TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

Holidaymakers were hit with hikes in hotel prices across the world last year. Global room rates rose by an average of 4% in 2011, ac-cording to the Hotels.com 2012 Hotel Price index which gathered information from 142,000 properties in over 85 countries. There were in-creases in all regions apart from asia which saw a 2% dip. Within the europe and the middle east region there were drops however with egypt seeing a fall in price of 22% - with prices down 30% in sharm el sheikh resort - and Tunisia down 9%.The average price of hotels in the Uk dropped 1% to £82, although london rates rose 1% to £115 on average.. euro-pean cities popular with Brit-ons saw some big rises, with amsterdam hotel rates in-creasing 9% and Venice and Barcelona rooms going up by an average of 8%. in popular sunspots like ibiza, prices rose by 40% while Greece suffering with economic problems saw a dip of 10% in athens. meanwhile bookings for london hotels on the day of the Queen’s diamond Ju-bilee Pageant on the Thames are up 115% compared to the date last year. Both 3 and 4 June are enjoying record bookings according to data from hotel market intelli-gence firm Travelclick.

Weekend HotspotPrague is a dream destina-

tion for many tourists and its old town district attracts millions of tourists yearly. one of the most beautiful and visited cities of europe, this city has an incredible mix of Gothic, romanesque, Baroque and art Nouveau ar-chitecture. The Vltava river is the heartbeat of Prague and the surrounding hills and winding cobblestone streets provide a truly romantic backdrop. The Four seasons Hotel right in the heart of the old Town is comprised of three historic houses pains-takingly joined together just over two years ago. The first is a neo-renaissance build-ing originally built for a fish merchant, the second a neo-Classical former factory and the third, a Baroque building situated behind the abbey of the knights of the Cross, dat-ing from 1737. The renova-tions employed some of the city’s most skilled craftsmen and women, and the results are impressive. The interior is pure Four seasons – plush furnishings, highly polished stone floors, reproduction antiques and elaborate floral displays. a stylish new res-taurant, bar and lounge Cot-toCrudo opened last month at Four seasons Prague. Cot-toCrudo, which

means “cooked and raw,” in-troduces a new dining and lounge concept to the city. an italian classics menu with a modern twist, a central cu-linary station with prime ital-ian delicacies, a crudo bar, variable seating options and a unique design showcases the latest in dining trends. Guests enter the restaurant through revolving doors from Veleslavínova street and are instantly attracted by the central culinary station fea-turing the crudo bar – “raw” bar in italian - a cheese cel-lar including the mozzarella bar, a salami and prosciutto tower, pane grissini freshly baked breads and wine dis-plays. Guests will have the

opportunity to enjoy an extensive wine list of more than 300 labels, of which 26 wines will be available by mezzo (italian carafe), and an eclectic cocktail list featuring italian and Czech twists on classic recipes. The CottoCrudo concept was in-spired by the design and architecture of Prague. The aim was to create a sense of patina and history to con-trast with the sleek, mod-ern aspect of the bar and culinary stations. The new lay-out is a synergy between the restaurant, lounge and the bar, so it becomes one multi-faceted space. of the three main areas to explore, in Prague the stare mesto on the eastern bank of the Vltava is the old medieval town, built around its main square which is home to the city’s amusing 15th-century astronomical clock, and the haunting Jewish quarter. To the south, by Jiraskuv bridge, you’ll find Frank Ge-hry’s rasin Building, aka “Fred and Ginger” because it appears to be dancing

around its corner Castle is the landmark attraction: and its grounds offer an extraor-dinary collection of palaces, Prague, then work your way through and down to the malostranska metro and the river. The landmark Charles Bridge lined with statues of the saints, links the old town to the mala s t r a n a , or lit-tle Q u a r t e r and is a must see. The airport is 12 miles outside Prague. an express bus connects to the under-ground every 30 minutes. Four seasons can make your retreat to the golden city last longer offering a three night stay for the price of two. www.fourseasons.com/prague Aer Lingus fly Prague ex dublin daily www.aerlin-gus.com

Weekly Best BuyFinding somewhere to

bring the family for a holi-day can be a stressful task but Bewley’s Hotels can make it easier! With four hotels in fantastic locations

throughout dublin, these family-oriented hotels have an abundance of options for family days out and fun-filled activities with the kids. and with plenty of great offers available, it’s never been a better time to start planning that family vacation! Bew-ley’s Hotels are located at Ballsbridge, Newlands Cross, leopardstown and dublin airport and the strategic lo-cation of each hotel means that wherever you decide to stay there will be plenty of things to see and do while you’re there. They have a fantastic family package for two adults and two children, which include an overnight stay and tickets to dublin Zoo from just €99. (€10 supplement for extra child) www.bewleyshotels.ie

Robert Walshe is a free-lance contributor / broad-caster and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland

Home and Away Extradespite the bad press that online hotel

review sites have received lately, the ma-jorities of people still visit and trust Tripad-visor and other hotel review websites when it comes to planning their holiday.

a recent survey asked its 80,000 subscrib-

ers, “do you trust hotel reviews on Tripad-visor and other similar travel sites?”

The results showed that 87% of people will still visit one of these websites to help them when choosing their accommoda-tion.

n Renaissance Room at Four Seasons Prague.

n Restaurant Cotto Crudo.

n Views of Charles Bridge Prague.

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist

with Kathleen Murray

Hot, dry spells of weatherWeaTHer is something we need to be prepared for. Cool days are great for getting things done but sometimes we get exhausted in the heat and need to rest and drink more water. it’s easier to work in the evening again when it’s cool. it’s the same for animals.

animals are worse off than us as many of them have thick fur coats. Can you imagine try-ing to do things in hot weather with a fur coat, scarf and hat on? animals with fur need to find a cool shaded place to rest from the sun.

They need lots of fresh, cool

water available at all times and many of them don’t eat during the day, they prefer to eat in the evening. dogs and cats especially that are living in enclosed cement yards can die from exhaustion. animals cannot tolerate the same tem-peratures as us so, while we enjoy sitting in the car behind the glass, enjoying the heat of the sun, dogs can die from that. if you are going shopping or have to take your dog some-where during the daytime in hot weather then park the car in a very cool, shaded spot (under trees or near a high

wall) so that the sun can’t get into the car. leave windows down a bit to let air in.

it is always dodgy leaving a car with windows down a little in case of theft but your dog can’t be in a hot car so there’s no choice. dogs are great de-fenders of cars so a thief will be warned by a barking dog if they try to steal something.

Unfortunately, dog theft is rife also so you may need to get someone to watch the car for a few minutes if you are running into a shop for some-thing. make sure that your dog is micro-chipped so that, in the

event of it being lost or stolen, it can be scanned and hope-fully returned unharmed. ani-mals in fields can benefit from having a tree to stand under also, as this is preferred by the animal in hot weather or rain.

remember also that the sun moves so at different times of the day the sun will be in dif-ferent places in your yard or garden. allow for this if you are going away and leaving an animal outdoors. animals get sunburn also and skin cancer so please watch over them as they can’t do it for them-selves.