ROSES and the bay of Platja Canyelles in the Costa Brava

ROSES at the northern point of the "Gulf of Roses", with its Greek and Roman historical origins, today with more than 20,000 inhabitants, with its long sandy beaches and beautiful bays, is the largest tourism center in the northern Costa Brava, has an important fishing port and the largest fishing fleet of Catalonia.
The video to the right: The "Platja Canyelles", is one of the most beautiful bays in and near ROSES. Here in July 2012 in the high season, it is popular for the French tourists.

Center of the city ROSES is the old town - begins at "Plaça de Sant Pere" - with its winding streets and the many shops and restaurants: today it is characterized mainly by the tourism. The large hotels and apartment complexes are located outside the town at the "Playa Salatar" and in Santa Margarida. The hotels are connected through the more than 3 km long promenade of Roses: it is the longest beach promenade in the Costa Brava.

ROSES and its surrounding: ROSES is located more than 155 km north of Barcelona, about 20 km east of Figueres and about 50 km northeast of Girona with its "Girona Costa Brava Airport"
ROSES at the Costa Brava is at the 18 km wide sweeping bay of the "Golf de Roses" in the backland are the Pyrenees foothills and south towards Girona and Barcelona is flat plains.
The Costa Brava - also referred as "wild coast" - are the small beaches and coves around Llançà, the steep and rugged coast of peninsula "Cap de Creus" with the fishing town Cadaqués, south then the long bay of "Golf de Roses", then the promontory "Massís de Montgri" with the islands "Illes Medes", and then the 11 km long beach "Platja de Pals".

History to ROSES, the citadel "Ciudadela de Rosas" and the museum:
There is a museum in ROSES, in which the glorious history of the city is documented. The settlement and economy of the town RHODES as an ancient Greek colony on the "Cap de Creus" from a period around 776 v.Chr. - the modern name ROSES is derived from the Greek name RHODES. RHODES in the period of Roman imperialism, the rebuilding of the town by the Roman Empire and its decline.
The town of ROSES in the Middle Ages: The construction of the current attraction Ciutadella "Ciutadella de Rosas" (English: Citadel of Roses), a military fortress from the 16th Century under "King Carlos I." Beside the Ciutadella the old castle ruin "Castell de la Trinitat" from the year 1544, also built in the 16th Century under "King Carlos I." to defense the bay.
Slightly north along the promenade at the current urbanization "Puig Rom" is the lighthouse, which was built in the year 1864.

Travelling to ROSES by car, by bus or train and over the "Girona Costa Brava Airport"
Aircraft: since 2003 the Costa Brava is well and cheaply reachable by RYANAIR, over the "Girona Costa Brava Airport", that is about 12 km south from Girona . From the Airport buses go directly to "the central bus station in Girona", directly to Barcelona, directly to "Llorett de Mar", directly to "Sant Feliu de Guíxols", etc.
Trains and buses: beside the "central bus station in Girona" is the central train-station. The trains (RENFE train) drive from Barcelona, over Blanes, then Girona and Figueres continue over Portbou to South France. Or the trains drive from Portbou over Figueres to Girona and go on over Blanes to Barcelona. The buses run from Gironas central bus station in all directions: to Figueres and from there to ROSES, from Girona to "Llorett de Mar", from Girona to "Sant Feliu de Guíxols", etc.
From "Girona Costa Brava Airport" to ROSES: first from Girona Airport by bus to Girona, then Girona-Figueres by train or bus, finally Figueres-Roses only by bus.
Car or travel coach: In a 12-hour journey through Switzerland and through South France, with tolls on French motorways and high fuel costs.

Adventure and active holiday in and near ROSES
AquaBrava an adventure park and waterpark is only 2 km far away from the center of Roses, provides amazing water attractions and tropical environments, as surprising water slides, the largest wave pool in Europe, crazy rivers, slide with free fall, relaxing pools, kid’s lagoon, etc. ...
Go-karting track: Karting Roses with a track length of about 850 meters.
Boat tours by catamaran to Cadaqués and up to the Cape of the "Cap de Creus" along the coast.
Diving: "Roses Sub Diving" in "Santa Margarida" and diving at the Cape of "Cap de Creus".
Express mini-train: the "Roses Express" a small tractor decorated as locomotive with two small waggons, provides 1 to 3 hour tours around ROSES, and drives along the coast and at the slopes of the "Puig Rom". The tours begin and end at the tourist office in Roses at the beach promenade.
Hiking on the "Cap de Creus": Tourist office in ROSES gives information and brochures to the various walking routes. The quiet and hilly, green, rocky mountains of the Pyrenees foothill "Cap de Creus" is varied, and the hiker will discover an old ruin or will see a lonley cove at the sea. The route from "Port de la Selva" across the "Cap de Creus" to the lonley cove "Cala Taballera" and finally up to Cadaqués takes at least 4 hours.

