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Algiers is located on series of terraces that clamber up the hillsides from the sea, towered over by the ramparts of the medieval Casbah, the Old City. Full of flowers, beautiful villas and luxuriously green gardens, the geography of this Mediterranean city is best understood as a huge triangle.

The seaside European quarter is its wide base, which narrows as it ascends the close winding lanes to the Moorish quarter, eventually coming to a point at the city’s old fortress high above.

Island of the Gull.
The first settlers on the coast of Algiers, aside from the native Berber tribes, arrived around 400 BCE. These were Carthaginian merchants in search of a convenient harbour in the western Mediterranean. During the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, this settlement, known as Ikosim (”Island of the Gulls”) fell to the Roman Empire.

The most significant moment in the city’s history came with the conquest of the Late Roman Numidian Kingdom by the Muslim Arabs around 700 CE. The official founding of the city did not take place until 935 CE, when the Berber tribes (by then converted to Islam) named their harbour Al-Jazir (”White Island”). The city extended no further than what is today the Old City of Algiers, the Casbah.

A bastion for pirates.
After the Moors were driven out of Spain in the fifteenth century, Algiers was the launching point for numerous military expeditions to the Iberian Peninsula, but the Moors were never able to regain control of Spain. In fact, the Catholic Spaniards conquered Algiers instead, taking control of the city in 1509. The city suffered under Christian oppression for ten years before Ottoman Khaireddin Barbarossa recaptured Algiers in 1519 in a daring naval assault. The city and country would henceforth be part of the Ottoman Empire.

In the following years, Khaireddin Barbarossa built Algiers into one of the most powerful bastions on the Mediterranean. Up until his death 1546, he used it as the base for countless raids along the Mediterranean coast, besieging Spanish as well as Moorish cities, and bringing all of Algeria under his control. In Europe, the name Algiers became synonymous with a pirate’s den. In France, however, this was not the case. The French had long been in league with Khaireddin.

From allies to conquerors.
Although European nations tried again and again to recapture the city, all attempts failed miserably. Then, in the 19th century, the French gave it another try. Their conquest of Algeria began with the landing in 1830 at Sidi Fredj near Algiers. The final subjugation tool over fifty years.

After Algiers became a French colony in 1882, a huge influx of French companies and workers arrived and the city grew exponentially. The European residential areas built at that time still shape the cityscape of contemporary Algiers particularly at the base of the “triangle” along the 2-km-long boulevard along the harbour.

In the Casbah. The interplay between Berber pride, Ottoman organization and French sophistication lends Algiers a special charm. Visitors climbing from the French-influenced harbour district up to the Old City of the Casbah experience the city’s different cultures as well as its history.

Built around 1500 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, the Casbah is the old citadel of the Ottoman governors of Algiers. The higher one climbs, the more narrow and twisting the lanes become. The houses are crammed so close together that they nearly touch, and balconies are connected to one another above street level. Several important mosques are located in the midst of this confusion, including the Grand Mosque, the New Mosque and the Ketchaoua Mosque. All are renowned for their antiquity and architectural diversity.

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Adelaide’s CBD covers and area of just one square mile. Wherever you are in the city, it is within the heart of Adelaide. Festivals, food, arts, culture, shopping and sports, this is Adelaide. Whether you want to party or relax on your next holiday, South Australia’s capital has it all. With vibrant inner-city districts, stunning architecture and lush gardens, plenty of hotels and motels to select from, Adelaide is the perfect venue for all sorts of holiday activities.

Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, located on the Torrens River and surrounded to the east by the ranges and to the west by the beach, it prides itself on its live music and arts scene, its historic building heritage and its central location to one of Australia’s best known wine growing regions, the Barossa Valley.

You might prefer to follow in the footsteps of sporting champions at the world-famous Adelaide Oval. Or retreat to the beachside suburbs of Henley Beach, Glenelg & Semaphore. As Adelaide is situated on the coast, its beaches are numerous. One can choose between city beaches or quieter out-of-town beaches about half an hour from the city centre.

Since Adelaide is situated in a gulf, the beaches are family-friendly and safe. For those who enjoy surfing, the open sea beaches are about one hour away. Since the beaches face west, one can enjoy the most magnificent sunsets.

