Beautiful, entrancing Tuscany! Poets and princes, artists and authors have rhapsodized about its charms. From the grandeur of its cities to the serenity of its country-side, Tuscany invites and enchants all to partake of its wonders. It is no wonder that visitors come from ’round the world, and that, today, it is a well-known and perfect destination for a dream-like romantic wedding.

The possibilities of where and how to be married in Tuscany are endless. The rumors of tortuous bureaucracy are over-blown and incorrect - if you have consultants who know how to work the system. There was a time when having a legal wedding anywhere but a town hall was impossible. Today, one can marry in a medieval castle, a garden of an historic villa, an hotel - practically anywhere, with an English speaking Protestant minister officiating. The minister will conduct either a civil or religious ceremony. This allows couples to write their own vows and alleviates the need for a translator, as well as providing an intimate and private setting for their Wedding in Tuscany

Catholic couples can choose from grand cathedrals to country churches in small villages. English speaking priests are available or interpreters can be provided. The rules for Catholic marriages are the same world-over and require documentation from the home church. This ceremony is totally legal and requires no additional civil wedding. A good wedding planner can walk one through the procedures.

Jewish couples can choose to be married in on of the exquisite, historic synagogues in Tuscany, notably in Siena and Florence. These synagogues are Orthodox and the rabbis require authorization from an Orthodox rabbi at home. Sometimes an Orthodox rabbi is willing to conduct the ceremony in a villa, hotel or other outside venue, so that a gorgeous Tuscan chuppah can be set up overlooking olives trees and vineyards in the rolling hills of Tuscany. In recent years, many couples of Reform or Conservative background have chosen Tuscany as their wedding destination. A Reform rabbi can perform the ceremony in any private location, without paperwork from home.

Little Tuscan town halls in extraordinarily charming towns such as Lucca, Siena and San Gimignano have been discovered and provide very romantic settings for ceremonies.

If one is searching for something very different, hot-air balloon weddings can be arranged. Pre-wedding festivities, such as wine-tasting parties, historic tours, and rehearsal dinners in local restaurants are added features for a “destination wedding”.
Within the last year, some noble Florentine families have opened their homes for wedding ceremonies. This is an incredible opportunity to be married in their fabulous palaces or gardens with spectacular views of the city and surrounding countryside.

For town hall weddings and simple symbolic ceremonies, there are many agencies which can assist couples. Not all wedding consultants are licensed and recognized by the Italian state. It is, of course, paramount that only licensed agencies be used, so no unfortunate surprises occur. Only Weddings in Italy
by Regency is able to arrange the ceremonies with legal validity in private locations, such as those described above (palaces, villas, gardens, etc…). This wedding planning service has the exclusive ability for these ceremonies and arrange Catholic and Jewish weddings with legal validity.

Some agencies require paperwork done in the States but weddings in private locations can be organized by Regency doing all of the legal paperwork for U.S. citizens in Italy. That is an important advantage because you will save a lot of time and money. Regency is proud that many other agencies and luxury hotels come to them for assistance with the legal documentation. Having all such work done in Italy, preparation time and costs are much reduced.

Original post by Mao tze tuscany and software by Elliott Back

Got a train from Allepey to Ernakulum to get to our next destination of Fort Cochin. On arriving at Ernakulum station we went out into the car park to find a rickshaw to take us to Fort Cochin island itself. Although a number of rickshaw drivers were jostling for our business, a rather bullish man pushed his way to the front and after a bit of haggling over price we got in his rickshaw.



As he drove past the other drivers there was much self-satisfied gesturing and cat-calling from him to them – he was probably boasting about the price he’d managed to secure for the journey from the whiteys.



And then we were out of the car park and shot off into the traffic. And he drove like a man possessed. I can’t say we were actually scared because he seemed to be a very capable driver but we were soon convinced he was trying to set a new personal record. He weaved in and out of traffic, steaming into gaps that only seemed to appear at the last minute, and at one point overtook a queue of traffic waiting at a police barrier. He seemed unwilling to stop or even slow down for anyone or anything. It was as if we were all in “Speed 3: Rickshaw Rush Hour”, and if the rickshaw should ever drop below 50 kilometres per hour we’d all explode.



When we stopped outside our guesthouse in Fort Cochin, having surely set a new Ernakulum to Fort Cochin record, we fortunately did not explode. Not even a little bit.