Cheep accommodation in the high season - Camping in ROSES
ROSES has four campings, three of them are located centrally and are only middle class:
First is Camping Rodas in the district of "Santa Margarida", second is Camping "Joncar Mar", third is Camping Salata, and the fourth is Camping Canyelles at "Platja Canyelles".

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Camping Cadaqués .. and fishing village Cadaqués in Catalonia

Cadaqués is a famous "fishing village" with a population of nearly 3000 inhabitants and approximate 1900 permanent residents.
Cadaqués is geografically at a bay in the middle of the peninsula and nature reserve "Cap de Creus", a few kilometers south "Cap de Creus" cape, in the Mediterranean.
Due to its geographical location Cadaqués has a mild climate. It's not too hot in summer, in autumn and in winter there are often stronger winds with very unpleasant weather.
Cadaqués is 20 km south of France, in the province of Girona in Catalonia, in Spain, in the northern Costa Brava.

Cadaqués has its special place in art history:
In the old town is the Gothic church "Santa Maria", and inside is one of the most important baroque altars of Catalonia (from the catalan sculptor Pau Costa) from the 18th Century.
Near Cadaqués in Port Lligat is the house of Salvador Dalí, that is now a museum. In Cadaqués are various art galleries and several museums. Many artists who later became world famous were in Cadaqués like Picasso, Matisse, Duchamps, ...

The small port of Cadaqués in the evening with a special flair in the restaurants:
In Cadaqués is a special flair in the evening, when the tourists visit the excellent and relatively inexpensive restaurants. In contrast to the tourism town ROSES south from Cadaqués, where in the evenings the many shops are opened and in the bars music is played, it is very quiet in Cadaqués: Cadaqués is preferred by many french tourists.

Camping Cadaqués:
Cadaques has a well and inexpensive camping. Camping Cadaqués is on a hill, the bay and old town of Cadaqués can be reached by a beautiful walk of a few hundred meters. Camping Cadaqués has aceptable prices, a person can stay there for about 6,50 Euro per night in the main season. There are the usual campsites sanitation, also with washing machines that can be used for free.
There is a swimming pool, a cafe, ... The Camping Cadaqués is visited mainly by Spaniards, French, Italians and Germans. In the cafe you can buy some foods. Supermarkets in the center of Cadaqués with normal prices are in within 10 minutes walking distance.

The road from Cadaqués to ROSES and from there to Figueres or to "Port de la Selva" and from there to Llançà in direction to Portbou and France:
There is no coastal road from Cadaqués to ROSES, which runs along the coast of the "Cap de Creus". The road runs at first into the inland of the "Cap de Creus" and then from there in southern direction, until the sea is reached near ROSES.
Or the road runs into the inland of the "Cap de Creus" again and then from there in northern direction, until the coast is reached at "Port de la Selva". There are buses from Cadaqués to ROSES or to "Port de la Selva" to the usual low prices in Spain.

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ANDORRA in Pyrenees .. LA MASSANA and VALLNORD ski resort

The small state "Principat d 'Andorra" in the Pyrenees in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, surrounded by France and Spain.

Here, in the summer 2012, you can see a part of the "Vallnord Resort" near La Massana. The "Vallnord Resort" is an area in the west of the state ANDORRA. La Massana is a smaller town with more than 9700 inhabitants, and also one of the seven communities known as parishes of the state ANDORRA:
Parishes of Andorra

Shown here is the mountain side station of the cable-car, that starts in the valley of La Massana and ends here on the mountain at this special place named VAL. The gondola brings the tourists and skiers more than 675 meters higher at 1800 meters above sea level as the valley of  La Massana - more than 1200 meters above sea level, and over a distance of 2250 meters. Andorra la Vella in the Pyrenees mountains

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Nature reserve "Cap de Creus" - Pyrenean foothill into the Mediterranean Sea

The peninsula "Cap de Creus", in 1998 declared as nature reserve, also the easternmost point of the "Iberian Peninsula" and geographically eastern foothill of the Pyrenees into the Mediterranean Sea, extends with its bizarre rock formations about 10 km far into the Mediterranean.
The "Cap de Creus" is the northern border of the more than 15 km wide bay of "Gulf of Roses." The highest elevation of 670 meters above sea level is "Sant Salvador Saverdera".


