Throughout the year the Ecuadorian capital has prepared plenty of activities to celebrate, from theater and dance, museum exhibits, activities in parks and plazas, Quito music concerts and food fairs. This first quarter Quito is being presented to the world as an international metropolis, diverse and cosmopolitan. In the second quarter it will be as artistic and religious heritage. In July, August and September, as a town green, adventure and nature, and the last quarter as ancestral, festive, cultural and popular.

In its musical programming, there are several outstanding events: the Festival of Sacred Music, to be held from 11 to 24 April, the International Guitar Biennale, which takes place from 19 to 21 May, from 20 to 26 June, the Festival International Songwriters and in December the choir festival.

But above all, the choice as Cultural Capital will release the essence of Quito, home to a mixture of peoples and ancient cultures that have made this city a unique place. A historic downtown Cultural Heritage of Humanity with such outstanding buildings as the church of the Society of Jesus, “traditional songs like chulla, native and a drink as tasty as canelazos, and countless legends like Cantuña, the Indian who tricked the devil in the construction of the church of San Francisco, are among the reasons which have led to this capital.

Founded in 1534 by Spanish Benalcázar Sebastian over the ruins left Rumiñahui, the powerful Inca decided to burn the city rather than surrender to the colonists, the capital of Ecuador is a hodgepodge of monuments and buildings of various styles, giving it a unique in the world.

Along with its rich cultural heritage and also keeps alive many traditions those are part of the intangible heritage of humanity. Not forgetting that it is a city that lives an eternal spring and has an amazing geographical beauty, situated at 2,850 meters and in an exceptional enclave marked by the imposing volcano Pichincha.

The highway, alternately called 101 and 1 contains countless examples of the many intrinsic qualities that make a highway a National Scenic Byway–qualities like perfect views of ocean waves breaking on rocky shorelines and cliffs, dozens of historical landmarks like Spanish Missions and Spanish settlements, and limitless opportunities to participate in every kind of outdoor recreation imaginable. A traveler would have to travel numerous other byways spread across the nation to witness all the qualities contained on just this one byway. This should be no surprise considering the highway runs through some of America’s most influential cities and most scenic landscape, including San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This stretch which begins near La Jolla goes north through lovely beach towns including Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside. Auto travelers have to get over to Intersftate five for about a ten mile strethc north then the coastal road picks up again to take you to San Onofrio, San Clemente, through Orange County past Newport and eventually up to Malibu and onward to Big Sur. Bikers can stay on the road with permission as it sometimes enters a military reservation like Camp Pendleton. Happy traveling.

Rather than visit the classic sights of London, may browse through the many historical places of the city, which will provide a more eclectic and relaxed place. Often hidden secrets of the country’s history and many historical figures relate to British. For example, the Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain lived in Eaton Square. Also lived in Berkeley Square two prime ministers: George Canning and war hero Winston Churchill, who grew up at number 48. In addition, places are surrounded by shops and traditional British pubs, frequented by locals, allowing you to taste the typical food outside the tourist zone.

Also worth visiting Red Lion Square, on the border of Bloomsbury and Holborn, not only for his extraordinary English garden but also for its air of mystery. Apparently, they threw the body of Oliver Cromwell in a ditch next to the plaza. And do not forget to stop by the bar, The White Swan to enjoy the traditional English beer and food!

As is the case with hotels in Rome, many London hotels are in the vicinity of these historical places. One of the most magnificent is the Dorset Square Hotel, located in the heart of Marylebone, which has maintained its elegance since 1817 until today. In fact, if you plan to visit London, you can stay at this exclusive hotel and book the tour of the historic squares Splendia through the chain of luxury hotels.

Other places, however, have adapted fully to the twenty-first century have become commercial areas, despite its traditional British architecture. Soho Square is one of the world’s most expensive places to work and has companies like 20th Century Fox and communications MPC, which belongs to Paul McCartney. Literature lovers should stop by the gallery to enjoy Riflemaker Dickensian atmosphere, as it was here where the author was inspired to write his famous tale of two cities.