There is no doubt that Adelaide Oval is indeed one of the most beautiful and photographed cricket grounds in the world. Australians take their cricket extremely seriously, and Adelaide is without doubt an important member of the Australian sporting scene.

Residents of Adelaide can participate in or watch a number of sports including AFL, swimming, tennis, netball, soccer, hockey, cycling, horse racing and a variety of water sports. South Australians pride themselves on their level of involvement in sport and have a proud tradition of participation and winning in a wide variety of sports.

The mighty Murray River is an hour’s drive from Adelaide. It is a favorite aquatic spot for South Australians and provides many diverse leisure activities such as skiing, fishing and swimming.

At the University of Adelaide the new Business School creates a stimulating multidisciplinary learning environment that fosters the pursuit of leadership and excellence in both research and education.

South Australia has over 78,000 small businesses. Of these an estimated 55,000 are located within the Adelaide metropolitan area. Almost 40% of these employ between 1 - 19 people making small business a major source of regional employment within Adelaide.

Adelaide offers a diversity of food, wine & culture, it offers a thriving sports scene and growing small business sector. When planning your next holiday destination or a new residential location take a close look at Adelaide. When in Adelaide don’t hesitate to use the Adelaide Locality Directory to find everything form community groups, hospitals, restaurants, accommodation, employment and much more.

Fun, sun and images of a happy beach vacation, these are perfect ingredients for a holiday of a lifetime when you holiday in Cairns and tropical North Queensland.

Blessed with an ideal climate all year-round, boasting temperatures in the Summer months (October-April) of 29-33 degrees C, and Winter months (April-October) 25-29 degrees C, Cairns boasts some of the world’s most engaging natural tourist attractions, the barrier reef, the rainforest and the Australian Outback, and they are all here awaiting your visit.

The very friendly locals of Tropical North Queensland will show you the kind of warm and courteous service that has become the standard to aspire to for other tourism areas. Adventure tourism, night life, dining and shopping add to the excitement and attraction of this unique place.

If you have been here previously, welcome back. If you are here for the first time, bask in our tourist offerings and enjoy your vacation.

Australia’s premier regional city, Cairns is the world’s entrance to Tropical North Queensland. It is an exciting cosmopolitan place with warm, sunny tropical days balanced by cooling onshore breezes. Enjoy a stroll along the iconic Esplanade or satisfy your tastebuds in one of Cairns’ many multi-cultural, diverse and prize-winning eateries.

Cairns gives access to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforests as well as the Australian Outback. Cairns, with its international and domestic airport, is the first stop for many visitors who want to see the real Australia.

Relax on the glorious beaches, dive on the reef and experience the unique tropical rainforests that date back to when Australia was part of ancient Gondwanaland, thousands of eons ago.

Take a swim in the ultra-modern Cairns Esplanade lagoon, then look across the serene waters of Trinity Inlet and you will see coastal ranges and mangrove areas that have changed little since the site was named by Captain James Cook in 1770.

The beautiful Esplanade Lagoon is the perfect place to spend a lazy day soaking up the sun and dipping in the lagoon’s cool and seductive shallows. There are many shady spots to escape from the sun in the heat of the day, as well as cooking facilities. The boardwalk has unique displays of Cairns’s local history and has many exercise facilities for those keen on getting a bit more active.

Cairns is extremely well suited to walking, or travel by bicycle. Well trodden routes and dedicated walking tracks abound or a visit to the Cairns Botanical Gardens is not to be missed. 38 hectares of native Australian gardens are maintained to lush standards, and many plants found here cannot be seen elsewhere. Located among the plants is a coffee shop and restaurant, it is open every day for breakfast and lunch. Admission to the gardens is free.

Interested in Cairns attractions? Check out what’s available at http://www.attractionscairns.com.au

A tiny jewel set in the blue seas of the South Pacific, Norfolk Island is only 8 km (5 mi) long, and 1,600 km (994 mi) northeast of Sydney, Australia.

It is the biggest of a cluster of three islands on the Norfolk Ridge, fringed by coral reefs and crowned by pristine rainforest and some of the world’s tallest tree ferns.

