For the second time the ISPO On Snow Demo offers the best opportunity to do just that. After the ISPO MUNICH closes visiting industry professionals will have a chance to test the products for the 2012/13 season first-hand on the snowy slopes of the Hintertux Glacier. It is a unique opportunity to gain a comprehensive overview of the latest products and to determine the best selection of products for one’s business.

For more information, please refer to www.ispo.com.

Constructed with best-in-class technology, athlete-driven designs and environmental leadership, the new shells accomplish their express goal: to protect you as you move through the mountains in changeable weather.

Partnering with technical fabric suppliers Gore® and Polartec® has allowed the new Patagonia Shells line to combine best-in-class technology with athlete-driven design.

www.patagonia.com

Klaus Förtsch, President of the German Caravanning Industry Association, was also extremely satisfied with the outcome of the trade fair: “We have been pleasantly surprised by the high popularity of the event amongst visitors and their propensity to buy. Traditionally, some 15% of annual sales are effected at the Caravan Salon and in the premium segment this figure is actually significantly higher. This is why this trade fair sends out an important signal.” Already in the first six months of 2011 sales in the German caravanning sector were up by 27% to Euro 3.08 billion. “We consider the results of the trade fair clear proof of the continued avid interest taken in caravanning as a holiday format. Both caravans and motor homes in particular benefit from this. With the good results obtained at the trade fair, the 2010/2011 season draws to a very promising close,” said Förtsch.

This positive summary was also unanimously confirmed by the exhibitors at the Caravan Salon Düsseldorf 2011, who – without exception – reported strong interest and increased sales. Hermann Pfaff, Board Member at Hymer AG, found that this year’s Caravan Salon motivated dealers for the autumn season due to the high demand while giving the manufacturers tailwind for the coming season.

The talks at the fair met with a unanimously positive response. Dr. Holger Siebert, General Manager at Eura Mobil GmbH, explained: “Visitors are well informed and know exactly what they want. Our impression is that a certain reticence to buy felt last year has now vanished because we have sold significantly more vehicles in all segments while registering lower financing needs.” Giovanni Marcon, Chairman of the Board at Knaus Tabbert GmbH, also confirmed less discount negotiating and higher sales figures: “Sales volume overall has risen considerably with a clear improvement in favour of motor homes, without caravans suffering.”

Achim Sach, Senior Vice President at Alois Kober GmbH, noted strong interest taken by both visitors and the media in the hybrid concepts debuted at Caravan Salon. He felt that visitors were interested in green technologies and were gathering information on what would be feasible over the next few years and at what price. Sach went on to say that they had had very good talks also with international customers from throughout Europe.

In the field of tourism increased visitor numbers also translated into a higher movement at the stands. Heidrun Müller, operator of the Campingpark Gitzenweiler Hof in Lindau, delighted at the noticeably increased demand over the previous year: “This year we had a striking number of new visitors primarily interested in planning their vacation for the next year. Some even took a last-minute decision to attend our beer festival in autumn,” she said.

The next Caravan Salon Düsseldorf will be held in Düsseldorf from 24 August (trade visitor and media day) to 2 September 2012. The “caravanning design award: innovations for new mobility” will then be presented for the sixth time.

At present, the city of Valencia has a total of 796,549 inhabitants and lies at the centre of an extensive metropolitan area populated by one and a half million people. It represents 18% of the Region of Valencia’s population and, by demographic size, is Spain’s third-largest city after Madrid (3,155,359 inhabitants) and Barcelona (1,593,075 inhabitants).
Over the 20th century, the city has more than trebled its initial population, with the periods of greatest demographic growth from the years 1930-1940 and during the decade of the sixties. In the early years of the 21st century, the city has continued to grow, boosted by an influx of immigration and a turnaround in birth-rate.

The city’s population is relatively young, with 20% of the population between 15 and 29 years old and 32% between 30 and 49 years old.

Valencia has one of the most benign climates in Europe. It is characterized by a mild, typically Mediterranean climate, with an average annual temperature above 17ºC. Summers are warm and winters are very moderate. During winter months, the temperature does not usually drop below 10º C. Rainfall is low and shows the typical Mediterranean summer minimum, with two peaks, one in autumn and another at the end of winter and beginning of spring.

It takes place in March and is intended as a tribute to St. Joseph, patron saint of the carpenters’ guild, where – it is said – the tradition arose from.

The basis of the fiesta, as is well-known, is the “Fallas” monuments. In a display of art, though also of irony and humour, they are exhibited in the streets during Fallas week, between the 15th and 19th of March. On the last day, at midnight, they are set on fire and burn in immense, spectacularly beautiful pyres.

