Portugal Tops With Readers

USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice contest for ‘Best European Country,’ voting was heaviest for one nominee in particular.  Portugal has apparently stolen the hearts of our readers as it secured the lion’s share of votes.

Portugal is less iconic than other well-known countries, but it offers a wealth of opportunities to travelers: charming villages, great food, fascinating regional music, cultural opportunities, a beautiful coastline and even world-class surfing.

Italy and Austria landed solid in second and third, while a mere 47 votes separated 4th place finisher Germany from Spain in 6th place.  The (very large) United Kingdom, with no language barriers for Americans and a wealth of well-known landmarks, took 5th place.

The biggest surprise? Iceland, which trumped Greece, Norway, and several other more exotic countries, to land in the top 10.

The full list of winners in the ‘Best European Country’ contest category for 10Best Readers’ Choice is as follows:

1. PORTUGAL
2. Italy
3. Austria
4. Germany
5. United Kingdom
6. Spain
7. Ireland
8. France
9. Iceland
10. Switzerland

Congratulations to all the winners.  Wondering where to take your next trip?  This list makes a fabulous overseas bucket list.

All nominees were chosen by experts in the Travel Industry. Thus, the other 10 nominees also deserve some consideration. They were  Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Turkey.

Story from : USA TODAY 2014

 

The Algarve is once again elected by the Dutch national football team for conducting an internship destination before a big international event, revealed the newspaper “Algemeen Dagblad”. According to the publication, the Oranje team will be in the region from the 20-27 of May, before the start of the World Cup football in Brazil.

The Algarve has many municipal and private practice fields and some of them are within hotels and resorts and provide great conditions for any sport throughout the whole year this fact makes the Algarve an usual destination stages of major European football teams during low season.

The Cascade Resort in Lagos has been chosen to host the Dutch national football team for a week-long training period before this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

The runners-up of the last edition in South Africa will be fine-tuning their tactics for the competition between May 20 and 27. And Coach Louis van Gaal will feel very much at home in the Algarve as he owns a property in Vale do Lobo.

The Netherlands will face Spain in the first game of the ‘ Worldcup 2014 ‘ on 13 June. The choice of Algarve was due, according to the newspaper”Algemeen Dagblad”, similar climate to that expected in Brazil.

It was already known that the Netherlands national team had chosen the Algarve, but only now was it announced that the Cascade’s Performance Football Academy will be its host.

Algarve tourism chief Desidério Silva had already praised the decision back in December, deeming it “excellent news” for the Algarve.

The resort is delighted, stating that “with this prestigious football team, the Cascade Resort and Performance Football Academy is closing a very successful football season.”

Since its opening in 2011, the resort has received top-class squads from all around the world, such as Zenit St. Petersburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Spartak Moscow.

It will be the second time the Dutch squad practises for a major competition in the Algarve, after having chosen the region to prepare for the Euro 2004 held in Portugal.