On 10 October 1774, James Cook first landed on this beautiful little island and named it in honour of the then Duchess of Norfolk.

Convicts started to arrive 14 years later and over time it gained quite a harsh reputation, becoming known as ‘hell in the Pacific’.

Then in 1856, descendants of the Bounty mutineers with their Tahitian wives and children sailed for five weeks from Pitcairn Island to settle on Norfolk Island. These new settlers brought with them a unique culture and language, and many held mutineers’ names such as Adams, Buffett, Christian and McCoy. From that day, Norfolk Island began its steady climb out of hell and into heaven.

Once sustained by agriculture and fishing, tourists now keep the island alive. But traditional culture remains deep rooted with dancing, singing and a unique cuisine. Banana dumplings, fried fish and Hihi pie, concocted with periwinkles, can be sampled at one of the fine restaurants scattered across the island.

The blue waters around Norfolk Island are teeming with fish, and there are countless fishing charters and scuba-diving trips out to the reef to explore this kaleidoscope underwater world. In the sheltered waters of Emily Bay, you can also indulge in some lazy swimming and snorkeling, and endless relaxation.

Norfolk Island is favoured by well-heeled Australians and New Zealanders, and a few millionaires have migrated to this tax-free haven. There are over 70 low-tax shops and many eager customers. Yet the island seems to balance the old and the new perfectly honouring its Pitcairn people, its rich environment and its visitors.

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Aldabra Atoll is part of the Aldabra Group, one of the archipelagos of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The second largest atoll in the world after Kiritimati, Aldabra is the coraline tip of a volcanic sea mount, rising from depths of 4,000 to 4,500m (13,120 to 14,760 ft). At 34 km (21 mi) long, 14.5 km (9 mi) wide and just 8 in (26 ft) above sea level, the atoll consists of four coral limestone masses forming a circle around a lagoon of 224 sq km (86 sq mi).

The lagoon is tidal and two thirds of its water recedes back to the ocean at low tide. Aldabra was given World Heritage status in 1982 to protect its delicate ecological environment.

Because the atoll is so isolated, many of its species of flora and fauna are found only here. The islets and rocky outcrops in the lagoon provide nesting areas for thousands of birds.

It has possibly the largest population of red-tailed tropic birds and the second largest colony of frigate birds in the world. Many other birds are found here also, including the Aldabra flightless rail, the only flightless bird found on any Indian Ocean island.

The Aldabran giant tortoises are, however, the atoll’s most renowned residents, being the last of the giant tortoises which were once spread across the entire region. Commercial exploitation is believed to have made all other giant tortoises in the area wiped out by the mid-19th century, and very nearly exterminated the Aldabran population. Two species of marine turtle also nest on beaches on Aldabra: the green turtle and hawksbill turtle.

Unlike the nearby Seychelles, the atoll is inhospitable to humans as the limestone has been eroded into sharp spikes and water-filled pits. However, the mangroves support fish nurseries, and the lagoon is home to a wealth of marine life, from black-tipped reef sharks to eagle rays and parrot fish.

For almost a century, scientists have been studying the flora and fauna of the atoll, which is uninhabited other than by those working at the scientific research station.

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Lake Malaren is the third largest lake in Sweden, located near the town of Stockholm. The lake’s area is 1,140 square km and its greatest depth is 64 metres. Its many islands contain an incredibly rich heritage, a gorgeous lush historical landscape with palaces, old churches, rune stones, forty castles, and two World Heritage Sites - the Palace of Drottningholm on the island of Lovo and the Viking sites of Birka on Bjorkb and HovgArden on Adelso.

The Royal domain of Drottningliolm with its Chinese pavilion, wooden theatre, and Baroque gardens is a stunning 17th century palace complex, modeled on Versailles and set in the pastoral landscape of Lovo. Birka, Sweden’s most ancient city, and one of its most famous historic monuments, is situated on Bjorko — an island that today has a romantic, desolate air about it.

Birka was founded at the end of the 8th century and for nearly 200 years was at the centre of European trade In the late tenth century the build up of sediment made the lake too shallow for ships to navigate and the city was abandoned.