As hotels in Barcelona, tourists can observe the different nuances of the city through the historical details of the hotels or places to visit. The historical places are home not only hotels lujoy known companies but also reside in these famous lovers of luxury. The actress Vivien Leigh (known for his performance in the film Gone with the Wind) lived in Eaton Square and the famous German composer, Julius Benedict, Manchester Square resided for many years. It is these small details that allow visitors to London to understand their spirit of truth.

The fruit was an apple of paradise. The companion of Adam fell, but now that is in season, you have to travel to Navarre and leave you too in a typical cider house where besides tasting the cider of the season you can attend the whole process of its preparation.

It’s frothy, bubbly, sour, bitter, sweet, fresh, straw-colored, evocative, digestive … and besides all this a drink of celebration, the perfect excuse to gather with family or group of friends. Well know in the area of Baztán-Bidasoa, famous for its cider tradition since centuries. Since mid-January, cider season opens with the opening of the kupelas (barrels) and the celebration of cider (stick that plugs the hole through which flows the first cider), and until January, when he concludes its evolution, this corner of Navarre offers a tempting invitation to explore what lies behind the cider. You can not lose.

The small town of Lekarotz, immersed in the Bidasoa valley, a claim is all natural and gourmet food in this time of year and not only for his inspiring landscape, with extensive forests of beech, oak and chestnut, also host one of the cider more typical Bidasoa Valley: Larraldea. Located 11 miles from the Manor Park Bertiz and less than thirty caves and Urdazubi Zugarramurdi-Urdax, in the traditional mountain village which is located performs the complete cycle, ie here grown apples are harvested and cider is made, a process that includes its pressing, fermentation, storage in reservoirs and bottling. But besides this, it is eaten, including ecological, if the season allows, in a witty around their tables and the menu runs typical.

The dishes of chorizo in cider, cod omelette, cod with peppers, grilled meat, and for dessert, cheese with walnuts and quince are the rich dishes cooked in the traditional way to arrive at robust tables wood. And between courses, kupelas many visits as you like, because each has its own flavor-cider depending on the barrel and the fermentation process and, above all, because the cider here should not stop crashing into the glass .

Although Navarra A wide range of cider spread throughout Spain, only five, among which is Larraldea, have the distinction of being a complete cycle. For the rest you have to get closer to Lekunberri Beruete, Lesaka and Aldatz:

Toki Alai
Just outside the town of Lekunberri on the road to San Miguel de Aralar, this is a family that produces cider cider extracted from its own plantation of apple since 2000. Proposes every day a traditional menu and the ability to take out a few bottles to enjoy at home too.

Behetxonea
The Cider House occupies the ground floor of a renovated traditional farmhouse in the town of Beruete, about two kilometers from the town of the locality. Its dining room, decorated with regional motifs, you can taste the typical menu, but also a letter based on a variety of fish and meat, on the first floor, visitors can watch the production methods of cider.

Linddurrenborda
At this village on the outskirts of Lesaka must arrive to try their tacos and tortilla cod, always accompanied by home made cider with apple trees are grown here.

Martitxonea
In Aldatz, in the mountains of Larraun, for those who enjoy the mountain and gastronomy is an essential destination. And also very good cider.

Imagine four million liters of water gushing from the bowels of daily alpine mountains at a temperature of 51 degrees. The snow is just one more in this festival companion thermal health and wellness in Leukerbad, a village in southwestern Switzerland considered “the largest spa in the Alps.

The Romans discovered the healing effects of the hot springs of Leukerbad. And see how the ailments of bones and skin problems are alleviated “miraculously” through these waters of Torrenthorn still come today, the nearby mountain where on clear days can see the legendary Mont Blanc and is very popular today among Alpine skiing enthusiasts. Then and now water flowing through the limestone rock, penetrating into the earth at 3,000 meters deep, to acquire a strong mineralization of calcium, sodium, strontium, iron and fluorine. Any source of health enjoyed by the 1,500 residents of Leukerbad, foreign tourists and even the Swiss Olympic team, which is produced here in an ultramodern clinic before attending the major events of winter and summer.

