Africa, America, Countries, Europe

Bet on these casinos

You can put your money on a good night on the tables and that means having a bet on these casinos.

You bet that includes Monte Carlo and Las Vegas but our friends at Online Casino have given us the skinny on the other great gambling towns.

And who’d have thunk that top of the table was old New England, cultural Connecticut?

Connect the casino

D’oh: Everyone loves a flutter

Where Foxwoods Resort Casino is the most googled casino, with an average of 91,000 per month worldwide.

The casino stretches 344,000 square feet and has over 5,500 slot machines and 250 gaming tables.

Good Baden-Baden

Red carpet: For casino guests

 

In second place is Casino Baden-Baden, with 22,000 Google searches.

Germany’s oldest casino, it features roulette, poker cash games, blackjack and over 140 slot machines.

You might associate Portugal more with fado and football and fancy custard tarts but it is also the place for a flutter.

The Third Force

Portugeezers: Lisbon

Thirteen thousand googlers sought out Casino Lisboa in Parque das Nações.

The casino offers 1,100 slot machines, live table games such as Blackjack and roulette, and free entry.

And WinStar World Casino, Thackerville, Oklahoma 73459, shares third on the list and is the biggest casino in the US (who knew?)

Despite being attached to a hotel, the total gaming space is 370,000 square feet.

It is filled with over 8,600 electronic games, 100 table games and a 55-table poker room.

Bok to the tables

A little bit of Rio: In South Africa

In fourth with 5,700 searches is Rio Casino, in Klerksdorp in fun South Africa with a Rio de Janeiro Carnival theme across 266,000 square feet.

While fifth with 5,600 searches is Sun City Casino in the North West Province.

With over 40 table games and is perfect for both experienced and first-time gamers.

And that would include one Bandanaman shooting craps so forcibly he earned himself the nickname Hannibal.

The top ten table

One slot: In Las Vegas

The most popular casinos in the world

1 Foxwoods Resort Casino: 91,000

2 Casino Baden-Baden: 22,000

3 Casino Lisboa/WinStar World Casino: 13,000

4 Rio Casino: 5,700

5 Sun City: 5,600

6 Wynn Casino: 4,200

7 Marina Bay Sands: 4,100

8 Casino de Monte-Carlo: 4,000

9 MGM Grand Casino: 3,900

10 Grand Lisboa Casino: 2,600

Asia, Countries, Cruising, Europe

To have and to have yacht

To have and have yacht… that is a question because the most expensive don’t look like yachts at all I know them, you know the ones with floaty sails.

So I’m admitting that that’s the first thing which came into mind when I was sent a list of the world’s most expensive yachts.

Now if only it came earlier… I’ve already bought the Scary One’s Christmas present.

And so I have been doing my homework has left me little clearer other than to discover that they are originally Dutch and need to be fun and racy.

I also discovered King Charles II returned back to England on a jaght.

And that he loved to compete with his brother James along the Thames.

The haves and the have yachts

It seems then that yachts are fast fun boats for filthy rich people.

And that’s just what PayDayLoansNet have given us.

Supreme yacht

Plain sailing: History Supreme

The most expensive yacht in the world is History Supreme costing $4.8 billion.

And it belongs to Malaysian Robert Kuok, who we guess must live on it as he is domiciled in Deep Water Bay in Hong Kong.

At 100ft long, and weighing in at 220,462 pounds the yacht is covered in 100,000kg of gold, platinum and jewels.

It took over three years to produce, the yacht includes:

A deck, dining area, rails, anchor, all crafted from precious metals.

The vessel’s base is wrapped in a thin layer of gold.

With the master bedroom featuring a statue made from genuine Tyrannosaurus Rex bones.

Almost as old as Bob, who has young bones and is still going strong at 98.

Well, you would with all that luxury around you.

Roman’s empire  

Roman luxury: Mr Abramovich’s pad

Chelsea FC owner doesn’t normally settle for second as his multitude of managers will testify.

But History Supreme eclipses Roman’s Eclipse.

It costs an eye-watering $1.5 billion.

The luxe yacht is spread across nine decks, featuring two helipads, two swimming pools, 24 guest bedrooms, a disco hall and a mini-submarine.

The facilities aboard Eclipse include a gym, dance floor, underwater lights, beach club, wifi connection, beauty salon, tender garage and deck jacuzzi etc.

Monaco mariners

See you on the yacht: Roman

Now if you want to be part of the Monaco fast set you want to take to the waters which I did on our speedboat on the Cote d’Azure.

And we passed by the mansions of the Great and the Good and their harbours.

Roman, who it’s fair to say likes a yacht, is said to be the billionaire backer of this super yacht.

The Streets of Monaco is said to have cost $1.1 billion.

And it is designed to encapsulate the beautiful streets of the French Riviera onboard.

The 508-foot-long superyacht includes an onboard casino, racetrack, three swimming pools and a mini-submarine helipad.

There are seven guest suites, a mini waterfall and a restaurant with an underwater view.

All of which have stylised interiors that mimic the city’s iconic surroundings.

Azzam bam

That’s Azzam craft: The yacht

The ‘Azzam’ is a deluxe yacht that flaunts incredible complexity in its detail and design costing $600 million.

The superyacht can accommodate up to 36 guests with a crew of 60 people is required onboard to maintain the yacht.