Hovgarden, the kings farm on the neighbouring island of Adelso, remained in use until the late Middle Ages. Today these lovely islands are beautiful places in which to walk and ride as well as see the incredibly well preserved Viking ruins.

The landscape of Lake Malaren was formed at the end of the lee Age when the land started to rise as a result of the gradual melting of the ice-cap lifting the tons of pressure that had been bearing down on it.

Quite apart from the cultural heritage contained in these islands, the moraine ridges and lush valleys are scenically lovely. They include rolling farmland dotted with oak trees, pine forest on cragy hills, and trees and grasses growing right down to the water’s edge.

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Munich is full of beautiful beer gardens, magnificent public green areas and buildings with ornate stucco facades. Tradition and modernism rub shoulders in Munich as in no other German city.

The small town charm of many Munich districts stands in great contrast with the hectic pace of big city life on the Marienplatz or along the sidewalks of Maximilian Street. Quite aside from the famed Oktoberfest held each autumn, this city on the Isar River offers visitors a wealth of architectural masterpieces. During the years of the last century, Munich has become one of Germany’s most important media and commercial centres. Munich’s unique combination of laptops and lederhosen have made the city one of the most frequented business and tourism destinations in Europe.

From Petersbergl to Munich.
Monks settled on the Isar in the eighth century, building Tegernsee Monastery at the place they called Petersbergl. The crypt of the church of St. Peter, Munich’s oldest, dates back to the early Middle Ages. In the twelfth century Heinrich the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, built the city of Munich around St. Peter’s. Under the command of this powerful duke, Munich became an important city. It was the official residence of the Bavarian dukes from 1255 and named the capital city of Bavaria in 1506.

A square for football celebrations.
Just as Munich is the heart of Bavaria, the Marienplatz is the heart of the city, the most popular and best known of the many squares in Munich. The new city hall is on the north side of the square, with the old city hall, the Rathaus, on its eastern side. St. Peter’s is just a few steps away. The famous and beloved Bayern Munchen football team has traditionally celebrated its championship titles on the Marienplatz with thousands of enthusiastic fans.

Munich conjures up images of Oktoberfest, the Hofbrauhaus, shady beer gardens and people wearing lederhosen and dirndl. All of these images are accurate, but Munich is more than simply a bastion of Bavarian traditions. The city is one of Germany’s most important publishing and television centres, for example. Many publishing houses, radio and television stations, film production companies and music studios are headquartered in the media city of Munich. As a result, Munich is home to more actors, artists, television producers and stars than any other German city.

Summer residence of the Bavarian monarchs.
The celebrities of the past, the Bavarian dukes, princes and kings, also resided in Munich. Their legacy has left the city with a number of fascinating historical attractions. There are so many to choose from, visitors may have a hard time deciding which of the many sights to head for first.

Nymphenburg Palace and its park should be near the top of the list. The former summer residence of the Bavarian rulers, Schloss Nymphenburg is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bavaria today. Its elaborate interior furnishings, including King Ludwig I’s almost surreally ornate “Gallery of Beauties” should not be missed.

Symbol of Munich.
The twin towers of Munich’s most famous symbol, the Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady), are 99 metres tall. Duke Sigismund laid the cornerstone of Munich’s most beloved church on 9 February 1468. Today the Frauenkirche is officially the Cathedral Church of the Archbishops of Munich and Freisling. Its towers can be seen for miles around, is in part because the city administration prohibits the construction of any building within Munich’s central ring taller than 99 metres. New construction of taller buildings further away from the centre has been permitted in the past, but is currently under review. Only the south tower of the Frauenkirche can be climbed. It offers a unique view of Munich, its surroundings, and the nearby Alps, which on clear days appear to be close enough to touch.

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Ranging from Bratislava to Korman in southwestern Slovakia, Zitny Ostrov (Rye Island) is Europe’s largest river island. It is so big that most tourists are unaware of being on one. It lies between the Danube, and its slower running off-shoot the Little Danube, in the Danubian Plain.

Several rivers flow across it and the rich alluvial deposits make it the most fertile land in Slovakia. The island also contains central Europe’s largest storage of high quality potable water and it has the warmest and driest weather in Slovakia.

