by The Romantic Traveller (even on work trips!) | Apr 1, 2008 | 2. Europe, Spain
If traveling with friends, you might want to visit Barcelona — easily the trendiest city of Spain. But when you want romance,…. then you go to Andalucia!
Where to go in Andalucía
Besides its capital Seville, there are many different places to go visit. It’s has a strong cultural heritage, beautiful building and adorable villages.
As there’s nothing quite like seeing a location, here’s a Rick Steves video on Andalucía, The Best of Southern Spain. I think it does a good job of explaining the reasons why you should go visit Andalucia: the region’s culture, attractions and places to go see, and of course, the romance to be had! Enjoy!
by J. Lee | May 25, 2007 | 2. Europe, Active Vacation, Italy, Travel Tips
By Margit Holzer
About a thousand million Euros is the turnover – 1 million of horseman, more than 400 thousand horses and more than 50 thousand people employed. These are the dates of the AIA (Associazione Italiana Allevatori) and of the UNIRE (Unione nazionale incremento razze equine).
This means an entire army of lovers of this sport and the horseback tourism which generates in Italy a turnover of around 6,5 thousand millions of Euro.
In the Italian region Veneto, precisely in Verona, the wolrds most important international fair, the Fieracavalli, takes place every year at the beginning of November in a space more than 1.800 m².
Italy’s tourism has a huge amount of offers addressed to horseman. In all over Italy there are the farmhouses, the so called agriturismi, which are located in the countryside, where it is possible to take part in the every day’s life of the farmers. They teach for example, how to produce bread, honey, marmalade and much more, and many of them have a riding school.
In Tuscany for example, there is the Regional Park of the Maremma where it is possible to explore it in a very nice and exciting way on a horseback trekking tour. There are many tours offered for both, experts and non experts, to explore this protected area.
During this excursions very often it is possible to get near animals like wild boars, fallow deers, cows and Maremman horses. A two hours trekking tour is a quiet horseback walk through the oak wood and it is suitable for non experts. For who has more time, there is a tour of three hours in which they reach the Abbey of San Rabano. For great experts there is a one day tour of approximately 6 hours which leads through diverse areas of the Regional Park: the agricultural area, the Mediterranean landscape, the pine forest, the marsh until reaching the river Ombrone.
Also near Pisa, in the surrounding hills, there are plenty of tours offered to get in contact with the still intact nature of the area. As well as in the area of San Gimignano for example the farmhouse Il Meletto, or in the Chianti area the Fattoria la Presura or Santa Maria a Poneta.
But not only in Tuscany, in all over Italy there are so many nice places to be discovered, and why not on back of a horse? In the Region of Lazio there are some very nice farmhouses like Borgo il Ducato, or in Piedmont the La Piccola Fattoria, La Collina degli Scoiattoli, or Red Wine where they offer horseback riding.
In Umbria there is the Madonna delle Grazie, L’Elmo, Relais Il Cantico della Natura, in Veneto the Tenuta Goro Veneto and the Castle of Lispida. Concerning Sicily there can be found Colle d’Oro and Gigliotto where to explore the area like the knights did. Visit Dream Destination Europe for more accommodations for your Italian horseback vacation.
About the Author
Margit Holzer is an international expert for the travel industry. With a degree in Economics and being a multilingual tourism expert, she is now the CEO for http://www.dde-europe.com
Contact her on her mail m.holzer@dde-europe.com for any kind of question regarding travelling, accommodation and tourism above all in Italy.
