A Gypsy Caravan Holiday

A Gypsy Caravan Holiday is an adventure!
It’s an escape from the busy every-day life: imagine living in a Gypsy caravan for a few days, handling a horse and driving through an unspoiled, idyllic countryside.
You can spend a holiday like this for example in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Hungary with different horse breeds and a vardos in variations.

How can I book, how does it work?

There are hire-companies and travel agencies that offer you a trip with a fully fitted and very practical Gypsy caravan for the holiday together with usually one horse, sometimes two.

Bow top wagons, made out of wood and stretched canvas are used preferably. These vehicles are about 5m long (without horse) and approx. 2m wide. They can weigh up to 750kg. In most places Irish Cobs or Gypsy draft horses are used, as they are very well tempered, calm and very good with children. In a lot of cases a collar harness is used.

What, if I haven’t got any experience with horses?

Everyone gets an initial thorough introduction into functionality of the vardo and handling and caring for the horse. It will be explained to you how to harness up and put the horse onto the caravan, how to feed and water it, how to groom and how to look after hooves and hoof shoes.

What do I need to bring with me?

Space is limited in a vardo, therefore you need to bring practical clothing and only gear you really need and dont forget the wet wear, as in some areas weather can be quiet unpredictable even during the summer: spells of rain can occur at any time. Most hire companies give you bedding, but ask you to bring your own towels. A good idea is also to bring your own sleeping bag. Take also a book or two and some games for the children. A mobile phone for emergencies is a good idea. Also, Bank facilities and ATM’s are usually not passed during the trip (the routes are quite well selected and you will travel on calm, more remote roads.)

You will drive along a fix route and check in at selected over night stops, where you will find grazing for the horse, electricity, shower and toilet facilities.

When is the best time to travel? How much does it cost approximately?

Gypsy caravan holiday operations are open from April to October, with a main season in the summer months July – August.

Prices in 2007 were around 500 (600 in high season) per week and caravan and they will usually ask for approx.10 – 15 % deposit. There will be surcharges for the compulsory over night stops, which might be between 15-20 per caravan. You can book short trips over 2 or 3 days or longer ones over 4 or 6 days. If you enjoy it very much, trips can be prolonged in most cases.

A Gypsy caravan holiday is certainly an adventurous vacation and you will experience life from a totally different point of view, in a slower pace. You might even want to take a longer break and organize your tour through different countries with your own vardo and horse/s.

Rhodes Holidays Enjoying a visit to the Castles of Rhodes

Rhodes is blessed with such places and sites that are having attractive and striking beauty and attract lot of tourists every year and make them have fun during their Rhodes Holidays. It provides visitors with such beautiful sites and unique places that their Rhodes Holidays ideas get fully packed with fun and thrilling experiences.

Some of the castles whose view will make your stay to the Rhodes unforgettable are as under:

Castle of Lindos:

Lindos castle is the one that was built initially for the governor who stayed here for a particular period of time. It is a three story building with a palace like shape. Crusades of that time helped in the building of this castle. It is all around covered by the Lindos Acropolis walls and stands on a huge and vertical sea rock of Lindos village. It was surrounded by the equipped walls of the Acropolis of Lindos. But unfortunately, hardly two among those three buildings are surviving today. This place is a must visit for history seekers to make best Rhodes holidays.

The Castle of Kastro Kritinias or Kastello Castle

The Castle of Kastro Kritinias is a unique but ruined castle of its sort located beside a village that comes after walking on a dirt road of the hill. It comes under the vicinity of Attaviros. Commonly known as Kastello by the locals, it is a 16th century Venetian castle available on the top of a hill that oversees the sea in the direction of Chalki. This castle was established by the Knights of the Order of St. John. Its site was chosen by the Crusaders due to its advantageous position on the top. It was chosen due to its 360 degree angle. Also, it offered quite easy monitoring of the enemies and pirates.

Feraklos Castle

Feraklos Castle is a 150 meters high medieval castle situated in Archangelos in the east of Rhodes, opposite the coastal line of Asia Minor. Today, you can see just its 2 meters thick walls with some of the 12th century turrets that survived. If you go inside the castle, you can enjoy an old water reservoir along with few other ruined infrastructures. One must climb up the steep to the top as its views from the top are dazzling. The castle provided knights of the time with an easy access to the known sea routes towards the Near Eastern and northern African regions.

Asklipio Castle

Askilipio castle, a small castle of medieval times is having a striking beauty apart from the fact that it is ruined to some extent. If viewed from the top you will see an old village covered all around with beautiful valley. This valley is having beautiful white colored small houses and narrow streets. Askilipio castle is in the southern part of the island and is much beautiful as compared to other castles in Rhodes Island.

