Another article about directories for Bulgaria and Europe

As a follow-up on article "Article about travel directories" that we recently published, similar about Europe and Bulgaria has been published. It contains brief information about Bulgaria and the European continent and offers advices about the most popular places to visit throughout the oldest continent. The article is written in Bulgarian language and presents the advantages of adding your website to the quality travel directories. It also provides links to some of the popular travel directories related to the Europe continent and to the country of Bulgaria. Click on Travel Directories to jump to this travel and tourism article.

Article about travel directories

New article about Europe has been published. It contains brief information about the European continent and offers some advices about the most popular places to visit in Europe. The article also explains the advantages of submitting a website to a travel and tourism directory and provides links to travel directories related to Europe and Bulgaria. Click here to read this travel article.

Travel and Tourism Bookmarks

New bookmark collection about travel and tourism can be found here. The site contains bookmarks to websites mostly related to Bulgaria and Europe travel - this includes travel and tourism portals, hotel and accommodation guides, travel directories and destination guides.

What will impress you in Romania - a trip to Bucharest and Sinaia

Romania is a country in South-East Europe that offer a rich choice of tourist attractions and vacation experiences: the magnificent architecture of Bucharest, the romantic Danube Delta, the popular Romanian Black Sea resorts like Mamaia, the impressive medieval towns in Transylvania like Brasov, the world-famous Painted Monasteries in Bucovina, the traditional villages in Maramures, the majestic Carpathian Mountains, and much more.

Our Romania trip started in the capital city Bucharest. Station Nord (Bucharest North) station is a quite nice building with old architecture. Measures are taken to limit the beggars and street vendors have introduced such a fee to stay on the platform - pour half. It's quite cheap, but with this approach the station assumes much cultural form.

There is a direct connection to the subway from the station (directly from the waiting room). Bucharest metro is relatively new - it was placed into service in 1979, but is quite granular. (Four beams with about 45 stops). Unfortunately, its performance was not particularly good quality and now looks rather shabby.

Architectural subway is a socialist Art Deco, but filled with cheap materials so that it would look really good if restored. The station where we left - Stefan Mare - has read quite spartan furnishings - yellow tiles of the same material as the yellow pavement in Sofia, the most ordinary gypsum plaster walls, and most ordinary neon lights - in Sofia's South Park to the subways. Generous to myself Ceausescu was pretty frugal for his people. The trains are regular, although sometimes one can get nervous while waiting.

I was placed in the neighborhood of composers. The whole neighborhood has streets named after composers. The quarter is nice with a perfectly straight streets and geometrical located 4-5 storey blocks, and with streets and sidewalks in perfect condition.

What you will NOT find in Bucharest:
1. Chalga - instead listen to folk music, which closely resembles the Bulgarian. Continuously on TV you can see a lead in costume, leading folkloric show.
2. New construction in the old quarters and center - in some downtown buildings are beginning to repair just now. Overall, the center looks battered. I heard about new and beautiful quarters, but I have not seen any new building and a few new commercial buildings.
3. Narrow streets clogged with parked cars. Partly because of the megalomania of the leaders of Romania, partly because some saw other reasons not clogged by parked cars on small streets.
4. Working Church. I visited several churches on Sunday (!?!) and only one of them worked.
5. Tickets for public transport to be sold freely.
6. Blade commercial street.
7. Broken streets - all streets and sidewalks are in perfect condition.

Moreover, in Romania:
1. Nuclear power works
2. Cars are being produced
3. Railways are in pretty good condition
4. No currency board

Sinaia is a former royal residence, now part of the resort complex of several villages located in the Prahova valley 120 km northwest of Bucharest. The valley is easily accessible as it passes over the main rail route Bucharest - Brasov - Budapest and has trains almost every hour. Fare little surprise-60 lei per person (40 euro) in both directions. Then it turned out it was worth - the train was very comfortable with soft seats, doors are opened by machines with compressed air after pressing the button. Toilet train, although it was slightly depreciated, was in perfect purity and fully usable.

