http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34740 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34740 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34738 Stay at the Vila Gale de Praia, adults only with a great spa.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34738 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34725 Location of the hotel was excellent for all tourist sites. It's two minutes to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, and Topkapi Palace. Plus it's a short walk to the Grand Bazaar and about a 15 minute walk to the Spice Market (we took a taxi instead.)
Highly recommended.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34725 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34714
Pretty good deal for Paris, and the location is also good. Just a couple of minutes from the center of the lively Montparnasse district, but the hotel is in a quiet little street. It’s a charming little boutique hotel run by a friendly bunch. Excellent value.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34714 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34695 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34695 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34659 If you turn right off the ferry follow the chessboard of tiny roads through the village. Catch the flash of a kingfisher, butterflies the size of your hand and egrets daintily perching on buffalo under the shady tropical trees. You may feel like you are walking through people's gardens, but no-one will mind and they'll probably invite you in for a tea if you stop and chat. Under the bridge on the eastern shore of the island lives an extended family of Harijans (Untouchables) from Mysore. They make their meagre living by fishing from saucer-shaped woven coracles.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34659 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34646 Other places to visit in Nicaragua are San Carlos which is a small chaotic town where most people stop over night before travelling to El Castillo down the Rio San Juan, which is also a must for any visitor to Nicaragua. A real paradise. I read A Nicaraguan Journey: Memories from the Land of Sandino before I visited Nicaragua. It gave me a good background to the country and helped me decide where to visit when I got there.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34646 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34628 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34628 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34623 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34623 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34620 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34620 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34618 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34618 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34616 llamatravel.com) but you can book independently too. The spacious but simply furnished rooms are in wooden cabins on raised walkways amidst 34 acres of beautiful butterfly-filled gardens where you hear (and sometimes see) the strange bark of howler monkeys on your way to meals. The rates are inclusive of all meals plus boat transfers and tours. Doubles $289 for two days, one night. Just one warning – it’s in the rainforest, so it does, well, rain a lot. We were lucky but the welly store in the hotel was a clue.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34616 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34615 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34615 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34614 This eco-friendly (and kindly priced) hotel is committed to the sustainable development of the area founding the nearby Amún Shéa school, a centre for integrated development, where students, parents, teachers and administrators work together to create an alternative educational system pertinent to local needs. Morazan was one of the major theatres of the Salvadoran conflict in the 70s and 80s. The nearby small town of Perquin provides an ideal place to learn of the history of that conflict, particularly through its small museum, and Perkin Lenca, the hotel, and its charitable Perkin Educational Opportunities Foundation, is an ideal place to learn of innovative ways forward from poverty and conflict.
Perkin Lenca is, for us and our children, delicious, distinctive Salvadoran food, beautiful stone and log-built cabins, hot showers, stunning scenery, comfortable climate, genuinely friendly people and an inspiring commitment to the sustainable development of the area.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34614 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34609 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34609 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34608 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34608 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34607 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34607 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34601 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34601 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34597 All supplied toiletries are natural and you're not supposed to use your own unless they're also 100% natural. Monkeys, coaties, armadillo's, frogs, toads, snakes, scarlet macaws can all be seen from your cabin and the whole place is TV free.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34597 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34596 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34596