The Fallas are not just that, though. During the fiesta days – and even weeks beforehand – the streets are alive with fireworks displays, music bands, artistic lighting, street performances, parades…

It is also a fiesta with a complex, well-tuned business and administrative structure: the Junta Central Fallera (or Fallas Central Board) is its governing body and organizes all official events. Every monument is set up by an association called a “comisión fallera” (Fallas Committee), managed by its members, the “Falleros”. During each Fallas Year (which officially begins on March 20th and ends the following March 19th), they meet periodically to decide on the fiesta’s main lines of action.

All kinds of activities take place throughout the whole year: from sporting (Valencian pelota and football championships,…) to cultural events (theatre, poetry or dancing contests…) plus displays of Valencia’s own folklore, traditions and customs. Many of these activities are organised by the Fallas Committees themselves, complementing the work of the Junta Central Fallera.

The total number of Falleros and Falleras now easily surpasses a hundred thousand people. In fact, though, the whole of Valencia takes part in the Fallas Festival, which has reached a high status in the city’s social and cultural life.

Over many centuries the basic need to “eat/nourish” has evolved towards “alimentation/gastronomy”. Today these binomials no longer exist alone. They’re complemented by culture and knowledge, lifestyles, uniqueness, leisure and experimentation.

The Taste Portugal Programme has embraced this mission. Once again to deliver a unique gastronomy to a globalised world. To invite people to sample the authentic flavours of reinvented delicacies. To educate the palate for wines that have acquired a complex simplicity.

Anthropological studies show us that people eat together in almost every culture, in the company of others. Socialising and sharing.

The Taste Portugal Programme aims to achieve national and international visibility, recognition and awareness of an excellent Gastronomic tradition, based upon genuine high-quality products and professionals who reinvent our cuisine and wines on a daily basis.
Taste Portugal encompasses a Programme of diversified Initiatives targeted at different national and international audiences. The programme is open to new public and private initiatives, across the following priority action lines:
1. Disseminate and promote gastronomy
2. Enhance resources
3. Valorise products

www.taste-portugal.com

Trekking is more than a sport activity. It is a way to get human beings and nature closer as well as to get the former to know the cultural and ethnographic elements existing in the latter. On La Palma, these elements have played an important role in its history, its idiosyncrasy as well as its culture

We are, no doubt about it, in the presence of a highly valuable resource that the Cabildo de la Palma has appreciated and developed by equipping the hiking paths and former ways of the island as well as rehabilitating and theming them. By doing so, both, locals and visitors, have got closer to Nature and always with the purpose of valuing the local heritage and of encouraging the island sustainability

Our island and its spectacular sceneries, its sky and its large network of hiking paths, is an ideal place for outdoor activities, such as those which are included in this Festival.

The main purpose of the Walking Festival 2011 is to go on with the promotion and overseas marketing of the island as “La Palma, Isla de Senderistas” (La Palma, an island for hikers) as it has been done in the last few years.

More information: http://www.walkingfestivallapalma.com

The success of the OutDoor 2011 has generated a lot of buzz in the international outdoor industry. The 18th edition of the trade show set records across the board, with 21,520 visitors (+5%) and 1012 media representatives (+10%) from around the world coming together with 890 exhibitors (+3%). “There is a vitality and character to the fair that is unique and we combine all the elements that make the outdoor sector such a vibrant and exciting place to be involved with” summed up David Udberg, president of the European Outdoor Group (EOG) at the close of the show.

Four days on the shore of Lake Constance have demonstrated the great potential of the outdoor industry. “Without exception, everyone involved has mentioned the strong performance of the OutDoor 2011. The leading European trade show really showed off its strengths this year – from covering exactly the right trends to high profile opinion leaders and increased international participation. The healthy growth that the outdoor industry has been experiencing in the past few years is reflected in the OutDoor” said Klaus Wellmann, CEO of the Messe Friedrichshafen. Mark Held, secretary general of the EOG, was similarly pleased about this year’s edition of the show. “The clouds cleared, the sun came out and everyone was in a positive mood as the outdoor industry makes the most of their gathering on Lake Constance.”

“International participation in the OutDoor is of a very high quality” explained Project Manager Stefan Reisinger on the show’s closing day. Sixty-two percent of the OutDoor’s industry visitors came from abroad, with the strongest increases in North America and Asia. All in all, 91 countries were represented at the show. Once again, the OutDoor also drew a lot of media representatives to Lake Constance: 1012 Journalists from 32 countries came to see 200 products make their world premieres at the show.

Rolf Reinschmidt, senior vice president Global Outdoor adidas, says: “The OutDoor is the ideal platform for us to present our athletic collection and to better establish ourselves in the industry. We were especially pleased about the visit of our Chairman of the Board, Herbert Hainer. He was amazed with the dynamism and the mood of the show here in Friedrichshafen”. Markus Bötsch, general manager for sales at Jack Wolfskin, is also looking forward to a positive future: “We are very pleased with the positive mood of the customers and have met some very optimistic and pro-active dealers. We consider the OutDoor a good platform to meet and exchange views with our international partners.” Ernst Schweble, managing director of Mammut Germany, agrees: “Once again, it was a very, very good show. Everyone’s mood was very positive and they are not letting the somewhat weak sales of the past few months get to them”.

