Visit Finland - The Best holiday Destination in Scandinavia

The Scandinavian country of Finland is perhaps not the first place you would necessarily think of when planning on taking a holiday in Europe. When considering such vacations it seems as though many people immediately think of that European holiday destinations with high levels of summer sunshine and hotter temperatures - so it is often the case that locations such as coastal Spain, the Greek Islands or the South of France will immediately spring to mind.

While these are all great places to take a holiday in their own right, one country that is perhaps not immediately considered as a prime European holiday destination is Finland. However, you may be surprised to find that the country has a great deal to offer the visitors, travelers and backpackers alike that make this country a holiday location of choice for a surprising number of people - and indeed Finland currently proudly boasts an ever growing tourism industry.

Those travelling to Finland are often seeking a somewhat more upmarket and unique holiday experience from the package holidays so widely available in the Mediterranean region of Europe - and the country sports an extensive array of simply stunning natural scenery. The Finish capital Helsinki is also a brilliant tourist city to visit at any time of year with a host of cool visitor attractions and some great “hotellit” as the locals call them (or hotels in English) such as the Halvat Hotellit in which you can spend your nights in Helsinki.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Recipe

One of my favourite things about Italy is the food. Without fresh Italian ingredients, it is next to impossible to re-create the same rich Italian flavours but here is a simple, colourful dish that you can pull off just about anywhere.

Sun-dried tomato pesto

Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Blend the sun-dried tomatoes (including oil), garlic, salt and pepper, and basil in a food processor until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese. Add the pesto to cooked pasta and mix until the pasta is gently coated.

You can make this up to a week ahead of time and keep in refrigerated in an air-tight container until you are ready to serve it. Enjoy!

Pescara: Amongst the Best Holiday destinations in the Adriatic

The city of Pescara is undoubtedly one of the finest holiday destinations to visit if you are travelling in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Many people who are backpacking in Italy will look to reach the city by train, but there is also access via the Pescara airport if you are just looking to take a holiday here. Located on the east coast of the country, Pescara is a quaint port city that lines up against the beautiful clear waters of the Adriatic Sea. The city has a fine beach which is well worth a look if you fancy a bit of sunbathing or maybe a quick dip, and has all the usual sun beds and umbrellas for hire to tourists visiting the city.

If you fancy a drive to the nearby Majella national park to enjoy the stunning natural scenery, then you can easily get car hire Pescara airport. Similarly to many other European countries you may visit, cheap car hire Italy is widely available to book online if you are visiting Pescara. The park is also a great place to go walking, hiking or climbing as it sports some impressive mountains, the largest of which is Mount Amaro which stands at 2793 meters tall. It also has some interesting caves to explore if that’s your thing - but always be safe and go with some experienced local guides if possible.

Buxom Florence - Firenze Italy Travel

firenze italy travel

Rome opens up underground wonders of the ancient world to tourists

A 2nd century guardroom is revealed.

Visitors to Rome may discover a world of ancient treasures beneath their feet at underground sites.

They include the Ludus Magnus, the barracks beneath the Colosseum where gladiators assembled before entering the great arena to meet their fate; the well-preserved necropolis of Santa Rosa at the Vatican, with tombs from the 1st to the 5th centuries, and pagan temples.

Guided tours through the sites begin in Rome during summer. “There is a lot of unknown Rome to explore, not just the best-known sights,” said Gianni Alemanno, the Mayor of Rome.

The 30 underground marvels are rarely seen by tourists, or residents. “Hidden Rome is in front of everyone’s eyes but nobody notices it,” said Umberto Broccoli, the superintendent of cultural heritage in Rome. “A large part of Rome’s history lies underground.”

He singled out the auditorium of Maecenas, the wealthy close adviser to the Emperor Augustus, whose encouragement of poets and painters in 1st century Imperial Rome made his name a byword for patronage of the arts.

The ruins of his frescoed theatre for readings and performances, now below ground and protected by a modern roof, are tucked away in a small urban square that is all that remains of his once vast and magnificent horti, or gardens, on the Esquiline Hill.

