Jumeirah | August 2016

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A Balearic banquet Mallorca’s cuisine gets a Michelin-starred rating

Bryan Ferry

The style guru is back with another iconic look

Edinburgh festival

All the fun of the fair at the world’s biggest street party

jennifer lawrence On being Hollywood’s hottest actress

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CALIBER RM 07-01

august 2016

Jumeirah Magazine Jumeirah Corporate Office, Al Sufouh Rd, PO Box 73137, Dubai, UAE, Tel: +971 4 366 5000, Fax: +971 4 366 5001.

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Editor-in-Chief

Obaid Humaid Al Tayer Managing Partner & Group Editor

lan Fairservice Editorial Director

Gina Johnson Goup Editor

Sophia Serin Art Director

Karen Evans Acting Editor

Tahira Yaqoob tahira.yaqoob@motivate.ae Picture Editor

Diana Bell-Heather Contributors

John Hiscock, Eila Madden, Danae Mercer, Gareth Rees, Phill Tromans, Ryan Young Publisher – Luxury & Lifestyle

Negar Ghodstinat negar@motivate.ae

Contents

General Manager – Production

S Sunil Kumar Production Manager

R Murali Krishnan Production Supervisor

Monitor

Venita Pinto Chief Commercial Officer

Anthony Milne Group Sales Director

Craig Wagstaff Group Sales Manager

Ziad Saleh ziad@motivate.ae

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Essential news and previews 11 City watch Explore some of the most exciting events happening this month

For Jumeirah

Charlie Taylor

Head Office: Media One Tower, Dubai Media City, PO Box 2331, Dubai UAE, Tel: +971 4 427 3000, E-mail: motivate@motivate.ae Dubai Media City: Office 508, 5th Floor, Building 8, Dubai, UAE, Tel: +971 4 390 3550, Fax: +971 4 390 4845 Abu Dhabi: PO Box 43072, UAE, Tel: +971 2 677 2005, Fax: +971 2 677 0124, E-mail: editor-wo@motivate.ae London: Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER, UK, E-mail: motivateuk@motivate.ae Printed by Emirates Printing Press, Dubai

20 A night at the opera Placido Domingo opens the curtains on Dubai’s long-awaited opera house

Featured 24 Jennifer Lawrence Talks Hollywood, her co-stars and her rise to the top of her game 32 Bryan Ferry On his watch for all seasons

This may be the only time you ever see an H. Hoser.

Ref: 1341-0207

august 2016

Contents

Lifestyle 38 A Balearic banquet Mallorca’s rustic cuisine gets a Michelin starred rating

38 54

42 Jamming in Istanbul The Turkish city plays host to a thriving musical resurgence 48 Turtle power Endangered turtles are getting the five-star treatment

Travel 54 All the fun of the fair Edinburgh Festival is the launchpad for comedians worldwide 64 The long and winding road Jumeirah takes Bentley’s latest Mulsanne on an alpine adventure 70 Yin to your yang It’s yoga but not as you know it 74 London on wheels Getting on your bike in the British capital is a breeze 78 Secret spaces The world’s most exclusive table for two is open for bookings 82 The high life The Atrium in Grosvenor House Suites

by Jumeirah Living, London

City Watch

Explore some of the most exciting events happening this month

Dubai

IndIe CInema Until September 2 Pop-up independent screening venue Cinema Akil will show classic films in

Summer Show

Alserkal Avenue’s A4 Space every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Until September 8

throughout the month. The series called

Isabelle van den Eynde’s gallery in Dubai is hosting its summer group show Domestic

A Hard Day’s Night, which explores the

Affairs, which features the work of Emirati artist Khalid Al Banna, Pakistani artist Aisha

effects of humanity on a workforce,

Khalid and Iranian artists Nargess Hashemi, Zahra Imani and Sara Rahmania. The work on

includes Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka

display tells stories of the everyday through an exploration of the ephemera and minutiae

and the Chocolate Factory, Oscar-winning

of domestic life.

