Holiday

Hamilton, Alonso, Räikkönen – if you know these names and want to see them at their best, than the Formula 1 race in Barcelona on April 27 is the place for you. Activities, parties and events begin around April 24 and continue throughout the week until race day.

The Gran Premio de Espana race itself is held in Montmelo - about a 40 minute trip north of the city. The track 4.655 km long and the race consist of 66 laps. The race draws enormous spectators which usually top out at over 115,000.

If you are interested in attending ticket information can be found at Barcelona Culture F1 and for great F1 accommodation in Barcelona try Holiday Velvet.
Contributor: Oakley Johnson

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

Are you a movie-buff who also likes to hang out on the beach and get some sun? Then maybe the Algarve International Film Festival on Portugal´s south cast is the place for you.

The popular seaside town, Portimao has their own film festival every year. The Algarve International Film Festival is Portugal´s oldest film event which dates back to the early 70´s.
Held during the month of May, the Algarve Film Festival attracts many top Directors and offers screening in numerous villages along the coast including in Lagos, Albufiera, Loulé, and Tavira.

The festival is broken down into 5 main catergories of films and these are:

• Retrospective
• FICA 30 (Previous winners short films)
• Short movies
• New Territories
• Annecy section.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

Once again, everybody could sin unpunished for a few days in Germany. Although Carnival already starts on November 11th at 11.11 a.m. the “Crazy Days” start on Thursday with the “Altweiberfastnacht”.

Pirates, clowns, witches, fairies, princesses and kings, Charlie Chaplin and many more historic people strolled through the cities. Whether you’ve been to the Rhineland or the East, the cities or the villages, everywhere the people, young and old, big and small, where dancing, laughing, eating tidbits and drinking.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

With the new high-speed train connection from Madrid to Barcelona there is an extra way to travel from Madrid to Barcelona or vice versa. All the possible forms of transportation between Spain’s two largest cities are detailed below:

By Bus - To take the bus is probably the cheapest way of traveling, for less than 50 euro you buy a return ticket. That means a single ticket only costs around 25 euro’s.
The bus ride takes about 7 hours.

By Plane - The flight hasn’t have to be very expensive; e.g. Air Europe starts from 34 euro’s, Vueling and Spanair start from around 40 euro’s. The flight takes about an hour, but that is not including check-in, boarding, picking up the luggage and the transport to and from the airport.

By Car - By car it takes around 6 hours to get from Madrid to Barcelona and the costs of gas and toll are somewhere close to 80 euro’s

By Train - The new high-speed train (AVE) takes you in 2 hours and 38 minutes from the centre of Madrid to the centre of Barcelona. The tickets vary in prices. Online tickets are starting from 40 euro’s but the most expensive tickets will be 245 euro’s

Now you can even visit two cities during one holiday, with so many transportation opportunities.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

Once a year Berlin transforms into Hollywood and all the starlets can be seen on the red carpet in Germany’s capital. Goldie Hawn, Keith Richards, Neil Young, Madonna, Scarlett Johannson, Natalie Portman and Mick Jagger are only a few of the stars who’ve been there last week.

The Berlin International Film Festival is one of the most important film festivals worldwide which was founded in 1951. Since 1978 the Berlinale is held annually with 200.000 tickets sold and 400.000 admissions and is therefore the biggest publicly-attended film festival in the world. About 400 films are shown and about 20 of them compete for the awards, the Golden and Silver Bears. This year 5.000 films were handed in, a record number.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

Not known for their beer, if you ever go to Seville for a holiday, you must pay a visit to Cerveceria Internacional. Opened 20 years ago by Antonio and Antonia, this couple has 15 taps with the top european brands and more than 270 bottled beer from across the world.

Not only is the beer good, you should also try the tapas with specialities of Russian salad with prawns, house broad beans and chickpeas with cod. Don’t leave Seville without trying the german sausage, they’ll make your mouth water.

So when in Seville, if you fancy banana or chocolate, blonde, bitter or black, or even Trapist beers which are brewed by monks then don’t forget to drop in on Antonio and Antonia.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

During the Moorish Nights, the Algarve village of Cacela Velha recreates the ambience of the Arab presence in the region from the 10th-13th centuries.

As well as a traditional souk market with goods from Magreb and the Algarve demonstrating the Moorish heritage, there is folkloric music, dance, discussions and traditional gastronomy. For four nights there is a restaurant with an Arabic menu, serving delights such as harina (traditional soup) and pastilha de frango com amêndoas (chicken and almond pasty) followed by fruit and accompanied by the obligatory green tea.

The Moorish Nights in the Algarve re held in July 2008, and it’s is an annual event.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

Not only is Tuscany famous for it’s rolling hills, breathtaking landscape, fabulous food and delicious wine, you’ll also find many of the best spas in the country. Tuscany is abundant with hot springs (Termes) that shoot mineral rich water onto the land. Relaxing and enjoying the thermal baths of Tuscany goes back to Roman times.

Unlike spas in other countries, thermal spas in Italy are more focused on healing and energizing and not just about pampering. Of course, you’ll find the traditional services such as facials, body treatments and massages but the real focus is on the healing water pools that rejuvenate and relax you. Generally there are a number of pools each varying in temperature and each one has its own focus on the body. For instance, Acqua Santa and Acqua Fucoli come directly from the spring and are good for your liver. Acqua Santissima is utilized for inhalations, aerosol and insufflations while Acqua Sillene is used for mud baths, thermal baths and cosmetics.

All you need to do is bring a bathing costume, bathrobe and sandals and you’ll be set for the day.

• Spas in Tuscany - San Lorenzo a Linari, Siena, Tuscany
• San Lorenzo a Linari Spa is a wonderful small boutique spa just 20 minutes from Siena. You can also stay here and they offer traditional spa services and encourage the use of hydratherapy.
• Terme di Saturnia is 2 hours from Siena, between Grosseto and Siena. Set within the rolling hills of Tuscany, Terme di Saturnia is probably the most well known terme is part of the Leading Hotel of the World. Here you can soak warm, sulphur pools and a Roman bath.
• Terme di Chianciano - Located one hour south of Siena, this spa in Tuscany offers 20 different types of treatments organized by naturopathy experts.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is an international festival entirely dedicated to music that is held in the Municipal Theater in Florence. It was organized for the first time in 1937 and is one of the oldest festivals in Europe. This year it is starting from the 26th April and lasts until the 1st of July.

This year it is the 71th edition and the genre is varying from opera to ballet. Also there are many concerts. Some names of artist that are coming are: Carmen, Radu Lupu, Riccardo Muti, Phaedra and many more.

Ticket prices start from € 20. For more information on the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival and the complete program see here: http://www.maggiofiorentino.com/.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team

From 9th to 12th of May Berlin will held the most beautiful carnival in Germany – A present from the city to its inhabitants and visitors. The participants of the caravan come from about 80 different countries representing Berlin’s diversity, creativity and the lust for life.

Hip Hop meets Reggae, colourful masks from Latin American countries and giants from all over the wall will be part of the event. The parade will proof once more that it’s not only folklore but expresses the diverse cultures. During the 4 days everyone comes together to experience Berlin’s world music and dance scene.

The Carnival of Cultures is of special importance to Berlin’s ethnic communities. They see it as a challenge and an incentive to reconsider their view on the culture in their respective country of origin and define their cultural self-image “between two cultures”.

Source: Holiday Velvet Team