Guide to Spain Holidays

Spain has not been a true world power since it was defeated in the famous naval battle against England in 1588; it is still an incredibly beautiful country and one that is rich in history as well as in culture. It is also not a poor or uncivilized culture, being the ninth largest country in the world in terms of economy, and has the fifth largest economy in the European Union.

So what do you like to do?

If you like sports, then a holiday in Spain is a perfect choice, whether you want to play golf or watch a football game or plenty of other fun sporting activities. Go on a hike, go scuba diving in the Mediterranean sea, take a day trip to the Canary Islands, which are a Spanish territory, or stay in Spain and enjoy warm, sunny beaches right outside your hotel.

History

If you prefer history, then Spain has a lot to offer, from ancient castles to World Heritage Cities, of which Spain has the most of any single country in the world. Go exploring historic buildings and learn all about the history of this country which came within a hair’s breadth of controlling most of Europe through taking England.

Adventure & Night Life

If adventure and night life are more your style, then Spain has plenty to offer you, as well, especially since the famous Spanish siestas make for extra energy for late nights. For families, though, Spain also takes great pains to make their country a perfect destination.

Family & Kids

You and your family will love Spain, which is full of all kinds of fascinating treasures from interesting and fun museums to zoos and even safaris. There are nature trails to be walked, natural preserves to be explored, and aquariums to visit where you can even watch the dolphins at play for hours on end.

If your family is into wild rides, there are theme parks all over Spain that offer the family setting that you want and rides enough to satisfy almost any adrenaline junky (at least young adrenaline junkies). These parks are fun and exciting, and have a lot to offer families, including the wild fun that you want in a relatively safe space.

Spain is a beautiful and incredible country with a little of something to offer just about anyone, from the warm climate and beautiful landscapes to the gorgeous palaces and historical buildings and castles. This is a country that is very easy to fall in love with.

Harvey World Travel, the Midlands based travel business, scooped a prestigious award at the recent Tourism Australia OzCars 2007 Awards Ceremony. The company was announced as the winner of the ‘Best Australia Campaign by an Aussie Specialist’ which recognised the company’s promotion of Australia Holidays to the UK travel market.

The awards evening was held at the Hurlingham Club in West London and acknowledged the initiatives implemented and dedication shown by the UK’s travel industry and, in particular, the industry’s commitment and support to Australian tourism and holidays in Australia.

John Donnelly, managing director of Harvey World Travel, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award, particularly in light of the tough competition we faced. As Australian specialists, we are committed to promoting the delights of ‘down under’ to the UK market and we have worked extremely hard this year to get positive messages out through consistent and strong marketing campaigns.

“To be honoured with this award is testament to our hard work and commitment and, most importantly, the continual support from the branches and head office teams at Harvey World Travel.”

About Harvey World Travel

The OzCARS are designed to recognise and celebrate excellence and achievement in the sales and marketing of Australia and are open to any company from the United Kingdom or Ireland.

Harvey World Travel is owned by MFS, the Australian investment and funds company which specialises in travel and leisure. Australian based companies in the MFS portfolio include the Stella, Bale and Peppers holiday resorts, the Mantra, Breakfree and Ambia villas and apartments, plus the flagship Sheraton Mirage Hotel in Port Douglas, Queensland.

MFS is the largest single brand travel franchise group in the Southern Hemisphere operating more than 500 successful retail outlets in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. As well as specialising in long haul holidays to these destinations, Harvey World Travel customers are able to benefit from flexible holiday packages throughout the world, using the company’s extensive buying networks.

For further information of holiday details call 08717 820 830

It is difficult to play golf for any length of time without hearing about the famous golf courses around the world. Golf began its gradual spread late in the 1800s. But this only happened after an incubation period of three or four hundred years in Scotland.

During that time the rules of the game were formulated, the basic equipment was developed, and many of the ancient Scottish golf courses took on mythic status. And that is why, to this day, one of the dreams of most golfers is to visit the ancient golfing links of Scotland.