The "Cap de Creus" is located in Catalonia and is approximately 25 kilometers south from France in the northern Costa Brava.
A famous tourist village on the peninsula is Cadaqués, a few miles south of the cape, the "Punta de Cap de Creus" with its lighthouse.
The "Punta de Cap de Creus" with its rocky bays is a popular destination for tourists and can be reached with motorboats and sailingboats, from Cadaqués, from Roses and from "Port de la Selva".

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These day trips are offered at the beach promenade in ROSES. Also the sea area of the "Punta de Cap de Creus" is a popular diving destination for scuba divers.

ANDORRA Chess-Open 2012 .. a tournament in the Pyrenees

The "Open Internacional d' Andorra" is a well known high level international chess tournament.
It was first organized in 1983 by the Andorran "Benet Pantebre" (1. Andorra-Open 1983), and is organized every year since then.

It is now an international established chess-tournament and attracts many professional chess players, like Grandmasters and International Masters, and is also interesting for many amateur players.

In the video to see the hotel-aera of "Sant Gothard" where the the chess-tournament was played (30. Open Internacional d' Andorra). "Sant Gothard" hotel is in ARINSAL, a small village in 10 km distance north from "Andorra la Vella", the capital of ANDORRA (Catalan: Principat d' Andorra).

Rank	Name	First name	Country	ELO
1	Hammer	Jon Ludvig	NOR	2638
2	Georgiev	Kiril	BUL	2680
3	Illescas	Cordoba	ESP	2601
4	Arizmendi	Julen Luis	ESP	2559
5	Iturrizaga	Eduardo	VEN	2628
6	Alonso	Rosell Alvar	ESP	2502
7	Granda	Zuniga Julio	PER	2657
8	Negi	Parimarjan	IND	2661
9	Kogan	Artur	ISR	2587
10	Szabo	Krisztian	HUN	2548

This "30. Open Internacional d'Andorra" in July 2012 was attended by many grandmasters from Andorra, Spain and France, and also Grandmasters from the Eastern European countries: from Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, ...
And Grandmasters from South-America: from Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, ... and also GM's from India and Israel.
Among the amateur players were represented countries like: Andorra, Spain, Italy, Germany, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Israel, France, Holland, Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, ...

They played 9 rounds Swiss-system. The winner of the tournament is the Norwegian "Jon Ludvig Hammer" with 7 points out of 9 rounds and an ELO of 2638. The grandmasters on Place 1 to 4 scored with 7 points.

Shown in the table is the final result after the ninth round, the top 10 players are all grandmasters. At the positions 11 to 30 are nearly all players grandmasters and some strong amateur chess players.
Final result after 9 rounds

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Andorra la Vella .. a modern city in the Pyrenees mountains

Andorra la Vella, the capital of the "Principality of Andorra" (in Catalan: Principat d' Andorra) with a population of more than 22,200 inhabitants (year 2012) and the highest capital city in Europe with 0% unemployment, is a modern built city with focus on tourism visited from over 14 million tourists annually. It is also the centre for banks and businesses, that benefit from Andorra's tax haven status. Here is no income tax, inheritance tax or capital tax. Since January 2006, the value-added tax is 4 percent on products and services.

Principality of Andorra is a microstate: Founded in September 1278, Andorra is since March 1993 a "Parliamentary Co-Principality" and is governed by the Bishop of Urgell in Catalonia in Spain and the President of France. Andorra is no member state of the European Union, but its currency is EURO. It has more than 85.000 inhabitants, the official language is Catalan.

Andorra has a well-developed road transport network. But it has no motorways because of the geographical location in the eastern Pyrenees between Spain and France. The speed limit outside of towns is 90 km/h, inside towns 40 km/h. The bus transport network is well in Andorra and from Andorra la Vella start 8 bus routes during the day.

The microstate Andorra has no rail transport network and no train station. Bus shuttle services connect Andorra la Vella to the nearest train stations L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre in France and Lleida in Spain.

