But here are just a few notes from our short holiday trip to Iceland. I can expand later on many of the issues and bring more island vacation tips for your consideration. Please give the post a comment, and I shall do my best to answer it.

As earlier mentioned the people at Iceland suffer from their own downturn of their economy together with the bad world economy. So they have a lot of trouble.

For the tourist to Iceland this is in our favour, as the currency – Icelandic kronor – is much cheaper to buy and your credit card will perform much better  in this situation.

Earlier, Iceland was by many regarded as a rather expensive travel destination but that isn’t the case any longer.

Hotel in Reykjavik in Iceland

We stayed the 4 nights (3.-7. April) in Iceland at the Radisson SAS Saga Hotel in Reykjavik.

This isn’t a cheap hotel but the rooms are nice, they serve a very fine breakfast, and the hotel is situated conveniently for many things.

Especially if you hire a car you will enjoy the easy connection to the old city centre, and to the many interesting places of Reykjavik. You find a map of the location of Radisson SAS Saga Hotel in Reykjavik here

You can come to the Radisson SAS Saga Hotel after a 45-minute drive from the international airport. From the domestic airport Saga Hotel is only a 5-minute drive away.

Car parking is easy and bus connections are available directly to the hotel from the airport.

Nearby you find attractions like:
•    The National Museum.
•    The National Library.
•    The Nordic House.
•    Open-air, geothermally-heated swimming pool.
•    The University of Iceland.
•    The University Cinema.

The weather in early spring in Iceland

The weather in early spring in Iceland is like all seasons in one day. I experienced very nice sunshine, especially one unforgettable morning with the eider ducks courting each other in a shallow bay and allowing me to approach them quite close for photos. This area is called Seltjarnarnes and is the north western narrow peninsular of Reykjavik. Part of Seltjarnarnes is a nature reserve, part of it a golf course.
Find more information about Iceland for travel here.

I will return with more travel tips about what to see in Iceland and where to go.

A few more fresh pictures from Reykjavik in mixed weather:

Clubhotel Riu Funana has a sister hotel ClubHotel Riu Garopa of the very same architecture and standard just beside Riu Funana. When you stay at Riu Funana you will also use the facilities of ClubHotel Riu Garopa as you just pass without any border between the two large and very similar club hotels. Facilities shared between the ClubHotel Riu Funana and ClubHotel Riu Garopa:
Include  “Sal” beach bar,  “Renova Spa” wellness centre with different treatments, beauty salon and massages (additional charge), Complimentary gym, jacuzzi and sauna, Hairdresser, Mini-club and children’s playground, Hobby club, and the “Pacha” night club.

Review of the beach of Sall next to Clubhotel Riu Funana

As I have mentioned in my earlier post about Sal Island, Sal has a very dry climate and excellent sandy beaches, and the best beach at Sal Island is just beneath Riu Funana Club hotel as it is a beachfront hotel of very high standard.

It is a very broad beach with white sand, clean and attractive. Just close to the path from Funana there are obviously many people enjoying the beach life with a bar, different offers of play and equipment for water sports etc. Plenty of beach chairs are available for your sun bathing

If you want some solitude you just enjoy walking some hundred meters away and settle down in the white sand.

All along the beach the water is really beautiful, torques and clean. The waves and the current can be strong at times, but during our stay in November we didn’t have any restrictions on our swimming in the real nice water.

The coast is famous for windsurfing and other water sports.

For small children and if the beach should be too windy or the sea too tuff you can enjoy a large swimming pool area with all facilities you can imagine. The swimming pool is heated in winter and sun loungers, parasols and towels by the pool area are complimentary.

For lunch or for a snack it isn’t far to walk up from the beach to the nearest restaurant, see also later.

Review of the rooms at Clubhotel Riu Funana

The rooms (500 guestrooms) are nice and clean with what you need, including a balcony or terrace, a safe in the room and satellite TV. The only thing I am missing is a free lan connection in the room.

Food and dining as all inclusive

When you have the all-inclusive package to Riu Funana you have all meals, drinks etc. free of charge all day. In the spacey resort you can chose between four restaurants with each of their special styles of cooking. You have to sign up for three of them the day before to be sure to have a table. The breakfast is a huge buffet – your only problem with the food and drinks is that it demands a strong will not to return with more kilos in weight than you arrived with.

