EUROQUEST SideTracks

  See the full gallery on Posterous Think Carnival and most will say Rio de Janeiro. Yet there are numerous other places in the world famous for their Carnival celebrations ranging from Mardi Gras in New Orleans to Carnival in Venice or the fiestas surrounding Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the Canary Islands. Few may think of Mexico as a carnival destination, even less so since the rise of one-sided media reporting on the ongoing drug war and its potential dangers for visitors. Within Mexico, the carnival in Veracruz is probably the best known and most ebullient, but there are other well-known Carnival hotspots in Mexico including Mazatlán, Sinaloa and La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur.  See the full gallery on Posterous Located thousands of miles away from the more populous areas of Mexico on the main land, the South of the Baja Peninsula is truly a far cry away from many of the country´s ongoing woes, including the power str...

When talking about volcano islands, most may think of Iceland or Hawaii - many may not know that Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, has much more to offer than package deal resorts. While beaches may be more bountiful on other islands of the Canaries, Lanzarote boasts the most unique volcanic landscape and the most harmonious architecture. It was local artist´s César Manrique´s legacy that public building ordinances were changed to require all houses on the island to remain white and low-rise, which with few exceptions has been carefully observed since his passing. While most visitors to Lanzarote tend to stay in the main tourist resort of Puerto del Carmen, the island has much more remote and unspoilt scenery to offer in its Northern half. Here we find the high mountain range of the RISCO DE FAMARA with spectacular views over the Atlantic ocean and the nearby island of LA GRACIOSA. It is here, in the village of Y...