Monday, June 26, 2006
Travellers cheques
Both GaliciaGuide.com and HotelesinGalicia.net were down from just after 2.00pm yesterday until the early hours of this morning. I think there were further problems until around 5 or 6 am. The problems lie with my host Streamline.net, but this is their first black mark in respect of downtime, so I am not overly concerned.
Travellers Cheques and Galicia
I had an email from a recent visitor to Galicia pointing out that travellers cheques are not honoured in the greater majority of Banks across Galicia. If you are holidaying or travelling there, take Euros not travellers cheques.
Hotels
If you are looking for a hotel in Galicia, or anywhere in green Spain, see the hotel section of Galiciaguide.com where we now offer a selection of just under 100 hotels in Galicia and around 150 in the whole of green Spain. All are of good quality with standards and ratings comparable with those of the UK.
Travellers Cheques and Galicia
I had an email from a recent visitor to Galicia pointing out that travellers cheques are not honoured in the greater majority of Banks across Galicia. If you are holidaying or travelling there, take Euros not travellers cheques.
Hotels
If you are looking for a hotel in Galicia, or anywhere in green Spain, see the hotel section of Galiciaguide.com where we now offer a selection of just under 100 hotels in Galicia and around 150 in the whole of green Spain. All are of good quality with standards and ratings comparable with those of the UK.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Holidays
I have been doing some work on the Spanish pages of galiciaguide.com with a view to promoting the site to advertisers and making it more affiliate friendly.
As sods law would have it, hits are way down at the moment, but I am putting that down to the football world cup. Surprisingly however page views are through the roof. Perhaps it is the other browsers doing anything they can to get away from the football!
Just over 2 weeks to go before we leave for our holiday and my excitement levels remain at zero. I have had a couple of emails from recent visitors to Galicia, both of whom liked the place, but I have yet to get into the pre-holiday spirit myself. On a positive note we will be spending a couple of days with Colin, a friend who has one of this sites most successful blogs and who I communicate with via email on a regular basis. He lives in Pontevedra which I have only visited once, so it will also be an opportunity to have a better look around the city and also to go to Galicia’s largest city of Vigo – somewhere I missed out on last year.
As sods law would have it, hits are way down at the moment, but I am putting that down to the football world cup. Surprisingly however page views are through the roof. Perhaps it is the other browsers doing anything they can to get away from the football!
Just over 2 weeks to go before we leave for our holiday and my excitement levels remain at zero. I have had a couple of emails from recent visitors to Galicia, both of whom liked the place, but I have yet to get into the pre-holiday spirit myself. On a positive note we will be spending a couple of days with Colin, a friend who has one of this sites most successful blogs and who I communicate with via email on a regular basis. He lives in Pontevedra which I have only visited once, so it will also be an opportunity to have a better look around the city and also to go to Galicia’s largest city of Vigo – somewhere I missed out on last year.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
The Yorkshire town of Filey
Spent yesterday in and around Filey, a Noia like town on the East Yorkshire coast and somewhere where I spent regular holidays as a child and teenager.
Filey has undergone a lot of refurbishment over recent years and is magnificent. If you ever have the chance to visit it do so, it is quaint, has a super little town above the beach and some nice cafes and shops.
Nearby, Cayton bay also has the best beach in the area with masses of sand plus a rocky area with crabs, blennies, and small fish that kids (and grown up kids) can try to catch. All told it is a great place to spent an English summer day or better still longer.
Filey has undergone a lot of refurbishment over recent years and is magnificent. If you ever have the chance to visit it do so, it is quaint, has a super little town above the beach and some nice cafes and shops.
Nearby, Cayton bay also has the best beach in the area with masses of sand plus a rocky area with crabs, blennies, and small fish that kids (and grown up kids) can try to catch. All told it is a great place to spent an English summer day or better still longer.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
New site completed and uploaded
I have finally uploaded galiciaspain.net. There are still a few teething problems, especially with the render speed on explorer and the rollover effect for the buttons is far from smooth and missing the active state on click.
I have only used CSS, so the javascript (high code overhead approach) has been avoided, but the result is slightly disappointing. The site also uses a photoshop backdrop, not something I usually use, so the look is unlike my other sites. The content is structured around a shorter and more concise form of description and the images are oval – just to be different (it also makes it obvious if they are copied).
One of the intentions is to focus the site on things to see and trips to make as apposed to city and town guides. There are also sections on myths and the people of the region which will be developed over time.
Elsewhere, our Galician friends in the USA are arriving in the region on the day we leave, something that could not be avoided due to a house sale, but that is a disappointment anyway. Our vacation is now 3 weeks tomorrow and we will have to do some final holiday clothes shopping over this or next weekend, after that we should be set. I also need to contact Colin, my friend in Pontevedra, to arrange when we can visit him, it hardly seems like a year since we were there!
Here is the url for the new site – www.galiciaspain.net
I have only used CSS, so the javascript (high code overhead approach) has been avoided, but the result is slightly disappointing. The site also uses a photoshop backdrop, not something I usually use, so the look is unlike my other sites. The content is structured around a shorter and more concise form of description and the images are oval – just to be different (it also makes it obvious if they are copied).