Few visitors are aware that a 2,000-year-old underground aqueduct, the Acqua Virgo — originally built to supply the Baths of Agrippa near the Pantheon in 19BC and still used to bring water to the city — lies beneath the Renaissance-era Villa Medici, now the French Academy, and ends in the Baroque stone fantasy of the Trevi Fountain.

Tourists can also explore the frescoed 2nd century Temple of Mithras, the pagan cult, beneath the 17th Century Palazzo Barberini, which houses one of Rome’s foremost art collections.

To plan your vacation to Rome click for Rome holidays. Italian Tourism has the best pre-cruise and Italy post-cruise tours. Italian tourism also specializes in Italy cruise tours from Rome. For a Italy cruise from Rome click Rome cruise. If you'll be on a Rome cruise 2011 be sure to visit the Roman forum. Click for January Rome cruises 2011.

Rome Italy Travel Maps for IPhone

Rome Walking Tour Maps for IPhone

WebVisionItaly's Motorino Man released Rome mobile maps for the IPhone.

Produced by WebVisionItaly's in-house talent, Motorino Man's Rome Mobile Maps: Rome includes maps of Rome to Motorino Man's personal favorite Rome restaurants, Rome destinations, and Rome hotels in Rome, Italy, the first of Motorino Man's Italy travel maps accessible by IPhone.

Motorino Man's Mobile Maps: Italy series includes Italy IPhone maps for traveling to Italy's cities like Naples, Florence, Milan, Venice, and Italy's regions like Abruzzo, Calabria, Puglia, Umbria, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Campania, Veneto, and Sicily.

Trying Motorino Man's IPhone Rome walking maps is easy as 1-2-3:

1) Click URL here for Motorino Man's Rome Walking Maps

2) When Motorino Man's Rome Walking Maps appears copy URL in adddress bar and send by email to your IPhone Safari WebBrowser

3) In IPhone email click link and then bookmark address to save Motorino Man's Rome Walking Maps URL in Iphone Safari web browser.

That's it - now you have WebVisionItaly's own Motorino Man's Rome Walking Map IPhone URL in your IPhone Safari web browser.

With Motorino Man's Rome Walking Maps for IPhone bookmarked in your IPhone Safari web browser you have a Rome tour guide in your IPhone, with automatic updates coming all the time to boot!

WebVisionItaly IPhone Rome Walking Maps are full of Motorino Man's favorite things to do in Rome, with maps to delicious Roman trattoria, Motorino Man's video as your personal Rome tour guide to see Bernini's Baroque Rome and the Obelisks of Rome, or go shopping like a pro with Motorino Man's maps to Rome's fashion boutiques to shop in Rome for the latest fashions from Rome's runways. Motorino Man is your Rome tour guide on your IPhone.


To plan your vacation to Rome click for Rome holidays. Italian Tourism has the best Italy pre-cruise tour and Italy post-cruise tour Italy vacation packages. Italian tourism also specializes in Italy cruise tours from Rome. For a Italy cruise from Rome click Rome cruise.



















Stay up to date with Motorino Man's Rome travel with Twitter updates from Twitter.com/ItalyTravel

Giro d'Italia 2010 Wrap Up: Ivan Basso 2nd Victory in Giro d'Italia

After 21 stages around Italy's regions Ivan Basso won his second Giro d'Italia.

The Giro d'Italia finished Sunday with a loop around Verona. Although the Italian Ivan Basso did not win the Verona stage 21, he is the overall Giro d'Italia 2010 winner, making an Italian the Giro d' Italia champion.

It's been four years since Basso first found glory winning the Giro d'Italia. In between there was a fall from grace, a laborious resurrection, and finally redemption, when Basso once again cinched victory Sunday in his beloved "Giro."



Last year Basso returned for the Centennial Giro d'Italia famed Italian race, where he finished fifth place. While the result failed to create much of a stir in the media, Basso was hopeful.