John Ford’s 1940 rendering of John

domestic affairs, gallery Isabelle van den eynde, dubai. ivde.net

Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the Mandarin film Factory Boss and Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki’s The

Keeping It Local Until September 2

a Hard day’s night, a4 Space, dubai. alserkalavenue.ae

Dubai Design District’s (d3)

InSIgHt IntO ISlam

quarterly group show, Out of

Until august 27

Four, features the work of four

The Gulf Photo Plus gallery’s Observing the

up-and-coming artists from the Middle East and North Africa.

Dubai-based photographer compiled by Gareth Rees. Images: Getty

Match Factory Girl.

and graphic designer Hattan Ahmed, Emirati visual artist Hessa Al Ajmani, Riyadh-based artist, illustrator and art therapist Noorah Kareem and Emirati artist Issa Black are exhibiting their work in the atriums of d3’s buildings four, five, six and seven.

Out of Four, dubai design district, dubai.

Ritual exhibition provides a glimpse into the world of the devout Muslim, providing non-Muslims with an insight and greater understanding of the practice and rituals of Islam, from praying to breaking the fast.

The exhibition features the work of three photographers – Italian Nicolo Degiorgis’ Hidden Islam, Emirati photographer Ammar Al Attar’s Prayer Rooms and British-Lebanese photographer Natalie Naccache’s Iftar.

Observing the Ritual, gulf Photo Plus, dubai. gulfphotoplus.com

dubaidesigndistrict.com

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Abu DhAbi/istAnbul

A StAnd-Up GUy August 19 American actor and comedian Marlon Wayans flexes his comedy muscles in front of an Abu Dhabi audience with a one-off show in the Emirates Palace hotel. Wayans is best-known for his frequent collaborations with his brother Requiem for a Dream, Scary Movie and GI Joe:

Bollywood Blockbuster

The Rise of Cobra.

August 12 to 13

Shawn and his appearances in films including

Marlon Wayans, Emirates palace, Abu dhabi. yakfoundation.com

Abu Dhabi’s du Forum will host a two-day extravaganza celebrating the music of India’s Bollywood with performances from some of the country’s most popular performers.

Singers, lyricists, composers and music directors Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani (who make up the duo Vishal–Shekhar) and film director, screenwriter, actor and television host Farhan Akhtar will take the stage on Friday August 12. The musical trio Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa will mark Indian Independence Day, on Saturday August 13.

Art in Motion

Bollywood in the Capital, du Forum, Abu dhabi. duforum.ae

Until october 6 Istanbul Modern plays host to the ninth annual Artists’ Film International, a collaborative exhibition featuring videos, animations and short films created by 13 artists, each chosen by one of the 13 international partner galleries.

The theme of this year’s exhibition is technology.

Artists’ Film international 2016, istanbul Modern, istanbul. istanbulmodern.org

Islamic Art Until August 14 The $33,000 Jameel Prize is awarded every two years to international artists and designers inspired by Islamic artistic traditions. Pera Museum’s Jameel Prize 4 exhibition, curated by the V&A’s Tim Stanley and Salma Tuqan, presents a selection of work by the 11 artists and designers shortlisted for the fourth Jameel Prize, including the winner of the 2016 prize, Pakistani artist Ghulam Mohammad.

Jameel prize 4, pera Museum, istanbul. peramuseum.org

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TH E E TE RNAL MOVE ME NT

Ulysse Nardin, from the movement of the sea to the perpetual innovation of Haute Horlogerie. For over 170 years, the powerful movement of the ocean has inspired Ulysse Nardin in its singular quest: to push back the limits of mechanical watchmaking, time and time again.

Marine Chronometer 60 hours power reserve Self-winding manufacture Silicium technology ulysse-nardin.com

ULYSSE NARDIN BOUTIQUES: The Dubai Mall +971 44341421 & Mall of the Emirates +971 43950577 Dubai Duty Free: Concourse A, B and C www.binhendi.com

london

CARNIVAL SPIRIT August 28 to 29 A celebration of Britain’s multiculturalism, the annual Notting Hill Carnival is the biggest street party in Europe. The two-day festival, which has traditionally taken place over the August bank holiday weekend since 1964, promises colourful clothing, music ranging from calypso and soca to reggae, garage and hip-hop, Caribbean food, dancers and, of course, a carnival atmosphere.