Another feature of the Romanian railways is that the trains glide very smoothly on the tracks, apparently because some technology is used to remove the annoying clatter of trains and tracks are perfect. The train rattled only when the branch went through the line moved smoothly anyway.
I landed to Sinaia at noon and the day proved to be promising. The sun was shining, the frost is melted from the roofs, the sky was completely blue and the air crisp and clear. It couldn't be better. Since the station is located in the lowest point of the valley, one had to climb some very steep stairs (about 30 meters almost vertical) to reach the resort itself. Immediately after climbing eyes you see a snowy palace, up on the left there is another, but a little higher, and shortly after that comes the medieval Monastery Sinaia (Named after Mount Sinai in the Bible). We continued to Pele and Pelishor palaces. A picturesque alley covered with pavement (much of pavement has disappeared) leads there. Almost all of the lane is clogged with souvenir stalls. Looking to buy anything but just murmur bought magnetic beads. Pele and Pelishor are not medieval palaces. They were built on the threshold of 20th century with the idea to resemble the medieval ages, so that all their beauty is a little fake, but that does not diminish their attractiveness.

Check for more Romania travel resources in the European Travel Directory.

Antalya, Turkey - the Turkish Riviera

Recumbent quietly and peacefully in the arms of the mountains and protected from the inevitability of time, the Turkish city of Antalya remains and will remain one of the most ancient and rich in historical monuments and sites.

Representing a combination of very successful and vibrant landscapes, Antalya is Europe travelers' preferred place for relaxation and fun, and offers huge opportunities for utilization of quality time spent on vacation.

The combination of mountains, sea and many rivers in Antalya accompanying long and stormy passage through the history of time have formed a real paradise corner.

Antalya's very favorable climate which seems to present just to caress tourists and vacationers actively, and to welcome them with open arms when they arrive on vacation. One of the things that Antalya has beside the long and clean beaches, is the wonderful weather even during the winter season, which is a positive factor for choosing to spend Christmas and New Year holidays in Antalya.

New Year trip in Antalya can be one of the most memorable experiences in life, because besides the many sights and incredible winter pictures which will enhance the effect beyond recognition by the advancing winter holidays, if the choice to spend the New Year is just Antalya with all its enticing holiday events and the possibility of practicing many extreme sports, time will pass away. Even likely, infatuated by the beauty and organized thousands of entertainment, is easy to forget the New Year celebration itself.

To be able to achieve its excursion primary goal after a truly picturesque New Year celebration, Antalya provides a myriad architectural landmarks, which can cause one to stare at for hours. The cultural centers and attractions offer an opportunity to intelligently drawn trip.

All positives can hardly be felt in a single trip to Antalya resort in Turkey. This place will need a few breaks for avid travelers. Only then could be fully enlightened the spirit of this very old city. Antalya, definitely worth a visit not only in time of winter holidays, but several times during different seasons. And each time, for any other trip will be open again and again with all its surprises.

Antalya is one of the brilliant goals for spending the excursion at any time of year and just should not be missed when choosing a holiday destination.

Check for more Antalya travel resources in the Europe's Travel Directory.

Travel to Europe

As everyone knows, Europe attracts plenty of travelers each year. Some of them are drawn by its culture and history, while others are looking mostly for entertainment and adventure. Visitors can enjoy world-class opera and theater performances, concerts and exhibitions of modern and traditional art. In addition to the rich cultural experience, the cities in Europe also offer memorable night-life with pubs, discos, rock festivals, music clubs and all other kinds of entertainment.

I am just going to start my Europe travel blog here. Its main idea is to present the most popular tourist places throughout the Old Continent. I plan to post pictures and travel diaries from my Europe trips, as well as links to websites related to tourism in Europe like hotel websites, picture galleries, travel directories, travel and destination guides.

Check for more European travel resources at Europe Travel & Tourism Directory, World Travel Directory and GetBlogs Blog Directory.