At the moment you are enjoying your well deserved Costa Blanca holiday, after the fist couple of days in your holiday villa or apartment you might wonder, where to find a nice restaurant at the Costa Blanca ?

The first part of the evening you will have to search a nice restaurant, if you are in Altea, or if you want to visit this beautiful place, you will find some very nice restaurants.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, there is a very nice restaurant at the first line of the beach in Altea called “Tutti Frutti”, you can gat a pizza, but I really would advice a very nice salad, served in an eatable bowl, the menus are good priced and very nice. From the terrace you can overlook the Mediterranean, which will provide you with a nice cool breeze.

Near the Altea church, moving down from the churches square in the direction of the Sierra Bernia Mountain you will find a busy street with some very nice restaurants. In “Estromboli” you can eat very good Italian food and they have very nice smashed tomato sauce, from grandfathers own garden.

At the other side of the street you have the very nice restaurant “Ousteau”, which is brilliantly decorated and has a fantastic ambiance. The very friendly staff will guide you to your table, which with nice warm weather can be on a cosy outside terrace, but always will be nice situated. The food is very good, you can choose from a “Hollywood” card, making you doubt between a “Al Pachino” steak or a “Marlin Monroe” salad…

If you would like to spend some more, enjoying the good gastronomic life I will advice the restaurant “el Nuevo Alcazar” in La Nucia. A really good restaurant managed by people crazy about food.

Also a very high standard you will find at the restaurant “La Fusion” and “Los Dos Lunas” in el Albir, 2 more to put on your list to try.

If you like to have something tipical Spanish, Benidorm is the place to be.. In the old town of Benidorm there is a special street with a lot of typical “tapas” bars, here you will find the Spanish people enjoying all kinds of small snacks and nice wines.

Of course you will find as well Mc Donald’s as Burger king in Benidorm, but it is not recommended to go there unless you can’t really stop yourself. The Spanish food is really great to try, like a good paella you can try it in the “Chiringuito” in the beach of Albir, where the Spanish are all at large tables eating the paella. For those who absolutely despise of seafood there is a special paella type called “a banda” and one with only vegetables. Also there is a very large grill were they prepare some giant steaks.

Anyway, it’s the golden rule to see if a restaurant is good, look if there are enough Spanish people sitting there!!!

Enjoy your meal!!

Do you think going to the Costa Blanca now is a waist of time and money because it will be cold ? Think again, we are having at least 22 degrees right now !!

Don´t just sit there and wait for the summer, come and get it ! What are you still doing there ? Las time i was visiting Yahoo answers, a very nice site where you can ask questions and people will answer it. Somebody had asked: give me 10 good reasons to go and live in Spain..

He got 340 reasons within the next 2 days !!

Some of them really nice like: give me 10 good reasons to stay in the UK then..

But all of them where really true.

Spain Sweet Spain.

A land of castles, historical places and beautiful scenery, yes this is Scotland and everyone is welcome to visit and explore this wonderful country. Edinburgh castle, Stirling Castle, Wallace Monument, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness are just a few of the many places you can visit when you come to Scotland. Edinburgh Castle has great views of the capital city of Scotland and you can also learn about the history of the castle and of Scotland during your visit. Edinburgh Castle has restaurants where you can have hot chocolate with whisky (delicious) or a meal while literally looking over Edinburgh.

Edinburgh and Stirling Castle and many other famous places are managed by Historic Scotland and if you plan to visit several of locations managed by Historic Scotland or by the National Trust for Scotland then it is advisable to buy a season ticket and this will save you a considerable amount on entrance fees to these historical locations. If you join Historic Scotland you are also eligible for discounts on all Historic Scotland shop purchases and this can easily help you get back a good portion of your season ticket cost with the discounts on books and other gifts.

So why visit Scotland? You may want a romantic wedding in one of the castles or at Gretna Green in the Scottish borders. You may want an adventure – Scotland has some of the finest outdoor adventure sports area for climbing, hill walking, canoeing, sailing, scuba diving just to mention a few of the many outdoor activities available throughout Scotland.

Of course adventures do not need to involve strenuous activities, you will find travelling around Scotland an adventure, walking around villages and historical towns, exploring second hand book shops and enjoying the vast range of places to eat, a favourite subject to mine! In Scotland you can spend a little and get a lot and if you are on budget then eat in the pubs where you can often get a meal for 2 for less than £15 or in a “fish and chips” restaurant where a fish supper will cost less than £4 and taste delicious. The Chinese and Indian restaurants also represent great value for money and the food is hot and spicy.

What else is there to do in Scotland? Golf, I nearly forgot to mention golf, one of Scotland’s favourite games. The hundreds of golf courses you will find everywhere usually allow day visitors so bring your golf clubs with you when you take your next trip to Scotland. You can play in famous golf courses such as St Andrews or in a small 9-hole golf course in the Scottish Highlands, where you are just as likely to lose your ball in the sea as lose it in a bunker. You will never forget your golfing experience in Scotland and yes Scotland is the home of golf and rightly proud the heritage and the game.

Scotland is a land of Celts and you will find many pubs providing folk music evenings throughout Scotland celebrating this in music. In Inverness in the Scottish Highlands you will discover real Scottish entertainment in the summer months when locals and tourists meet to listen and join in with the music of Scotland.