Andorra has no AIRPORT. Bus shuttle services in Andorra like NOVATEL connect Andorra la Vella to the nearest airports in Toulouse, Girona, Perpignan and Barcelona in a more than three hours bus trip - from Andorra la Vella to Girona Costa Brava Airport in 3 hours 15 minutes for 31€ in the year 2012.

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LA PELOSA .. famous flat beach in the northwest of SARDINIA

"La Pelosa" at the "Gulf of Asinara" is one of the most impressive sandy beaches in Sardinia. It is 3 km north from STINTINO, a small old fishing village with only 1300 inhabitants and a nice fishing port.

The next town "Porto Torres" has 22.000 inhabitants with its port and ferries to Corse and Genua. The next city is SASSARI in 35 km distance with more than 130.000 inhabitants and a university.
CAGLIARI in the south of the island, the capital of SARDINIA with more than 150.000 inhabitants and a university, is the largest city on the island Sardinia.

Sardinia has more than 200 nice beaches. At the sandy beach of "La Pelosa" you see the tourists walk through the water, because here the Mediterranean is flat within some hundret meter distance to the beach. Another known sandy beach is "Le Saline" two km south from Stintino, but "La Pelosa" is much more beautiful. If tourists are searching for an active holiday with nightlife and discotheques, here in Stintino and at "La Pelosa" beach is nothing to find. Several years ago there were a few "disco beach bars", but they had to reduce the loud music - who comes here is just looking for peace and relaxation.

Some information about the prices for traveling by bus:
Here at "La Pelosa beach" is a bus stop. In the summer during the main saison, from here go buses over Stintino and over the Alghero-Airport to Alghero (Route: La Pelosa -> Stintino -> Alghero-Airport -> Alghero), and buses over Stintino to Sassari (Route: La Pelosa -> Stintino -> Sassari).

In the summer 2011 I payed 3,50€ for the bus ride from La Pelosa to Alghero-Airport. And I payed only 1€ for the bus ride of 10 minutes from Alghero-Airport to Alghero-City.

Traveling by bus is not expensive in Sardinia. For the 45 minutes bus trip from Alghero-City to BOSA, that is in the south of Alghero, I also payed this 3,50€. I made only one expensive experience by bus in Sardinia. For this 10 minutes bus trip from Cagliari-Airport to Cagliari-City I had to pay 4€.

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CAMPING TELIS ..at the eastcoast of Sardinia in Mediterranean

The "Camping Villaggio TELIS" is a few hundred meters along the bay "Porto Frailis" and is built in form of terraces. CAMPING TELIS is on the peninsula ARBATAX and is in a few kilometers distance from the city TORTOLI.

The terraces of CAMPING TELIS give tourists an optimal view at the sea from each of the terraces, so TELIS is very popular in Sardinia. A bus station is near and small buses travel from TELIS to the city of TORTOLI, that is only 5 km away, for only 1€ oneway.


The surrounding of TORTOLI with its mountains is varied. For example there drive buses from Tortoli to BRAUNEI, that is a small town north from TORTOLI. From the distance BRAUNEI looks as built into the mountain, and at the height of BRAUNEI you get beautiful views of the peninsula ARBATAX, and of TORTOLI and from the coast.

Camping Cadaqués in Costa Brava

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Camping Telis - Statements and Opinions
of international visitors from France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Holland, ..

The location of the Camp

• This international Camp extends along the splendid bay of "Porto-Frailis", in the province of Ogliastra.
• Only 100 meters far away from the beach of "Porto Frailis", from the square below a lighthouse, you get a breathtaking view over the bay.
• With an area of ​​three hectares over 160 pitches are available for the tourists.
• The place is amazing, I think you can enjoy the view and the place and Artabax itself is a nice place.

The surroundings of the camping

• The camp is special and so I forgot the loud music in the nearby bars in the evening and enjoyed the beautiful view and the square.
• Arbatax itself is also a very nice place.
• Impressive landscape in the vicinity.

Special feature of the Camping Telis: the terraced arrangement of pitches and bungalows

• The camp is a few meters above sea level, and so from all the pitches you have view to the sea and the bay, and this looks really nice.
• The pitches are shaded by eucalyptus and pine trees.
• From all the places you can enjoy a fantastic view of the bay.
• A small camp with two to four well-shaded terraces overlooking a beautiful bay.
• The Camper hire pitches with a characteristic terrace structure, with a wonderful panoramic view of the bay "Porto Frailis".

