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Insider story of Helsinki

helsinki-recommendFashion designer Annika Rantala lives in Finland’s capital, where she retails her own clothing line in Helsinki’s emerging design district. Here’re some of her recommendations:

  • Favorites spot: Suomenlinna is a historic naval fortress, reachable by ferry. It’s a beautiful place to spend a sunny summer day with a picnic.
  • Hidden treasure: A Finnish sauna is a must, and the Kotiharju Sauna is the only remaining publick wood-burning one in the city.
  • Best meal: Restaurant Tori in the trendy heart of the city, Punavuori. With a living room atmosphere, it’s popular with art and media people who dine off its extensive menu which includes excellent Finnish home cooking and all-day breakfast. Decent prices, too.
  • Best music: Erottaja Bar is my favorite bar to hang out with my friends. It is small, cool and cozy, DJx play mostly electro music and it is packed on weekends. There is no dance floor, but I hear that people dance on the tables when the nights get crazy.
  • Solo spot: Esplanade Park is in the middle of Helsinki, with hundreds of people walking through each day, yet you can sit on a bench with an ice cream and enjoy the crowd or read a book.
  • Shopping: Helsinki Design District is ideal for the best Finnish design products - found in design and antique shops, fashion stores, museums, art galleries, restaurants and showrooms.
  • Market: The Market Square is Helsinki’s most famous market, loved for its traditional food, produce, handicrafts and souvenirs. Its heated café tent is where you can sip steaming hot coffee even on the coldest of winter days. In summer, the flea market at Hietalahti market place is a must for great finds and good bargains.
  • Quiet place: The park around Toolo Bay, with its winter gardens and historic wooden villas. Stop for coffee at Blue Villa; its opening is a sure sign that spring has arrived.

As told to Andrew bender of SilverKris Magazine


Fira at Santorini (from north)If you’re looking for the best place for cruising along the Greek Islands, then you’ll soon find 3 islands: Santorini, Rhodes and Mykonos. Each island has its own uniqueness and gives something for everyone. Greek Island Cruises are best visited on late springs, early summer or autumn.

Santorini – a small but Wonderful and spectacular island located in southern Aegean Sea. It’s an ancient volcanic caldera formed at 1500 B.C., made it a spectacular physical beauty island. Archeological sites from Minoan era like Fira, Oia, Pyrgos and Therasia are other main attractions of this island.

Rhodes – is another island with wonderful beaches and extremely popular among European tourists along with many its historical sites. Well known as the home of the Knights of St.John who fled Jerusalem in 13th Century. Get 45-minutes bus rides to go to ancient village of Lindos to witness spectacular acropolis overlook the old city and sea horizons.

Mykonos – Different with 2 previous islands of Santorini and Rhodes, Mykonos more well known as the party island, especially in July and August. You could not find any ancient city or archeological sites in this island, but this Island has charming streets lined with artist’s shop and cafes.

You might ask what cruise ships sail to the wonderful Greek isles? Well, there’re many large cruise lines that sailing to Greek including Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Princes and Celebrity Cruise Line. Or if you prefer the mid-to-small sized cruise lines, you could also consider Holland America, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, Seabourn, etc. With so many alternatives, it’s a good idea to start booking and packing for your wonderful Greek Island Cruises now.


I was going to Barcelona full of bad thoughts as some of my friends didn’t get the best of their vacation because of poor service they were offered in Spain.

Quick I realised that they must have had tons of bad luck as my Barcelona hotel was nearly perfect. The hotel staff were extremely helpful and changed my room as my TV wasnt working. The initial room (with shower) was quite small but fine for 1, the Classic room with a bath was lovely and big - much better for a couple. The decor was beautiful and I would definately recommend it and stay there again.

On the next occasion (when I was going to Europe) I had decided to try some of Rome hotels, and I must say I was not disappointed. Also my friends (those who had received bad service in Spain) decided to use Europe Cities which I recommended to them and booked some Zurich hotels.

They were very happy with their holidays this time and thankful to me.


CarHire vacationMany people having their dream travel around Europe by using rail transportation. But have you ever considering of driving your own car around Europe, where you can drive where ever you want and whenever you like?