After a couple years of planning our own first golfing trip to Scotland became a reality in 2001. It was the result of a house swap that Judy and I arranged with an acquaintance who lived in Linlithgow, an historic town in the middle of the southern part of Scotland. Our Scottish contact would use our Florida house for two weeks in July, and we would reciprocate by using their house in Linlithgow. This sort of arrangement is very popular with people from England, Scotland and Ireland.

The Linlithgow trade sounded perfect. It is roughly 50 miles from St. Andrews, midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. We had done a fair bit of research and had already decided we wanted to be near enough to St. Andrews to visit. But what we really wanted to do was get a less sanitized feeling for the country by playing a few of the more obscure, remote courses further north in the Highlands.

As a focus for our trip we decided to visit Royal Dornoch three or so hours north of Edinburgh, and Machrihanish over on the Mull of Kintyre about as close to Ireland as you can get on mainland Scotland.

So we had booked a two night stay in the beautiful little town of Dornoch during our first week, and another two night stay at a quaint old bed and breakfast in Campbelltown about ten miles from Macrahanish.

Both of these towns have an interesting history going back hundreds of years. But of course, our primary interest was the golf courses that lay just outside of town. These are two ancient golf courses at opposite ends of Scotland, both with a well-deserved reputation for authenticity. Their remote locations almost guarantee they will not be overrun by masses of golfers.

We spent the first couple days at Linlithgow seeing the local sites. The first night there just happened to be a jousting match on the grounds of the Linlithgow Palace — an historic ruin that was once the home of Mary Queen of Scots.

Before leaving for Dornoch on Wednesday we wanted to play at least one round in the south. Our host had recommended we go over to North Berwick just south of Muirfield on the east coast (the St. Andrews side).

So we played our first round of golf in Scotland at North Berwick. This was a fitting start to our trip, since North Berwick is considered a “primitive” links course with quirky features such as blind shots and walls you have to shoot over. It is the home of the original “Redan” par three — which at the time seemed fairly unremarkable. Since then we have learned this hole has been copied by golf course designers more than any other in the world.

My own most memorable shot was the approach at #13, “The Pit”. I hit what I thought was a beautiful iron just over the stone wall onto the green (yes, there is a wall in front of the green!) When we got there it was down in the “pit” behind the green and required a massive uphill putt, which turned into at least a four-putt before I got it down.

The next day we visited St. Andrews. Having played at North Berwick we were now accustomed to the “public” nature of these courses. People are perfectly free to walk across the fairway to and from the beach. So this gave us the opportunity to walk parts of The Old Course. We walked out a couple holes along the beach side, then came back along the famous “Road Hole” (17) and along the road to the even more famous Swilcan Bridge over the “burn” on 18.

On Tuesay we played the local course at Linlithgow as a guest of our host. This offered an interesting taste of the other kind of course in Scotland — an inland or parkland course — more like what we Canadians are used to, but a bit more rugged.

Then on Wednesday we headed north to Dornoch for what was to be perhaps the most memorable part of our trip. Dornoch is a beautiful little town on the Dornoch Firth about 30 miles north of Inverness. The town itself is historically significant as one of the focal points for “the clearances” that took place in the 1840s. This was when the Duke of Sutherland evicted his peasant farmers and replaced them with sheep. This event still forms part of the bitter undercurrent in the relationship between locals and nobles, peasants and gentry, Scottish and English. Dornoch is also the site of the last witch burning that took place in the Great Britain.

The golf course at Royal Dornoch is one of the most famous in the world. Its isolation makes it even more appealling for golf romantics like me. On Wednesday night we walked the course as darkness settled in (at around 11pm).

Then on Thursday I played my first round on the hallowed links. It was not one of my best rounds. I was a single sandwiched between two foursomes, playing an unknown course.

It was a memorable round nonetheless. Even if the shots were not particularly good, and the golfer was confused and somewhat at loose ends, the day was warm and pleasant, the course was strikingly beautiful, and I had played one of the world’s best courses.

Later that day Judy and I played the Struie Course which is the 2nd course on the Dornoch links. It was then under development and not particularly outstanding. On our second visit in 2003 the Struie Course had been much improved and was well worth playing.