A journey of forty years

The question for the people of Leukerbad was until recently a guess how long it took to get water to the 65 hot springs in town. It was known that nine liters per minute cramming its springs, but it was only after making a curious experiment of “ink” a substantial volume of filtered water from the mountains when it was discovered that it took no less than forty years to appear in town. There is still a neighbor who analyzed the find in disbelief.

Today, Leukerbad, located at 1411 meters of altitude to its beautiful mountain coat Gemmi (in one of the walls of his top after almost a thousand meters can see the larger flag of Switzerland), is dotted with swimming pools, more twenty, led by the historic Burgerbad, a place well-known in the nineteenth century which proposes ten pools filled with jets, slides and a natural cave in the rock, a mixture of pool and sauna can actually skin pores open although one does not want.

The thermal paradise is complemented by private institutions and individual hotels that offer visitors their “spa” with the same characteristics of the water. Among the first highlights the Lindner Alpentherme with a huge choice of 250 treatments and an original Roman-Irish thermal circuit of eleven steps, with “hot and cold surprises” – which lets leave the bodies free from impurities through exfoliation techniques. The tour, which we must “cover” no bathing suit, ending at the top of the center with massage oils and soaps Hindu of Provence and a half hour of relaxation with a unique view of the pool outdoor Jacuzzis, always surrounded by snow. The price of this original ‘healthy walk’ is affordable, about 50 euros at the exchange, but we must expect that the whole process takes about two hours and even more can be extended if it matches the emission in the center of film in several languages within the pool itself, to 36 degrees. Another novel proposal to see movies in a swimsuit that is not lost.

Leukerbad has become well thanks to its waters into the third most important tourist destination in Switzerland, especially for Russians and Italians, after Zermatt and St. Moritz. Proof of this are his numbers: 28 hotels and resorts with over 1,500 beds, 1,700 apartments and 50 restaurants with varied cuisine and wines (more than 50 varieties achieved from vineyards planted at 1,100 meters) … Even the Swiss (75%) and Germans (10%) also enjoy it mainly because it is an excellent proposal to combine skiing and spas.

Of course. Which was the European Capital of Culture 2008 is more than the Beatles and the “Benitles. Is Everton, cathedrals, the Albert Dock, St George’s Hall and the museums on the pier and William Brown Street? Is that arrogant architecture rising from Pier Head, the port of stone built in the eighteenth century and which was, for many migrants, the European landscape last seen in his life. It is the commercial center and bustling around Williamson Square. It is the home of the Grand National, the steeplechase world’s largest equestrian, held at Aintree since 1839 and seen on television by 600 million fans. But, hell, there will be time later for these and other places, because the call of music is too tempting.

In Matthew Street a Mexican rushes on the statue of Lennon and covers it with kisses, as if to ask a saint to health or a boyfriend. In Liverpool 60 languages are spoken today, and the street is a small Babel beat of music lovers. John has the distinctive look of its stage of Hamburg when the Beatles broke the seal of his engine to conquer the world. A brick wall with the names of many bands keeps you back. Two Cavern, a club and a pub, but neither is the legendary place where the Fab Four played 275 times between 1961 and 1963. A detail almost irrelevant to the fans that descend into the depths of these establishments to have a few pints and photographed next to posters and other memorabilia of the decade prodigious. No matter whether or not a certificate of authenticity. The original cave was demolished in 1973. A billboard located a few meters below the current club was remember where the entrance. If one enters the shopping center next door will run into a store for geeks and a cafe called “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” which claims the privilege of occupying the space of the old Cavern. In Matthew Street everyone agrees with that famous newspaper: “Do not let reality ruin a good story you.

