Walking in springtime in Mallorca

My guest post today from Nick of Villa Parade highlights that spring is one of the best times to visit the island of Mallorca, especially if you enjoy walking as a way to explore the beautiful scenery of this island and get away from the crowded tourist spots.

I find that spring can be the ideal time to visit the Med, as the weather is slightly cooler and there aren’t as many tourists as the high season, so it’s an excellent opportunity to explore. There are great range of activities in The Balearics to choose from. I’ve been on many of Mallorca’s walking trails, and with the Almond blossom in bloom throughout March, it’s a really beautiful time to see the island.

I also hear from many people who go to Mallorca in the spring because of its cycling routes, often used in Triathlon training, as well as from those who love wildlife and travel to spot the island’s famous Eleonora’s falcon.

One of my favourite walking routes is trekking up from Alaro to Castell d’Alaró. It takes about two hours and you need to follow signs from the PM210 to the peaceful valley of Orient. The walk takes you through olive groves climbing up to the plateau, with views of the Puig D’Alaro, a rocky outcrop with an old Moorish castle at the top. It’s worth the effort to see the beautiful views over the sea from the summit and to work up an appetite for the famous lamb dish in the Es Verger restaurant, renowned for its red wines, on the way back down.

There’s also a beautiful Mallorquin sunset walk from Roca Blanca, starting from PM-221 Formentor Road, to the peak of Fumat which shows the Formentor Peninsula, the North Eastern tip of Mallorca. at its best. A friend recommended this route to me it’s perfect if you’re looking for a bit of an adventure and you can picnic at the peak and visit the old lighthouse on the way down and have a dip in Cala Figuera. The walk is about 8km and finishes with a sunset view of Formentor’s most famous beach, Cala Formentor from Albercuitx Watchtower.

I’d love to from anyone who’s got any other tips on exploring Mallorca, especially walks that you’ve enjoyed on this beautiful island.

Many thanks for this guest post to Nick at Villa Parade who offer exclusive villas and holiday apartments throughout the Mediterranean, including Mallorca.

Photo credits: Almond Blossom by lightbrigade,  Castell d’Alaro by benjami,  Cala Figuera by Cayetano on flickr.

Other posts to enjoy

Top tips for a great holiday in Puerto Pollensa - Mallorca
Cezar Manrique and the volcanic island of Lanzarote

Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

Don’t miss out - subscribe to Heather on her travels

7. Interview with Lara Dunston and Grantourismo - Podcast

In Episode 7 in my podcast series. you”ll find an interview with travel writer and blogger, Lara Dunston who’s embarking on a year long project together with her husband, photographer Terry Carter, which they’re calling Grantourismo. They’ll be travelling the world, staying in different apartments around the world sponsored by Home-Away holiday rentals in the UK and you’ll also hear from Sarah Chambers of Home Away on why the company decided to take this approach to promoting their holiday properties.

To download the interview with Lara Dunston podcast, right click here 31 min [mp3]

To subscribe to all my podcasts in ITunes click here

 

 

Shownotes

In the podcast we talked about;

• How Lara first got started in travel writing, working in public relations, film-making and media studies which developed into travel writing, first on a part time and later on a full time basis.
• The realities of being a travel writer - from the fun bits such as eating out in great restaurants, as well as the more mundane bits such as updating guidebook information.
• How Lara and Terry work together as a husband and wife as well as a working partnership.
• How Lara and Terry deal with the practicalities of moving all their belongings, laptops and camera equipment around the world and how they persuade airlines to waive their excess baggage charges.
• The advice Lara has for those who’d like to adopt their lifestyle as a travel writer or location independent worker.
• How Lara and Terry came up with the idea of taking a contemporary Grand Tour for a year, getting into the culture of each place and travelling more slowly and with an authentic flavour.
• What HomeAway Holiday-Rentals can offer travellers looking for holiday apartments, and how they wanted to promote the benefits of extra space and privacy and staying in local neighbourhoods.
• How Home Away wanted to tap into consumers looking for travel information online and to provide them with something that would inspire them to a different way of travelling.
• The Grantoutismo itinerary that includes Marrakesh, Spain, Paris, Montenegro, Puglia, Sardinia, Venice, Asia, Indonesia, New York, Austin Texas, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, South America, Kenya and back to Europe in January 2011.
• The trends that Lara sees in travel writing and blogging, with the recession hitting traditional media, leading to travel writers exploring new ways of working on line.
• Sarah Chamber’s view that more travel companies are promoting themselves through inspirational content on-line and will be experimenting with approaches like the Grantourismo project.
• You can follow Lara and Terry’s progress at Grantourismo and on Twitter @gran_tourismo
• You can find holiday apartments like those Lara and Terry are staying in at HomeAway Holiday-Rentals
• To subscribe to all my podcasts in ITunes click here

