TRAVEL
Home & Away with Robert Walshe BULGARIA’S Black Sea coast has been named as the best beach holiday destination in a new survey. The eastern European destination came top in a study of beach holidays commissioned by price comparison website, Kelkoo. Bulgaria was followed by northern Tunisia, Antalya in Turkey, and Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh. The study rated the world’s most popular beach destinations on 10 criteria, including climate, security, local affordability of goods and services, quality of food, the cost of flights and accommodation, tourist attractions, and the exchange rate. Affordability was the main concern for holidaymakers with 85% of those surveyed saying it was a key priority followed by security on 81%, the weather on 78% and good food on 77%.
Weekend Hotspot Agra is a bustling and truly friendly city located on the banks of the famed Yamuna River in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh. This beautiful city is 201 km from New Delhi, the capital city of India. As boundaries Agra has Mathura on the north, Dhaulpur on the south, Firozabad on the east, Fatehabad on the south-east and Bharatpur on the west. The intricate architectural design of the mausoleums, the forts and the palaces bear testimony to the affluence of the powerful Mughals, who made this city their capital in the 16th and 17th centuries. But what really puts Agra on the map is the fact that it is home to the greatest monument of love created by man; the Taj Mahal. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Known for its majestic beauty and a symbol of romance, it is India’s most fascinating and beautiful monument. The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan during the period 1628 to 1658 for his beloved queen Arjumand Bano Begum popularly known as Mumtaaz Mahal. An estimated 20,000 people worked to complete this white marble mausoleum and it is the most visited monument in India by foreign tourists. To the left of the Taj is a mosque made of red sandstone. It is common in Islam to build a mosque next to a tomb, as it sanctifies the area and provides for a place for worship. This mosque is still used for Friday prayers. An identical mosque is also built to the right of the Taj and is known as the Jawab (answer). Prayers are not held here as it faces west i.e. away from Mecca, the holy city of the Muslims. It was built to maintain symmetry. The stunning monuments at the Taj Mahal are the city’s major draw but other attractions such as the Fatehpur Sikri, I’timadUd-Daulah, and Akbar’s Tomb, Sikandra are also quite popular among visitors. The
Living
other main attraction Agra Fort is located on the right bank of the river Yamuna and was built by Emperor Akbar in 1565 AD. The fort is known for its creative design and traditional Mughal archi■ Swimming tecture. As if all Pool, Jaypee ia Main. Palace, Agr these tourist ata India. ■ The Taj Mahal, Agra, Ind tractions are not enough, the city produces excluThe monusive handicraft works such as Zari Zardozi, Stone carv- ments, the ing and Inlay work as well as carpets with festivals, the various types of decorations and leather h a n d i c r a f t s shoes. The Sadar Bazaar is conveniently and the Jaylocated close to the Agra Cantt Railway Sta- pee Palace all tion and worthy of a visit. The luxury ho- combine to tels in Agra provide you with an excellent make Agra, a environment to unwind and take pleasure perfect blend in your trip to this historic city. Leading of culture, the way the luxurious Jaypee Palace Hotel heritage and & Convention Centre is a perfect tribute to h a r m o n y , ■ Jaypee Palace, Agra, India Exterior. the finest in Mughal architecture. Located which finds just 2kms from the Taj Mahal, in the main its ultimate tourist district of the city, Fatehabad Road p e r s o n i f i c a the hotel is also a convenient distance from tion in the Taj the Kheria Airport. and 8 kms from the Can- Mahal. Enjoy. tonment railway station. The hotel setting For promotional packages up to the end of is a glorious blend of red sandstone and September visit www.jaypeehotels.com for Investing in baby swim wear and baby wetsuits marble spread across 25 acres of elegantly information see www.incredibleindia.org will give you the peace of mind to really enjoy landscaped greenery, water bodies and Weekly Best Buy your water babies. Research has shown baby pergolas. This magnificent hotel blends The Red Sea in September will still be and toddler swimming is stimulating and upliftfive star luxury with Mughal opulence to ing for a child’s overall development. “Swimming give guests an experience of a lifetime. The very hot and a week all-inclusive in the is a unique bonding experience between parents hotel offers guests a choice of 341 beauti- Tropicana Tivoli Hotel in Sharm el Sheikh and babies. Not only does it give you great physifully decorated rooms with state-of-the-art starts at €649pps, www.falconholidays. cal closeness, but it’s also fantastic fun. Babies amenities. The highlight of the hotel is ie Meanwhile Travel mood are offering a have freedom in water that they just