Tourism is a strange thing. You fly to a foreign country, leaving comforts at home, and then spend a lot of money and time on fruitless attempts to get the very comforts that you would not lose if you stayed at home.
Fact 1: No matter how many times I was on the Riviera, I didn’t know or didn’t pay attention from absent-mindedness that exactly opposite the coast of Cannes there are two islands - Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honora. The second (which is smaller) has been in the possession of the Lerins monastery for centuries and the monks living there to this day. Worth a day visit water transport departs from the port of Cannes every half an hour) to walk around quiet island and its vineyards, see old fortress, stop for lunch with local wine - in a restaurant on the coast, and if the soul asks for a complete "detox" - stay in the monastery for a couple of days (here you can rent a room for a while). But you should be prepared to spend these days in complete silence and without any means of communication.
Fact 2: In the house opposite the very center of the Marche Provencal market in Antibes (at 25, Cours Massena) there is a gift shop "with a surprise" - in its 19th century basement there is an absinthe bar, the owner of which will personally prepare absinthe of any strength and taste, and also let you play on piano or try on one of your hat collections.
Fact 3: Mandatory item cultural program every traveler on the Cote d'Azur usually becomes the town of artists Saint-Paul-de-Vence (the third most visited in all of France). But not everyone knows that after visiting it at sunset, you should definitely stop for dinner at the Michelin-recommended Alain Llorca restaurant. Here, in addition to a priori delicious food, there is an excellent view of Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the landscapes of Provence. Adjacent to the restaurant is the eponymous hotel of 10 luxury villas. In general, this place "begs" not only to stay there for the night, but also to celebrate here, for example, a wedding or an anniversary.
Facts 4 and 5: Two more places not far from Saint-Paul-de-Vence worth knowing about are the La Fondation Maeght museum and the neighboring hotel Les Messugues (still the same owner Alan Llorca). The museum is primarily known for its complex of modernist buildings, park and sculptures installed in it. Well, after, of course, - and exhibitions of contemporary art, which are held there. Hotel Les Messugues, which is located right next to the museum, is good because it is convenient to stay in it if you travel around the Cote d'Azur or Provence by car and change your location every day. Breakfast overlooking the vineyards and an hour or two by the pool in a quiet garden is the right place to take a breath.
Fact 6: One of historic hotels Côte d'Azur (such as the Negresco in Nice or Carlton in Cannes) is considered the Hotel Belles Rives in Juan-les-Pins. Pablo Picasso, Ramon Novarro, Umberto Eco, Edith Piaf once lived in it, and Francis Scott Fitzgerald wrote his "Tender is the Night" and "The Great Gatsby" here. As a more budget option, there is a cozy hotel Juana nearby, where you can stay and go here for sunbathing.
Fact 7: For all lovers of classic sightseeing tours around the city I strongly recommend to spend such a segway in Nice. There is where to accelerate, the route is convenient and covers the most important things, the trip will be unforgettable, especially if this is your first Segway experience. And if you first go through a slightly longer training, then you can ride all day without an escort and wherever you like.
Fact 8: Usually you find good bars in the city by a lot of nightly trial and error. Some are too pretentious, some, on the contrary, are very “close to the people”. Bar Le Hussard (in the center of the old town) – unique place with a ratio of price, quality, pleasant music and the public around.
Fact 9: Especially for the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, Uber launched the UberCopter delivery service from Nice airport to the foot of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes. Everyone is still only talking about the fact that perhaps soon Uber will launch this service here on an ongoing basis. And that would be so true! It's breathtaking to look at Cote d'Azur from a bird's eye view even in the most unromantic nature.
Fact 10: And this is only a small part of the unknown and unbanal that can be found on Azure coast. And yet, it’s great to meet “Indian summer” here in early September, when there are not so many tourists anymore, and the weather is still great.
Photo source: press archives, Getty Images
The main guarantee of a good rest (vacation) is a complete change in the type of activity. That is, if you sit in a stuffy office from morning till night, you should combine rest with physical activity. If the whole year you are spinning like a top - on vacation, on the contrary, you should slow down and take a horizontal position somewhere under a palm tree.
Scientists have found that people who go without vacation for a long time have even less life expectancy than chronic alcoholics! This ailment is called "No Vacation Syndrome".
It is no coincidence that this term appeared in the United States. Judge for yourself, the average vacation in the US lasts only 10 working days. Moreover, 20% of Americans even refuse this vacation. In the US, an employer is under no obligation to provide paid leave to its employees.
Interesting statistics: in order to get rid of stress, 46% of Russians use TV, 43% use music, 19% use alcohol, 16% eat, 12% go in for sports and only 2% take vacations.
Marcello Mastroianni was a great connoisseur of women. He knew everything about them, even what kind of woman you should try to meet on the beach when you came on vacation to the resort. You need to choose the most untanned, she has the whole vacation ahead of her!
