Looking for a Honeymoon Destination? Sandals St Lucia

Had an amazing time on  the Caribbean island of Lucia, celebrating our silver wedding at the Sandals Halcyon Beach Resort.  A couples only resort its ideal as a honeymoon destination or any romantic celebration.  Halcyon is the smallest and most intimate of all the Sandals resorts and this makes its atmosphere unique.  Truly the most friendliest staff I have ever known, nothing is too much trouble whatever category/ suite level booked..  The manager invites you to a cocktail party and introduces his staff to the guests, he’s a well respected and practical manager.   Just before a wedding he noticed two sunbeds nearby which had not been cleaned – he was on his phone straight away to the team responsible to sort it out.

Two other Sandals resorts are a short courtesy bus ride away.- The Regency and The Grand, so you can stay at one but play at three and enjoy all the restaurants and amenities at your disposal. The food was fantastic, gourmet dining every night in lovely settings. – plenty of choice with French, Japanese, Italian and of course Carri bean.. Our favourites were the Pier and Mario’s at the Halcyon. You could even have a private dinner on the beach

The Pier Restaurant, Halcyon Beach

Many people here were on honeymoon, getting married or celebrating a special occasion – it truly is the perfect destination for a romantic holiday and the staff and service were second to none. We saw several weddings here but I’ll keep that info for another blog.

Salford Quays

Business in Salford for Mrs Pixsmith meant that Mr Pixsmith enjoyed the sunshine and quiet of Salford Quays yesterday. The water was calm and afforded the chance of some lovely reflections from around the Salford Quays. If you go here make sure you take the lift up in the Imperial War Museum (small charge) as the aerial views are great.

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La Palma

Almost forgotten hadn’t mentioned our travels back in early December. La Palm was a lovely weeks break back in Nov/Dec – seems a while off now we are in an icy grip. This small Canary Island has its own micro-climate.  We discovered that its “tunnel of surprises” was true – travelling from the cloudier rainy east through the tunnel we arrived to see blue skies and sunshine.We found a car invaluable for exploring the national park and coastal towns at our own leisure. A full report can be found at  virtualtourist page.

La Palma

Pixsmiths Parga Picture to be Published

Yesterday I got the following e-mail from Bearport Publishing Company based in New York:

“I am writing to request the following high-resolution image from your collection.

SandySmith_3554230-Nekromanteio_vauults-Parga

Underground passage of the Nekromanteio in Parga Greece

The intended usage is as follows.
Interior Use
2055_Wretched Ruins
Estimated Publication date January 2010
Print Run: Under 10,000
North American Rights
English Language
If possible, please include the Book Title and job reference number 2055 on the delivery memo and invoice.

Please send the images directly to Bearport Publishing.”

This was an image Pixsmiths had taken during a trip to Parga on the Greek mainland back in 2007 and was placed on a travel tip on Virtualtourist.com

Well I was happy enough to oblige – fortunately I still had the high-res jpeg image.
They were kind enough to pay  125 dollars to0.

Pixsmiths will be donating this money towards a children’s work in India which will be visited personally in January.

Pixsmiths Published in Schmap Maps

Our Butterfly picture from Chester Zoo was selected and published in the Schmap Map for Manchester )

Softly Softly Scenic Schladming

Just recently come back from an 11 day break hiking around the Dachstein in the Styria region of Austria. It was a fantastic break, some hard walks up and down hills but the views and apple strudels at the alpine huts were ample reward – actually, probably too much and undid all the good the walking had done!

We based ourselves in Schladming a former silver mining town but know well known in the sporting calendar for ski-ing, mountain biking and downhill golf. It has a pedestrianised centre with good selection of shops and cafes. They even have their own local brewery – Scladminger beer.

Since 2007 the area has a free summer card for guests staying more than 3 days in participating hotels. An incentive to draw in summer visitors , the card gives free access to hiking buses, gondolas, chairlifts, museums, swimming pools and bathing lakes….the list goes on. A whole host of activities for families too, from baking bread on a farm to guided glacier hikes, even childcare facilities. Can save a load of spending money.

Walking is mainly at intermediate to hard level with panorama loops for easier walks. The summer card enabled us to enjoy some wonderful walks up one valley, hiking over the top and dropping down to another valley where a hiking bus could be caught back to base. A great system. Best of all Schladming is still unspoilt , their approach to tourism is softly, softly. people come to enjoy the nature and sports, not to indulge is tacky touristic shops and long may it continue…so perhaps I’d better not shout too loud about its virtues….

The Marble Church

Many times as we travelled into North Wales we would pass this beautiful Marble church near St Asaph, so called due to its striking white dominance on the landscape when travelling the A55 North Wales Express Way. We always said, one day we must stop and have a look. Well that one day eventually arrived a couple of weeks ago on a bright sunny morning. I wished I had more than just my canon G9 – were were going hiking so were travelling light.

The marble church real name is St Margaret’s Bodelwyddan – erected by Lady Willoughby de Broke in memory of her husband. She laid the foundation stone on 24 July 1856 and the new church designed by architect John Gibson was consecrated by the Bishop of St Asaph on 23 August 1860 after construction at a cost of £60,000. Formerly known as “the Pearl of the Vale”, St Margaret’s is now known as the Marble Church, not just for iys external appearance but also due to thirteen different kinds of marble in the interior. Now would love to do a wedding here!

To the west of the church is Kinmel Park, a former military camp used by Canadian troops during the First World War. The churchyard contains the graves of numerous victims of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19 in the camp. On 4-5th March 1919 a riot occurred in the camp when the ship allocated to return the troops to Canada was diverted to carry food supplies to Russia, and five Canadian soldiers were killed in the disturbances and subsequently buried in St Margaret’s churchyard – the graves and rose garden pose a poignant memorial for them all.

Daytripping to Dolwyddelan

Dolwyddelan is situated in the Lledr Valley, North Wales. No wedding last Saturday so took the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine with a walk in this beautiful part of the Snowdonia National Park. area. Originally planned a lowish valley walk but a wrong turning at the beginning meant we steadily climbed the hill here. Not that it mattered the views towards Moel Siabod and the Snowdon Horseshoe were worthwhile.

Before we got started on the walk there was a wedding going on in the village in tits tiny welsh chapel, St. Gwyddelan’s Church which dates from about 1500AD, so couldn’t resist chatting with the photographer – she definitely didn’t need a long lens for the church, must have been all of 3 rows deep! The bride lived just down the road and worked in the local pub where a small reception was held afterward. We had a coffee there after our walk and were also given some tea loaf left over from the function, very tasty and very kind. I guess we will return sometime to do the other walk.

Snowdonian Bride