Byzantine Castle of Ialyssos

Having few of its remains in Ialyssos (also known as Ialissos and Ialysos), is located the Byzantine castle Of Ialyssos of 11th century. The knights of St, John undertook the monopolistic control of this castle. It is one of the commendable places in Rhodes. Whenever you plan your Rhodes holidays you must visit this place at least once.

Make a holiday home movie

At family get-togethers, there is always at least one person who goes around with a camera taking pictures. They bravely chase the kids around and make them stand still just so they can snap a few nice photos. They line up all the adults and make everyone say “cheese.”

These pictures eventually end up on your wall, or on your refrigerator, and serve as an instant reminder of the joyful memories you and your family share every year especially during the holidays.

You can certainly take this photo-taking tradition a step further and create an amazing holiday slideshow from all the pictures you have. It is just like a movie about your family made up of different photos, video effects, and laid over with music.

Sound interesting? You can easily make a holiday home movie by using muvee Reveal automated video editing software, which will let you create holiday video in a matter of minutes.

For example, if you have a few good photos on your camera or on your computer, you can import them into muvee Reveal, add some music, and make a wonderful holiday slideshow. There are a few pre-set transition styles that will help you get the right “feel” for your movie. A few of my favorite styles are “Scrapbook,” “Reflections,” and “Kinetic” they really make your pictures come to life!

In addition to using photos, you can take short videos with your camera and include them in your video slideshow. If you get your holiday videos done in time before the next big family gathering, you can proudly show them off during the festivities.

Even if you don’t have any recent photos, you can scan older images onto your computer, and start making memorable movies from those! One of the best things about muvee Reveal is that it produces your home video in a high-definition (HD) format that is superior to many other video-editing programs available today. There is no better way to capture your family memories this holiday season than by creating a beautiful HD video that you can keep for years, and share with everyone you love.

With muvee Reveal, you will get many holiday video ideas just by playing with all the different styles, and adding your own personalized caption to each slide. Get started today with a and see how much fun it is!

What to do on Holiday in the Canaries

The Canary Islands are visited by thousands of tourists each year. With the year round sun and mild temperatures the Canaries are the perfect holiday spot for both a Summer and Winter holiday destination.

Parque Natural de Corralejo

A protected Parque Natural de Corralejo is made up of beach dunes and stretch along the East Coast for around 10km. It is a famous spot amongst wind surfers and kite boarders.

As it can be know to be a windy spot the locals have added a fortresses of loose stones to help and protect sunbathers from the wind. It is free to enter and you can hire sun beds and umbrellas from outside the hotels.

Whale and Dolphin Watching

Sat on the end of the Playa de Los Cristianos beach are boats that offer two, three and five hour cruises for those that would like to experience whale and dolphin watching.

A favorite amongst many British here the cruises offer food, drink and let you have a quick dip in the ocean whilst out at sea.

Cable Car of El Teide

The famous Volcano on the Canaries biggest Island Tenerife. The cable car ride up El Teide is the easiest and most popular way to get to see the Volcano.

It takes only 8 minutes to get up there and the views are stunning. From the top you will see the islands of La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro sticking up from the Atlantic.

Camel Safari Park La Baranda

Now if you want to get into the swing of things and are looking for something a little different this is for you. Camel Safari Park has over 70 camels for that Oriental ride of a life time.

The site is surrounded in palm trees, avocado and citrus trees that give it that tropical feel. After working up an appetite you can enjoy a meal in the onsite restaurant.

Torre del Conde

Considered to be the Canary Islands most important military architecture. Torre del Conde in San Sebastin de la Gomera is a tower which sticks out in the middle of the valley.

Built in 1447, it was the first building to be built on any of the Islands. It is about the only one to have been perfectly preserved in its original state.

Pyramids de Gimar

The Pyramids de Gimar are in the town of Gmar on the southeast coast of Tenerife. There are five structures in the form of stepped pyramids.

You can also find the museum “Casa Chacona” with replicas of sculptures, models, ceramics, photographs and an auditorium with interesting projections.

Loro Parque

Loro Parque know in English as “Parrot Park” is a zoo located on the outskirts of Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife. The park houses over 300 land, water and air species and claims to be one of the largest in Europe.

A great family day out, Loro Parque has the largest Shark Tunnel in Europe and has a Thailand village for a Oriental feel.

Country villas, cortijos and sea view apartments make perfect Canaries holiday rentals for you to stay in whilst you enjoy the many attractions that can be found throughout the Islands.