So if you ever need a reliable wheel man in the Ernakulum area (and Jason Statham is not available) let me know and I’ll do my best to hook you up with Mukul Schumacher…

Original post by Glen and software by Elliott Back

The kind wine folk of Tuscany and Umbria, have made life that much easier for those with a healthy interest in wine by creating “Le Strade del Vino”, wine trails leading through the areas that grow wine. These trails generally follow back roas, passing by a plethora of vineyards.In Tuscany it’s commonto pass many “cantine aperte” where you can taste, buy and immerse yourself in wine.It is a fantastic incentive to combine the sampling of a few wines and a glimpse into the traditional farming lifestyle of these rural provinces.

Each Strada has its own district emblem, which you’ll see on signposts in towns and through-out the countryside. Just look for a sign that has something resembling a bunch of grapes, and you are probably on the right trak. Every strada has its own map, with listing of wineries and sometimes agriturismi, restaurants, wine tasting enoteche and even open olive mills.

If you would like more information on wine roads please visit:
Strade del Vino

If you like the world of wine and you can also find useful information on this websites you should also visit

Italian Fine Wines and Regional Specilaties
Italian Wine Country

Original post by Mao tze tuscany and software by Elliott Back

The Hilly island of Giglio is Tuscany’s second largest after Elba. Some 14 Km off Monte Argentario, its pristine waters are increasingly popular with divers. There is a regular boat service from Porto Santo Stefano make getting to this pretty little spot easy. You arrive at colourful Giglio Porto, once Roman port and now best spot to find accommodation. A local bus service will take you 6 km to the inland fastness Giglio Castle, dominated by Pisan Castle.

Asaide from a couple of patches of sand the size of the beach towel, the only beaches are on western side of the island in and around the modern resort of Giglio Campanese, built around the old watch tower

Original post by Mao tze tuscany and software by Elliott Back

Under a “Something Special” heading in the guidebook, there is a mention of the Kadalivanum Family Restaurant, which serves meals to a “strict naturopathic formula”.



Thought we’d give that a try so jumped in a rickshaw outside our guest house – the driver seemed to know where we were talking about and headed up the main road. About half way along he seemed to lose confidence and stopped to ask another couple of drivers, who seemed to think it was down a side road. On our map it was definitely further up the road, opposite the main mosque:

so I insisted: “No, no. Carry on – near mosque”.



The driver dropped us off near the mosque and of course we couldn’t find the bloody restaurant. Someone says something that makes us think it’s moved and puts us in another rickshaw and tells the driver where to go.



Fie minutes later we arrive almost exactly where we started. The
Kadalivanum Family Restaurant has moved pretty much right next to our hotel.



Anyway, once inside we sit down and wait to be served. Pretty soon it’s clear that there are no menus – you get what you’re given.



Pretty soon someone turns up with what looks like seven shot glasses filled with different coloured liquids – not disimilar to the rack of schnapps you order after a blowout at Belgos – and we’re given strict instructions on the order in which these are to be drunk.



We both agreed that the first one was rather nice, kind of yoghurty, but after that it all got a bit random: nutty and spicy, sweet and beany, earthy, very tart. Between drinks three and four we had to eat a small plate of paste, which was like a kind of savoury apricot chutney. Although that makes it sound nicer than it was.



After downing that lot it would have been nice to clean the palate before the next course, but water is not allowed because it dilutes the stomach’s digestive juices we are told.



Next we are given a banana leaf each, onto which is spooned six dollops of food, again with a strict order in which they should be approach. Somewhat confusingly Jess is told to eat hers in a different order to me. Has our naturopathic guide made a mistake or are girls’ insides just different? It wasn’t at all clear. In the end we both decided to do it the same (possibly, boy) way.



The first dollop was of a kind of earthy powder that tasted of sweet molasses and had laxative written all over it. After that it was another random selection of flavours, some okay, some not so okay. The order turned out to be crucial. It was not great getting a mouthful of something nasty and diving into the next portion to take the taste away, only to find it was even worse. The last ‘course’ was rice, because it’s apparently the hardest to digest.



Overall I think we agreed it was an interesting experience rather than a taste sensation. But we certainly felt healthy immediately afterwards.



We left with a promise that we would not drink any water for at least an hour, and then went straight to a coffee shop, almost certainly destroying the naturopathic harmony in our stomach, but leaving us with a much nicer taste in our mouths.

Original post by Glen and software by Elliott Back

Ik kan je eerlijk zeggen, het was heerlijk om weer eens in een hostel te verblijven! Een degelijk bed, de ruimte om je benen te strekken en de vrijheid om je gewoon om te draaien in bed…

Daarbij dan nog eens het simpele genot nog eens wat andere mensen te ontmoeten. Zo sliepen we in een dorm met twee belgen, Niels en A****, die in de omgeving een oude man hielpen met metselen. Afwisselend werd dit aangevuld met andere mensen, waarbij ik Steve, the Melbournian door salesman even wil noemen gezien dat we de rest van de tijdelijke slapers verder nooit echt hebben leren kennen.

