Bob Travel

Madrid Spain is well known for its great architecture and culture significance. It has a progressive arts scene that represents much of the country holds a status of international recognition. Many tourists chose Madrid as their primary Spanish vacation destination, there are many attractions, landmarks and events that continue to draw them in. The best Madrid hotels offer services and information related to the most popular attractions and city guides and tours.

While the city itself is an major institution, the culture and residents incorporate many festivals into their daily lives and experience. These also serve as one of the essential participation encounters for many of the city’s visitors. Carnival is one of the major festival events that is celebrated not only in Madrid, but throughout Spain and many parts of Europe, as well as the rest of the world. Festival days are full of parades, costume parities and general festivities that culminate on Ash Wednesday of every year. There are plenty of outdoor concerts and restaurant thematic participations. The traditional burial of the sardine is also a significant tradition and marks the beginning of Lent.

The Fiestas de San Isidro is another major event in Madrid, which honors its patron saint. The month long series of events and minor inclusive singular festivals begins on May 15 of each year. One of the major elements is a tradition that demands that individuals participate in the Romeria, which is a pilgrimage. It consists of a journey to the saint’s meadows where one drinks from the fountain of hermitage. The waters there are believed to possess miraculous and healing elements, and this is done both as an honorary ritual and personal needs and spiritual endeavor. It is also the time of year when the famous bullfighting fairs begin. They are known in Madrid as the Feria Taurina, which also honors the patron saint. These events take place from the middle of May through the middle of June.

Menorca has so many things to recommend it as a splendid place to spend a vacation, that it would be impossible to list them all, but it is certain that the best Menorca hotels have all the bases covered.  Whatever your desires for the perfect holiday, you can certainly find them fulfilled here.  Our hotels have luxurious accommodations and a very good dose of local flavor, so that all members of the family will find something here.  Adventure, exploring, sun and sand, excellent food, or rejuvenation of the body and mind, all of these are within reach.  Menorca has a reputation for excellent snorkling, a marvelously healthy island vibe, and an immensely fascinating prehistory.

One of the prehistoric cultures here, the Talayots, was named for the towers that greeted visitors.  Every villa had them, and they all face southeast or southwest.  Archeologists recently started to suggest that these were built with another reason: to observe the Southern Cross.  It’s entirely likely, since this would have been a unique point to observe this constellation at the time.

This is just an example of the fascinating marvels of Menorca, and there are many.  Enough that archeologist William Waldren would devote many years, and many pages of academic writing, to the mysteries here.  Waldren, who passed in 2003, was by all accounts a fascinating character.  A real renaissance man, he was an accomplished artist, and a champion figure skater, before he pursued his doctoral degree from Oxford when he was fifty years old.  Waldren was also supported by Earthwatch when it was just a fledgling organization.   An expert on the prehistoric cultures and artifacts here, his memory lies somewhere in these old stones.

The weather was so wonderful for our short trip to New York City, so we checked into one of the Best Manhattan Hotels, and off we went on a bus tour of lower Manhattan called a bird-lovers tour of the East River and watched the Dominican National Parade on 6th Avenue. We got a great perspective of NYC from about 15 feet above the ground because to took an open-air, double-decker tourist bus. It really offered us a refreshing look at the City. I even recommend it to regular New Yorkers, it’s that fun.

We discovered new sights, colors, objects and even a different perspective. We giggled at all the different shapes of people’s heads from above. We were surprised to see the colors of leaves from inside the trees we passed and the variety of different shaped 2nd story windows. Plus, we didn’t have to view all the trash that’s on the ground. One guy almost got decapitated by a stop light, but he sat down just in time.

The double-decker took us in a giant circle of lower Manhattan. We could have taken the Upper Manhattan tour, but decided to see the Lower instead. We started in Mid-town and circled through the southern tip of the island. Our tour allowed us to get on and off as often as we wanted. It has 16 designated stops for a 24 hour period, so we were glad we started early to avoid all the crowds because the tops of the buses get full.

