Peniscola

Some years ago I took an holiday trip to a lovely place called Peniscola.

Situated in the so called "Costa del Azahar" in Spain, this lovely and peaceful spot just by the Mediterranean has some very good and interesting characteristics for a lovely family holidays.

Even though is location in the south of Spain, it is still a very calm and interesting place for people that look for a  not so tourist crowded holiday.

The city has quite a large and nice beach with a lovely promenade along it that is very inviting for a lovely walk on the nice warm evenings that south of Spain can offer. Enjoying the lovely sunset together with your loved one while sharing a nice ice cream...

The drawback on this place is that the sand in the beach is not the finest you can find, so do expect a bit of rough sand but nothing that you cannot survive and still have a lovely holiday on.

One of the main attractions of Peniscola along with the beach is his castle that can be seen in the picture bellow.

Can I go there? How do I do that?

You sure can!! European/Schengen tourists do not need a visa to came into Spain neither do US citizens among many others, please confirm it here if you are in the lucky free entrance list.

On how travel there, you get to choose, as Peniscola is situated just in the middle between Barcelona and Valencia so you can choose one of those two Airports. Also you will probably need a rental car has it lays a bit far from either of the places and to arrive there using public transports can be quite a bit of a headache.

So I will start with the airport I chose, Valencia.

It's situated at approximately 150 Km away from Peniscola and you can cover that distance in about 1h30m.

The airport in Valencia is served by several airlines, among them you will find:

• Ryanair from airports like London Standsted, Manchester, Dublin, Paris Beauvais, Frankfurt Hahn, Milan Bergamo and Rome Ciampino.
• Easy Jet from London Gatwick
• Iberia (the main spanish carrier)
• Vueling (Spanish low cost airline)
• Lufthansa
• Air France

And several others...

As for car rentals you can use one of the following situated by the airport

• Avis/Budget
• Atesa
• Europcar
• Hertz
• Goldcar

Now I will go further to the next airport, Barcelona-El Prat.

It's situated at approximately 210 Km away from Peniscola a bit further then Valencia and you can cover that distance in about 2h15m.

Barcelona-El Prat is one of the major hubs in Spain so you will find basically all the major airlines and also lowcost airlines, you can find the list here.

You will also find this car rental companies at the airport

• Avis/Budget
• Atesa
• Europcar
• Hertz
• Sixt
• Goldcar

Hope you will have fun in Peniscola!!

Zadar

Somewhere along the cost of Croatia, right by the Adriatic Sea there is a lovely town called Zadar.

I discovered it during my last trip where I stayed for a long weekend and I promised to go back with more time to explore it further.

Croatia is a country that is still recovering from the war that ended in 1995 and you can clearly see that when you arrive by plane to Zadar airport (it is both a military and a civil airport) and when you travel from there to the city you can still see houses that you clearly identify that they went through a war.

But once you get into the city then things are quite different, with a mediterranean climate and full of nice people, you will find a quite nice city, that will please people looking for just a relaxed sunny holiday, also people looking for more of an historical/architectural sightseeing trip.

There are also some resort areas like punta skala, a bit off from the city where you can find hotels with all you need to just stay in and enjoy some nice weather and relax without planning too much.

In the city there are some attractions that you can visit such as the St. Donatus Church,

The Sea Organ,

The greeting to the sun,

And many more that you can find here, http://www.tzzadar.hr/en/city-guide/attractions?strana=1

And now for the nature lovers there is a place not very far from Zadar called Plitvice, just take a look at this lovely pictures,

It is just about  50 minutes to one our from the city center.

So now for the practical things,

European/Schengen tourists do not need a visa to came into Croacia neither US citizens among many others, please confirm it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Croatia.

To reach Zadar by plane you can fly into Zadar airport (http://www.zadar-airport.hr/en), you can fly there using either Croatian airlines (member of star alliance) or Ryanair.

• Ryanair: You can fly in from several airports including London Standsted, Liverpool, Paris Beauvais, Frankfurt Hahn, Oslo Rygge, Oslo Torp, Billund, Stockholm Skavsta and other.
• Croatia arlines: You can fly in via Zagreb, since Croatia airlines is a member of star alliance you can get connection flights with companies like Lufthansa  SAS, Swiss air, TAP and others.

In the airport you can choose to rent a car using some of this companies:

• Lulic rent-a-car (www.lulic.hr)
• Fleet rent a car (www.fleet-rent.com)
• Hertz (www.hertz.com)
• Sixt (www.sixt.com)

So this is my brief presentation of Zadar in Croatia, hope this post as been helpful to you.