Buiten onze dorm waren er nog een paar vaste gasten, waaronder een japans en een duits meisje welke beiden aardbeien aan het plukken waren om aan een visum-verlenging te komen… Ook hing er nog een australische dame rond welke in het hostel wat klusjes deed terwijl ze op zoek was naar een gelegenheid om een reiki praktijk te openen.

Ook waren we een paar dagen in het gezelschap van twee fransen. Pas tegen het einde van hun verblijf kwamen we er achter dat zij broer en zus waren. Dit maakte wel wat meer duidelijk waarom hij graag met ons zat te kletsen terwijl zij ondertussen ergens wat ging lezen ofzo.

Last but not least was er Femke. Een nederlandse schoonheid van zeer geringe proporties maar met een lust in het leven waar je gewoon vrolijk van wordt. Vooral van interesse om te weten is haar cake-eating contest met de fransman.

In het hostel waar we zaten was er elke middag verse cake en thee/koffie. Op een zeker middag arriveere Femke met de easyriders tourbus. Die middag kwam er nog een grote groep aan en daarom was er heeeel veel cake gemaakt. De grote groep ging echter meteen an ahet avond-eten, meer cake voor ons dus. Zo kwamen wij er achter hoe de Femke, die twee keer in mij postuur past, aardig wat cake wist weg te werken, wat vooral leuk werd toen de fransman probeerde om haar in te halen. Tot onze grote verbazing wist Femke dezelfde avond ook nog eens een hele pizza weg te werken…

tussen al deze gezelligheid door hebben we ook nog een tweetal duiken weten te verwerken. We hadden niet de meest ideale weersomstandigheden maar dat werd dubbel en dwars goed gemaakt. We hebben zeeleeuwen gezien onderwater. Welke ons belachelijk deden voelen doordat zij met achteloos gemak stil bleven hangen in de golfslag terwijl wij twee meter heen en weer werden gesleurd. En op de tweede duik hebben een paar zee-draakjes gezien. Ze lijken op zee-paardjes maar dan iets groter en met een soort ‘vleugeltjes’. Je begrijpt wel dat we helmaal in onze nopjes waren… Na de dijk goot de dive-master warm water uit een thermos-kan in onze wetsutis terwijl we deze nog aan hadden, heerlijk!

In het weekend zijn we met de australiers op 4 wiel toer gegaan, maar daar moet ik binnenkort nog eens een aparte blog aan wijden… Ik loop nog een week achter met schrijven

Original post by Martin Reurings and software by Elliott Back

De bomen achter ons latend trekken we verder richting Albany. Voordat we daar aankomen duiken we eerst nog even een national park in. Alhoewel het er mooi is valt de zwembaarheid wat tegen en gaan we op zoek naar een betere spot.

Zo vonden we cozy corner, hier konden we even lekker wat rondplonsen. Camperen was hier helaas weer niet toegestaan dus na wat ontspanning en lunch zijn weer verder gereden.

Vlak voor Albany stellen we de stad toch nog even uit en duiken Frenchman rd op. Aan deze weg liggen de typisch toeristische bezienswaardigheden. We hebben de wassende wateren de kust zien aanvallen in een zeer imposante gap waarna we ook een gap in the making hebben mogen aanschouwen. Wat vooral leuk was aan deze tweede locatie was de natural bridge. Hierna vonden we de kreunende en steunende maar niet spugende blowholes. Op beide lokaties kwam er net een buslading touristen teruglopen en dit hebben we verder ontlopen door radio-hill te bezoeken, hier mogen de bussen niet heen :).

Vanaf dit punt hadden we een prachtig uitzicht over de omgeving en realiseerden we ons dat de wat vuilgekleurde wolken aan de zuid-oostelijke horizon het resultaat waren van een zeer heftige brand. Later kregen we te horen dat Porongurup in vlammen op was gegaan en dat terwijl dit aanvankelijk onze bestemming van die dag was geweest!

Maar goed, op dat moment wisten we dit nog niet en reden we door naar het einde van frenchman road, frenchman beach. Een klein strand, maar wat een mooi stukje strand. Mooie afgeschermde baai, schaduw-rijke picknick tafels, bbq’s, het enige wat ontbrak waren de campeer plaatsen.

