Travel By Car VerseTravel By Plane

Sometimes you should decide before leaving your home whether to travel by car or travel by plane. But you never know what awaits you on the route nor what can happen at the airport. This was my longest travel to Veracruz. It took me 7.5 hours, okay, I took my breakfast in the beautiful city of Puebla. Not exactly in Puebla but in the Holiday Inn alongside the autobahn to Orizaba and Veracruz.

But it still was more than 6 hours travel time what normally takes me only 3.5 hours. More than half way to Veracruz I was seriously thinking if it would not have been better to fly instead of drive. But in my opinion you enjoy more of the trip and the country side by traveling over the autobahn.

Even so the temperature is very high at this time of year and especially when you come down the hills and enter the valley of Cordoba. When you are closer to Cordoba you are almost at sea level and the high percentage of moisture makes the temperature worse. You just feel how the sweat drops down your back. But the visit to Veracruz makes worth the sacrifices.

Veracruz has lots of places of interest, like San Juan de Ulua Castle. A visit to this colonial place takes us back in time and some how led us understand a little bit about the history of this beautiful port.

There are other places like Baluarte de Santiago one of the four bastions which still exists. This bastion was the protection against assaults of the pirates.

Another attraction is Sacrifice Island in front of the Port of Veracruz. This island was discovered in 1518 by the Spanish man Juan de Grijalva

Naval Museum

The Cathedral which dates back to 1662 and is called: “The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Asuncion”. It has a base with basilical form with five ships; the highest of all is the central ship.

Municipal Palace that is opposite of the park of the city; the construction was initiated in 1600.

Convent of San Francisco which is now the Holiday Inn of Veracruz Historical Center was founded by the first franciscanos that arrived at America and the building dates back to the end of century XVI and beginning of the XVII. It was reconstructed in 1715 with the sponsorship of the University of Merchants of Seville.

And of course for the Gulf-of Mexico-water-lovers there are the beaches. The port of Veracruz is and has been with all his beaches an important attraction of this region. The important beaches are called: Villa del Mar, Yacht Club, Iguana Beach, Marti Beach and Mocambo Beach.

For shopping-lovers there are the malls to acquire all kinds of souvenirs, beach clothes, postcards and lots of other items.

We should not forget to mention the restaurants of Veracruz where you can try the typical food of the region and of course international food. If you prefer the veracruzian atmosphere you should go to the famous ‘Café de la Parroquia’ with traditional food and also economic prices.

But the jewel of Veracruz is the people, with their friendliness and humor.

Talk to you soon

Anton

Travel to Dolly Wood

Not many entrepreneurs care about their home but there is one particular personality I have in mind, the self proclaimed Barbie, the country singer icon Dolly Parton. Everyone who likes country music has heard in some way or another the name Dolly Parton with one of her famous song ‘My Tennessee Mountain Home’

It is amazing what some entrepreneurs do for their home town and Dolly Parton is no exception.

If you are traveling with your family to the Nashville area I would say 'Dolly Wood' is a must see in your travel guide. The theme park is celebrating his 25th anniversary and has a lot of attractions to celebrate his birthday. Without any doubt there will be a lot of activities to celebrate this ‘birthday’.

Born in the country, loving the country as she does and express her love to the country and folks with her songs, Dolly Parton set a signature at Dolly Wood. It looks that her dream of a female Walt Disney has come into reality.

For some decades now there have been visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains Park but when she signed her name as a co–founder the change was big. She has turned the park into a 2.5 Million visitor’s attraction per year that is not bad for an entrepreneur like she is.

So, if you don’t know where to spend your vacation this year, think about it, Dolly Woodland can be very attractive…and just imagine you see Dolly Parton in person…my gosh what a coincidence.

Dollywood theme park is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The park hosts a number of concerts and musical events each year. The park is open from early spring until around Christmas.

Talk to you soon

Anton

Shanghai: The Bund Is Back

China shows the world that if you want to attract tourism you can do it the right way

Every bad place can be refurnished like a house. The only thing you need is the idea to change something, put the money into it and change the face of a Harbor, or City, or whatever part you want to change to attract more tourists. Nothing is impossible. And China has gone the way for change. The Bund in Shanghai is one of most famous tourist destinations of the City. And Now the Bund is back for tourism.

Shanghai: The Bund Is Back

Name: According to Wikipedia the name "Bund" means an embankment or an embanked quay, and comes from the Hindi word band, meaning an embankment, levee or dam (a cognate of English terms "bind," "bond" and "band," the German term "bund," etc.). "Bund" is pronounced to rhyme with "fund".



The term was brought to Shanghai by the family of Victor Sassoon, a Baghdadi Jew. There are many "bands" to be found in Baghdad, even today. There are numerous sites in India, China, and Japan which are called "bunds" (e.g. the Yokohama Bund). However, "The Bund" as a proper noun almost invariably refers to this stretch of embanked riverfront in Shanghai.

History:

The Shanghai Bund has lots of historical buildings, along the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. The Bund lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia. The former French Bund, east of the walled city was formerly more a working harbourside.
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