At 180 metres in length, it is the longest private motor yacht in the world.

So in a world where the divisions are growing wider it is worth reflecting.

On how the rich live and where you’re only worry is… to have and to have yacht.

America, Countries, Deals, Europe, Ireland

Princess Grace – what a Corker!

She is for ever Monaco’s princess… but Princess Grace – what a Corker!

Grace’s people hail from Newport, Co. Mayo.

And her grandfather John Peter Kelly, an honest brickie, emigrated to Philadelphia in 1867.

The bould JP only founded a construction company in the City of Brotherly Love.

And he built his fortune which found its way down to Grace.

It subsequently helped her to forge her way in the acting world.

Kelly’s aye

Seeing that this site prioritises all things American and Irish then Grace Kelly walks, nay sashays, into our world.

Particularly as the Irish are celebrating her this month to mark 60 years since she and her famous family visited Cork.

The Imperial Hotel Cork has a 60th anniversary special by pitching their prices at, yes you guessed it, €60pps for June 26.

You can only wonder how many suitcases Grace, Rainier, Caroline and Albert had that day… or what treatment they received.

But thousands of Corkonians lined the South Mall and would have gladly served as her bell hop.

Imperial mint

You’ll be pampered too.

The historic 200-year-old Imperial, known as the Grande Dame of Cork, is putting on a two-night Princess Grace themed pampering package.

And a bespoke Princess Grace Afternoon Tea features artisanal pastries made in the hotel and is inspired by her fave things.

Dine at the hotel’s new restaurant Thyme at Seventy Six on the Mall where you can eat like a royal.

So that’s a Royal Beef Stew just like Grace and her famille did in 1961.

Tea pour deux

Afternoon Tea at Imperial Hotel Cork.
Photo Joleen Cronin

That Princess Grace Afternoon Tea?… well, you’ll relax at High Noon (obvs) in La Fayettes, the stately tearoom that dates back to 1813.

And those favourite things of Grace’s that inform the pastry decorations?

How about a GK perfume bottle, a mini-Hermes handbag, a rose, Champagne and a selection of mini-sandwiches?

The 1hr 40mins Graceful Express spa treatment will allow you to channel your inner Grace (men be warned!)

The turn down service too has been especially developed with our heroine in mind with a new Princess Grace signature scent.

And all Graceophiles will know that Fleurissimo was her fave perfume, and this new signature scent will be infused with rose and bergamot.

Wall of fame

Dwell awhile in the lobby and peruse the archival newspaper exhibition.

And pick out too the famous people who have stayed here over the hotel’s 200 years.

The royal packages

To recap there’s that €60 special but because you want to be royally treated there are accessories.

That Princess Grace Pampering Package is from €195pp sharing and includes among other goodies one night’s dinner at Thyme and Prosecco for two at La Fayettes.

Royal-tea: And we’re channeling our Princess Grace

The Graceful Escape is a one hour 40 minutes treat you deserve and been saving for, for €180pp.

And tea pour deux is €60 avec Prosecco.

Now that is High Society!

Hello China: And she’s full of Grace, obvs

Princess Grace – what a Corker! And here’s the evidence.

And obviously a Philadelphian.

Back in Monaco

And Monégasque which I saw first-hand when I visited Monaco after school in the days after her tragic death.

We could hardly afford an ice cream then but deservedly I get treated these days in the royal manner in the Riviera.

Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Sport

My Sporting Weekend – Hamilton, Monaco and Barbados

You know when you think you’ve seen someone famous, like Lewis Hamilton or me. you convince yourself it’s just someone who looks like them.

And so I had a job in persuading my fellow revellers at Grand Kadooment, the closing parade of the Barbados Carnival, that it was actually Lewis on the float.

Lewis should be there right now… he is, every year in the land of his forefathers. As should I as was before Let’s rumba in Barbados My kiss with Rihanna

But www.visitbarbados.com instead he is in Austria whizzing around the track in that country’s Grand Prix.

Alas without the cheering petrolheads who go from circuit to circuit following their favourite boy racers.

One solution would be to have a series of purely road races so we could all see.

And nobody does that quite like the most famous race of them all… Monaco.

Me? I can’t even get out of the pit lane in my Fiat 500.

Don’t worry, Lewis, I’m no threat. And besides I’d rather be driven around the Cote D.Azur in a speed boat anyway… The Boat D’Azur and https://www.google.ie/amp/s/about-france.com/mobi/index-amp.htm.

Everyone should visit Lewis’s home, Monaco (it’s one of four globally actually) if they’re in the French Riviera on holiday.

It’s only one of those great French train journeys around stunning cliffs and we took it from our camp base in St Raphael.

Full reveal here… we pulled down the shutter when the ticket conductor came around.

Not the first, or last, time we tested the officials, or gendarmes’ patience on that post-school holiday.

Visit https://www.francethisway.com/places/saint-raphael.php and https://www.visitmonaco.com/en.

And back to Lewis’s beloved Barbados. We chased him down the street… he’s used to everybody being in his slipstream.

His float though was going a little slower but as you can see from the picture he ended up giving us the bum’s rush.

So until the next time it’s back to playing with my toy racing cars.

I only wish I had a track like this one in Istanbul Airport’s Turkish Airways www.turkishairlines.com and Wham bam, thank you Hamam.