The next day we had the opportunity to explore some of the local points of interest. A trip up the coast to Dunrobin Castle at Golspie was well worth it. The falconry exhibit was outstanding.

In the afternoon we played the golf course at Brora, further up the coast another 15 miles or so. It was perfect Scottish golfing weather. The gusty wind was blowing in off the Firth bringing short bursts of light rain punctuated by sunny breaks.

This was one of those rounds you never forget. Brora is one of the few courses in the world where neighbouring sheep and cattle are free to roam the links and the greens are fenced off with electrical wire.

The course features lots of interesting shots over rugged grazing terrain. If you manage to survive with a fairly decent score, that can quickly be ruined by a miscalculation at 18. It’s a longish par 3 (190) with a huge catchment area in front of the elevated green sitting right up beside the club house.

After a thoroughly enjoyable round we visited the dining room in the club house for an early dinner. Then we headed back to Linlithgow to prepare for the next leg of our journey — our trip out past Loch Lomond and down the Kintyre peninsula that juts out into the Irish Sea.

Out of all the European destinations, UK is one of the best places to have a great time and visit a lot of historical places without needing to have big expenditures. Because a lot of people from all over the world visit Europe for millions of reasons each year, relatively cheap accommodation places are available from rented rooms to eco-tourism, agro-tourism and hostels and motels. Of course three star and four star hotels are available for accommodation all over the country, but this is an option only if you are willing to pay luxury accommodation prices. If you would rather spent your holiday budget on other things than accommodation, then you can consider a Bed & breakfast place where prices can start from £10 per night, hostels, inn, barns, bunkhouses and even campus dorms, or if you are considering touring UK you can rent a campervan.

Even though a lot of people refer to England as Britain or even the UK, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes England, Scotland and Wales as well as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. All of them have numerous places to see and things to do, but as far as naming cities from UK the most known ones are London, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. These cities are the capital cities of England, Northern island, Wales and Scotland respectively. Other big cities in the UK are Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, York, Leicester and New Castle upon Tyne. No matter if you are visiting any of the big cities from UK or you are visiting smaller one, there are plenty of things to see all around the country. Since London is one of the most important European cities in terms of traveling by air, it is very easy to get to the UK and also to travel around it. There are several low cost companies that provide cheap flights in UK and Europe. Traveling around UK can be done by bus, train, or car. In the city you can also use bikes or taxis and you can take the ferry to get to one of the islands.

Each country of the United Kingdom has its own language, culture and history. Regardless of your age and if you are traveling alone, with friends or with your family, there is always something to do while in the UK. You can visit museums and galleries, go shopping, enjoy some outdoor or indoor sports like for example golf, tennis, cricket, football or rugby, or just relax in a pub. Especially created for tourists who like cheap holidays, the Great British Heritage Pass is a tourist pass that lets you have free entrance in more than 500 places around the UK. Some of the most visited places in the UK are the Stonehenge, the Buckingham palace, the Big Ben, the House of Parliament, the Roman Baths, the Tate Modern art gallery, the wax museum and many more. If you like to visit national parks you should know that there are several national parks and national scenic areas and areas of outstanding natural beauty around the UK. There are also numerous churches and cathedrals from different historic periods around the country. Some of the most important and famous ones are the Canterbury Cathedral, the York Minister, Westminster Abbey

Other important places to visit in UK are the Eden Project a botanical garden, the Giant’s Causeway a natural wonder, the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the Cambridge and Oxford universities. There are several churches, cathedrals, parks, galleries, museums, historic buildings and sites, garden and walks, exhibitions and festivals where admittance is free of charge, that you might not even need to spend any money on any of the things to do and see unless you want to see some very specific and very famous. UK is famous for the good football teams, the numerous celebrities living in the country, the Queen and the royal family, Shakespeare, the music and the Irish pubs, the good schools and the night life. No matter what your main reason for spending your holiday in the UK, you can always make sure you can have a cheap but unforgettable holiday.