Formula 1 in Europe: Gran Premio de Espana/Spain Grand Prix 2013

The 2013 F1 races started as spectacular as possible and everyone is expecting a really interesting season.

The comeback of Kimi Räikkönen and the improvement of the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers will definitely give a hard time to the Red Bull favourites. The nervousness and competitiveness of the drivers, even against their team members, is proving that everyone is up to the win and will not back down without a real racing fight.

The Gran Premio de Espana is traditionally one of the most expected races from the F1 season and this year it will welcome its fastest lap record holder again - Kimi Räikkönen.

Circuit de Catalunya is a fast track and brings up the best in the drivers. It is without a doubt one of the most prestigious races of the year and as the wolrd title competitors this year are at least 5, every race will be thrilling.

The Gran Premio de Espana will be held on the 12.05.2013 and will once again make Spain the motor capital of the world for several days.

Detailed information about the race history and the track can be found on the official F1 web-site:

http://www.formula1.com - The Gran Premio de Espana


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Music festivals in Europe: Sofia Rocks 2013 - 26.07.2013, Sofia, Bulgaria

The Sofia Rocks 2013 edition will once again be hard and loud and will gather the rock fans from all over Europe in Bulgaria.

The previous three editions of Sofia Rocks were among the best rock events in the European musical calender and it is clearly becoming an event to follow. 

Sofia Rocks 2013 will take place at the Vasil Levski stadium, Sofia, on 26.07.2013 and will present:

Rammstein

Bullet for My Valentine

Spineshank

Enslaved

Dorrn

Hamatom 

... and more

The prices of the tickets range from 40 EUR to 75 EUR and we are all hoping for a full stadium, again.

The sound of thousands rocking together will again shake Sofia. Be there and experience it.

Detailed information about the festival and booking availability can be found on its official web-site:

http://www.sofiarocks.bg/en/

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Festivals in Europe: Carnival of Viareggio / Carnevale di Viareggio, Italy

Italy is home of many fantastic festivals and one of the most colorful and visited among them is the Viareggio Carnival, held at the seaside town of Viareggio, Tuscani. 

Every year the participants in the festival create papier-mâché parade floats, masks and dolls and bring life to magical creatures and many recreations of historical and present-time famous people. The celebrations take place at the different quarters and there are many festival-related events at the town's squares, bars and restaurants.

The Viareggio Carnival is a 140 years old tradition, which has become one of the most famous carnivals in Europe and gathers annualy about 1 000 000 visitors from all over the world. The town is very close to the cities of Pisa and Florence and together with the festival this makes it a perfect location for a cultural and colorful start-of-the-year vacation.

There is, of course, a papier-mâché museum, where you can see many of the best and awarded works of the participants from the previous editions of the festival.

The 2014 Viareggio Carnival will take place at the end of February and the beginning of March.

For detailed information and current festival dates you can visit the official Viareggio Carnival web-site:

http://viareggio.ilcarnevale.com/

source: Vinima @ wikipedia.org, under the Creative Commons

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Festivals in Europe: La Tomatina / Tomatoes fight / Festival, Bunol, Valencia, Spain

La Tomatina is one of those festivals, which are crated by people having fun with the only purpose of upcoming generations to have even more fun. It is a festival with unclear origin and the most important thing is that the people of the town of Bunol, Spain, have created an event so fascinating, that 60 years after its first edition it is now visited by about 50 000 visitors each year.

La Tomationa was most probably created by young people, who wanted to participate in the event called Gigantes y cabezudos / Giants and Big-Heads / and started a tomato fight at the town'n square where the event took place. This quickly became a tradition and the people continued to repeat the fight each year at the last Wensday of August. Although  the authorities have stopped the event from happening in some of the years to come, the town eventually was officially allowed to have the Tomatina from 1975 to nowadays.  

It is organized by the town hall and it has several very simple rules, ensuring the safety of the participants. It is very important that the tomatoes are squashed before being thrown, it is essential that the participants make way to the passing trucks, ripping off other people's T-shirts is forbidden and so is of course throwing anything else than a tomato. 

The fight lasts for one hour, which is pretty enough to cause a really colorful devastation of the town, cleaned afterwards with the kind assistance of the Bunol fire department.

Bunol is very close to the city of Valencia, which makes the transport to the festival very easy for every international traveller, who wants to take part of this trully fascination event.

More about the festival, the history and the town can be found on the official web-site of the event:

http://www.tomatina.es/

source: Graham McLellan @ flickr.com under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 

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Festivals in Europe: La battaglia delle arance, The battle of the oranges, Ivrea, Italy

Europe is famous with many fascinating festivals deriving from ancient traditions and events and one ofthe most memorable of all of them is the famous "La battaglia delle arance" or the Battle of the oranges.

The battle is part of the Historical Carnival of Ivrea, which is held annually at the Italian town of Ivrea in the Turino province, takes place each year to celebrate the liberation of the town from a tyrant, who has tortured the town's polulation. There are many events part of the carnival, including the remakes of the historical moments related to the town's liberation, the most important of which is the Battle of the oranges. 

