Around the World

Planning to visit the Centro Colombo shopping mall in Lisbon, Portugal? There's more than meets the eye at the Colombo Centre Mall than glitzy shops and fine dining restaurants - the interiors of the mall itself!  Brace your neck to look up to the soaring domed roof, swivel it around the magnificent spread of the interior layout in general and drop it to look at the mosaic floors.  You will be impressed by the contemporary architectural style, credited to architect José Quintela da Fonseca, which at the same time retains the old world charm of the era of wonderful explorations & discoveries. You will see quaint names of streets of a bygone past amidst familiar names of contemporary branded products and services in the shops and fine dining areas.

You can have a special escapade this summer in France with unique experiences in Paris, Bordeaux and Toulose to make your vacation an extra memorable one. Details posted here are sourced from a print advertisement of the official website of tourism in France.

Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada Toledo or Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, simply known generally as the The Cathedral of Toledo, is devoted to Virgin Mary. The Gothic architectural style holds you in awe and you continue to be spell bound as you quietly make your way around the interiors of the Cathedral.  It is advisable to keep aside an hour or even more just to visit this Cathedral, the reason being that there is not just the main C hapel to admire, but over half a dozen chapels within. The magnificence within each one of them is a photographer's delight. Contact details are provided at the end of this post for any further i nformation.

Montserrat Barcelona Spain is an unusual mountain range which is home to Santa Maria de Montserrat, a Benedictine Abbey. It is a truly lovely place, a must-visit place on your itinerary. It is not just the spectaculary scenery from high above the city that will mesmerize you, but also the simple beauty of the Abbey itself. It is not too far away from the city of Barcelona - just approximately an hour's journey away. At the destination, you need to board a cable car or what is known as the rack railway from the bottom of the mountain to proceed upward to arrive at the retreat itself. Remeber to visit the Museum of Montserrat and the audiovisual room too.

Looking for a comfortable service apartment with free Wi-Fi in the center of Madrid? Gran Vía Capital is the place to stay! It feels like living in a 5-star luxury hotel room and is conveniently located with plenty of parking space too if you are having your own vehicle.  You can opt for apartments with one, two or three bedrooms and ones with a terrace too. Two - level duplex apartments of three or four bedrooms with a furnished terrace are also available.

When visiting Lisbon, Portugal, don't miss a trip to the interactive Money Museum, sometimes referred to by most tourists as the currency museum. It is one of those rare museums around the world which do not charge any entry fee! It is also genuinely interesting, with its wide range of thematic displays.  Hence even if you are not an avid numismatic, you should definitely visit it. It is fun and worth your time, believe me.

The city of Brussels is the capital of Belgium and is often on the list of tour itineraries of tour packages for groups. A halt during the city tour is the well known Mini Europe park.   This is a charming outdoor theme park which has got miniature scaled models of the most famous landmarks of European countries. These include Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, castles and town squares, ports and political buildings, canals and wharfs, etc.

There are quite a few nice memories associated with cuckoo clocks. The very first time I saw an actual bird-clock was when visiting the Salar Jung museum in Hyderabad . It wasn't a cuckoo which popped out though, but a hooting owl to declare the hours.