A beautiful area of marshes, natural and man-made lakes and rich agricultural land, the south has been designated a Protected Landscape. The still waters of the Little Danube provide excellent boating through the alluvial forests. While on the water, the controversial hydroelectric dam at Gabcikovo may also be visited.

Zitny Ostrov has two main towns, both of which have strong Hungarian influences. DunajskA Streda has a majority Hungarian population, though the only reminder of a significant Jewish minority is a 1991 memorial. There is also evidence of Bronze Age settlement here.

In the late 1990s the town centre was rebuilt with distinctive white buildings topped by towers and elaborate tiled roofs. A large thermal park offers year-round swimming in naturally heated water.

Komarno, Slovakia’s principal port, lies on the Hungarian border — a bridge leads into Hungarian Komarom, which used to be part of Komarno. Here 66% of the population speak Hungarian and the street signs are in two languages.

Europe Place is a large shopping and tourist centre built in a variety of European architectural forms. A native son of Komamo, Franz Lehar, is honoured with a biennial music festival, whilst the annual Komarno Days Festival celebrates Slovak and Hungarian culture.

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Everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Large companies successfully use eBay auctions to offload excess stock, the Postal Service rids itself of unclaimed merchandise, police departments sell confiscated goods. Thousands of nonprofits are doing business with eBay.

Are eBay auctions the fundraiser’s cash machine or are the dangling cash-carrots never quite attainable?

There you have both ends of the online auction spectrum. Likely, your organisation’s ability to generate donations in this fashion lies somewhere in between, hopefully toward the high end. Merely registering an account with eBay doesn’t guarantee that sellers will be prompted to donate part of an item’s selling price to your group. Or that buyers will gobble up your items. Philanthropically minded people are only beginning to see online auctions as a serious avenue of charitable giving.

Successfully trading on eBay is far more than a mechanical process. You’ll need staff and/or volunteer commitment, and sales and marketing know-how. It takes little skill to get on the bandwagon; it takes a lot not to fall off.

There are several main reasons to use eBay as part of your overall fundraising plan. Not because its the cool thing to do. Not because it takes the place of person-to-person campaigning.
But because:
* EBay enables your group to reach a huge, new market of non-constituents, uncultivated strangers who will immediately participate in funding your projects by buying your items.

*You can fit a few hundred people in an in-house auction room, but you can reach millions online.

*You’ll capture new prospects. A percentage of buyers will turn out to be donors to future campaigns if your follow-through is sound. Otherwise, why not simply run an online membership auction from your organisation’s web site?

* It’s cost effective. No space to rent, tickets to sell, caterers to hire, and so on.

* Its novelty will captivate volunteers who are used to performing the same campaign tasks year after year.

How you can capture a profitable share of this new market depends on the sales direction you take, the items you offer, how they’re presented, and your game plan.

Direct and Community Selling
You’ll obviously receive the most income and acquire the most new prospects if your group uses donated items to auction. For nonprofits, eBay terms this “Direct Selling.” It’s the same technique used by organisations that produce in-house, live auctions by soliciting in-kind gifts.

“Community Selling” is a term eBay uses to describe the process whereby sellers designate all or part of the selling price to an organisation. This offers your present donors new opportunities to support your drive.

For example, the Johnson’s annual gift is $125. Your latest newsletter describes and promotes the benefits to the campaign from members selling unwanted items on eBay. The Browns’ decide that two 17″ hand painted platters are items they haven’t used for years. They list them on eBay at $19.95 each and designate your group to receive 80% of the selling price.

The remaining 20%, they figure, will take care of shipping. The platters each sell for $25. You have an additional donation from the Browns of $40. If 99 other present donors did the same you’d have an additional $4,000 on top of their cash gifts. And what about the members who couldn’t afford to give you cash donations? Surely, many of them would find an item or two to sell on eBay on your behalf. So, you see, the potential for raising funds through eBay is real, but eBay is only the vehicle, not the driving force. Selling the concept is the organisation’s job.

What Items to Offer?
While it’s been shown that many non-constituent eBay buyers react favorably to knowing that proceeds of a sale are helping fund a nonprofit organisation, their interest is driven by an item’s appeal, not necessarily an organisation’s mission.

