Posted: 21 Jul 2011 02:00 AM PDT

The Tempo Latino festival takes place in Vic-Fezensac, a rural market town in southwest France. Usually a fairly tranquil town Vic-Fezensac comes to life in the month of July when the annual Tempo Latino festival is held. Known informally as the Salsa Festival, and the largest of its type in Europe, Tempo Latino showcases the very best of Afro Cuban, Latin and Salsa music accompanied by the wildest of dancers in colourful costumes.

Tempo Latino 2011 is scheduled to take place between Friday 22nd and Monday 25th July. The line up includes individual artists such as Jimmy Bosch, La Sucursal Sa, Choco Orta and Sebastian Avispa whilst bands scheduled to perform include Calambuco, Ojos de Brujo, Salsa Celtica, Especial Salsa Dura and Gropo Fantasma. Surely something for everyone!

Tickets for Tempo Latino cost 45 Euros for each night although you can pick up heavily discounted tickets for just 25 Euros when you reserve before 14th July. In addition a four day ticket is available for just 105 Euros.

Get your dancing shoes on and head over to Vic-Fezensac!

This is originally posted at http://www.eyeflare.com/article/tempo-latino-festival-vic-fezensac-france/

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The Great Glen Way in Scotland

Posted: 21 Jul 2011 02:00 AM PDT

Glen Coe in Scotland seen from the Great Glen Way

The Great Glen Way in Scotland is a national long distance walking route between Fort William and the city of Inverness. For most of the way, the route follows the the Caledonian Canal, which connects the east coast of Scotland at Inverness with the west coast at Fort William, a distance of seventy-three miles or one hundred eighteen kilometers.

During the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries this canal was an important shipping lane because it allowed traders to steer clear of privateers when the Napoleonic Wars were in progress. The Great Glen is actually a series of glens that follow the Great Glen Geological Fault bisecting the Highlands to the Grampian Mountains, one of Scotland's major mountain ranges.

The Great Glen Way was inaugurated on April 20, 2002. It can be traveled by walkers or also by bicycle, boat, canoe or kayak. The walking route is clearly marked and, because some of it passes through working forests, it is suggested that visitors check with the rangers of the Forestry Commission to get information about possible diversions along the way.

The walking route connects through a series of foot trails, forestry tracks and paths along the canal, occasionally interspersed with roadway. Since the route takes about five or six days to walk, there are a great variety of overnight accommodations in the communities along the way, with four information centers at Inverness, Fort Augustus, Fort William and Loch Ness.

The walk is varied, offering easy walking with some steep climbs and extends from forest to moorland or grasslands. Walkers will have majestic views of Loch Lochy, Loch Oich, and Loch Ness, as well as viewing other landmarks such as Neptune's Staircase, the series of canal locks near Fort William, and Urquhart Castle, once one of Scotland's largest. The Great Glen Way walk is completed at the Caledonian Canal's emergence into the Beauly Firth.

Photo by dave_apple on flickr

This is originally posted at http://www.eyeflare.com/article/great-glen-way-scotland/

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Monet’s Garden in Giverny

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 02:00 AM PDT

Say "water lilies” to an art lover and they will immediately launch into a rhapsodic lecture on Impressionist master Claude Monet's house and garden at Giverny, a charming small village about 80 kilometers west of Paris.

Monet was captivated by the tiny town on a visit there and in 1883, moved there with his wife and eight children. He remained in the village, creating and painting his gardens, until his death in 1926. Monet's house is a logical first stop on your Giverny tour. Much of the house remains as it was when the artist himself lived there, although his studio has, alas, been turned into a gift shop.

But it's the gardens that are the real attraction here. There are actually two gardens: in front of the house is a spectacular flower garden called Clos Normand, created by the artist himself. In the back is the Japanese water garden, including the oft-painted Japanese bridge, swathed in wisteria, and the pond Monet had dug to showcase his ever-growing collection of water plants.

Monet was fascinated by the play of light and shadow on water, and he painted his beloved water lilies in all kinds of weather and all times of day to capture the nuance and shadings of color. It's not often that you have the chance to walk right into an artist's masterpiece, but at Giverny, you do just that as you wander the garden paths, spellbound by the beauty that so captivated the artist.

Monet's Garden address and hours

Monet's House & Garden
Fondation Claude Monet
Rue Claude Monet
27620 Giverny
France

The house and gardens are open daily from April 1 through November 1. The entry fee is eight euros, and you'd do well to buy a ticket online in advance (there is a surcharge of 1.5 euros), to avoid the queue that forms quite early in the day.

Photo by olivcris on flickr

This is originally posted at http://www.eyeflare.com/article/monets-garden-giverny/

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