The list of eating and drinking places looks like this:

* “Ponta Preta” non-smoking main restaurant with terrace
* “Cabo Verde” Cape Verdian speciality restaurant
* “Mandalay” Asian restaurant (at ClubHotel Riu Garopa)
* “Mambana” African restaurant (at ClubHotel Riu Garopa)
* “Santa Maria” poolside restaurant/Barbeque restaurant
* “Grogue” lobby bar
* “Batucada” lounge bar
* “Botafogo” poolside bar with swim-up bar
* “Abacaxi” plaza bar
* “Barracuda” dance bar (at ClubHotel Riu Garopa)

The food is very good. Beer and wine is local (Portuguese) of a decent quality and with no restrictions for adults. Spirits are of international brands.

Concluding the review of Clubhotel Riu Funana

All in all we had an excellent stay at Clubhotel Riu Funana  at Sal Island in the Cape Verde Islands with the all-inclusive stay. .We stayed there as a single couple but I will underline that with all the varied facilities and the safe environment Clubhotel Riu Funana should be an excellent vacation destination for families with children of what ever age groups. Like wise Riu Funana should be a super holiday destination for larger family groups for example celebrating the birthday of an older family member or the like.

Find more info about travel and stay in Cape Verde Islands.

Here you will find the web address of Club Hotel Riu Funana at Sal Island, Cape Verde Islands with all-inclusive stay

Read more about Cape Verde Islands at our sister site.

In a number of years the Icelandic economy has been booming, too, known in financial circles as the Icelandic geyser economy. The geyser economy has been clearly visible for tourists as well as the inhabitants of Iceland: Lots of new big cars and housing development in the luxury class out of proportions to the limited population of around 250.000 Icelanders.

The Icelandic geyser economy has been built on huge investments in other countries, like Great Britain and Denmark funded by enormous loans from Icelandic banks and others.

The Icelandic krona has dropped dramatically in value and the country Iceland has been near to be bankrupt, see ‘Iceland is all but officially bankrupt’ and

What an Economic Collapse Looks Like: The Icelandic Crash Visualized

These economic difficulties for the people of Iceland are at the same time an opportunity for foreigners to sign up for a cheap summer vacation in Iceland. I guess you will never forget an island vacation in Iceland.

In fact Iceland is much nearer to North America than most people imagine and Iceland can be reached in a few hours from many big cities, see the Official travel guide to Iceland
You will find an interactive map of Iceland here

And a few facts about Iceland from Lonely Planet here.

Please add your comments and experience from visiting Iceland by going here.

Among the developer projects the Island Projects are among the biggest and most unbelievable on Earth, see our article: Dubai Islands in The Persian Gulf– Construction of artificial archipelagos and enjoy the online presentation the Palm Trilogy of Palm Jebal ali, Palm Jumeira and Palm Deira .

Video of the Dubai Palm Islands planning and construction.

The incredible trust in the future behind the vision and a belief that man can do anything with enough money and resources was to me an invitation to enormous risks of financial disaster and environmental degradation and social turmoil.

Contrary to the understanding of many the money behind the investments isn’t that much money generated in the Emirates from oil production, but foreign investors being persuaded to focus on investment in Dubai for big returns. With prices on property skyrocketing for the first years this seemed to be true.

With the global crises, first as a financial crises and now as a much more general global economic crises with recession in many countries such projects seem to go into a difficult future, as they are based on luxury demands for fancy resorts, luxury villas and departments and these depend very much on visitors’ ability to fly from far away to their property in Dubai.

I can only be worried that the warning signalled in the post on Bloomberg.com in the beginning of December has to be taken even more seriously here around the New Year of 2009, see Dubai Speculators Quit as Lending Drought Bursts Desert Bubble . One of the warnings referred to was “Dubai is more precarious than it has ever been,” said Christopher Davidson, author of “Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success” (2008, Columbia University Press). “If the property industry collapses in Dubai, it will be finished. Dubai’s relative autonomy will come to an abrupt end.”

I will later add pictures from my visit to Dubai.

See also articles at our partner site: Dubai Island Vacation

Please add your comments or news – may be you have some inside information to share with our readers interested in investing in Dubai property: CLICK to COMMENT on Dubai Islands – Bursting Bubbles of Business or just Backlash.