Activities can be started from the campsite

• A small local bus departs 150 meters from the campsite every half hour for only 1 Euro to the city Tortoli, with many shops and restaurants.
• We booked a boat trip from Arbatax to Cala Goloritzé and Cala Mariolu .
• Arbatax is nearby and there are shops, supermarkets, everything you expect .
• You can visit the two nearby bars that are also in this bay .
• In Arbatax you can rent motor boats, you must not have a driver's license.
• Just south of the camping there are some beautiful sandy beaches.
• You can do a tour over Tortoli to the backland mountains to visit the beautiful village Braunei .
• The camp is located centrally in the district of Ogliastra in eastern Sardinia on the beautiful bay of " Porto Frailis ".
• Recommended are the boat trips to the cliffs, caves and beaches .
• The camp is ideal for exploring the countryside, such as trips to Punta Goloritzé and to Tortoli and Lanussai, or to the marble caves in Ulassai: well known is the cave "Su Marmuri", which is one of the largest in Europe.

Beaches near the campsite and in the surrounding

• The private beach of the camp is small and rocky, but beautiful, with direct access from the campsite.
• Hike two to three kilometers south to the beach "Spiaggia del Lido di Orri" and further south to the beach of Cea.
• A two minutes walk from the campsite is a larger beach than the private beach.
• Even further away by foot in the next bay you reach a some miles long sandy beach.
• About 100 meters from the campsite is a sandy beach, well for children.
• Five minutes away is a public beach and a few miles further are the most beautiful beaches of Ogliastra.
• The small camping own beach has free loungers, it's rocky, the water is clear and great for snorkeling.

Service of Camping Telis

• The campsite is open all year, Camp Telis provides the comfort of modern campsites.
• For motorcyclists a popular camping, because rentable mobilehomes are available.
• Mobile homes and bungalows, TV, air conditioning, kitchen, bathroom, WiFi free Internet, sea view.
• The service is helpful and family friendly.
• The service was friendly, clean bathrooms and family bathroom.
• The service is friendly and helpful, the showers and bathrooms were always clean.
• The restaurant with good food and sea view.
• The campsite is excellently clean.
• Washing clothes in the washing machine for 5 euros, storing of valuables, animation, diving, restaurant, pizzeria, bar, supermarket.
• Small camp's private sand beach with rocks, with free sun loungers and parasols.
• Animation for children, morning water aerobics, music animation.

Campsite own restaurant, supermarket and swimming pool

• Pizza with normal prices, fresh fish, great panoramic view, attentive service, a 10% tip is customary.
• Restaurant terrace with views of the bay and good food.
• A small supermarket with the most necessary range, more supermarkets are in Arbatax.
• Two saltwater pools with view to the sea, pool for children, very clean.

CALA SINZIAS .. at the southeast coast of Sardinia in Italy

From CAGLIARI, the capital of Sardinia, you can drive for only 3,50€ by bus to Villasimius, a tourism center on the southeast coast of Sardinia, and from there you can drive by bus to the CALA SINZIAS, that is 7km north of Villasimius.

CALA SINZIAS is well known among the native Sardinians, because of its one Mile long sandy-beach and the beautiful bay. A few miles further north on the east-coast is the some miles long sandy beach of COSTA REI, although the small CALA SINZIAS is much nicer.

See the two videos: the CALA SINZIAS in autumn in the middle of October 2011. The temperatures are still about 20 degrees and at night it is not cold. The season of tourism is already over in Sardinia and the CALA SINZIAS is deserted by the tourists. The bar in the beach-hut is closed till next summer, and for a tramper like me it is shady and airy under the canopy.

Sardinia has about 200 sandy beaches and most are very clean, even here the CALA SINZIAS. Everywhere here you meet tourists, who are travelling on Sardinias roads with their campers and also are travelling on the nearby island CORSIKA. They see that Sardinia has more beautiful beaches than CORSICA. Beautiful sandy beaches are also in CORSICA, especially in the southeast of this island, but the mountains of Corsica are much nicer than the mountains of Sardinia.

