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/18809
This website gives an honest opinion that you won't find in any of the tourist brochures and many of the tourist websites for that matter.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18809 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18623
The whole trip is all about the raw experience of island living, adventure of the wilder kind and balanced with good soul food and massages on board. I am pretty amazed with their project of helping out communities to have a part in their business with employments, accommodations, food and services for the trip.

They are a small quiet company who wants to take the right people to this remote area, having been with them three expeditions already, I can't help but spread this small secret to others- it can only attract the right people, the more they grow the more of their goodwill and campaign spreads and thus helps preserving this development hotspot.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18623 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18284
The capital of the island is Pothia, worth seeing are the villages of Vathy, Masouri and the small island of Telendos. You can get there by ferry from Piraeus or by plane via Kos or Rhodes.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18284 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18245
Take the vaporetto or ferry from the Fondamente Nouve stop on Venice’s northern shore and travel 10km north-west across the lagoon to the tiny, windswept island of Torcello.

Deep channels run between the mud-banks and are marked by bricole, wooden poles lashed together and emerging from the water. The channels are busy with all sorts of craft - rushing water taxis, vaporetto ploughing along full of city workers, huge dredgers keeping channels clear and fishermen looking for shrimp.

The landscape opens out as you enter the lagoon. It’s often misty, often mysterious. The sky and water merge. Brine laden winds caress you. All at once the quiet of the lagoon becomes unearthly. A feeling of deep relaxation is within you, which can be strangely energising.

This silent island was the first in the lagoon to be settled by Veneti after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and Germanic invasion. It was virtually impregnable and became an attractive refuge for merchants and tradesmen. The population once exceeded 20,000 but by the 12th century the lagoon had silted up and Torcello became inaccessible and malarial. The inhabitants left, and literally took their fine residences with them, leaving a littering of architectural debris.

Just a handful of residents remain in this tranquil backwater. The two churches of Torcello stand in magnificent isolation around the overgrown piazza - the church of Santa Fosca alongside the oldest building in the lagoon, the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta founded in the 7th century. Its exterior is devoid of splendour, yet within are Byzantine treasures - the 13th century Madonna in the apse and the west wall decorated with a huge 12th century mosaic depicting the Last Judgement. The massive stone shutters of the windows turning on huge rings of stone cause the whole building to resemble a retreat from the enemy rather than a house of God.

The roughly crafted campanile is to be climbed in the early evening, up strangely sloping ramps. The throat catching beauty and loneliness of the lagoon becomes apparent. John Ruskin called it, “a waste of wild sea moor of a lurid ashen grey”. The mudflats and marshes are choked. The silted-up waterways are now homes to herons and egrets. Trees, reeds and broom grow over what was once a settlement. With imagination, this place is timeless. Just rest and sigh. Enjoy this place with an open mind and a willingness to get lost.

As you speed back to Venice for your evening meal, take a moment, turn, and catch that ‘Turneresque’ light. Watch the buildings of the island melt into the lagoon.

Torcello is the perfect antidote to glamorous Venice. There’s time for quiet contemplation, which too often nowadays can elude you in Serenissima.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18245 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18186
The walk is ignored by 90% of tourists and is thus devoid of people most of the time - leaving the sites empty and silent. Perfect for getting to know the soul of the island. Take at least two big bottles of water.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18186 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18017 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18017 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17949
There's a video and podcast summing it up that some friends made uploaded on this website:]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17949 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17491 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17491 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17320
We had hired a little boat with some friends, talked my brother into being captain, and were sailing around the BVI in the Caribbean for an idyllic holiday. We had already discovered the potent Painkiller cocktail, an innocent tasting concoction of white rum and tropical fruit juices, served in half pint mugs. One before dinner the night before had left us giggly and strangely uninterested in the food put before us. The test was now whether we could swim ashore, have a Painkiller and return without drowning.

The bar lived up to all its hype; swaying palm trees, golden sands and hammocks to lie in while sipping and chatting. We eventually managed to doggypaddle back to the mooring and then lay out on deck gazing at the stars. We didn’t bother with dinner, strangely no-one was hungry – again!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17320 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17031
There are a number of rental places on the main drag on the edge of town on the mainland where you can rent a four-wheel drive car complete with full camping kit. You will usually be shown a short video about off-road driving - pay attention, as the island is crossed by narrow tracks composed of very soft sand which take some getting used to.

A short ferry ride later and you are there. Cross the island to the east side, where you'll find 70-mile Beach. As the name suggests, this is a long beach; at low tide, it becomes a 100-metre wide road along which you can drive the length of the island, stopping off at various points to explore the rain forest or lakes.

In the evening, you can pull off the beach through a break in the dunes to camp under the stars, miles from anyone else and as close to nature as you can get (but still with the security blanket of a four-wheel drive, tent, cooker and whatever provisions you picked up from the supermarket in Hervey Bay).

We spent several weeks in Australia a couple of years ago and, although we are relatively seasoned travellers, Fraser Island is one of our favourite memories and places in the world.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17031 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16868
I recommend it for 1) Its walking trails. You could walk for days and never take the same trail twice, and 2) Its beauty. The blues and greens of the trees, sky, and water are more vibrant than you'll find elsewhere.

Trip report and photos: shallowmusings.typepad.com/travel_musings/]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16868 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16696 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16696 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16449
The beds are huge and comfy, cocktails are highly recommended (although beware - you can put all your food and drink costs on your room bill so be careful or it'll take you by surprise when you check out!) and you can dine on fresh coconut and starfruit for breakfast.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16449 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16410 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16410 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/15187
If you're not pressed for time (they cost the same - 38kuna or £3.50), take the ferry as you can sit on the top deck and sunbathe as you pass by beautiful islands.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/15187 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13735
But Samos has a lot to offer to the visitor beyond the historical past of the island. Nice beaches, the excellent wine of Samos and opportunities for day trips and shopping in Turkey.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13735 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13548
Getting there is really quite hard work. Small native pump-boats run from the end of the road, Cebu-City bus terminal, at a very small place called Maya. Many taxi drivers will be willing to take you there, direct from Cebu City, but it's so little known, that not many of the local taxi drivers really know the right way to go! The bus takes 4+ hours from Cebu City.

When you finally reach Maya, there's no pier, so expect to get your feet wet! Last pump boat leaves at 5pm. Later than that - you must pay lots for a special boat trip.(PhP1500+ or negotiate with the captain!)

Dano Beach resort is at the far end of the white beach. Bungalows cost Php 1,200 - which is not a lot UK£12 / US$25 but service was appaling. I requested a chair to sit on, on the verandah, and was bluntly told none were available. Simple plastic chairs can easily be purchased locally for less than Php200. I tore a hole in my new shorts sitting on a homemade table of nailed bamboo strips as there was nothing else to sit down on.

In the morning the resort's water pump stopped and wasn't fixed, so no way to wash; the beach resort owners just shrugged and said to wash in the sea.

A few bigger resort places on Malapasqua have better facilities at maybe double the nightly price. Try Blue Water or Cocobana if you want to stay here. Ging-gings is a good place to eat. Greedy local owners have been overbuilding on the beach (which is public, govement-owned property) and a lot of illegal constructions have been marked with big painted red Xs to signal their demolition, if less than 30 metres from the high-tide line.

Will this really go ahead, or will the often lazy and corrupt Philippine bureauracy allow one of the world's finest beaches to be destroyed by greed and over-development?]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13548 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13132 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13132 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13009 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13009 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12976 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/12976