He improved slightly with a fourth-place in the Tour of Spain at the end of 2009, but it was in this year's Giro that Basso once again became a winner. Like other pre-race favorites Cadel Evans and Alexandre Vinokourov, Basso struggled to control this uncontrollable three-week race that started in Holland.

The first week on the 2010 Giro d'Italia was filled with horrible spring weather in Italy that brought suffering crashes to all the cyclists. Basso and the Liquigas Team returned to Italyafter the Holland portion and dominated the team time trial. The 30- year old Basso, along with up-and-coming teammate Vincenzo Nibali, folded on stage seven from Carrara to Montalcino in rain filled deluge that transformed the stage's Tuscan white dirt roads of the "Strade Bianche" into a muddy mess.

The two minutes he lost to Montalcino that day were followed by a 12-plus minutes he and the other 2010 Giro d'Italia favorites lost when nearly 50 riders broke away on stage 11 to the earthquake town of L'Aquila on another rain-drenched stage. Suddenly the most prominent threat in the race wasn't from Evans or Vinokourov, but Spaniard David Arroyo, who was now sitting comfortably in the lead.

However, Giro d'Italia fans know that it is the mountain stages in the final weeks that determine who will be the Giro d'Italia winner. Basso exploited the mountain stages in the final week. While other favorites were exhausted, Basso rebounded, proving that he is still one of the world's top climbers when he's at his best. And with each climb he chipped away at Arroyo's lead.

The most impressive moment came when he soloed to victory on the Monte Zoncolan, one of the hardest climbs in all of professional bike racing, at the finish of stage 15. But the most decisive moment came when he launched an attack with Stefano Garzelli and his teammate Nibali on stage 19 to Aprica.

Surging on the Mortirolo Pass, in Lombardy, a climb Lance Armstrong called the hardest in all cycling, the trio rolled away from the competition. In contrast to his famed climbing skills, Basso is also noted as a wretched descender. Yet chaperoned by Nibali, one of the best, Basso held his advantage down the mountain, and the trio only increased their lead on the final climb to Aprica. At the finish, the pink leader's jersey was his. Days later, so was his second victory in the famed Giro d'Italia.

After taking over the pink jersey on Friday Basso stated regarding his past doping problems, "What good does it do to stir that up again... That's an old story from 2006. What interests me is what I have been able to do since I put a number back on my jersey. Being in the middle of the storm makes you suffer, but also grow. The last four years are behind me. I prefer to think about the present... The Tour de France, I want it too much," Basso said. "That's where my career was shattered and that's where it will really start again. I want to give the Tour what it gave to me-a lot of joy and emotion."

Nevertheless, after his final victory in Verona on Sunday, Basso admitted, "credibility is earned one day at a time."

Final overall standings at the 2010 Giro d'Italia:

1. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 87hr 44min 01sec, 2. David Arroyo (ESP/GCE) at 1:51, 3. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 2:37, 4. Michele Scarponi (ITA/AND) 2:50, 5. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 3:27, 6. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ/AST) 7:06, 7. Richie Porte (AUS/SAX) 7:22, 8. Carlos Sastre (ESP/CTT) 9:39, 9. Marco Pinotti (ITA/THR) 14:20, 10. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO/LIQ) 14:51, 11. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 17:10, 12. Bauke Mollema (NED/RAB) 19:41, 13. John Gadret (FRA/ALM) 23:03, 14. Vladimir Karpets (RUS/KAT) 25:21, 15. Mauricio Ardila (COL/RAB) 32:29, 16. Linus Gerdemann (GER/MRM) 34:49, 17. Dario Cioni (ITA/SKY) 36:44, 18. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/RAB) 37:27, 19. Alexander Efimkin (RUS/ALM) 39:43, 20. Hubert Dupont (FRA/ALM) 45:17, 21. Francis de Greef (BEL/OLO) 50:08, 22. Iban Mayoz (ESP/FOT) 1hr 07min 37sec, 23. Thomas Voeckler (FRA/BTL) 1h10:16, 24. Pieter Weening (NED/RAB) 1h10:55, 25. Vladimir Miholjevic (CRO/ASA) 1h11:10
Selected: 40. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 1h47:58