If you travel by bus 50 to 60 miles further north along the east coast of Sardinia to TORTOLI, and at TORTOLI a few miles further north to the mountains, you reach a small town called BRAUNEI. From some distance this BRAUNEI looks like built into the mountain: here you see the beautiful mountainous scenery of Sardinia. And from BRAUNEI you can look down to TORTOLI and at the coast: from here you get also a great view of the eastcoast of Sardinia!

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On the west-coast of IBIZA .. the wide bay of "Sant Antoni de Portmany" on the "Balearic Islands"

A view of the bay of "Sant Antoni de Portmany" and its hotels and the small harbor with sailboats and yachts.

Less than 200 meters from the pedestrian zone is the central bus station of SANT ANTONI. From there the buses go every 20 minutes to EIVISSA, and from EIVISSA the buses drive to SANTA EULARIA.

When I was in IBIZA, I heard of SANT ANTONI, that it is not beautiful, because it is completely overrun by the English tourism. Finally I was in SANT ANTONI and I was very pleasantly surprised.

The prices are not as high as in EIVISSA and SANTA EURARIA. "Sant Antoni de Portmany" is in a wide bay, directly in SANT ANTONI is a beautiful sandy beach, and the pedestrian zones are made very attractively.

EIVISSA in IBIZA .. most expensive city of the Balearic Islands

The porto of EIVISSA: pier for the big ferries to Valencia and Barcelona, ​​and for many millions expensive private yachts, and also the capital of IBIZA and the most expensive city on the Balearic Islands. Who wants to spend some days in EIVISSA must pay more than 50€ per night in the most hotels.

Along the harbor there are lots of restaurants and cafes. There they want to get the tourists into their restaurants to get their money by much too high prices. A small meal is mostly already about 20€ and the quality and quantity of the food is not well.

At the porto of Eivissa is also a McDonalds. There costs a Big Mac or Big King more than 6€. And these are the highest prices for fast food, I have seen in Europe. Going down a few hundred meters in the city of EIVISSA, you can find cheaper and usual restaurants and fast-food, such as Cheeseburgers for 5€ or Salat for 5€. There are also the usual Spanish supermarkets like EROSKI and MERCADONA with their normal prices, prices similar to those in the countries of the mainland in Europe.

In the evening until late at night, it is here in EIVISSA very busy. The tourists choose the expensive restaurants near the harbor. In a few cocktail bars you see as Transvestite dressed animateurs, who try to get the tourists into their restaurants.

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Sant Antoni de Portmany in IBIZA .. popular for English tourists

"Sant Antoni de Portmany" at the west-coast of IBIZA is very popolar for the English tourism. There are a lot of possibilities to do activities in the many hotels.

There are a variety of shops for buying souvenirs, many restaurants and English-PUBs, and also the usual Spanish supermarkets for buying food cheaper.

The prices are lower here than in EIVISSA, that is the capital of IBIZA. The bus ride across the island from EIVISSA to SANT ANTONI takes about 20 minutes and costs 2,50€ and for example for 1,60€ you get a coffee in one of the many cafes.

SANT ANTONI has a beautiful more than a kilometer long sandy beach, and along the beach is a nice prommenade. It is good for swimming and sunbathing, but this beach is not comparable to the sandy beach "Platja d'en Bossa" near EIVISSA, that is several kilometers long and is well known because of its famous beach partys from day to midnight.

The beach turns into a pedestrian area with shops, restaurants and PUBs, and at the seaside with sailing boats and small yachts, that are laying in the small harbor. The central bus station is directly behind this pedestrian area and the distance is less than 200 meters by foot.

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Passing IBIZA's east-coast in RYANAIR Boeing 737 and landing

The last three minutes of a flight with RYANAIR lowcost airline in a Boeing-737-800 from Alghero in Sardinia to IBIZA in Spain in October 2011.
During a internet-booking 5 weeks before, I payed only 9€ for this adventure. Even without PRIORITY-boarding, that are 5€ extra booking-costs, I had also a window-seat during this short flight: the flight-time was 75 minutes, and there were many younger passengers, mostly Spaniards and Italians.

I filmed the landing through the little window of the Boeing 737-800, and I had only a small 10 megapixel digital-camera from CANON.
During those three minutes of the landing approach to IBIZA-Airport you can see first the very beautiful and expensive "Santa Eularia des Riu," and its small harbor with yachts and sailboats. Then the "Cala Longa," one of the most beautiful bays in IBIZA, with its nice hotel-facilities at the Mediterranean, and you can see the hotel-facilities of the "Roca Llisa" and a rocky coast with forests and without hotels, and then the hotels of the "Can Pep Simo".