Hoe dan ook, het werd al wat donker en we hadden honger. Er zaten ook nog wat andere mensen, waarvan een paar jongeren wat goede muziek aan hadden en we gingen er gezellig in de buurt zitten. Wijntje erbij en uiteindelijk ook gezellig met de anderen zitten kletsen… Uiteindelijk hebben ze ons uitgenodigt om het volgende weekend met hun 4×4 op pad te gaan, laten ze ons de mooie plekjes zien!

Wij zijn uiteindelijk gewoon hier gaan slapen voor de nacht nadat Sara, Brandon, Allison en Ralph terug gingen naar Albany. We waren toch al van plan een paa rdagen in een Hostel te duiken en hebben maar besloten om dat te verlengen tot een week.

Original post by Martin Reurings and software by Elliott Back

Had a couple of days to kill in Trivandrum (or Thiruvananthapuram – blimey!)waiting for Jess to arrive and one of the cultural items I decided to pursue was a visit to the Puthe Maliga Palace Museum.



I paid my entrance fee and expected to be able to just wander around, but once inside I had to wait with some local tourists for the official guide to take us round.



After a few minutes of waiting the guide arrived and from the first moment he saw me, he acted as if I was the only person on his little tour. He personally ushered me from exhibit to exhibit, spoke about the various objects only in English, and dashed from room to room leaving the half a dozen or so India tourists to lag behind, waiting for those few who understood English to translate into Malayalam for the rest.



I felt incredibly awkward and made a few apologetic shrugging gestures to the rest of the group, which fell on deaf ears, well eyes. Things came to a head halfway through when one of party said something in a slightly shirty tone to the guide in Malayalam, I guess quite reasonably along the lines of: “Look mate, that English guy is not the only one on the tour you know!”.



The guide was unrepentent, as far as I could tell saying: “If we stand here talking about this much longer you won’t even get to see the rest of the exhibits, even less hear about them!”



At the end of the short tour, he homed in on me for a tip, and I suddenly understood the motivation for the personal service. I gave him twenty rupees – the same as it had cost me to get into the museum – which seemed not unreasonable for fifteen minutes work the museum presumably paid him to do anyway. But he was not happy. Oh well…

Original post by Glen and software by Elliott Back

I’m meeting Jess in Trivandrum, Kerala on the 24th Feb. I originally thought I’d have been back in India for a few weeks before meeting her for the final leg, but I’d spent longer in SE Asia than anticipated and now it’s a bit of a race to get from northern Vietnam to the southern tip of India in time.



Believe it or not, the simplest route without paying a fortune seems to be as follows (all by air):

• Hanoi to Bangkok
• Bangkok to Calcutta
• Calcutta to Chennai (Madras)
• Chennai to Trivandrum

Hanoi to Bangkok



I was one of the first to check in and headed smugly through passport control and security until my hand baggage gives the man behind the X-ray cause for concern and I realise I’ve stupidly left my Swiss army knife in my rucksack.



I head back the wrong way through security, nervously leaving my passport with some random at passport control and rejoin the check-in queue which is now as big as I feared it would be when I decided to get there early.



Half an hour later, after checking the knife in as special hold luggage, I get back to passport control, trying desperately to remember the name and face of the man who has my passport. Fortunately he spotted me first and seemed more relieved that me, perhaps suspecting I’d done a runner and thinking of all the paperwork that might entail.



When I arrive at the gate they pull me to one side and explain that actually they can’t just send a loose knife to Calcutta via Bangkok, in the hold or otherwise, and I either need to put it in my hand baggage and they’ll put that in the hold (as long as it’s at least 5kg – I’m already thinking of cheap heavy things I could load it up with) or leave it with them and I can arrange for a friend to pick next time one visits Hanoi airport. Yeah right, I’ve got friends just popping to Vietnam via Hanoi all the time…



After exploring various options, e.g. someone was willing to post it for me to London, the most sensible thing to do was to say goodbye to the knife. My own stupid fault I suppose. I’d been careful to make sure I wasn’t carrying any gels or liquids but neglected to remove a tool offering 12 different ways for being at least a bit threatening in an aircraft.



Bangkok to Calcutta



Erring on the side of caution I decided not to risk a tight connection at Bangkok, but this left me with a very loose one – and an 11-hour wait in the airport.



I spent the hours wandering (very slowly) around the airport, listening to my iPod, and reading great swathes of Gregory David Robert’s Shantaram (on which more in a later post…). Oh yes, and smirking more than once at this dish in one of the airport restaurants:

The flight was fine (although on finishing the in-flight meal I realised rather shamefully that it was my fifth full-sized meal of the day…) but it put me in Calcutta about 1am in the morning.