But the street is the street. In The Grapes, a pub where the Beatles it was leaning on the bar, old rockers still remember the smell of sweat and disinfectant to the cave. “Women with straight hair came and went with curly hair,” says a voice. Hundreds of people crammed into this old Victorian warehouse where even the walls were dripping. “If after a concert you were with a colleague in another place immediately known you were coming to the Cavern because stank. But above all, remember the feeling of having experienced something special. Endless music sessions live in a world without phones and internet. Another band that used to play there was Gerry & The Pacemakers, the forerunner of the Mersey Sound, which was nearly wiped off the map by the tsunami Beatle. The singer and TV presenter Cilla Black was for a time in charge of wardrobe. Brian Epstein, Beatles manager, discovered that the girl had talent to do other things and threw her to stardom.

“Whenever they come here more Spanish. Its game day and Chris Baylis, director of the official shop of Liverpool, oversees the flood of supporters of a lifetime and last-minute assimilated those who are left dazzled by the legend of a team coached by Rafael Benitez and where Ferdinand Torres, Pepe Reina and Xabi Alonso are some of its brightest stars. And they have Anglo last name. One of its trade partners keeps Atletico Madrid pin on his lapel. I got in an exchange of badges with a fan so that exchanged pennants players on the field.

Anfield Road is a narrow street with buildings of limited height and brick red. Nobody would say that hidden in the suburb district stands one of the temples of the football world, home of the most successful club in England -18-league honors with an impressive international European Cups -5. The party Sunday liturgy is a manual: the supporters of Liverpool takes off the pajamas and wear the red shirt, it is not removed until the evening and the bravest will put a jacket over it rain or cold weather. The party is at 13:30 and arriving one hour prior to the vicinity of the stadium to get a hamburger or hot dog plus a few beers at the stalls next to The Kop, the legendary South Stand (Ernest Edwards, editor of the Liverpool Echo, named it in 1906 because he remembered the hillside Spion, South Africa, where in 1900 a battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers was killed by the Boers, 3,000 soldiers from Liverpool never returned. Colina, Afrikaans language is Kop). Visit the official store to buy merchandise, they sing the club anthem (the celebrated “You’ll never walk alone ‘Never Walk Alone”) and themes of their favorite players and, tucked into the cauldron of Anfield emotions, applaud your computer as if they were living in it. Football is enshrined with composing music for the soul of Liverpool sentimental.

The B-side of the disc is an ode to modernity, a bid to try to shake off the haze of a stormy history. Liverpool flourished in the eighteenth century through the slave trade, the ships did stop here while traveling from eastern Africa to Virginia and the Caribbean islands, where the “good” of mankind was changed for sugar, rum and cotton snuff. Later, between 1830 and 1930, nearly ten million migrants (mostly British but also from the Nordic countries) sailed from this port for America. During World War II springs had another boiling point by the transatlantic trade and the arrival of U.S. troops (over a million landed in Liverpool the day before D). The economic crisis of the 1970s and racial conflicts of the 80 city plunged into depression.

Albert Dock, built between 1841 and 1848, was one of the world’s first enclosed docks. Strolling under the colonnade of cast iron is a pleasure. The old warehouses were refurbished and give her space to museums, shops and restaurants. In the dock is, for example, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, ideal for more about the history pointed to above. Also, the Tate Liverpool, one of the headquarters of the Tate Gallery in London. And, of course, The Beatles Story, a refuge for homesick.

In the stunning skyline stands the bulk of the Anglican cathedral, the Gothic revival, which began construction in 1902 and was completed in 1978. The fifth temple in size of the world is the work of Giles Gilbert Scott, who is responsible for the design of the red telephone box, has become a symbol of this country. In fact, there is a booth on campus. Since the 101-meter tower will enjoy the best views of the city northward along Hope Street, is the metropolitan cathedral, catholic, which according to the original plans would have been larger than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The war and economic decline forced to reduce its size. Its crypt houses later this year an exhibition of Le Corbusier, further evidence of Liverpool’s strong bond with the architecture.