Palma Live! The photos, the tweets, the videos!

Sponsored by

@bmibaby_com

@turismebalears

@horizonte24

Wow! What a weekend in Palma!

This was a trip with a twist - the itinerary was set by my and bmibaby's friends and followers! A real social media collaboration. Just my cup of tea!

It was only a 2.5 hour flight from Birmingham Airport, and we managed to fit a lot in during our weekend. The sun was shining the whole weekend and it was fabulous to explore the coastal city with it's mix of old town cobbled streets with a sparkling beach so close too!

I'll let all the videos, photos and tweets speak for themselves - they paint a really great picture of my 3 nights away with my Mum @createdineire 

If you can't see the videos, you can view them over on twitvid.com :) 

Exploring the narrow streets (aka getting lost!) suggested by Benjamin Handbury on Facebook


As suggested by Julie Pettifor on Facebook

My Mum - getting carried away with the bling at Birmingham Airport's duty free shops

Trying on Prada sunglasses at Birmingham Airport!

Groovy Baby! Boarding the bmibaby flight to Palma

In the park  with Monumento a Jaime I el Conquistador  as suggested by Julie Pettifor

The Gran Hotel - suggested by @turismebalears

The Gothic La Seu cathedral suggested by Aiden Gill and Benjamin Handbury

The Basilica de Sant Francesc suggested by @sineadymcg

My last morning of sunshine before coming home

Bed Jumping in the Bloggers Room at Horizonte Hotel - it's tradition! :D 

Here's a little (big! ha) round up of my #palmalive tweets from the weekend on Storify.

Thank you to everyone who made Palma suggestions! And many thanks to bmibaby, Turisme Baleares and Horizonte Hotel! :)

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks.

This weekend - Palma Live!

Sponsored by

@bmibaby_com

@turismebalears

@horizonte24

This weekend me and my lovely Mum, Margaret aka @createdineire, will be donning our sun hat and shades and heading for sunnier climes in Palma!


My Mum @createdineire

We  are flying with bmibaby and we shall be arriving at the Horizonte Hotel on Friday evening and check out on Monday.

What shall we do in between? It's over to you! We are putting ourselves in your hands!

Leave a comment on bmibaby's Facebook page or their blog, tweet me, of leave me a comment here. I'm making a note of all recommendations!

The hotel have made their own suggestion!

Bed jumping?! OK. It's on the list. My mum can't wait :D (video)

Do you Gowalla? 

I'm going to be updating my Gowalla passport as I go along, so come and join me! 

Of course (of course!) I'll be tweeting too, and you can follow the hash tag for the weekend #palmalive 

Once again I'm putting myself (and my Mum!) in your hands and inviting you to be my virtual travel companions! Have you been to Palma? What do you recommend? Have you always wanted to go? Where would you like to see? I'll do my best to fit it all in! :)

Prague Press Trip - Day 2 - Walking Tour, Dining Al Fresco and The Augustine Hotel

After a good first nights sleep in Jalta Hotel and a hearty breakfast, I wrapped up warmly and met our tour guide for a 2 hour walking tour of Prague City which Czech Tourism had arranged for our group of travellers. Conveniently our tour started on Wenceslas Square. This is how it used to look in the olden days.

What our tour guide didn't know about Prague! As we walked through Wencenslas Square she pointed out various buildings, all of which had a story to tell.

I particularly liked the decorations on the buildings.

And I even learnt about the Czech Cubism movement that was particularly active between 1910-1914. And there is even a cubist museum in the heart of the Old Town where you can learn about the movement and see examples of the work, and there is a shop where you can buy original and reproduction pieces.

We wandered the cobbled streets and reached Charles Bridge. As you would expect, this is a particularly tourist laden area!

Hello! :)

The bridge is lined with little stalls selling photographs, drawings and jewellery.

It is also lined with about 30 statues!

This chap below is John Of Nepomuk and he is a saint. In 1393 he was thrown off the bridge to his death as order by King Wenceslas!

We stepped down from Charles Bridge and wandered a little further across another bridge. The railings on the bridge were adorned with hundreds of locks, many of which had love hearts and initials carved into them. Peering through the railings there was a little golden imp guarding the water way.

A little further was a wall covered in graffiti, and I think is known as the John Lennon Wall. Most of it was done in tribute to John Lennon, though after seeing this, it is suprising to hear that Mr Lennon never actually visited Prague.

After building up quite an appetite with a few hours walking around the city, it was time for a spot of lunch. We went to Kampa Park which is just at the foot of Charles Bridge on the 'other side' (not the Old Town side!).

Despite it being a bit chilly we opted to dine outside. The restaurant had thoughtfully provided some blankets which we put over our knees!

This was our view.

I selected a salad of seared tuna, with mango, tomato, avocado, spinach and sea weed. My fellow travellers were more sensible and had something warm!

Hurrah! Al fresco!

After lunch we went our separate ways, and I took a stroll through the narrow cobbled streets and did a good deal of window shopping.

A night out had been arrange for us, so I took the chance to have a little nap before the evening began, and I know I wasn't the only one to do that!

We had been invited to dinner at The Augustine Hotel. I bought a new dress just for the occasion!

A coach collected us from the hotel and about 10 minutes later we had arrived at The Augustine.

I believe it's a 5* hotel. And it deserves every star. Very impressive! I really want to stay here on my next vist to Prague *hint* ;)

It has 101 bedrooms and 16 suites. It used to be a monestary and the monks used to brew their own beer here. There are still some monks living on the site.

We had a champagne reception. I could really get used to this treatment!

John Morris, Head of Industry Affairs at Birmingham Airport, me, and Julian Carr, bmibaby's Managing Director.

Some of us took the opportunity to have a little tour of the hotel and it's rooms.

They were AMAZING! What luxury! Apparently a lot of movie & music stars stay here when visiting Prague and I'm not surprised.

We then went to the Brewery Bar which is like an underground cave, but MUCH nicer! We stayed here until about midnight enjoying the gorgeous buffet. The chef even accomodated my wheat/diary free diet. It was a very nice evening and a good chance to meet my co travellers.

A few of us shared a taxi back to the hotel, but the night was still young! I just had to treat myself to a cocktail (a Manhattan) before retiring! ;)