Every week we spotlight great hotels and destinations you may not come across via TripAdvisor or other travel portal. Sardinia is just such a vacation wonderland, often overlooked in favor or more visible and populist destinations. And, Port Cervo’s Grand Hotel Poltu Quatu is a double shot of sometimes undiscovered travel bliss. Here’s how come.

Marking their 40th year in business, Coast Hotels has launched a re-branding campaign entitled “Coast Hotels Paints the Town Purple.” The international hotel chain offers accommodations ranging from classic bygone era stays to cutting edge 21st Century business digs. Not only has the hotel brand renovated their brand, but their hotels and their website as well.

The second semi-final of Eurovision 2013 took place last night in Malmo. Ten winners move forward to this weekend’s Grand Final that will reveal Europe’s best performer and song of the year. This year’s contest is loaded with more talent than any previous contest in memory, but a lot more by way of political and artistic expressiveness too.

As the Croatia Airlines strike heads into its fourth day Croatia’s Minister of Transport, Sinisa Hajdas Doncic (below) has said the carrier may go bankrupt if a restructuring plan set in motion is off the table. Meanwhile some 200 Railway Workers Union members protested outside government offices in St. Mark’s Square in Zagreb on Wednesday. By the looks of things Croatia is headed to EU membership carry some unclaimed transportation luggage.

While not the most notorious form of vacationing on Earth, farm tourism is an ever increasingly popular traveler activity in Belarus. According to a study released by the government there, this form of tourism is actually going quite viral. Svetlana Shevchenko, Deputy Head of the Central Office for Natural Persons Taxation of the Belarusian Tax Ministry there told a recent conference that farm tourism has actually increased by a factor or 15 in the last five years.

The world’s largest independent hotel group, Magnuson Hotels, has just announced free property management systems (PMS) to hotels that convert to Magnuson’s low cost franchising brand.

The first semi-final of Eurovision 2013 took place last night in Malmo ushering ten competitors to the finals. On Saturday an audience of 125 million is expected to vote for this year’s Eurovision song champion.

It’s a sure bet if you are from the United States or even the UK, probably anyplace in Western Europe even, the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi is as foreign a name and place to you as Mars or Pluto. But if you only knew, the seaside wonder probably would not be for long.

Carnival Cruise Lines is apparently sailing away from Europeans headed to more profitable distant shores. Blaming rising airfare costs and other market problems in Europe, the cruise giant has decided to port Carnival Legend in Australia rather than in Barcelona and the Med.

Swiss International Air Lines has just announced daily non-stops in between Zurich and Singapore beginning with Airbus A340-300 service out of Changi Airport today.