Boat leaving Great Blasket Island by Deanna Keahey

The Blasket Islands are about three miles from the Irish mainland, but they feel a world apart. The people here kept the ways of a simpler time, due to both isolation and lack of money. They never had television or supermarkets. They never had movie theaters or gas stations. The islanders continued to live a simple life until they were forced by the government to abandon their homes, ensuring that the Blaskets would never move into modern times.

It’s never been easy to get to the Blasket Islands. In the old days, people used small, open rowboats called curraghs, to travel out to the island. People had to row back and forth for many reasons – to buy or sell livestock or other goods, to see a doctor or a priest, or even to carry the mail. It’s hard to imagine loading a cow into one of these little rowboats without capsizing it, but they did. Travel to the mainland was difficult in good weather, and dangerous or even impossible in bad weather.

Life on the islands depended largely on the sea. Not only did it determine when they could row to the mainland, but it also provided much of what they needed. Fishing was a mainstay for food, and islanders also gathered seaweed to fertilize the scanty soil on the island for growing crops. A shipwreck could provide an unexpected bounty – everything from timber for building to rare supplies. Wood was scarce on the island, so they harvested peat to make fires.

Blasket Islands abandoned village by Deanna Keahey

In the 1800s, there were about 150 people who lived here, but by 1953, the last inhabitants left the islands. The government of Ireland mandated that the last people should abandon their homes on the island, due to the difficulty in ensuring them public services such as health and education. Just a few years earlier, the islanders had an emergency when bad weather cut them off from mainland supplies for several weeks. With a dwindling population there (it was down to 22 people), the government decided it was best to move them ashore.

Today, you can take a ferry to Great Blasket Island, the largest of the group, where the most people lived. The town is now in ruins, but skeletons of many homes still stand. You can wander through the streets of town, or into the ruins of homes. It’s a reminder of how tough life was here, to think of a large family living in one of these small two-room homes. You can see where people launched their curraghs for fishing, the beach where they gathered seaweed, and the hills where the children hunted rabbits.

Roofless stone house by Deanna Keahey

You can walk all the way around the island if you want, with great views of the islands and the sea. A walk around the island can be sunny, brisk, or blustery – or all three, on different sides of the island. You can find the remains of a Napoleonic fort at the very top of the island, along with the best views of all.

Dunquin is the closest place on the Irish mainland, and you can catch a ferry from there to Great Blasket Island. Even today, the trip is dependent on weather, and you may find that the boats aren’t running if the sea is up. As you ferry over to Great Blasket Island, just think about rowing yourself across in a small open boat. That will give you a great perspective on life in the Blasket Islands.

Deanna Keahey is a lifelong traveler, who ran an international travel company for years. Today, you’ll find her out traveling, hiking, and exploring as much as possible. Deanna writes about travel products and cool travel ideas at Best Travel Clothes, and you can find her on Facebook, Twitter or Google+

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Beginning with the mainland, there is lots to experience in Greece. The country is inarguably one of the most memorable holiday destinations in Europe. A visit to Greece begins with sampling the mainland and crowning if off with a visit to the more than 6000 Cyclades islands. And all these islands feature excellent hotels, villas and even villages. Of course the mainland too has its fair share of first-rate hotels, but the Cyclades Islands are something else. As a traveler, there is a wide variety of hotels to choose from. The mainland and each of the Cyclades Islands have varying types of hotels.

Samos, Greece by Aanjhan Ranganathan

Tour operators understand your budget constraints and can find something affordable. Accommodation ranges from the most expensive and exotic to the moderate but excellent. It all depends with your budget and how much you are willing to part with. However, rather than have tour operators organize your trip at additional costs, how about doing it yourself? It is easy to find cheaper flights and moderate accommodation but still have fun once you land in Greece.

Available Options

You need to understand some few facts before venturing out to look for hotels in Greece. Firstly, Greek hotels are categorized as follows; Luxury, A, B, C, D, and E. There are six groups, each ranked according to varying metrics. Like star ratings used in other places, Greek hotels are ranked according to size of rooms, amenities on offer and services. Unlike most American or European hotel classifications, the Greek don’t consider cleanliness or comfort. They also don’t consider friendliness in their ratings.

Make no mistake however, that doesn’t mean the hotels are unclean, unfriendly or uncomfortable. On the contrary, Greek hotels are some of the best in the mentioned areas when rated against other celebrated holiday destinations. These aspects are a must have that don’t have to be considered in classifications. In terms of price, a limiting budget can do well with class D and E hotels. Unfortunately, you forego some luxuries in these classes, for instance hot water, private bathrooms and food.