From Inverness you can explore the battle grounds of Culloden just a short distance from the town and walk among the gravestones of valiant warriors and learn about the battle in the visitor centre. If you are brave enough you can visit Loch Ness and walk along the loch side, just be careful not to be spotted alone by Nessie as she has a fondness for tourists (and not in a nice way!) yet if you can spot this shy creature and take a picture of her you will make a fortune. You should also take time to visit Urquhart castle as well as a trip on Loch Ness, an experience you will not forget on this world famous loch.

How long does it take to see Scotland? Good question yet not one with a good single answer. You can see Scotland in 2-3 days and you can take 2-3 years or more to really discover Scotland. If you want to plan your trip to Scotland then try and give it 7 to 10 days to start with and make sure you include the Scottish Highlands and at least one of the Islands such as Skye or Orkney in your trip. After travelling around the highlands finish off your trip spending the remainder of your holiday money in one of the cities – Aberdeen, Perth, Glasgow or Edinburgh in the shopping malls or in one of the many Scottish shops where you will often find a bargain – as Scots are well known for liking a discount and a bargain.

There are a good many good websites on Scotland including Undiscovered Scotland – http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk which is one of the best independent travel websites for information on Scotland. For commercial travel accommodation and hotels you will find these listed in another site called Visit our Scotland – http://www.visitourscotland.co.uk

One of the most favourite destinations in Spain is Benidorm. With hundreds of thousands of visitors in the summer months and more and more visitors during the winter months.

In the summer Benidorm is filled with life and joy, you can always find something to do at the beach and the large beaches make sure everybody has his or her own spot and if you don´t want to be packed all together you can go to the Levante beach where there is always plenty of place.

The last few years another beach, la cala de Finestrat at the south of Benidorm went to an extremely fast development with lots of new holiday apartments being build, so if you are going to rent an apartment there it could get a little crowded on the small beach. One of the nicest beaches to be is there just around the corner, at the end of the Poniente beach, called la playa de Benidorm.

The great advantage of the Benidorm beach is that in the winter you can even go to the beach while in other parts of Spain it is impossible. The temperature at the beaches of Benidorm is always a few degrees up compared with surrounding beaches, like Calpe, Altea or Villajoyossa. The first reason is because the whole valley in which Benidorm lies has a micro-climate and is already always warmer than the rest of Spain. The other reason is because the beach of Benidorm is very much south facing, and with over 300 high buildings reflecting the sun and blocking cold winds from the north it explains a lot.

The development in the Benidorm area was tremendous over the last few years. A wonderful family-park called Terra Mitica was realized behind Benidorm. It now also holds a Golf course and an outside zoo called Terra Natura. Of course there are the classic attractions like the wonderful water park Aqualandia and the water-ski track at the levante beach.

At night, you will not get bored. Although the town hall made a very big mistake illuminating the enormous Benidorm Boulevard with fluorescent white light, so everybody looks a little bit pale, and the boulevard most of the time is being flocked by elderly Spanish couples in the winter, Benidorm nightlife has many faces. With numerous pubs and bars with entertainment in English it is not very difficult to find yourself at home. If you would like to “taste” the real Spain you can go to the old town where there is a special street where the Spaniards eat there “tapas” every day at about 20:00 you can walk over the heads so many people and such a good atmosphere! If you are young, just shaved off all your hair because all your friends did you might like to go to “the English street” where there are a lot of bars and discos for equally minded. At the beach there are the more classic bars and discos like Penelope and KM.

Renting an apartment is easy, but not very cheap. Buying an apartment in Benidorm is really crazy, because prices have gone up so much…

Many of you will one day have the wish to live in Spain. Than the choices are many, do you want to live near the coast or inlands, more to the south or at the Costa Brava. Many choices are coming towards you and the whole thing is not getting any easier. Do you want to live in a place with a lot of Brits or do you prefer the silence of the Spanish inlands?

For the people who want it all there is Altea. Although the few among us who really want to live somewhere in the inlands, far away from the civilized world and internet connections we will not be able to help.

Altea is a real Spanish fisher village with a small harbor and a all-overlooking church on a small hill near the sea. It was build there together with the village because on this hill there is always a very nice and refreshing current coming from the sea, and air-conditioning was only invented a couple of years ago….

in Altea you will find a lot of nice places to visit also during the winter season, all the restaurants are open and at the boulevard there is always something going on. Unlike many other parts of Spain or even the Costa Blanca which are more quiet in the winter season.

Of course in Benidorm there is always something to do but that is more for the elderly people (and then I mean really old) In Altea, or La Nucia or L´Alfaz del Pi you can also come for the winter season. If you want to rent a place there are lots of websites ofering large collections of holiday villas and apartments; you can rent at a weekly base but also on a monthly base.

Normally you can rent an apartment or a villa in the winter for a month for the same price you rent it in the summer for a week!! If you are planning on buying a property it is the best way to do it because there is a lot of property on the market and you don’t want to make any mistakes. Buying a property is somthing else as buying a piece of bread or a cup of coffee!! You cannot do this in a week time ! I also advice everybody to not mix holidays with buying a property, it will ruin your holiday and in the end it will leave you with not enough time to look at Altea properties.

At the big hill called the “Sierra Bernia”; near Altea there are a few very nice urbanizations like Altea Hills or Sierra de Altea and Don Cayo which holds its own 9 holes golf course. From this mountain and these urbanizations the views to Altea and the further to the north village Alfaz del Pi are breathtaking.

In the old town at the village you find this typical Spanish small streets where you can find very nice cousy restaurants and bars. In the summer it is really busy at the square in front of the church which has been converted into one big terrace.

Have a great holiday and take my advice: do not go back.