Welcome to the first Europe Travel Carnival where the posts have been selected to inform, entertain and inspire readers who love travel in Europe. I been delighted with the number of great submissions received and I’m sure that you’ll find the posts enjoyable and informative.

Travel Tips

Rome’s Offbeat Archaeology posted at Escape From New York describes the casually strewn antiquities which can be encountered on your way see the well known sites of Rome, such as this giant foot pictured below. This is certainly the case in Rome, anywhere you wander you come across amazing history and why I call Rome a living museum.

copyright of Wendy EscapeNewYork

Wendy, the blog author, is New York City-based photographer and journalist, who travels the world to photograph the people, icons and celebrations that make each country unique.

A Report from Budapest posted at Bookstore Guide describes their recent visit to Hungary’s capital, Budapest. The Bookstore Guide blog aims to map all the European independent bookstores selling books in English.

Jul assesses Is a combination tourist pass for you? at Europe String a blog offering advice on travelling Europe on budget. It’s a good idea to work out if a tourist pass is really going to save you money, don’t just assume it will, think about how you’ll structure your days and do the sums.

Budget Travel

The European Exchange Rate and travel in Berlin, Germany posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France highlights the budget acommodation available at hostels in Berlin. This is a real coincidence as I leave for the Travel Bloggers Summit in Berlin tomorrow and will be staying at the Generator Hostel. The recent fall in the value of sterling to the euro is making travel from the UK to the EuroZone more expensive for me.

Poetloverrebelspy presents More No-Budget Tips for Stockholm and Nyköping posted at Less Than a Shoestring. I haven’t visited Stockholm but hope too as I really liked Gothenburg. This blog is great for travelling on a really low budget and one of the biggest money savers is free accommodation arranged through websites such as the HospitalityClub.

Destinations

Bright skies and blue seas in Cornwall posted at Heather on her travels has some beautiful photos of the Treyarnon area where she stayed at the very funky looking youth hostel recently.

Heather ponders if it is her imagination, or are the skies are brighter and the sea is bluer in Cornwall? No, Heather, I think it may be true. every time I’ve visited Cornwall I thought it was stunning and painters do talk of the wonderful light. Heather’s blog allows her to escape to far off places, collect beautiful objects and bask in the sunshine.

Travel Bloggers Hopping – Meet the Blogger posted at Happy Hotelier tells of the first foray to Paris made by Benji Lanyado, budget travel columnist at the Guardian, in his initiative to hook up with bloggers in a different city every month to be given the insider tour. I’ve already emailed Benji to invite him to Berwick upon Tweed and/or Edinburgh.

HairySwede writes about Stockholm to Helsinki. Welcome to Suomi. posted at A Swedish American in Sweden. The post describes the ups and downs encountered in a brief visit to Helsinki on a mini cruise from Sweden to Finland taken by a Swede who lived in the US for 17 years.

Hiking The Rivals, North Wales features beautiful photos taken during a hike of three peaks in North Wales, posted at LightningSmokestacks where the blog author GW showcases his photographic work during his 25 year career. I’m not into hill walking so have missed some of the wonderful elevated views perhaps the highest I’ve been is the cable car at Butlins in Pwllheli.

Accommodation

Raymond writes about Hotel Loyalty Reward Programs in his Money Blue Book, He lists various schemes and the benefits such as free upgrades, free stays and the option of earning Air Miles. Of course frequent travellers stand to gain most from reward schemes.

Well I hope that the proof of the pudding has been in the (r)eating and concur that the first Europe Travel Carnival has been a success. Please submit your posts to the next Carnival by 09.00GMT on 31 March 2008, which will go live on Monday 7 April.