travel stories

Romanian travel agencies organize tours for Italian couples who want to get fast and cheap divorce. Almost 3,000 couples have used their services this year.

Honeymoon tours have become quite popular over the last decade. Why not organizing tours to get a divorce? It might not seem very romantic but the tours are becoming more and more popular.

The divorce destination no. 1 for Americans is for sure Las Vegas, while the European “divorce capital” is probably Bucharest. Nearly 3,000 couples from Italy traveled to Romania to get divorced in 2011. Romania is known for faster and cheaper administration process related to divorce – particularly for Italians.

In Italy, even when both spouses agree with the divorce they usually achieve it only after three years of separate living. The whole process is also made difficult by numerous bureaucratic formalities, reported Tur-info.pl.

In Romania on the other hand the couple signs a statement that they want to be divorced in the presence of a notary. If none of the spouses changes their mind within 30 days they are pronounced divorced. The only inconvenience is that the couple must travel to Romania and settle down temporarily as residents of the country.

A number of Bucharest travel agencies offer to arrange the formalities relating to divorce making the procedure even smoother. The usual price of such a “divorce travel package” including accommodation is twice as cheaper than the cost in Italy.

For something a little more romantic – how about a river cruise from Vienna to Bucharest?  Call the River Cruise Experts at 604-659-4176 or 1-877-659-4176

Watch Your Step

Here’s some of those cultural differences that can land ignorant travelers in the local jail. Although these items are quite humorous, it’s a good idea to be informed about local laws wherever your adventures take you.

Eraclea, Italy
Many holidaymakers head to the sandy beach at Eraclea to escape the hordes of tourists in nearby Venice. Unfortunately, those who enjoy building sandcastles can think again – it’s forbidden.

Singapore
In a bid to keep the streets of this super-efficient city clean, the authorities in Singapore decided in 1992 to ban chewing gum completely. Stick to a mint.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
A curious loophole in the law means that smoking tobacco in a public place such as a coffee shop in Amsterdam is banned, while puffing away on pure cannabis is entirely legal.

Eboli, Italy
Honeymooners might be best to avoid hiring a car in Eboli, just south of Naples. Kissing in a moving vehicle here can carry a fine of up to 500 euros.

Capri, Italy
Locals in Capri, Italy, must value their peace and quiet – a couple were arrested recently for wearing excessively noisy flip-flops,following the introduction of a ban on “noisy footwear.”

Dubai, UAE
Dubai’s luxurious resorts and stunning beaches may seem like the ideal place to spend a romantic holiday, but don’t get too affectionate – kissing in public here is illegal, and many tourists have fallen foul of this law in recent years.

South-East Asia
The durian, a fruit native to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, has a smell so incredibly strong that it is banned from many public places in South-East Asia.

Wednesday, 07. March 2012

Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa has announced the successful development of its new resort bio garden, where staff grow herbs and vegetables to enhance the dishes served in the restaurants. Read more

from Tourexpi.com

Venice have put forward a plan to reroute cruise ships away from the city center by dredging a new channel from the Lagoon of Venice directly into the busy Marittima passenger terminal.

Such a move would mean that cruise passengers no longer would sail into or out of the San Marco Basin and the scenic Giudecca Canal, within shouting distance of venerable landmarks such as the Piazza San Marco and St. Mark’s Basilica.

Venice is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and the group called on the Italian government to “act quickly to develop alternative plans for maritime traffic” around Venice.

Given the fragile structure of the medieval city, Unesco warned, the ships “cause waves that erode the foundations of buildings.”

“The problem is that the ships keep getting bigger and bigger,” said Nicky Baly, the group’s director. “The deep dredging [required] to accommodate the draft of these ships is causing irreparable damage.”

An official with the Venice Port Authority, while agreeing that cruise ships ought to be routed away from the city center, was eager to point out the differences in geography and navigational procedures that he said precluded a similar accident from happening in Venice.

Cruise companies did not respond to queries requesting their views on the proposed route change. More than 20 major cruise lines visit the city each year. In 2011, cruise ships brought 1.7 million cruise passengers into Venice.

This year, close to 200 cruises are scheduled to begin in Venice, according to departure schedules listed on Seasite.com, the online cruise database operated by Landry & Kling, a Miami-based cruise meetings and incentives firm. Hundreds more will call at the port for a day and in some cases an overnight.

From Tour Experiences

 PradoMuseuminforms the world of art about a new discovery of Da Vinci’s famous master piece Mona Lisa copy, thought to be the earliest.

The work offers art-lovers a tantalizing hint of what the model for the world’s most famous painting really looked like.

 Conservators found the portrait hidden beneath layers of black overpainting during restoration work on a picture initially thought to have been a later replica of the “Mona Lisa.”

 The restored version shows the same woman that Leonardo depicted, against a landscape similar to that shown in the background of the original, which now hangs in the Louvre inParis.

 And while the features of Leonardo’s subject have been dulled by centuries of dirt and layers of cracked varnish — which are unlikely ever to be removed — in the recently-rediscovered copy, she appears fresher faced and younger than her better-known “twin.”

 News of the find was revealed at a symposium atLondon’s National Gallery, linked to its blockbuster “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” exhibition, and reported in the Art Newspaper.

 “This sensational find will transform our understanding of the world’s most famous picture,” the Art Newspaper reported, adding that the underdrawing found on theMadridversion “suggests that the original and the copy were begun at the same time and painted next to each other, as the work evolved.”

 Miguel Falomir, curator of Italian painting at the Prado, told a press conference at the museum expert analysis suggested a strong link between Leonardo and the artist who painted the copy.

“The painting was done in the painter’s own workshop,” he was quoted by AFP as saying.

 “It is absolutely consistent with Leonardo’s work,” he said, but he added: “It is a work in which Leonardo himself did not intervene.”

 The painting is expected to be unveiled to the public at thePradoMuseumlater this month.  It will then go on display at the Louvre in March, as part of the “Leonardo’s Final Masterpiece” exhibition, which focuses on his work, “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne.”

Saudi Arabia leaders will allow women to watch football matches in new stadiums to be designed exclusively for them.

Officials in the kingdom said women will be able to watch matches at the Jeddah stadium after specially constructed private cabins and balconies are completed in 2014, local media reported. 

“Sources close the stadium said more than 15 percent of the facility will be allocated for families when the facility is fully completed in 2014,” the Arabic daily Al Sharq said, quoting unnamed sources. 

“Besides families, female journalists and photographers will also be admitted into the stadium and will be allocated exclusive places away from male journalists so they can cover local and international events,” it added.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest sites inMeccaandMedina, applies the austere WahhabischoolofSunni Islam. Liberal activists have long called for greater rights for women who cannot travel or work without the written permission of a male relative. The oil rich Gulf state also bans women from driving. 

While the ruling Al Saud family has always maintained a close relationship with the ultra conservative Wahhabi clerics, the government is pushing for reforms that give women more rights. 

King Abdullah in September announced a “cautious reform” in which he gave women the right to vote and stand for election in future local elections and to join the advisory Shura council.  

“Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others … to involve women in the Shura council as members, starting from the next term,” he said in a speech.  

Saudi clerics were reportedly upset they were not consulted about the move prior to the announcement. “I wish the king did not say that he consulted senior clerics… When I heard the speech and what was said about consultation, without a doubt I had no knowledge of it before hearing the king’s speech,” Sheikh Saleh Al Lohaidan, one of the kingdom’s most senior clerics said in October.