Hundreds of thousands of people ‘effectively under siege’

Looking for a Spanish getaway without falling into the usual tourists traps? Valencia and its surrounding regions might be the perfect holiday for you, writes Dean Van Nguyen.

AS YOU enter the castle/hotel gates of Ballynahinch, and travel along its splendid lengthy drive, there is a sense that you will very shortly be overcome by grandiosity and an overbearing sense of self-importance. 

Guests for the star-studded wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes began arriving at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle today as dozens of police patrolled Bracciano’s medieval streets.