The battle itself is ferociously fought between groups of people, representing the fight of the town against the army of the tyrant. 

The events of the festival begin in early January and ends at the end of February with the Battle of the oranges and the follow-up prize giving ceremony for the heroes of the battle from both fighting camps.

Information about all the events from the Historical Carnival of Ivrea can be found on the official web-site of the event:

http://www.storicocarnevaleivrea.it

source: Giò-S.p.o.t.s @ flickr.com , licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0

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Auto Shows in Europe: Vienna Autoshow, Austria

Every January, usually at the second weekend of the month - Friday until Monday, Vienna becomes the automotive capital of Europe. The Autoshow Vienna is the biggest auto exhibition in Austria and it is a great start of the year for every motor fan living in Vienna or visiting it at the time.

The exhibition is held at the Vienna exhibition center ( Messe Wien ) and each year presents to the visitors dozens of auto brands and hundreds of their models on a 30 000 sq.m. area. There are of course world and European premiers of new models, which have never been presented to audience before.

The exhibitor companies are presenting models ranging from the economical small city cars to the million euro super cars, which ensures that all visitors find what they came for at the Vienna car expo.

Information about the dates of the exhibition, the opening hours, the venues, ticket prices, food options and many more, can be found at the Vienna Autoshow official web-site:

http://www.viennaautoshow.at

 source: sanjay at stockvault.net

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Festivals in Europe: International Kite Festival, Cervia, Italy

Once a year the beautiful and calm Italian town of Cervia becomes the host of an extremely colorful and fascinating international kite festival. 

The beauty of the Italian Adriatic shore, the warm and windy weather and the thousands of kite fans make the Cervia kite festival a very positive and unusual travel destination, which you will leave going home with hundreds of photos, a big smile and the wish to come back next year for more.

Kite enthusiasts from many countries come to Cervia each year to present their one-of-a-kind complex creations, to meet their friends from other kite-construction studios and to make the festival visitors life-time fans of their beautiful and unique aerial creatures.

The festival dates, photos, videos and contact details of the festival organizors can be found on the official web-site of the event:

http://www.festivalinternazionaleaquilone.com

source: http://www.festivalinternazionaleaquilone.com

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Sport in Europe: Formula 1 Season 2013 European Schedule

The 2013 Formula 1 season has already started and with the Kimi Räikkönen victory in Australia it is clear that the raining three time world champion Christian Vettel, the two time champion Fernando Alonso and the one time world championship winners Lewis Hamilton and Jason Button will all have a very hard time proving who deserves most to become the 2013 world title holder.

As the season is at it`s very beginning, it is now the time for all motor sports fans to plan their holidays according to the Formula 1 2013 schedule, to reserve good seats and to hope for a good weather, so all of them can also enjoy the great cities, which host the races.

Enclosed you can find the European dates of the Formula 1 2013 calender:

12.05 - Gran Premia de Spania - Catalunya circuit
26.05 - Grand Prix de Monaco - Monte Carlo circuit
30.06 - British Grand Prix - Silverstone circuit
07.07 - Grosser Preis von Deutschland - Nuerburgring circuit
28.07 - Magyar Nagydij - Budapest circuit
25.08 - Shell Belgian Prand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps circuits
08.09 - Gran Premio D'Italia - Monza circuit

Detailed information about all the 2013 races, the tracks and the drivers can be found at the official Formula 1 web-site:

http://www.formula1.com

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Festivals in Europe: Sonar Music Festival Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is the proud home to one of the most intriguing and interesting music festivals in Europe in the past 20 years - the Sonar International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art.

The festival stands for it's name and hosts multiple artistical events - musical venues, design projects, music related computer programming, presentations of new musical technology etc.

The 2013 20th edition of the festival will take place between the 13th and 15th of June. A brief list of the names to be seen and heard during the festival includes: Pet Shop Boys, Kraftwerk with their 3D show, Skrillex, Paul Karkenbrenner, Laurent Garnier and many more. 

This is one of the most interactive and innovative festivals and gives the audience a more complete and interesting experience, making the night events just the great finish of a day full of events and music.

Detailed information about the festival, the booking of the different types of festival passes and the accommodation and transport essentials can be foud on the official Sonar Festival web-site:

http://www.sonar.es

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Education shows in Europe: Walking with Dinosaurs

"Walking with Dinosaurs" is an unique show, which will guide you through the world of dinosaurs and will welcome you into an envirnonment last seen million years ago.

The show is in fact an educational program aimed to bring back the times of the great dinosaurs at the time they ruled the Eart. The "Walking with Dinosaurs" show is a BBC and Global Creatures production, which actually means that you will get a lot more than you have anticipated.

The show is interactive and educational and it has already been seen by more than 7.5 million people throughout Europe.

The main idea bihind the show is to bring the young and the grown-up children into the word of the great lizzarsd and to make sure that they will remember going up-close-and-personal with the creatures of the dinosaur history for a really long time.

