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Monday, February 21, 2011

Dortmund: The Westphalia's "Green Metropolis"

Dortmund City Skyline
Dortmund City is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 587,830 (in June 2005) makes it the 8th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union. 

The Ruhr river flows south of the city, and the small river Emscher flows through the municipal area. The Dortmund-Ems Canal also terminates in the Dortmund Port, which is the largest European canal port, and links Dortmund to the North Sea.

Like almost no other German city, Dortmund has seen enormous change in recent years. The former "steel city" developed into a modern and cosmopolitan metropolis, acquiring renown all across Europe as an innovative location for technological development.

But the biggest city in the Ruhr Valley also scores with a wide range of possibilities in the cultural and sporting sector, with extensive greens and a high quality of life.

OFFICIAL DETAILS:
City Head: Lord Mayor Ullrich Sierau
City Land Area: 280.4 square km.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Cartago: The City of Fogs

Cartago is a city in Costa Rica, about 25 km (15 miles) east of the capital, San Jose. It is at an elevation of about 1435 m (some 4,707 ft) above sea level, at the base of the Iraz?Volcano. Cartago is the capital of Cartago province. The city covers an area of 152,68 km? It includes the districts of city downtown: Oriental, Occidental (known as the typical downtown area), San Nicol? (the main entrance to the city, at west), El Carmen (north), Dulce Nombre, San Francisco (at south, San Francisco is known commonly as Aguacaliente), and Guadalupe (Arenilla). The city is part, with the cities of San Rafael de Oreamuno and Tejar del Guarco, of a continuous urban area that, in 2008, had a population of 156,600 inhabitants, according to the Statistics and Census Institute of Costa Rica.

Cartago Aerial View
OFFICIAL DETAILS:
City Head: Lic. Rolando Rodriguez Brenes
City Population: l156,600
City land Area: 152.68 sq. km
Website: http://www.muni-carta.go.cr
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartago,_Costa_Rica

MONIKER/NICKNAME(S):
"The City of Fogs"

Friday, February 11, 2011

Tagaytay: The Second Summer Capital of the Philippines

Tagaytay is as close to paradise as one can find. We present this web site in the spirit of fostering this exceptional city and country. For the first time both Filipino's and visitors alike, using Tagaytay.com as your guide, can enjoy the wonders that Tagaytay and the Philippines offers at very affordable prices, offering exceptional value for the money.

In our opinion the Philippines best chance of economic recovery is through international and domestic tourism. At today's prices most Filipino's can't afford to enjoy the treasures the Philippines has to offer like Tagaytay. First time visitors from abroad may be put off by prices that don't reflect value for the money.

If you can get a deluxe room in Bangkok from US$50 per night, why shouldn't they be able to do the same thing in the Philippines? Intuitive entrepreneurs decided to do something about this, and in fact go one better! They were determined to offer deluxe rooms, at a brand new inn, with spectacular views overlooking Taal volcano from Php 2,750 per night and they did it! This is arguably The BEST HOTEL DEAL in the PHILIPPINES!

The idea started more than 14 years ago when a small family of entrepreneurs first visited Tagaytay and fell in love with the serene surroundings and astonishing views all characterized by the absence of emotional agitation and free from disturbance. Add in the cool clean air and a sparsely populated city and one has practically found paradise! There are so many sights, places and things to do in Tagaytay its hard to know where to start. Click here for things to do .

The first obstacle to overcome was the outrageous land prices at the time, around US$400 and UP per square meter for a decent size lot overlooking the beautiful Taal Lake and volcano. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 solved that problem when the peso halved in value in relation to the US dollar. That made land acquisition affordable, though we still feel that land and property prices in general (in the more desirable locations throughout the Philippines) are still too high.

However as with all real estate, it's always, location, location, location. Like the great American humorist and actor Will Rogers said about land decades ago, "They ain't making anymore of it!"

After more than seven years and countess trips to Tagaytay, searching, haggling, researching and looking at more than 100 properties, this small family of entrepreneurs hit the jackpot. They located a large parcel of land overlooking Taal Lake and volcano at a fair price. Their location, admittedly, has one of the most inspirational and uplifting views I've seen in all my travels, and I've been to nearly a hundred countries during the last 42 years!



To wake up in the morning or see the sunset overlooking Taal volcano was an experience I'll never forget. You won't either if you make the time and effort to participate in such an experience.

There is a cornucopia of hotels, inns, apartelles and bed and breakfast rooms to rent in Tagaytay and throughout the Philippines, with prices ranging from a few dollars per night to an outrageous US$400 per night for the luxury resorts. Conduct a search for "Philippines hotels" at www.google.com the world famous search engine, and you'll find more offers than you can shake a stick at.