It turns out that men flirt more than women during the holidays! However, the flirting techniques used by women are much more virtuoso and effective. For example: dancing in a disco or provocative behavior on the beach.
According to experts, it is categorically impossible to take a working mobile phone or laptop with you on vacation. Most the best way- go to a place where the mobile phone does not accept, and it is impossible to connect to the Internet.
And where do the stars of our show business usually spend their holidays? Seasoned Valery Leontiev and Nikolai Baskov prefer to relax in Miami, young Sergey Lazarev and Irakli Pirtskhalava do not have a soul in Dubai (United United Arab Emirates), and singer Vitas likes to spend his holidays in Tibet.
Recently, 60-year-old Atos Bagatin was convicted in Italy. His sentence was: 900 days of paid leave. The trade union sued him because Bagatin did not take a vacation for 28 years. As a result, the court decided to punish the workaholic with leave.
Aphorism: “If you want to return from vacation later, warn your boss. And if earlier - warn your wife.
A recent survey in England revealed the country where the most tourists go on vacation for romantic adventures. Most vacationers prefer Australia for such trips. The least desirable country was Portugal. At the same time, more than half of the respondents Italian language the sexiest language (i.e. the ideal option is: Italian in Australia).
Statistics: 20% of all holiday romances last only one night. Half of the novels last more than a week. However, romantics should not lose hope! 4% of holiday romances eventually lead to strong alliances.
Dmitri Mendeleev discovered the table of chemical elements on the first day of his vacation! Here's how sometimes it's good to relax and get a good night's sleep.
The most famous vacation statement in history was once written by General Crillon. He sent a short letter to his king, Henry the Fourth: "Sir, three words: money or vacation." Heinrich then answered him: "Krillon, four words: neither one nor the other."
As psychophysiology calculated, a person needs 28 days for a good rest. Although such a long break is a real stress for the body: the longer you rest, the harder it is to get into a working rhythm later.
The longest vacation in the world for Finnish employees: 39 days. Followed by: Sweden and Denmark - 30-35 days; France and Norway - 25 days; Belgium and UK - 20 days. Canadians and Japanese rest a maximum of 10-14 days a year. Moreover, 60% of the Japanese deliberately refuse the weekend and only 5% go on vacation. But in Mexico, employers offer their employees no more than six days a year for legal rest.
Experts say that now there is a boom in unusual vacations: adventure travel. They become more and more sophisticated, sometimes moving into the category of feats with an increased risk to life. Instead of relaxation - pure adrenaline of our own production.
The risk of cardiovascular diseases is reduced by 40% in those who go on vacation at least once a year.
The Norwegian Medical Commission investigated the working hours of the country's citizens. After that, the commission recommended that the heads of firms increase the leave of non-smokers by 3 days. Since, according to statistics, smokers spend on smoke breaks just about three days a year.
Norwegian law gives men the right to take 6 weeks of maternity leave! In addition, parents can distribute between themselves the general maternity leave granted to care for the child.
Record: In Sweden, one doctor worked overtime for 24 years, he overworked 10,000 hours. Now the workaholic doctor is about to take a six-year full-paid vacation. Instead, he can receive a monetary reward, which will amount to about 1 million euros.
Australia has such a strange tradition. In addition to the usual annual leave, every 15 years, expatriate workers receive additional leave (90 days) to visit their historic homeland - England.
The longest vacation is given to our teachers and researchers - 56 days. By the way, in 56 days, one American physical education teacher reached North Pole and became the first woman in the world to make such a difficult journey.
Now it has become fashionable to divide your monthly vacation into two parts - two weeks each. But scientists believe that a good rest should last at least three weeks. But week vacation and does not make any sense at all - this time will only be spent on acclimatization and "perestroika".
The USSR volleyball team of the early 80s swept away everyone in its path. But suddenly there was almost nothing left of the team, and at the World Championships it failed, as at the same time six volleyball players from the main team went on maternity leave.
Jennifer Roberts, 23, was reading the thriller The Dead Zone at the campground. A thunderstorm came up, lightning struck Jennifer's tent, tore off the roof and tore the 291-page book to shreds. Jennifer was unconscious for an hour, but otherwise miraculously unharmed. The cover of the novel depicted a man dying from a lightning strike.
Tipping yourself or?…
After the coup and the fall of the former GDR, the owners of hotels and restaurants in Florida (USA) had difficulties with German tourists. For the first time, East Germans appeared in the sunny state, but they were not very familiar with the rules accepted around the world. First of all, they didn't know how much to tip. To distinguish between tourists from the old and new federal states, employees of American hotels and restaurants resorted to a simple trick. They asked the German guests: "Are you from the same country as Boris Becker?" If the answer was negative, the tip was immediately added to the bill. With a positive answer, one would expect experienced "old Germans" to voluntarily give a 15 percent tip.
