Tourism and Beyond

Finca Game

Finca is a new game published by Hans im Glück. This is an odd little game of fruit growing on
the island of Mallorca (though the English translation claimed it was Majorca).
The game has a kind of roundel: players move their farmer pieces around the
windmill sails in one corner of the board. The sail they land on lets them pick up
a specific fruit, the number depending on the number of pieces on the space.
Crossing the median line of the sails gets the player a donkey cart as well.
Using a cart allows a player to deliver some fruit (you can’t get that many in a
donkey cart) to the districts of the island. Each district is looking for a certain
combination of fruit, as shown by the top tile in the district. Delivering the right
fruit gets the player the tile and a bonus tile if it’s the last in the district. Players
also have a set of special actions, allowing them to bend the rules in specific
ways, but these are worth victory points if not used. With the money that you earn you have to build “Posessions”, the typicall ancient vuildings of the Island.

The game designed by Ralf zur Linde has reached some international impact, and even the US newspaper “The Daily Herald” has selected it as one of the best proposals for this Christmas because its “mixture between simplcity, beauty and unpredicatability.”

The “Spiel des Jahres”, a kind of “Oscar” awards since 1978, nominated the game as finalist for 2009, which could raise the sales from 3.000 to 10.000 units.

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Another of Bernard Madoff’s trophy assets has been seized, this time in the south of France.

French authorities on the Cote d’Azur have chained up his yacht “Bull” at a marina in the exclusive Mediterranean enclave of Cap d’Antibes, between Cannes and Nice.

Bailiffs threw a heavy chain around the boat’s propeller on Friday after a court granted the reqest by French investment firm Meeschaert, one of the many former investors in one of Madoff’s funds that is now suing to get some of its clients’ money back.

The yacht is valued at $7 million.

In a statement Sunday, Meeschaert chairman Cedric Meeschaert said the firm “decided to act fast, so that the boat wouldn’t leave French waters.”

A warning posted by the bailiffs on the boat reads: “Important: Do not turn on the motors, considering that the propellers are chained.”

The chained yacht of Bernard Madoff

It cautions that “major judicial problems” will result if anyone attempts to remove the boat.

Last week a Palm Beach mansion owned by Madoff and two of his yachts were seized in the United States.

Madoff, 70, is in jail in New York awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to swindling billions from investors in what could be the biggest scam in Wall Street history. He faces up to 150 years behind bars.

Prosecutors in the United States are seizing as much as they can of Madoff’s personal fortune, and have begun demanding millions of dollars in payments from his relatives. Roughly 6,700 people have filed claims for a share of whatever is recovered.

The bull will no longer navigate with Madoff

Thousands more — some who lost in excess of $1 million — are expected to come forward.

Via: NPR

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Meet the Twitchhiker. His quest – to see how far he can travel in 30 days relying solely on the hospitality and advice of the Twitter community, and raising money for charity as he goes.

Since lunchtime on Monday, I’ve either been delirious with excitement or in desperate need of the toilet.

I’ve agreed to put my life in the hands of nearly 2,000 complete strangers in the belief that their support, goodwill and generosity will propel me across the globe. Equally, I could spend two days contracting pneumonia on a park bench in Byker.

Twichhicker

This is the life that awaits me when I adopt my alter-ego of theTwitchhiker on 1 March. As you may have guessed by the less-than-creative name, the challenge owes its origins to Twitter, the social networking service seeping into the mainstream consciousness.

Twitchhiker was born among the aisles of Tesco, where the queues of dawdling customers had me yearning for a place far away. Having vented my frustration by tweeting on my mobile, I recalled a fleeting thought I’d had several months earlier: would the Twitter community support me if I tried to flee the North East and travel the world?

Rest of the article in THE GUARDIAN

Travel, majorca hospitality, twichhicker

Mallorca Golf resorts

The german magazine ‘Golf Journal’ awarded Mallorca Island as best destination for tourism golf during the “Travel Awards 2009”. The award was given to Álvaro Middelmann, president of ‘Fomento del Turismo de Mallorca’ and also to the owner of Aucanada Golf, designed as best course in Mallorca.

The sport that is increasingly taking root in the islands is golf. Majorca is quite a paradise for golf lovers: the bid to attract winter tourists anxious to play the “green sport” has led to a proliferation of golf clubs; at present there is a total of twenty two top flight clubs.

Aucanada Golf Resort

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Entrance of the Forn de Sant Joan

Last week I went to the restaurant “Forn de Sant Joan” with my wife. We had a lovely dinner chatting with his owner Carlos and his sommelier.