However the Royal Taal Inn stands heads and shoulders above all the rest. Why? Because the Royal Taal Inn offers the best value for the money I've come across in a very long time indeed! They offer the least expensive overlooking rooms in Tagaytay I've discovered ... PERIOD! Starting from Php 2,750 each and every room at the Royal Taal has a spectacular view overlooking the Taal Volcano.

Enjoying a cup of coffee on a crisp morning, or a cup of tea overlooking Taal volcano during a speculator sunset on your own private porch, will become one of your more memorable travel treasures.

In order for this family run business to offer overlooking rooms at knock down prices, they had to limit the number of guest rooms available. So it's strictly first come, first served on availability and from just Php 2,750 per night the rooms go very fast.

The secret in getting these knock down low rates is much like the airlines. The earlier you reserve and pay for your room, the cheaper your rate! I like that and it's saves you a lot of money.

Though there is a limited supply of rooms, they spared no expense in building and furnishing each room.

Each guest room has all the modern conveniences, i.e. telephone, TV and your own private comfort room , which is the local lingo for "rest or bath room." Each comfort room comes with a shower, toilet and sink with very impressive tiles. Each room has air cond, as the locals call it (better known as air conditioning,) but you'll rarely if ever use it. The large windows and doors, all screened, offers a breeze during the night, which at times requires a blanket to keep you warm.

The surprisingly large rooms, for the money, sleeps two adults and two children, a rare event in today's holiday industry. There's even Internet access available if required.

Though the Royal Taal doesn't have a restaurant, (another way they keep the cost down,) you can have morning breakfast ( small additional cost, ) in the special roof top dining area, and order snacks and sandwich's until late evening time. Soda's, long distance telephone calling cards, DVD player and DVD movies are also available (at a small extra cost,) along with other miscellaneous but at times, essential utilities. Internet access is available from each room so everything is well thought out and planned for both visiting Filipino's and especially overseas guests.

Probably the best perk of all is the friendly, efficient and warm hospitality this family run business offers. You feel more like you're at home or your best friends house, rather than staying at an Inn. The family goes way beyond being helpful offering to arrange transportation, reservations and suggesting "to do" recommendations during your stay. What a refreshing change from the run of the mill business establishments nowadays.

The family running the Royal Taal Inn , trusts that by offering excellent value for money, they will encourage other Tagaytay establishments to lower their prices accordingly. Who knows, maybe this idea of bringing prices into parity with other Asian nations will spread across the Philippines and help attract a greater number of visitors to this friendly and marvelously beautiful country. At least this is the idea behind this site. Therefore it may be a good idea to bookmark or save this site as one of your favorites as we will endeavor to continually update and bring you the very best deals in Tagaytay and the Philippines we can muster up.





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MORE OF THE CITY’S PIC HERE:






Friday, February 4, 2011

Jaipur: The Pink City

This famous city is the capital of Rajasthan and has earned universal renown as the " Pink City ", and pink it is, with beautiful constructed palaces, havelis and forts. Tall, rugged men with handle-bar whiskers sport bright pink turbans. Jaipur which means the city of victory was built exactly 273 years back and is 262 km by road from Delhi ( Capital of India ). A strong wall encircles the old city and even today has a suggestion of formidable strength, its function of protecting all within is obvious. 

The plains of Rajasthan of which Jaipur is the capital once thundered and echoed with clash of swords and the drums of wars.Built in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh-II, Jaipur was the first planned city of its time ( the earlier planned city in northern India having been built near Taxila sometime in the 2nd century BC ).     hawamahal1.jpg (492566 bytes)



Jaipur was planned by Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya, a Bengali architect, in a grid system with wide straight avenues, roads, streets and lanes and uniform rows of shops on either side of the main bazaars, all arranged in nine rectangular city sectors (chokris). The city itself is an attractive creation worthy of universal admiration.

There is a feast in store for tourists. Attractive monuments where one can breathe the fragrance of history. Comfortable and luxurious hotels, once the proud of kings, parks, gardens, and excursions of nearby places of interest, make Jaipur a tourist's paradise.

Modern infrastructural facilities are developing fast, and in many cases surpass those of larger cities like Delhi and Kolkata.[citation needed] The city is expanding very quickly and has become a hot spot for development in Rajasthan. Jaipur International Airport is located at a satellite location of Sanganer and offer's flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Guwahati along with sporadic services to International locations such as Dubai.

Jaipur has a well maintained road network with multi-story flyovers and traffic lights with closed circuit cameras. Police control room (PCR) vans are being equipped with GPS to monitor locations and help maintain law and order.



OFFICIAL DETAILS:
City Head:
City Population: 3,910,570 as of 2011
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MONIKER/NICKNAMES:
The Pink City

AWARDS & CITATIONS:
 1. In the 2008 Conde Nast Traveller Readers Choice Survey, Jaipur was ranked the 7th best place to visit in Asia. ^ http://www.bharatonline.com/news/details/jaipur-seventh-best-tourist-destination-41.php