Brilliant-online-magazine-June-2022

Casa Milà by Antoni Gaudí

BRILLIANT DISCOVERY OF SPANISH CITIES

✦ Spain is so much more than the cringe-worthy stereotype of Flamenco, Bullfights and Siestas.

Those who have wanderlust

in their DNA can attest to this, that travelling opens up your mind and heart. I wasin Spain recently, and I got a fresh perspective of the country that goes way beyond flamenco, bullfights and siestas.

COVID certificate

Note: While countries are opening up with COVID-19 restrictions waning, remember if you travel to Spain you now have to fill in an FCS health form as dictated by Spain Travel Health if you do not have an EU digital COVID certificate.

Discovering modernity amongst palaces, castles and cathedrals

Spain is clearly a country rich in history, so yes, there are tons of palaces, castles and cath edrals generously sprinkled around the country, and after a while you've seen so many cathedrals you can't quite distinguish which one you saw where!

Some awesome Spanish buildings and architecture

But Castles and Cathedrals are not all there is to Spain. I was also really impressed by the blend of the old and the new, the quaint and charming with the sleek and fancy.

When I was in Barcelona, I found it rather refreshing and quaint to be able to see both really old, classic historical architecture in the façades of some buildings, and at the same time, to see an art nouveau architecture looming ahead of you.

➸ Catedral de Sevilla

Cuatro Torres Business Area

Nothing like a good homemade paella to bring people together

Madrid is also a treasure trove of modernity. As you fly into the city, you may catch a glimpse of four skyscrapers towering over the city. This is the Cuatro Torres Business Area (CTBA). They are the largest skyscrapers in Spain. The tallest of them stands at 250m and these four towers house companies, embassies and hotels.

A health giant

Spain´s medical services, facilities and expertise are actually one of the best in the world.

Hospital Universitario La Paz (HULP) is one of the largest hospitals in Madrid and was named the best-valued public-owned hospital in 2018. HULP's headquarters are in a campus at the northern end of Paseo de la Castellana, and it comprises 18 buildings that make up three major separate hospitals - General, Children's and Trauma.

And many may not know this, but Spain has been the world leader in organ donation and transplantation for 28 years straight. In 2019, it reached 48.9 donors per million population with 5,500 transplants carried out.

Spain is known for their sustainability actions too. Read this article - Sustainability is a Reality in Spain

Food, drink and siestas

Spain is a gastronomical paradise. I think the best way to get authentic Spanish food is to borrow somebody's Spanish grandmother, who will be more than delighted to cook up a big pan of paella, or a rock solid cocido stew and feed you till you keel over with satiation.

If you want to experience sampling a variety of Spanish food and not feel like you need to go bar-hopping through the night, why not go to the Mercado de San Miguel in the centre of Madrid? This is a charming market that has been around for more than 100 years and it has been refurbished and revamped to become a place of gastronomical delight. Take a turn around the market to sample the flavours of Spain.

Remember Plácido Domingo?

Going to the opera may not be on the Bucket List of your average traveller to Spain, but it is actually a deeplyrooted element of the country. Opera has existed in Spain since the mid- 17th century and continues to grow strong today.

There are opera houses across different cities in Spain, and before you dismiss them as stuffy and 'boring', you may well be surprised by a tour of one of these opera houses. The Teatro Real in Madrid for example may simply look like a classical sort of building from the outside, but you´d never guess the building actually has 22 floors, 8 of which are underground!

While in Spain, you might want to participate in their Flamenco Festivals. It's like a music festival and everyone gets dressed up and party the night away. For me, I watched the Flamenco dance in Seville :)

Flamenco dance

Brilliant meet-up in Toledo

Our Brilliant team is actually all over the world! Our Content Writer, Yanntyng is based in Madrid so we met up and took a little day excursion to the nearby town of Toledo. Toledo is rich in monumental and cultural heritage. It is known as the City of Three Cultures because of its mix of Christian, Muslim and Jewish influence in its history and architecture. It is also famous for its production of bladed weapons, which have become a hot favourite with tourists to take home as souvenirs of the city.

I was glad travel restrictions have been lifting and we can start exploring again. I have made new friends on my travels and had a great time. My senses needed fresh input and each trip makes me richer in experience. Still, it is not a cliché for me to say home is the best place to be. It certainly is my favourite place and till I next pack my bags to explore, I am glad to wake up to the familiar sounds of my favourite person pottering about in the kitchen.

Veronica making new friends. Suzy Morrison and Amanda who are pharmacists in a hospital in Maryland with Eileen

Yanntyng and Veronica at Toledo

NEW CALEDONIA SAYS “BIENVENUE” TO TOURISTS ITCHING TO TRAVEL ONCE MORE

✦ A jewel of the Pacific Ocean, New Caledonia’s immense encircling World Heritage-listed lagoon hosts the world’s second biggest coral reef and some 1600 species of tropical fish.