A poll of industry visitors to the OutDoor underlined the show’s international character: 62 percent of the industry visitors to the show came from abroad. 95 percent of visitors rated the economic future of the outdoor industry as improving or stable. In response to the question of whether a visit to the OutDoor 2011 was worthwhile, 95 percent answered “yes” – and 92 percent have already decided that they will come again next year. The OutDoor 2012 will take place from 12 to 15 July.

Around Ourense and Lugo, and also inland and on the coast of A Coruña and Pontevedra, Roman remains will enchant you and you will want to contemplate them from up close. Spectacularly grandiose buildings, such as Ourense cathedral or those of Lugo and Tui, the San Salvador and Santa María Monasteries and, of course, the Cathedral of Santiago, with its Pórtico de la Gloria doorway, a masterpiece of universal art. There are also a great many more modest buildings of interest, most of which are to be found in the countryside, away from the major towns, with a magical atmosphere. Locations of legend, mist and ivy, where old walls stained with damp rise up in luxuriant forests that call to mind times of the meigas (witches, ever-present in the traditional culture of Galicia), monks and knights.

Galicia, last stop on the Camino de Santiago (St. James’ Way), has been a destination for pilgrims since time immemorial. It was in those times of worship of the apostle Santiago (St. James), back in the 10th and 11th centuries, when a great number of monasteries, churches, castles, bridges, stone crosses and shrines were built all over the region. This is medieval art which bears witness to an age of splendour, and which, today, is well worth discovering and preserving.

There are endless Romanesque gems awaiting you in Galicia. Why not come and explore any one of the region’s provinces, in your own time. You will get to know Galicia’s extraordinary architectural and artistic heritage, whose value is incalculable. This journey through history is just one of many possibilities awaiting you in Galicia – a beautiful, welcoming region of Spain.

However, one of the greatest tourist attractions of Madeira Island is its luxuriant and varied vegetation. A combination of tropical and Mediterranean specimens allows an exquisitely unique landscape, featuring countless shades of green.

For all these reasons, Madeira is known for its harmonious shapes and the contrasting colours of its many exotic plants, from almost all continents, are well adapted to this island as to their natural habitats.

Visit Madeira to discover a huge variety of gardens and parks, carefully tended, which fill the landscape with unimaginable hues and aromas.

Explore an enchanted forest and become part of it, discovering nature in its purest form.

Don a pair of comfortable shoes and go for a walk along the famous water canals known as “Levadas”, or follow the mountain trails that may take you up an impressive 1,862 m above sea level, surrounded by breathtaking beauty.

The most popular treks are the Rabaçal levada walk, towards the 25 Fountains; the Queimadas levada walk, until Caldeirão Verde; the walk between the Areeiro Peak and the Ruivo Peak; and the walk from Ribeiro Frio to Portela.

A special footpath has also been thought out for persons with limited mobility. This path, between the Pedras Peak and Queimadas, is equally stunning, despite its ease.

For Active Holiday lovers, Madeira Islands are the ideal setting for countless sports ( on sea,land and air), with special emphasis on hiking.

Walking through undreamt of beauty

One of the most fascinating features of Madeira is the vast network of open-air water canals that cover the island bringing water from the mountains to the plantations below. Known as levadas, these irrigation channels pass through breathtaking scenery, waterfalls and hidden parts of the island.

Covering over 1500 kilometers, the levadas of Madeira were mostly sculpted by hand, and access remote villages through tunnels and cliff hugging ledges. Walking on a levada path is an unforgettable experience, be it overlooking the sea or hiking through the vast Madeira Natural Park or Funchal Ecological Park.

Most walks are accessible to all, but there are several levels of difficulty, which are marked before each walk. Hiking in this magnificent setting is a treat for all generations, young or old, bringing them back to nature.

Find below the description regarding the 23 footpaths (PR-Small Routes), located in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, officially certified by the SRA – Regional Secretariat for the Environement and Natural Resources:  www.turismomadeira.pt

The guide, collaborated on by the Consell de Mallorca’s Department of Planning and the publisher Lleonard Muntaner, features a total of 268 pages with scenic, cultural, historical and ethnological routes of the Serra.

The publication is divided into 10 sections that cover the landscapes of the Archduke Luis Salvador, the possessions (rural estates) of the Serra, the cases de neu (snow cisterns), and writers and painters who have described the Serra and its landscape, the legends and spiritual landscape of the Serra with its various chapels and oratories, and the human heritage across the centuries and the use of hydraulic systems, dry stone walls, terraces and historical paths.

Each section offers cultural pathways, to be explored on foot or by vehicle, along with an introduction to provide a more theoretical description, and also includes essays and reports by other authors to further enrich the visit. The various sections are rounded out by maps and pictures of the places described.