Florida without sandy beaches
Sunny Florida, which, thanks to its excellent sandy beaches, visited annually by more than 40 million tourists, fears for their famous beaches. Atlantic Ocean washes away more and more sand. Therefore, tourism managers from Miami decided to purchase sand at Bahamas located 80 kilometers from Florida.
Stowaway
The pilot of the plane flying from Harare (Zimbabwe) to London was really frightened when a cat suddenly jumped into his lap in the cockpit. The "stowaway" slipped imperceptibly through African customs and hid in the cockpit of a Zimbabwean plane. The problems only started in London: according to English law, a cat could enter the country only after a 15-day quarantine. The crew could not stay in London for so long and did not want to leave the cat unattended, so the pilot again took her with him on the return flight to Harare. There he handed her over to a homeless shelter. animals. Three days later, when he flew back to London, the performance was repeated. 20 minutes after the start, the same cat jumped into his lap. She again made her way through customs, and again flew "hare", and again went with the crew on the return flight. But this time she stayed in Zimbabwe.
cheap restaurant
The owner of the restaurant "James Cook" in New Zealand came up with a profitable way to cope with the lack of staff in his restaurant: he offered to work for guests. The one who washes after himself food plates, cutlery and glasses, pays 5 marks less; who also cleans the floor in the kitchen - 10 marks. The owner of the restaurant appointed a bonus for washing toilets: the visitor had the right twice, in the afternoon and in the evening, to eat for free in the restaurant with the whole family, choosing dishes of their choice, including drinks.
These world sights need no introduction, everyone has seen and knows them, even if only from photos and descriptions on the Internet. But few people know their little secrets, which guides and guidebooks will not always tell about.
1. Stonehenge
Now it seems unthinkable, but 100 years ago, Stonehenge was sold at auction for 6,600 pounds (today, it is almost half a million pounds, or 777.5 thousand dollars). The buyer was Cecil Chubb, who decided to make an original gift to his wife. But that monument was not appreciated, so after 3 years it was “re-gifted” to England, and the generous husband was awarded the title of baronet.
2. Sydney Opera House
In 1980, culture gave way to bodybuilding: here, half-naked bodybuilders - participants in the world competition "Mr. Olympia" paraded in front of an enthusiastic audience. And then 33-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger won, for the seventh (and last) time in his career.
3. Tower Bridge
In 1952, he began to breed, when a double-decker bus of the usual London route No. 78 was still driving along it. The driver Albert Gunton did not lose his head - he picked up speed and flew to the other half of the bridge through the meter-wide gap that had formed.
For his courage, Albert was awarded a 10-pound bonus (about 250 pounds, or 26,000 rubles in today's money).
4. Hermitage
Hermitage cats are known in Russia no less than the great exhibits of this St. Petersburg museum, but foreign tourists, as a rule, hear about them for the first time. These are full-fledged museum workers - the Life Guards of the Winter Palace, protecting works of art from mice and rats.
Cats are forbidden to roam the museum halls, but they live and hunt in the dry and warm basement of the palace, which is called “big feline”. Each of the fifty furry inhabitants of the Hermitage has its own bowl, tray and basket for sleeping, and all are under veterinary supervision. By the way, you can become the owner of the Hermitage cat with the right to free access to local exhibition halls for life.
5. Statue of Liberty
The world-famous “symbol of freedom and democracy” forever retained the appearance of two real women. It is believed that the face of the statue belongs to the mother of the sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and the body to his mistress.
6. Eiffel Tower
When the Nazis occupied France in 1940, the Parisians cut the cables of the tower's elevators, so that German soldiers had to climb the structures to hoist the flag of the Third Reich with a swastika on top. But megalomania failed: a huge banner was blown away by the wind in a couple of hours. The soldiers were sent upstairs again, this time with a smaller flag.
And in the summer of 1944, on the orders of Hitler, the Eiffel Tower was to be blown up, and all of Paris was to be razed to the ground, but, fortunately, the German military commandant, General Dietrich von Choltitz, disobeyed and saved the city, surrendering to the French Liberation Forces.
7. Taj Mahal
On the construction of the mausoleum-mosque in Indian Agra, 22,000 people and 1,000 elephants worked, the work took 17 years. Moreover, the padishah Shah Jahan, who ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife, who died in childbirth of the 14th child, planned to build another similar mausoleum on the opposite bank of the river - made of black marble.
8. Mount Everest
Imagine, " highest peak world" is not really the most high mountain on Earth, measured from base to peak. Everest is inferior in this sense Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea (8.848 meters versus 10.203 meters). The difference is that most of the volcano is hidden under water. So in terms of altitude, Everest will indeed be the winner.