As two years of Covidconfinement begin to fade into the past, tourists everywhere are eagerly reviving their travelling ambitions. And so the time’s right to re-set our horizons, too: the destinations we most desire to visit.

Now, “same old, same old” is too repetitive, too tired.

Let's head to paradise: Nouvelle-Caledonie

Envisage a tropical climate where the weather’s not only for relaxing in the outdoors but ideal for a range of sports and adventure pursuits. Imagine consistently reliable temperatures and the certainty the sun will shine daily (barring fewer

than 20 times a year). Enjoy that this paradise is reached in just two to two and a half hours’ flying time from Australia’s east coast - less than half to a third the six-hour trek to Bali.

New Caledonia - Nouvelle-Caledonie as this French territory is also known - has long been popular with niche travellers. But post-pandemic, it’s more easily accessible than ever, on at least seven return services weekly from Sydney and some four times a week out of Brisbane. Flights are provided by New Caledonia’s international airline Aircalin in codeshare with Qantas; other airlines, of course, offer domestic sectors to depart ex Sydney or Brisbane. Brisbane departures offer a shorter flying time, as little as two hours; Sydney is promoted as a 2.5- hour trip.

Few places around the globe with such a small population - fewer than 300,000 - offer visitors as much variety on land, in and on the sea, and above it as this blended nation of French descendants, indigenous Kanak people and several other smaller cultures who make up the New Caledonian community.

Take to the air in an ultralight flight... fly through the skies on a paraglider... ride the wind with a billowing sail. Snorkel, dive, swim and fish in glorious translucentto-azure waters. Cycle or go horse riding amid beautiful green hills and streams or use your own horsepower trekking along countless trails that stimulate the senses with their splendour. Then, camp where you will in the pure environment and peaceful surrounds of nature.

➸ Cocktails. Photo credit: Marine Reveilhac

➸ Ouvéa Island. Photo credit: Escape Your Life

Then, too, nothing compares to French wine. Every imaginable choice, from the finest Champagnes, fragrant vintage reds and the most fashionable of white wines to spirits and liqueurs awaits in well-stocked cellars and bars for selection with dinner, on a picnic, at cocktail hour. There are tasting experiences to please the true connoisseur, right along to casual drinks to spice up the day and night.

Plus: there’s music, music, music. The organ-like yet lively notes of traditional, uniquely-French accordion melodies transported me on my last visit in Noumea right back to the pavements of Paris. It’s here too that I discovered popular French icon Michel Sardou, adding his charming, often “adventurous”, love songs to those of other famous chanteurs - Serge Gainsbourg, for example.

Equally, tourists enjoy perhaps most of all thrilling Melanesian harmonies reminiscent of many Pacific territories, matched with upbeat rhythmic original compositions on guitar and other strings that lure everyone to their feet, dancing and toe-tapping to joyous French-Kanak chants.

One other aspect of New Caledonia that grabs attention is the surprisingly modest cost of flight-hotel packages for an exotic international destination – and that many are on offer for booking until March 31, 2023! Just one example is at the hotel Le Lagon, near to lovely Anse Vata beach at the centre of the capital, Noumea, with return flights ex Sydney and Brisbane, plus seven nights’ accommodation and all (French-style, of course!) buffet breakfasts for $1,740 per person twin-share.

Bonuses include free hotel gym, jacuzzi, pool, sauna, Pilates lessons, aqua-gym lessons, yoga and stretching classes plus 1-hour of tennis or beach tennis per room daily as well as a return island trip and 250Mb internet use/24 hours plus 15% discount off massage and treatments at Le Spa Institut Le Lagon. (Le Lagon has some “accessible room” availability; inquire directly with the hotel if required).

Fun on land, sea and in the air. Photo credit: Marine Reveilhac

➸ Olives Photo credit: Terres de Lumiere

➸ Crustacean feast. Photo credit: Toko

If trekking and then camping is the way you’ll stay, go to aircalin.com.au/ en where flights-only promotional fares are often posted, from other gateways such as Melbourne and Canberra as well. For more information on things to do and facilities including car rental, see newcaledonia.travel/au Driving is on the right but if that’s unfamiliar a local coach network provides an easy and affordable way of getting around the entire territory of the main island.

If driving to departure gateways, Adina hotels in central Sydney and Brisbane offer ideal stopovers to top and tail a trip. In Sydney Adina Apartment Hotel Darling Harbour is located with immediate access to all of Barangaroo’s attractions and a stroll from Circular Quay, moments off the Harbour Bridge and with excellent parking. In Brisbane a similar welllocated option with easy connections to the airport is Adina Apartment Hotel in the CBD. Search adinahotels.com

There’s no pre-departure RAT test for vaccinated travellers from Australia and other green and orange countries. Currently, a RAT’s required 48 hours post-arrival but is free at NC pharmacies. For protocols see newcaledonia.travel/au/coronavirus

One more thing: New Caledonians are a warm and welcoming people. Enjoy your stay!