Train prices are always goes up every year and car hire is a good option for every traveler in Europe, especially when you got limited budget. Below are few tips when you try to find car for hire to enjoy your vacation:

  1. Surf the Web. Internet is like a giant shopping catalogue where you can find and compare car hires on different rates, companies, car types, pick locations, schedule, etc. Many car hire companies also provide discount to anybody who rent through internet. The best thing is that You can get the information 24 hours a day, 365 days. It’s also regardless you want to find car hire Spain, England, Denmark or where ever you want.
  2. Travel on weekend. Most of car hire companies would provide cheaper rates at weekend (although this is not always the case).
    Hire weekly. It is most likely that all car hire companies would give you better rate if you hire weekly, rather than daily. One of the car hire france companies even gives 30% discount if you rent for the whole week, so it will be a pocket saver.
  3. Take look insurance carefully. (CDW) Collision Damage Waiver and (LDW) Loss Damage Waiver are common type of car hire insurance that offered to you when rent car. Both are good coverage for you, but not if they duplicate with your own existing insurance policy. Some Credit Card provider even also offer this coverage if you paid using their CC. Double check with your credit card provide before proceed with the Car’s insurance.
  4. Avoid airport pickups. Due to its additional fee and taxes, most of airport car hire / rental are 11.5 percent more expensive than at nearby neighborhood.
  5. Be Careful on bigger vehicle upgrade. Some car hire companies will give you free upgrade into bigger vehicle, which sounds like a good deal. But remember that bigger vehicle consumes more gas. So this ‘free upgrade’ is not really free, as you must pay for the extra gas. But this feature can be really a good deal, especially when you do need extra spaces on your car, to more enjoy your vacation.

By following those tips, I hope that you can more enjoying your vacation through Europe.


Baltic terminology started to use in 19th century that denoted the region east from the sea. It’s the continent that offered thousand slices of historical and adventurous places to enjoy. Baltic is the land of legendary Viking raiders, who travels through the great sea to conquest and conquer the unknown land.

In late 1920s, three countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (sometimes also Finland) were known as the Baltic States. Second World War changed the entire Baltic map by incorporating these countries as part of USSR. Falls of USSR in 1991 cracked these exotic areas into separate countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Finland, and Poland.

Enough for the history lessons J …now let’s talk on the interesting places on these Baltic areas, where you can spend your holiday.

Lithuania holiday – You might want to spend your holiday in Vilnius, capital city of Lithuania. With wide choice ranges of entertainment, hotels and restaurant, there’s always something for everybody in Vilnius to explore. Don’t forget to visit the wonderful Trakai castle that set amidst Lake Galve. Many other castles like Birzai, Dubingiai, Kaunas, Norviliskes, Raudone (and many more castles) gives its own historical attractions in Lithuania.

Latvia holiday – previously known as Lettonia / Lettland with Riga as its capital city offers many exotic hotels, restaurant, etc. Riga consists of few micro regions (residential neighborhoods) like Agenskalns, Dzirciems, Jugla, Pardaugava, Plavnieki, etc. In Latvia, places has common patterns like “vec” (old), “mez” (forest), “sala” (island), “ciems” (village), and “kalns” (hill). Latvia’s coast was known across Europe for its amber, which now frequently used by Latvian’s jewellery.

Russia holiday – spread across the unique continent of Eurasia, Russia owns huge diversity of climates, soils, vegetations and animals. Spans with 11 time zones, Russia offers vast natural attractions: Central Russian upland (Zaraysk), Sochi (Krasnodar Krai), Virgin Komi Forests, Magadan (Russian Far east), etc. Moscow will give you other lovely places like Spasskaya Tower of Kremlin, St.Basil’s Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and many others.

Baltic, is always a great place to visit.


I thing not only me… All people have to know near of this two month, there are a lot famous event festival to visit. So, i thing it would be great for you if you need some vacation idea right ? But i will show only a festival. Within some description about what you can do in the city/place where the event will be going.

In fact, in June there is the famous Writers Festival and, during the same week, the World Festival of Puppet Art in Prague, more precisely from 1 to 8 of June 2008. There will be all kinds of theatre shows and puppet films, for children and adults, in competition with each other, from traditional Puppetry, to the new and more innovate works. Puppeteers, as every year, come from all over the world, included companies from the Far East, South America and Europe.

An international Jury will award a prize for: Best performance, Best artistic creation, Best Scenery and Puppet Design, Best Animation, Best Director, Best Actor, Best original performance, Best scenario, Best puppet film and some other special awards.  So do not miss spending a magnificent week in Prague in June. And if you love literature too, you can always immerse yourself at the International Writers Festival held in the same days and visit Kafkas’ House and museum!!

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