Evia island, Greece by Agnee

Understanding Hotel Classifications

But that doesn’t mean this is always the case. There are some instances where class D and E hotels may have hot water, or private bathrooms, but it is not always guaranteed. The price range for these hotels is almost similar. If looking for something on the upper end but moderate in price, class C hotels are most appropriate. Here, the hotels give food, private bathrooms, hot water and other quality amenities.

But when looking for ultimate luxury, class A and B are most recommended. Class A and B hotels are famous for the array of amenities available for customers. You get to enjoy continuous hot water supply, private bathrooms, quality food amongst other things. Luckily, the rent prices are controlled by the tourist police of Greece. That means standardized charges for the various classes of hotels. Hotels are required to post a sign detailing the maximum cost of a room behind the door.

Touristorama is a unique website that provides a plethora of information about the Greek islands including tourism, accommodation, and leisure actvities.

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Koli National Park consists of forested hills and siliceous rocks which created beautiful picturesque lookouts. From those you can see long sandy islands – known as eskers, which connect the mainland in the area of the lakes.

In the Koli National Park there are mixed and pine forests growing. The highest point of the park is the hill Ukko-Koli (347 m), where is a beautiful view down on the lake Pielinen. Throughout the Koli National Park there is a number of marked hiking trails and camps. The park has large number of bears, therefore it is necessary to take some food with you.

Koli National Park also has two ski resorts – Loma-Koli is suitable for families with children and Ukko-Koli is good for advanced skiers.

Koli National Park is one of the most famous national nature reserves in Finland. Although it is small, it contains so many places of interest as a treasure chest, for example: rare geological features, versatile range of animal species and many plant species. Area around the park was also a center of cultural heritage and culture.

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The Navagio beach can only be reached by boat.

Access from the mainland is not possible, you have to take a boat at the island of Zakynthos. But you can ask also the local fishermen, who – at a lower price – also take you to the beach. Do not go there in the big waves. Then you can see the Navagio beach only from a distance of several hundred meters, because ships cannot enter the narrow inlets during the big waves.

From the cliff above the beach you can enjoy the view of the Navagio beach and surroundings. The most pictures are taken from this view point.

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The bridge stretched local fishermen here in late April to September for more than 200 years, just for the salmon fishing season, but now there are very few salmon left. Therefore it is now only tourist attraction that is open for the whole year.

However, with approx. 250.000 visits a year it is one of the most visited attraction in United Kingdom.

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Spanish cuisine
Spaniards have a great fondness for food, so they put the care in its preparation. Spanish cuisine is a tasty and colorful. The basic food-stuffs which they use are fish and other seafood, beef, mutton, pork, but they use also poultry, rice, potatoes, beans, various vegetables and white bread. Spaniards also use to add their typically piquant spices and herbs that make their dishes come unmistakable taste. Their kitchen is divided into Catalan, Basque, Galician, Castilian, Andalusian, and more. Each of them is something typical and special. However in all of them you can find lots of garlic and olive oil. The best known Spanish dish is certainly “paella” which is a mixture of rice, vegetables, meat or seafood and spices. Furthermore, gazpacho – cold vegetable soup. National food is tortilla – raw potato omelette with eggs and onions. Typical Spanish cuisine is tapas – small savory snacks that are served before a meal during the day and especially night.

Spanish restaurants
In Spain, all restaurants are legally obliged to offer a “menu del Día“, which includes appetizer, main course, dessert and beverage. This dish is served only at lunch time and it is a popular and inexpensive way to eat well. Expensive restaurants sometimes offer a tasting menu, where you can taste the little bits of several courses. It is common that during the bank holidays, the restaurants are closed.

Spanish drinks
A typical drink in Spain is wine. It is usually served with both lunch and dinner. The oldest and best known wine cellars in Spain are in La Rioja. These wines can be compared with the quality of French wine from Bordeaux. They have also classic wine Jerez and popular Spanish sparkling wine Cava. The perfect complement to all the dishes is a sweet Sangria, which consists of a mixture of fruit with sweet red wine, a little liquor, fruit juice or sparkling wine. It is best chilled and with ice.

Accommodation
In Spain you can find a wide range of accommodation of all kinds. From humble “fondas” or guest houses to luxury five-star hotels. Great interest is enjoying rural accommodation, located on farms, in cabins or in the restored palaces. It is possible to do a variety of outdoor activities, horse riding, cycling or hiking.

Spanish unique accommodation is the “Parador” which is a chain of hotels which are located in different historic buildings or in national parks, with a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. It is also possible to stay in a bungalow or apartment, they are located mainly in the coastal tourist resorts. There are also youth hostels, which can be found throughout the country. It’s a cheap way of accommodation. In Spain there are also over 1400 camps of various categories.

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