In Porto, Portugal, the Porto Card offers free entrance or discounts at museums, monuments, shows, cultural institutions, restaurants and traditional shops and on tours and Douro River cruises. It also provides free travel on almost all metro connections and throughout the STCP network (buses, tram, aerobus and Guindais funicular) and on CP suburban train, Valongo-Coimbra.
The average taxi ride within Lisbon, Portugal, costs €8-€15 (near $14-$26.50) and from airport to city, €12-€18. Fares are capped with a Taxi Voucher Lisboa, sold at the Lisbon Tourism booth in the airport arrivals hall, at the Lisboa Welcome Center and at Palácio Foz.
Depending on day or night service, vouchers cost €12.07 (near $16.75) day/€14.49 night in Zone 1; €15.37 day/€18.44 night, Zone 2, or €20.96 day/€25.19 night, Zone 3, with fares to Estoril, Cascais or Sintra €38.42 day/€46.09 night.
In Helsinki, Finland, for about €2 ($3) you can hop on Tram No. 3 (in either direction, T or B) and do a figure-8 through the city. The self-guided tour lasts about an hour. Among stops are South Harbor’s Market Square, the Opera House, the Natural History Museum, the Rock Church and Senate Square. Tickets good for one hour can be purchased from the driver.
For more info and a downloadable route map, visit www.hel.fi/wps/wcm/resources/file/eb950102caf5a17/3T_english_2007_net.pdf.
MV Princess of Stars, a ferry carrying 850 passengers and crew from Manila to Cebu, capsized two miles from Sibuyan Island in the middle of the Philippine Archipelago on June 22 after sailing into the eye of Typhoon Fengshen. Only 57 survivors were found.
Sulpicio Lines, which operates the line, has had three major accidents since its Doña Paz collided with an oil tanker in 1987, killing about 4,300 people.
In 2008, subways that serve Seoul, South Korea, will include cars for women only. The move is an effort to tackle subway crime, nearly half of which is sexual in nature.
In Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, women-only cars have been used on subway lines during rush hour.
In Venice, Italy, every bar, restaurant, café and hotel is required by law to post a price list, but many do not, and some charge tourists more than locals, adding small surcharges to the bill. The Guardia di Finanza has investigated hundreds of complaints. According to The London Sunday Times, one couple was charged $720 for lunch in St. Mark’s Square.
Those who feel they have been overcharged should request a copy of the bill or a printed receipt (say, “Mi proti il conto”), which provides evidence to submit with a complaint.
A full-day tour of the wine country around Santiago by Vinobus includes the Maipo Valley; tour/tasting at Pérez Cruz Vineyard; Vineyard Santa Rita; the Andino museum, and Vina Santa Rita wine cellars. Lunch at Dona Paula restaurant is not included in the price.
Tours run daily from 9 a.m. $50 per person (minimum, three persons). Enotour Chile (A. Luis Thayer Ojeda 0130, Of. 1204, Providencia, Santiago, Chile; phone [56 2] 481 4081, www
enotourchile.com).
In Liverpool, you can visit the childhood homes of John Lennon (Mendips, at 251 Menlove Ave.) and Sir Paul McCarthy (20 Forthlin Road) aboard the 14-passenger Beatles minibus. Memorabilia, photos and displays chronicle the composers’ early lives.
Scabec (Centro Direzionale Isola E7, 80143 Napoli, Italy; phone +39 800 600 601, www.campaniaartecard.it) offers the “Campania artecard,” which allows entry to museums and attractions on one of four itineraries through the Bay of Naples. The cards are available in 3- and 7-day denominations.
The 22-year-old monorail system running between London Gatwick Airport’s North and South terminals closed Sept. 28. The replacement system, part of a £1 billion airport overhaul, will reopen with limited service in May 2010 and full service by August 2010.
A free shuttle bus runs between the upper forecourts of the North and South terminals every three minutes from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. and every six minutes, 6 p.m.-4 a.m. Passengers arriving at the North terminal needing to catch a train or local bus should allow at least 20 minutes to transit to the South terminal.