One of the intentions is to focus the site on things to see and trips to make as apposed to city and town guides. There are also sections on myths and the people of the region which will be developed over time.
Elsewhere, our Galician friends in the USA are arriving in the region on the day we leave, something that could not be avoided due to a house sale, but that is a disappointment anyway. Our vacation is now 3 weeks tomorrow and we will have to do some final holiday clothes shopping over this or next weekend, after that we should be set. I also need to contact Colin, my friend in Pontevedra, to arrange when we can visit him, it hardly seems like a year since we were there!
Here is the url for the new site – www.galiciaspain.net
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Galicia web sites
Just over 2 weeks after I uploaded hotelsingalicia.net it ranks at No. 6 on google.com for “hotels in Galicia” – and out of around 1.7 million results. I hope a similar search result will arise for galiciaspain.net when I put it up later this week, although this site will need to be visible on numerous searches, at least over time.
Galiciaguide.com has, for the time being at least, escaped most of the remaining google filters and now appears at around 15 on the Galicia Spain search, a multi million serp. The Galicia search will take more work, but it is in the top hundred out of 30+ million. It does however rank at No. 1 on a198 million result search – my biggest serps success to date.
Galiciaguide.com has, for the time being at least, escaped most of the remaining google filters and now appears at around 15 on the Galicia Spain search, a multi million serp. The Galicia search will take more work, but it is in the top hundred out of 30+ million. It does however rank at No. 1 on a198 million result search – my biggest serps success to date.
Monday, June 12, 2006
A strange bit of logic
Logic and Galicians do not go hand in hand! A house, which has been up for sale in the town of Noia for at least 6 years without selling has just had another 10K euros added to the asking price. When pointing this totally illogical move out to my wife’s father (a Galican), the response was, perhaps he is in no great hurry to sell. Four years ago this same house was up for around 55K euros (now 85K). I need to remember, if we decide to move, that a lack of interest in property can, according to the Galicians, be remedied by hiking up the sale price.
I continue to work on the new galiciaspain.net site, but it is far from ready to upload, even though the design problems are now resolved. As we leave for a 3 week break in Galicia in less than 4 weeks the pressure is on to complete it before we go.
I continue to work on the new galiciaspain.net site, but it is far from ready to upload, even though the design problems are now resolved. As we leave for a 3 week break in Galicia in less than 4 weeks the pressure is on to complete it before we go.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Buying property in northern Spain
Looking at some Galician estate agents the other day I noticed that although prices are high in the cities and larger towns, they do drop quite considerably when you start to look at the villages, small towns or countryside settings.
As examples I saw a new build, 4 bedroom, single storey house (casa rustica) in the country for 180k euros and a similarly priced refurb (though not yet complete) of a 5 b/room property in a coast side town in the lower bays. Prices do however rise considerably as you move to the bigger urbanisations.
4 weeks today we depart for la Coruna and from there on to Noia. We have previously flown in to Santiago de Compostela, so this will be a different, and by car at least, longer route. We will then be in the region for the remainder of July. Last year we spent most of August there and had great weather, so we are hoping for a repeat, all be it a month earlier.
If you are interested in finding out about, or pursuing the purchase of a property in this part of the world, take a look at the links to the left where you might be able to get some additional information.
As examples I saw a new build, 4 bedroom, single storey house (casa rustica) in the country for 180k euros and a similarly priced refurb (though not yet complete) of a 5 b/room property in a coast side town in the lower bays. Prices do however rise considerably as you move to the bigger urbanisations.
4 weeks today we depart for la Coruna and from there on to Noia. We have previously flown in to Santiago de Compostela, so this will be a different, and by car at least, longer route. We will then be in the region for the remainder of July. Last year we spent most of August there and had great weather, so we are hoping for a repeat, all be it a month earlier.
If you are interested in finding out about, or pursuing the purchase of a property in this part of the world, take a look at the links to the left where you might be able to get some additional information.
Friday, June 02, 2006
First entry for a few days
I have been working on galiciaspain.net for the last few days and have finally completed the design and page structure. All that is left now is to add the content, most of which is already prepared. The site should have a very different look and style to galiciaguide, but will initially be smaller. The target is to have it up and running by the end of next week.
Our trip to Galicia gets ever closer, 5 weeks today to be precise.
Having been tied up this last week I also need to email some internet friends that I have neglected over the last few days. I have plenty to say, but little time in which to write it.
The hotel booking anomaly seem to continue on galiciaguide, but it effects my link to the booking and not the booking itself. The selection of hotels has also gone up to almost 80 now with a massive selection in Santiago and la Coruna.
Our trip to Galicia gets ever closer, 5 weeks today to be precise.
Having been tied up this last week I also need to email some internet friends that I have neglected over the last few days. I have plenty to say, but little time in which to write it.
The hotel booking anomaly seem to continue on galiciaguide, but it effects my link to the booking and not the booking itself. The selection of hotels has also gone up to almost 80 now with a massive selection in Santiago and la Coruna.
