosity: did you know that the best seafood’s season in the Ria de Vigo begin September to April?. Do you know how you can remember the best months to consume seafood? They are the months that contain the letter “R”.

2.- Aperitif time

Visit Vigo is an excellent opportunity to taste the best Ria’s seafood at great pricing, like in the appetizers full of tapas and beer which have a fierce devotion between the people in Vigo, especially on Saturday and Sunday morning: a walk and an apperitif before lunch.

3.- Statue de Julio Verne

One of the best options in Vigo is to walk before the appetizer down to the yachthabour enjoying the ocean breeze, and get to the bronze statue of Jules Verne, opposite the Club Náutico de Vigo. The city has paid tribute to French writer because in his famous novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” dedicates an episode to the Ria de Vigo and to Rande Treasure’s legend .

4.- Learn how to cook  productos of the Ria

If you also want to learn how to cook seafood, join this exciting initiative; a gastronomical workshop that shows you how to buy and cook the best products with the advices of the city’s top chefs, who will help you in everything. After selection of the best raw materials and shopping at O Berbés market or at the port’s shellfish nurseries, you can prepare the typìcal sailor dishes yourself and enjoy them along with some glasses of wine of Rias Baixas.

5.- Try out the oysters on the street

One of the most interesting places  is Fish Street, which offers a unique spectacle when ostreras tirelessly open oysters on the street while preparing the dishes. You can buy oysters directly to them, give them a squeeze of lemon and you eat them accompanied by a good Albariño. There is no such a better pleasure!

6.- Come up to a Furancho

Furanchos are venues or private homes in which buy excess wine or try on the spot accompanied by a good home cooked meal. Usually, served with tortillas, empanadas, meats, sausages and cheeses in a family atmosphere at a great price.In the area of Vigo ther is over a dozen to choose , in which attention is always exquisite!.

We’ll be there. If you want to come too, check out our flights here.

History has been generous with Périgueux. This town, emblematic of the Aquitaine region, is fortunate enough to boast well preserved remains of its Gallo-Roman and medieval past, making it a unique spot. Situated on the banks of the river Isle, Périgueux makes for a great getaway, on account of both its stunning heritage and as a place to indulge in culinary delights, notably its foie gras. Périgueux, the ancient Vesunna Petrucoriorum, was one of the most important Roman centres in southern France. This is evinced in the extant remains of that civilisation, noteworthy being the Roman wall and the amphitheatre, with a capacity of 20,000 spectators, which must have rivalled Nimes or Arles. Well worth visiting is the Vesunna Gallo-Roman Museum, built around a grand Roman villa from the 1st century AD, the so-called domus des Bouquets (Domus of Vesunna). Judging by its sheer size – it covers an area of 4,000 square metres – it must have belonged to a high-ranking official of the region. Thanks to a system of walkways, the interior of the villa can be viewed from above, without impinging on the original surfaces.

A few metres from the old Gallo-Roman wall, which had some buildings set on top of it, lie vestiges of the town’s medieval past, including those of the 12th-century Château Barrière, destroyed in a fire in the 16th century, and the church of Saint-Étienne de la Cité, Périgueux’s original cathedral – up until the Wars of Religion – during which two of its four domes and the campanile were destroyed.

Touring Medieval and Renaissance Périgueux

It seems that God Himself stopped on the summit of Le Puy-Saint-Front, where man ended up building a cathedral of the same name over a former Merovingian and Carolingian church. This formidable cathedral, which rivets your gaze upwards as soon as you get near it, is a compulsory stopover for pilgrims on the Road to Santiago. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1998. Saint-Front Cathedral is unique in that its fabric reveals exotic Byzantine flourishes at times, as well as the legacy of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre, Paris, at others. Its interior is not quite as striking, although it does harbour the odd exceptional detail, such as the chandelier that lit the wedding of Napoleon III and countess Eugénie de Montijo in Paris.

Medieval Périgueux, with the Mataguerre Tower as the last bastion of its ancient wall, is also graced with Renaissance buildings featuring such characteristic elements of this style as inner courts and staircases. Among the most emblematic buildings is the 16th-century House of the Patissier and the Saint Front Residence, a mansion located on the Rue de la Constitution.

Gastronomy in Périgueux

At the foot of the Cathedral lies the Place de la Clautre where local farmers sell their produce in a street market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A few streets away, two open-air markets feature two of the products that are never in short supply in the pantries of Périgueux’s inhabitants – meat and foie gras.

It is a delightful experience to wander through the maze of medieval alleyways and then book a table at one of the small bistros or restaurants where you can treat yourself to local fare. One such eatery is the refined L’Eden, on Rue de l’Aubergerie, one of the most picturesque thoroughfares in the capital of the former Périgord.

Ready to discover the charm of Périgueux? Check out your Vueling to Bordeaux here.

Text and images by Tus Destinos

Photos by Tus Destinos and Alban GILBERT - CRTA