People will buy anything, especially when they think they’re getting a deal. Last time I looked, a set of 10 real cattle teeth was about to be auctioned for $7.99. But since you’re in the serious business of raising money, not running online garage sales, offering genuine collectable teeth will do little to help fund your annual budget. Stay away from trinkets when soliciting direct selling items if possible. However, memorabilia is a natural for online auctions.

The more your items play to a universal audience the more they’ll be seen, and the higher the selling price. For example, a vintage Cowboy type belt buckle from a city in Arizona could sell to a local organisation member or be even more valuable to an Australian outback buyer.

Most everything sells on eBay, but collectibles have always been big sellers, also electronics in all categories, music, books and games. Everyone has a few old books and CDs lying around that you can convert to cash by selling them on ebay. And certainly one-time, high profile items with special appeal, like seats in a corporate box at a big game. Or a trip to the Barrier Reef.

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Jerusalem is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the planet. The Canaanite Phoenician “city of peace”, Urushalim, evolved into Jerusalem after it was invaded by King David around the year 1000 BCE.

Living in Jerusalem has always been a bit of a gamble. The ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Persians all cast lusty eyes on Jerusalem’s riches. In the seventh century, Moslems invaded the “Holy Land” along with its city sacred to three faiths.

During the Crusades, Jerusalem changed hands frequently. After the knights of the First Crusade succeeded in breaching Jerusalem’s walls, they murdered nearly everyone within them, regardless of religion, wiping out as many as 40,000.

Today, the Israeli and Palestinian states covet to parts of the city and Jerusalem’s bloody, violent history continues.

Since 1980, Jerusalem has been the home of the Israeli government, although all foreign diplomatic missions are based in Tel Aviv in accordance with a UN resolution.

Three major religions live together in Jerusalem, which naturally leads to a multiplicity of opinions. Each religious group is split and subdivided into factions and sects. There are as many as a dozen different Christian splinter groups, the largest of which is the Greek Orthodox community. This diversity of belief should contribute to Jerusalem’s attraction, but, in reality, it too often leads to conflict and bloddshed. The incredible concentration of sacred sites draw visitors, religious or not, from everywhere.

For Jews and Christians alike, Jerusalem is the Holy City and the centre of their faiths. For Moslems, Jerusalem is the third holiest city after Mecca and Medina. It was the destination of Mohammed’s miraculous journey to and from Mecca in a single night. Its Temple Mount is the place from which Mohammed ascended to, and returned from, heaven.

Three architectural styles
The Old City of Jerusalem was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. It is split into four districts. The Armenian Quarter occupies the south-west, the Christian Quarter, the north-west, the Jewish Quarter, the south-east and the Moslem Quarter, the north-east.

The wall around the Old City was built on the order of the Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century.

Jerusalem’s treasures are so numerous that only a handful can be mentioned here. The most visited site is probably the Wailing Wall, a 400-metre-long section of the retaining wall of the terrace on top of the Temple Mount where Herod the Great built his great Jewish temple.

This temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 CE. Important pilgrimage sites for Christians include the Via Dolorosa, the name of the path Christ walked on his way to the crucifixion, and the fourth-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

One of the most magnificent Islamic monuments is the Dome of the Rock. Erected on the Temple Mount over the place from which the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven, the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque. The remarkable Al-Aqsa Congregational Mosque, one of the largest and oldest in the world, is located nearby, also on top of the terrace of the destroyed Jewish temple.

More than a lookout
The Mount of Olives (Hebrew: Har Ha-Zetim) is a historical hill on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. The ridge of hills is within sight of the Old City. The Temple Mount is actually higher than the Mount of Olives, which is just 809 metres above sea level. The Mount of Olives has great significance for all three major religions.

According to the Jewish faith, the Messiah will cross the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem before the Last Judgment takes place in the Kidron Valley. Moslems also believe the Final Judgment will take place there. For Christians, the Mount of Olives is inextricably linked to the life and death of Jesus. Today it plays a more mundane role for many tourists, because its lookout deck affords an incredible view of Old Jerusalem.

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