I’d arranged a pick-up from the airport from a guest house I’d stayed in before, but until I saw the little man with my name scribbled on a board, I was never completely convinced it was going to work out.



The drive from the airport back into central Calcutta was a rude re-introduction to urban India – the air thick with pollution, rubbish strewn everywhere, packs of moody dogs wandering around looking for mischief, and of course the unfortunate souls who call the pavement home.



Crashed in a pretty grotty room for the night then conducted some business between gentlemen with Umesh, the son of the guest house owner in the morning: paying him for the internal flights he’d booked on my behalf, changing my remaining travellers cheques into rupees, and collecting the tatty copy of the India Lonely Planet guide, which I’d left with him back in December, rather than drag around SE Asia.



Calcutta to Chennai



Got a taxi back to Calcutta airport for my Air Deccan (India’s answer to EasyJet) flight to Chennai. On arriving in Chennai, having spent most of the short flight talking to a sports journalist from Caligut (not for the first time feeling the pain of my almost complete ignorance of cricket and sport in general), I followed his advice to just stay in a hotel near the airport, rather than travel into central Chennai to find a cheap guest house only to travel straight back in the next morning.



The hotel I ended up in was one of those mean-spirited places that knows people are staying there largely for convenience rather than quality of service and so feels it doesn’t really need to put in the effort. The worst example of this was the hotel I stayed in at Agra (Taj Mahal territory). It was probably the most expensive hotel I’ve stayed in on the trip and everything about it just exuding an air of lazy corpulence, safe in the knowledge that when you’ve got one of the true wonders of the man-made world on your doorstep, you’re never going to be short of customers, regardless of how rude your staff are, how decrepit your rooms are, or how far the prices your the room services menu differ from the ones you actually charge (can you tell that particularly annoyed me?) …



Back in Chennai the room had TV (”all our rooms have TV sir”) but just relied on a small portable aerial for reception so picked up about four channels, badly. Obviously none were in English…



In the end I just turned up the aircon (I’ll think of a compensatory way of reducing my carbon footprint) and had a lovely long sleep under sheets and even a blanket.



Chennai to Trivandrum



The final leg was very straightforward and delivered the added satisfaction of knowing that the various pieces had come together successfully and I’d made in to Trivandrum well in time to meet Jess, in fact with a couple of days to spare.

Original post by Glen and software by Elliott Back

by Leena Dordi

If you are considering property for sale in Spain that is being bought as a re-sale property, the following will help you to understand the basics of the process that involves documentation requirements.

The documents required from the vendor:

 Documents Needed For The Property

* Residential properties for sale should have certain documents in place that are usually provided by the vendor. These are the basic requirements, in other precise situations there is a possibility other documents are required. 1) Copy of the Title Deed - known as Escritura. The document illustrates the legal and registered owner of the property 2) Copy of the plans for the property (If exists) 3) Copies of utility bills for each service that is connected (from the most recent dates) 4) Copy of receipt proving last payment of property tax (IBI)

 Documents Needed From The Vendor

* If at this stage all parties have an agreement on: price, payment terms, etc and all documents are in order, in order to progress onto the next stage the following will be required, which is usually commonly asked for each individual. 1) Passport card 2) Residency information, marital status, and, occupation - profession

 Documents Needed From The Purchaser

* For a purchaser that is more than one person, than for each the following will be required: 1) Passport card 2) Residency information, marital status, and, occupation - profession

* If, however, the purchaser is a company, the following will be requested:

1) Company number (CIF)
2) Copies of the Company’s documentation and providing evidence that the representative is duly authorised to represent the company
3) Personal documents will be needed by the company representative

* If the purchaser buying the property for sale in Spain wishes to be represented via an attorney than as per usual the power of the attorney will be required. It is known that the power of the attorney can be signed in Spain prior to Notary Public or in UK prior to a Notary Public, which will then be legalised with the Apostille of the Hague Convention.

However, the purchaser’s lawyer must be able to draft the power of attorney and arrange for its signature.
Property For Sale In Spain by Property For Sale Guide continues to progress toward pioneering the sale of houses all over the world, with including related property services for both the residential and commercial sectors …

About the Author
As Marketing & Junior Director, collaborating with the Director - we gave birth to Property For Sale and Rent Guide Limited - the parent company created to accommodate Property for sale guide and property for rent guide Ltd. The objective of the portals were to establish professionals to meet buyers and sellers, striving toward efficiency, and bypassing all objectives which were initially set in 2005…

Original post by Larry and software by Elliott Back