The major port of EIVISSA, also named IBIZA-city, with the very expensive yachts and sailboats and the large ferries that travel to Barcelona, Valencia and Mallorca. The castle you can see in EIVISSA is the "Murallas d' Eivissa", and just before the landing the some kilometers long sandy beach and famous party-mile "Platja d' en Bossa". Dancing on the beach and in the bars to disco and techno music is IN there, party for young tourists from day until late evening. And finally the landing at the IBIZA-Airport.

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Airport O-Porto in Portugal in January 2011

O-Porto in Portugal is one of the RYANAIR-Bases in Europe. From O-Porto you can reach several destinations in Europe for example Frankfurt-Hahn in Germany, London, Canarian-Islands, Spain, Italy, ... The airport O-Porto looks new and is very nice. For traveler it is possible to stay at the airport over night, if you use O-Porto for a stopover.

How to get low fares with RYANAIR?

RYANAIR has from time to time promotions to attrack their passengers.
Online checkin: checkin is not any more at the airport to a switch, you have already printed out your boarding card at home over the Internet.

Hand-baggage: of course you can take hand-baggage - in this case the weight not more than 10 kg and the size 55 x 40 x 20 cm. If you have normal baggage, like a large suitcase, the flight is much more expensive, and your advantage of a low-cost airline is away.

PRIORITY BOARDING costs 5 € in addition and is recommended!
You get more then a window seat.

Travel insurance: You do not need because of the low price.

Kalixa Prepaid-MasterCard: if you use a Prepaid-MasterCard to book RYANAIR online, it is without charge. For example Kalixa offeres a free Prepaid-MasterCard, you can easily book Ryanair for € zero.

RYANAIR and high costs due to hand-baggage over 10kg

You can get problems with Ryanair at the airport if you have more than 10kg hand-bagage or it is not the size 55 x 40 x 20 cm. All hand-bagage must be placed exactly in such a lattice (see photo). If you do not follow this rules, the price to be paid when booking could more than double.


But, look out! .. the employees of RYANAIR are in control of hand luggage very exactly. At the airport they check the weight and size of yout hand luggage. Some passengers had to pay more from 30 € to 40 €.


On the flight from Girona Costa Brava Airport to Frankfurt-Hahn was a group of female students whose hand-luggage had 10 kg slightly exceeded. RYANAIR did not accepted and demanded the increased fee. Then the students opened their backpacks and put on several pairs of trousers and sweaters, and their hand-baggage was then kg slightly below 10 kg. Then RYANAIR let them into the Boeing 737-800 without additional charge.


How do I get 10 kg hand luggage into the
size 55 x 40 x 20 cm? ??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klNLqDpdYLI

An example for a booking with Ryanair

Here is an example - a flight from Germany to Marokko - of a booking with Ryanair on the Internet. If the booking is finished through the Internet, you have payed in a few seconds by VISA-Card or Master-Card and you have booked the flight safely.  And there are no further costs any more. Vinous seconds later you get a confirmation via email. By a little practice I book in a few minutes. In this exampla the flight was booked in Germany.

HINFLUG
From Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN) to Agadir (AGA)
Wed, 16Mar11 Flug FR5691 Abflug HHN um 14:35 und Ankunft AGA um 17:35
PASSAGIERE
1. MR XXX  ADT

ZAHLUNGSDETAILS
********10.00 EUR Flugpreis
*********0.00 EUR Steuern, Gebühren & Entgelte
*********4.00 EUR Passagiergebühr: Gebühren für bevorzugte Behandlung beim Einstieg
*********5.00 EUR Passagiergebühr: Administrationsgebühr
********19.00 EUR GESAMTBETRAG

OPORTO airport is well for stopovers

The Portuguese city PORTO has a very nice and modern airport. This airport you can use for flights with RYANAIR also as a stopover.

For the traveler, it is possible to stay over night in the airport, if you will continue to fly the next day. So, if you don't wish to visit PORTO, you need no hotel and can go on wtith your jouney next day.

The city of PORTO itself is a typical Portuguese town. It is a nice city, if you are interested in the traditions of Portuguese ... otherwise better just take the airport for stopovers.