don’t get on its fabulous collection of restaurants and 9 Night Arabian Gulf Cruise package from land until they can move themselves.” comments “Paatra” their fine-dining Indian offering €1219pp which includes 1 pre & post night Aisling O’Donoghue, Founder of Baby Travel was the culinary highlight of my first travel in Dubai City staying the 4* Arabian CourtShop. “If you want to introduce your baby to the adventure to this hypnotic sub-continent. yard Hotel and 7 Nights full board Cruise joys of water play and eventually to confident The menu promises to takes you on a food onboard Royal Caribbean ‘Brilliance of the swimming, it’s important that you start gently. journey from Amritsar to Lahore. and the Seas’. Departing 12th February 2011 see Although your baby will have been in the bath, it vegetarian options will remain in my mind www.travelmood.ie Longueville House in won’t have floated freely in the water before and, and taste buds for evermore. Different Mallow, Co Cork are offering this unbelievfor young babies, you need to make sure you have ‘paatras’ or utensils determine the unique able deal where you can stay and dine any warm, comfortable baby swimwear and that they cooking methods that conserve the unique Wednesday night in August for the genuhave body contact with you at all times.” Aisling flavour of your food in India and the chefs ine bargain rate of €100 per person sharing continues. Older babies should have appropriate at Jaypee Palace in Agra use this culinary Dinner B&B. Dinner 6:30pm - 8:00pm. Offer flotation aids to help them really enjoy the pool style to deliver exceptional results. The subject to availability. www.longuevilleexperience. Baby Travel Shop stocks a range of “Sansha Ayurvedic Health Spa” at Jaypee house.ie Robert Walshe is a freelance contributor products that will help your baby master the art Palace Hotel, Agra offers a wide array of reof swimming and enjoy splashing about this sumvitalizing and rejuvenating therapies inte- / broadcaster and is guest travel writer mer. www.babytravelshop.ie grating the very best of western medicines for River Media newspaper titles across with the healing tradition of “Ayurveda”. the island of Ireland
Pet’s Corner...
Home and Away Extra
with Kathleen Murray
I don’t believe in neutering with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist
NEUTERING is important to the welfare of not just the animal that is neutered, but also to the welfare of many more animals not yet born. The knock on effect from neutering one animal can save the lives of many animals and can stop cruelty from happening in the lives of hundreds more unfortunate animals. If one cat gets neutered then hundreds of cats are saved from a life of uncertainty, cruelty, overcrowding, disease or starvation. Neutering one cat can save hundreds of birds etc and help restore the balance in the wildlife, which we need, as their
numbers are causing havoc. People cannot live without animals but they cannot live with too many either. Nature cannot take care of this situation any longer as man has interfered so much in it. Natural selection is how nature does it. People don’t do it that way so the natural lives of dogs and cats (and many more animals besides) have already been interfered with. Man now has to take responsibility for that. Because there is no natural life any-more. Dogs can’t go where they want and do what they want. Cats can’t either. People don’t want other
people’s animals in their space. This space that people live in now used to belong to animals. People just came in and grew in numbers and took over the space. For some reason there are people that still think that animals have enough space. Well, they don’t. That’s why neutering has become such an important thing. If there is not enough space for the animals then we cannot allow these animals to suffer, because of our greed. We have a responsibility to make sure that their lives are not miserable as a result. If a space (like our county) can only cater to so many ani-
mals then what becomes of the others? Who cares about them? There are already too many and many people don’t want them in their space, so we need to make sure that they don’t keep doing the only thing that still comes naturally to them (breeding) because this will only produce misery for the offspring. That is not fair to these animals and anyone that says that neutering is not natural and they don’t believe in it should work in animal welfare for a spell. Neutering has become the way to save animals from misery and cruelty. Nobody can stand over the lives of all the offspring that
their animal produces and say that they know for sure that these animals are all in good hands and have decent lives. It doesn’t happen no matter how well it starts out. Please save the lives of these helpless animals and neuter what is going to become their parents.
We’re not about to run out of animals any-time soon so there will still be plenty, and more, to go around. Animals deserve better than they are getting from many people at the moment so please don’t ignore the problem. This is happening today in your area.