Is a family restaurant located in “La Lonja”, Palma’s old quarter. An emblematic place where you will be able to enjoy authentic Mediterranean cooking in a unique spot, situated in a building dated from 1890. It was originally a bakery where, decades earlier, neighbours bought their daily bread.

The food is exceptional, mixing the typical “tapas” with their own receipts, fresh fish that is bought at 200 meters direcly from the “lonja” (place where fishermen download after their work) or meat like beef, duck, kangaroo…

After the dinner we drank a couple of gins in the bar of the restaurant, but If you ever visit La Lonja I recommend you to make a reservation in “Jazz Café”, a live Jazz bar located at 15 meters from “Forn de Sant Joan”.

You can call for advance reservations at +34 971 728 422, which is highly recommended. If you show up between 9 and 11 without a reservation you can expect to wait at least 15 to 20 minutes for a table. If you don’t have a reservation and there is a wait, you can always put your name down and spend a good 20 to 30 minutes at few bars around.

Middle-high price range: starter, main dish, dessert, wine (25 €) and water was 60€ per pax.

Reservations
Telephone: (+34) 971 72 84 22
Mobile: (+34) 607 27 53 12

Mail:
forn@forndesantjoan.net

Address
San Juan, 4
07012
Palma Mallorca
Spain

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Holiday home in Majorca

The holiday villa for rent in Mallorca

Majorca is set to be popular with holidaymakers in 2009 and it has also been revealed that the island is a favourite of some of the most famous faces in Hollywood.

Among them are film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Formula One racer Michael Schumacher, supermodel Claudia Schiffer and singer Annie Lennox – who have all had homes on the island.

And no wonder when there is such a selection of places of historical interest, outstanding natural beauty, art galleries, museums, theatres, clubs, shops and restaurants to visit.

In reflection of this, a list compiled by Skyscanner.net of the 50 most searched destinations by Britons planning to travel this year placed Palma in Majorca as seventh.

Co-founder of the search engine Barry Smith said: “This year, it’s all about making your money go as far as possible, which is why Spain remains an extremely popular destination for British travellers. It’s close, warm and still very good value. ”

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Bueno, mi primer post bilingüe. A través de MENEAME he visto este post sobre lugares espectaculares del mundo. Por supuesto, como primer lugar, añado mi propia casa

This is my first bilingual post. I have found through MENEAME a post with 10 amazing places of the world. Of course, first of all, my villa in Majorca

1.- HONOR VELL

Casa de vacaciones en la Sierra de Tramuntana de Mallorca.

2.- Ola del desierto en Arizona/Arizona’s desert wave

Arizona guarda muchos secretos, pero quizás entre los más espectaculares, está la llamada “ola del desierto”, una formación rocosa modelada magistralmente por el viento, de tan difícil acceso que incluso quienes viajan a fotografiarla, a veces regresan frustrados por no poder encontrarla.

One of the best kept secrets in Arizona. The “Desert’s Wave” is like a rocky dune modelled by the wind. It is so hard to reach that you have to walk for 3 miles through the desert and climb winding pathes up to 300 feet.

3.- Lago de fuego/Lake of fire

Situado en la inhóspita región de la depresión de Afar, en el noreste de Etiopía, una inusual fuente de luz y calor emerge desde las entrañas de la Tierra: el lago de lava del volcán Erta Ale.

Situated in Afar’s region, NW of Ethiopia, an unusual light and heat font comes up from the center of the Earth: the lava lake of the Erta Ale volcano

4.- Bosque de Piedra, China/Forest of Stone, China

En el condado de Shilin, al sudoeste de China, las rocas parecen brotar de la tierra creando la ilusión de un bosque de piedra.

In Shilin’s County, at SW of China, rocks appear to grow from the ground, like quiet trees.

Para leer más/read more: 101 LUGARES

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THIS year, the Balearic Ministry for Tourism’s inspectors have stepped up their activities and a total 581 establishments, including restaurants, holiday flats and homes, have fines pending after having been caught operating “illegally” or without all the necessary permits.

Last year, 309 fines were handed out but during the first ten months of this year, that number has risen by 88 percent.
The Minister for Tourism, Miguel Nadal, yesterday explained that one of the biggest problems continues to be the unauthorized renting of holiday flats and homes.

At the moment, the owners of 133 apartments and 120 homes in the Balearics are facing fines, as are a total 38 restaurateurs for also being caught operating without the necessary licenses.

Just a reminder: Our villa HAS all the permits, and we are associated to the Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca

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