Other Podcasts to enjoy

06 Weekend in London at the Mandarin Oriental
05 An Autumn weekend in Lisbon
04 Visiting the Munich Christmas Markets
03 Ecuador and the Amazon Rainforest
02 My Istria Travel Diary

Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

Don’t miss out - subscribe to Heather on her travels

Olympic Fever - tips for the Vancouver Olympics

If you’re feeling the excitement of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, you’ll enjoy my guest post today from Blake Abel, with tips on how to get maximum enjoyment from your visit, based on his experiences at the Beijing Olympics.

With the Vancouver Olympics fast approaching, it is time to get Olympic fever. As travelers we can relate to the thousands of people booking flights, finding room and board and carefully planning their vacation to beautiful Vancouver in Canada. I have been all over the world, to many countries, and very few match up to the city and people you see at the Olympic Games. I went with my family to the Olympics in Beijing in the summer in 2008 to support my sister who was competing in the synchronized swimming event. Although she didn’t win a medal, we had a wonderful time and I have some Olympic size tips for those visiting Vancouver for the Olympic games.

Plan before you go

Obviously right? One thing we learned when visiting Beijing is that there was not enough time in a day to see all the sites and scenes. Any Europe traveler knows that in order to visit all the hot tourist spots, you have to plan, plan, plan. Couple that with the Olympic games, the events, the nightlife, and the spontaneous redirects and you end up in chaos.

Find a balance between visiting on a whim and seeing the things you actually want to see. We barely made it to the Great Wall and we could have seen way more countryside - disappointing!

Find a translator

This doesn’t apply to the Vancouver games unless you struggle with your English, but I found myself ruffling though my Mandarin book just to find where the bathroom was. It is important to take books like mine, but more important to have someone you know, hire, or kidnap to help you in your travels to a foreign country. If we had a translator we could have cut our time in half, from bantering with waiters, cab drivers, and policemen. Yes, policemen.

Get travel insurance

Low cost travel insurance can help you immensely. Lost baggage or getting sick can be the worst thing in a foreign country. This is something my family and I regret immensely. We incurred costs that could have been reimbursed if we had purchased trip travel insurance. My brother got appendicitis in Beijing, was rushed to a hospital and thankfully we paid Yen instead of dollars. Unfortunately, it was in the thousands of dollars. Getting out of a cab, I hit a nice Chinese man, sending him off his bike. We paid again for the accident and were almost thrown in prison. It is really important when you are traveling (yes, even to Canada) that you stay protected, and be insured.

Explore

The Olympic Games causes a lot of excitement, it catches you eye, you stay in the village you watch the events you can get into, and you miss the rest of the city/country. One of the biggest advice I can give to visitors to Vancouver is “don’t stop at Vancouver and Whistler”. I have been to these cities and though they are great, they don’t grab the full culture you can get from Canada. Visit the outskirts, go to the woods, play in the snow, and embrace the country you traveled, one hundred, a thousand miles to visit. If you don’t, you will regret it.

Many thanks for this guest post to Blake who writes about travelling insurance and loves to travel in Europe and Asia. He is currently planning his next trip to Sri Lanka with a team of Americans, there to help set up a new orphanage. His passion is to help people with travel tips, staying on budget, and find low cost travel insurance.

Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

Don’t miss out - subscribe to Heather on her travels

Next Page »