The Dominican National Parade was colorful and noisy. So lively and fun. There were tens of thousands of jumping screaming kids and cheering adults lined for 2 miles along the parade route on 6th Avenue. The Parade lasted several hours because of the many floats, and partly because some of the cross streets weren’t completely cut off, weird we thought. Are arms were so tired from waving at all the celebrities, politicians and other apparently important people, all of whom we didn’t know, but waved at them all the same. After the parade, we caught the double-decker back to Mid-town and conked out in our nice soft cool hotel beds.

It’s  10 am Sunday in  Singapore and I decide to make a day of it. I first take a shower at one of the Best Hotels in Singapore and then dress appropriately enough which will suit any time of day. A nice summer dress with a jacket that can be worn or not, it depends on where I am.

First, I decide to have lunch at PS Cafe and order bacon and an egg with asparagus sandwich. I found to place to have a nice airy atmosphere which overlooks the greenery of Dempsey Road. Then after finishing one of the best slices of cake in town, I head for the Asian Civilizations Museum. I’m so glad I was wearing that summer dress because even before noon it’s hot. But, when I enter the museum, I’m so glad I have my jacket because the building is air-conditioned and it’s freezing inside. I got to see the collection of cultural relics and some of Singapore’s history. The highlight of the museum was the artifacts from Java’s early Hindu kingdoms, the beautiful Chinese porcelain and the Islamic art. I spent a good 3 hours inside and it was nice to walk off most of my brunch.

I went next door of the museum and ate at the exquisite Indochine which is right on the Singapore River. It’s a South-Eastern Asian fusion kind of cuisine. It was hard to choose what to eat, so many things sounded really good, like the shrimp and pomelo salad, the mussels with lemongrass or the French beef stew. I ended up ordering the spicy beef rendang and vegetables in a coconut gravy. Man, was I stuffed, maybe I didn’t walk off all of my brunch. So, I did some more walking and came upon Chinatown and I stopped in one shop offering to read my fortune and massage my feet at the same time!  My fortune was I’d meet a tall handsome man on my journey today. That sounded good to me!

So, I continued ‘my journey’ and headed on up to Mount Faber to take a cable car ride to Sentosa Island. The view over the sea was spectacular. Apparently, on Sentosa, I could play golf. Maybe that’s where I’d meet my ‘Tall handsome man’. I rented some clubs and went to the practice range to hit a bucket of balls. I spent well over an hour with no site of my handsome man. It was about dinner time and I was once again hungry. So, I took the cable car back and had a scrumptious dinner at East Coast’s outdoor seafood restaurant. Still all by myself, but then again, my waiter was a tall handsome man with a delicious smile. Alas, I still ended up coming back to my hotel room alone. All in All though, I did make a day of Sunday.

The range of artistic venues in Madrid is vast, from the archaeological sites to the architecture of the Gothic cathedrals and churches, and the museums and the galleries themselves, this city showcases not only art, but the history of various periods as well.  The Madrid best hotels are located next to some of the Renaissance style architectural marvels of the world.  Just walking the streets of the city gives one a look into the styles of the cultures that have influenced the entire city over the years.  Much of the ruins that are still well preserved are the remnants of the two hundred year period of Arabic rule.  Many of the monumental structures and sculptures located in Madrid are the works of the Austrians, and one area of the city, is titled Madrid de Los Austrias due to the abundance of the work in the region.  This is one of the finest neighborhoods for sight-seeing exploration, as along with the main plaza there are many convents, churches and buildings that fill the streets with beauty and works of art from the Baroque time period.

There are many structures from the Neo-classical period of the eighteenth century, including the Sabatini Gardens, the Campo del Moro, as well as one of the most famous museums in the world, the Prado.  Located within the Prado are examples of some of the finest Spanish painters throughout history, such as Picasso, Goya, Velazquez, and Miro.  Located between two of the main roads in the city, the Paseo de la Castellana and the Gran Via, lies the newest district in Madrid, one filled with modern and avant-garde structures of some of today’s most innovative new architects.  The construction of this area has been taking place for the last one hundred years, and is now the center of activity, with many market places, eating and drinking establishments, theaters and hotels.  One can not fully appreciate the art of this city however, without entering one the three famous museums, the previously mentioned Prado, the Sofia Nat. Art Center, and the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum.  All the museums house not only the most famous artists of Spain, but those from around the world.  In all, the city of Madrid will leave one forever, with memories and insight into the amazing legacy and the world of art.