Detailed information and upcoming tour dates of the "Walking with dinosaurs" show can be found on its' official web-site:

 http://www.dinosaurlive.com/

http://www.dinosaurlive.com/

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Festivals in Europe: Horizon Music Festival - Bansko, Bulgaria

The town of Bansko, Bulgaria is already becoming one of the fastest-growing winter holiday destinations in Europe and quite naturally it evelved into a host of one of the newest end of the winter season festivals in Europe.

The first ever edition of the Horizon Festival ( 23.03.2013 - 29.03.2013 ) will give you the opportunity to listen to a great list of various artists on different stages, to enjoy the great ski pistes of the resort and to enjoy Bulgaria at its' best - the great nature, the nice people and the wonderful food.

One of the greatest things of the Bansko Horizon Festival is the fact that the festival entry packeges include the entrance to the events, the accommodation and access to the ski pistes. This makes the festival a perfect destination for all good music and ski fans. The amazing beauty of the Pirin mountain will certainly make you come back for more, as the resort is also a very nice summer destination.

The Horizon Festival line-up includes many well-known names from the electronical music calender, such as: Crazy P, Jackmaster, Mark E, KiNK, Alex Arnout and many many more.

You can tell that Bansko is becoming a witner sensation by the fact that there are events such as the 31.03.3013 free Bob Sinclair DJ Party.

The fact that Bansko is very close to the capital Sofia and its' international airport ( quite conveniently part of the destinations list of most of the low-cost airlines ) will allow you to easily and effertlessly plan your trip.

Detailed information about the festival can be found on its' official web-site:

http://www.horizonfestival.net/

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Festivals in Europe: Oktoberfest Beer Festival in Munich, Germany

One of the most visited and well known festivals in Europe is without a doubt the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, Germany.

As the subject of appreciation the festival is based on is clearly a favority of many local and international visitors, the Oktoberfest festival is gathering millions of people each year. In 2012 there were more than 6 millon visotors, who enjoyed the numerous beer brands, food specialties and entertainment events the festival has to offer.

People are wearing the traditional Bavarian clothes, which additionally gives the festival a truelly local feeling and helps the travellers be brought into a unique and very enjoyable atmosphere. This of course is also fueled by the traditional German music and the millions of litres of high-quality beer.

The festival takes place on a large area with many small and big "tents", which host the different beer brands, the traditional bratwursts - the best friend a beer can have, as well as the different amusement installations.

The official Octoberfest web-site can give you lots of interesting facts, the annual festival programm, as well as booking and accommodation information, so do not hesitate visiting when planning your Oktoberfest visit :)

http://www.oktoberfest.de


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Festivals is Europe: Cioccolatò festival in Turino, Italy

Festivals are meant to bring a pleasure for every visitor and we would like to present you one, which will most definitely be appreciated by everyone - Cioccolatò festival in Turino, Italy. 

As you have already guessed correctly - it is a festival for chocolate and it is dedicated to bringing exquisit pleasure to all visitors. Both the number of the participant chocolate factories and the number of the visitors are significant and one thing is quite certain - there are smiling people everywhere in Turino during the few days of the Cioccolatò.

The festival gathered about 500 000 visitors in 2012 and it is becoming one of the major and certainly most delicious food events and the European festival calendar. 

The festival is switching the events dates, as it was held in March, but in 2013 it will take place between the 22nd November and the 01st of December.

More information about the festival can be found on its' official website:

http://www.cioccola-to.it

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Festivals in Europe: Rocket War ( Rouketopolemos ) in the town of Vrontados, Chios island in Greece

There are so many astonishing and versatile festivals in Europe and yet there are some, which clearly stand out with their extravagance and fascination.

One of these is the festival Rocket War ( or Rouketopolemos ) , which takes place each year at Easter in the town of Vrontados, situated in the island of Greek island Chios. The nature of the festival clearly matched its' name and it is indeed a war, in which the two fighting sides use about 50 000 home-made rockets in the attempt to hit the bell of the counter party' church. The participators are the parishes of Saint Mark and Virgin Mary Erethianis and every year they remake a tradition, which dates back to the 19th century and was created as an attempt of the local Christians to celebrate Easter during the reign of the Ottoman empire.

Information about the festival can be found on its' official website:

http://rocketwar.gr

Rocket war in Vrontados, Chios island, Greece

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Music in Europe: Classical Spectacular 2013 at the Royal Albert Hall, 25 years of true magnificence

Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall is an event in the European music calender, which simply can not be compared to anything seen elsewhere. There are other musical shows, which also combine music and visual effects, but seeing and hearing just a glance from the Classical Spectacular will really convince you that this is a show like to other and a must see for every fan of classical music and innovative spectales.

The 2013 Classical Spectacular will be the 25th edition of the annual show and it will be presented to the audience from the 14th of March until the 17th of March. Ticket prices vary from 14.50 GBP to 57.50 GBP and every real fan of unique musical shows ( who will be in London during the show dates ) has to book a ticket really soon, in order to be able to witness the real magic that is Classical Spectacular.

Please visit the official web-site of the Royal Albert Hall in order to see detailed information about the show and to book your tickets on-line:

Royal Albert Hall - Classical Spectacular Show

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