Thursday 13 October 2016

AUSTRIAN SKI RESORT NEWS




The famous Austrian ski resorts Lech, Zuerch, Stuben and St Anton open their on-piste link this December.

It will make the Arlberg one of the biggest ski resorts in world. There are an unbelievable 82 lifts and 305km of pistes. It also promises no  queues.



ST ANTON AM ARLBERG

ST ANTON

Ski lifts are getting bigger, longer, faster and more comfortable.

The improvement of the ski resorts adds more hotels, chalets to be open in Decembers with a wide variety of styles.


LECH AUSTRIA

 If you would like to have a good time on a reasonable low budget book private  but book early because they are quickly taken.  You will get beautiful rooms with showers, a family, friendly service including a rich  breakfast. 

British Airways now flies from Heathrow direct to Innsbruck at a low price.


Tuesday 11 October 2016

SALZBURG CHRISTMAS MARKET




Salzburg, Austria, is very well known through Wolfgang Mozart who lived and composed there. The house where he lived is in the main street and can be seen.

But
Salzburg has also another attraction; its many Christmas Markets. The main Christ mas Market is in the Cathedral Square with the romantic background setting adding to it.
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The stalls sell mullet wine, ginger bread biscuit, roast sausages over coal fired grills, all sorts of decoration and with the snow it leaves nothing out of Christmas.


The aromas out beat one another. Choirs and musicians  are on every corner and adding even more to the atmosphere.


In Austria the
Christkind appears and brings present. It is a big golden angel flying down from the sky down to earth. The Christkind will come to the market on Saturdays between 3,30 and 6,30 pm and entertain the children.

Santa Claus or St Nikolaus comes on the 6 December and brings small presents if you were good.
Snowboarders and skiers are not left out because behind
Salzburg are any amount of ski-runs for various abilities and snowboarders.

On the other side of the river
Salzach is Mirabell Palace and on the Mirabellplatz is another Christmas Market with all the festivities in the stalls for your pleasure and entertainment.

On the mountains overlooking
Salzburg is a castle Hohensalzburg Fortress displaying another Christmas Market in the big courtyard with homemade articles. It differs with medieval entertainments and brass bands.

A wonderful views across the snow covered mountains add to your joy.



Saturday 1 October 2016

GHANA





Ghana was once part of the British Empire. It was also one of the first African states to be independent in 1957.

The country has rich natural resources and during the 1960 was very prosperous. After that its economy decline due a number of political problems.

Geography

The south is tropical with plenty of rain and thick forest. Sadly, many of the trees had been cut down for timber and also for agriculture. There is now more grasslands.

In the north the rainfall is less and a hot, dry wind named Harmattan blows down from the distant Sahara Desert.


Most of Ghana's people are farmers and they grow crops to be sold like cocoa, coffee and palm oil. Cocoa is the country's main crop for export. Other exports are banana, tobacco and hardwood timber.

In the north groundnuts (peanuts), cotton and millet are grown. Farmers also rear cattle but they can be effected by the disease-carrying tsetse fly.

Fishermen bring their catch into the small Ghanaian port Elmina where the first European landed in West Africa. A fort at the harbour was built by the Portuguese in about 1490.

The Dutch invaded the country in 1637 and turned the church into a slave market.

In 1956 Ghana built a dam across the river Volta. This created the largest artificial lake in the world. Lake Volta has a size of 8000 sq km. The dam provides electricity for most of Ghana's industry.
LAKE VOLTA
A good network of roads links the capital, Accra with the main ports of Takoradi and Tema. At Tema the mined bauxite is smelted into aluminium. The country also produce gold industrial diamonds and manganese.

ACCRA GHANA'S CAPITOL

History

The name Ghana derives from the empire existed in West Africa between 7th and 12th centuries.
The Europeans arrived during the 1600s named the country Gold Coast because it was gold which tempted them to sail to Ghana.

Later on they turned to trading slave which was more profitable.

The country became a British colony in 1893 and received Independence in 1957. It was the first country in black Africa which broke away from a European Empire.

Ghana was ruled for the following nine years by the controversial Kwame Nkrumah and his supporter called him the Redeemer. He lost his seat to a military coupe in 1966. Since then Ghana's rulers change from military  to civilian.