Notting Hill Carnival, Notting Hill, London. thenottinghillcarnival.com

Renaissance Man Until September 4 Leonardo da Vinci is best-known for painting the Mona Lisa but the Italian artist’s interests extended far beyond the canvas. He was a polymath – the original Renaissance man – who dabbled in diverse fields ranging from anatomy to engineering. It is his work as an inventor that is explored in Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Genius in London’s Science Museum, an exhibition featuring, among other treasures, 39 models of the great man’s inventions, including flying machines.

Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of genius, Science Museum, London.

getty

Image: Getty

sciencemuseum.org.uk

SwINgINg SIxTIeS Until September 25 The Photographers’ Gallery, located on tuckedaway Ramillies Street in Soho, is often overlooked by tourists in favour of London’s bigger galleries but it is often where some of the capital’s finest

Britannia Rules Until September 10 It would be a struggle to find an event more quintessentially British than the BBC Proms, held predominantly in London’s Royal Albert Hall, but the eight-week music festival offers so much more than the stirring renditions of Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia, performed on the famed Last Night. Now in its 122nd year, the Proms feature more than 90 concerts ranging from Bach to Jamie Cullum.

exhibitions can be found. Terence Donovan: Speed of Light, the first major retrospective of the work of one of the most important British photographers of the post-war period and socalled swinging Sixties, is one such exhibition.

Terence Donovan: Speed of Light, The Photographers’ gallery, London. thephotographersgallery.org.uk

BBC Proms 2016, Royal Albert Hall, London. royalalberthall.com

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frankfurt/Shanghai

A Comic Look Back in Time

PUnK Poet August 9 Patti Smith, who made her name with her debut album Horses in 1975, was one of the most

Until September 18

important figures to emerge from the New York

Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt’s

punk scene of the 1970s. Still on the road nearly

Pioneers of the Comic Strip

50 years later, the American singer-songwriter,

exhibition brings together the

known as ‘punk’s poet laureate’, will perform in

work of the American illustrators

Frankfurt’s Palmengarten botanical gardens.

who shaped the artistic style

Patti Smith, Palmengarten, Frankfurt.

of the newspaper comic strip,

palmengarten.de

which became a popular art form in the late 19th and early 20th century. Work on display includes examples of influential comic strips such as George Herriman’s Krazy Kat and Frank King’s Gasoline Alley.

Pioneers of the Comic Strip, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt,

Beyond BorderS Until August 14 Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum’s Tell Me a Story: Locality and Narrative features 11 pieces of work

Image: Getty

Image: Getty

Frankfurt. schirn.de

between people and place, themes of displacement

Super League Football

and belonging and the effect of geographical

August 19

boundaries are explored through work such as

Local boys Shanghai SIPG take on struggling Shijiazhuang Ever Bright at home in

Japanese photographer Tomoko Yoneda’s images of

Shanghai Stadium in the hope of continuing what has been a successful season so far

the uninhabited island of Sakhalin.

in the Chinese Super League. SIPG boss, former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson,

tell Me a Story: Locality and narrative, rockbund

recently signed Brazilian striker Hulk for £45.7 million ($60.6m), a record for an Asian

Art Museum, Shanghai. rockbundartmuseum.org

club, so the team will be looking to better the 2-1 victory they secured over Shijiazhuang

created by artists from across Asia. The relationship

Ever Bright back in May. Shanghai SIPG vs Shijiazhuang ever Bright, Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai. sports.sina.com.cn/csl

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Mission Missoni Its distinctive prints and colourful knitwear are instantly recognisable. Now six decades of design from the fashion house Missoni are being celebrated in a rare exhibition showcasing artwork from the label’s creators and neverbefore-seen textile studies, samples and paintings from its co-founder Ottavio Missoni. The selection of fashion looks, designs and research samples are taken from the company’s archives, started when the Italian designer fashion label was launched in 1953.

The Missoni Art Colour exhibition in London’s Fashion and Textile Museum also contains more than 40 paintings by the likes of Gino Severini, Lucio Fontana and Sonia Delaunay, all of whom had a creative input in Missoni’s designs. Angela Missoni, heir to one of the most famous fashion brands in the world, has contributed a range of looks dating back to 1997. The exhibition was curated

by Venice Biennale commissioner Luciano Caramel together with the Missoni archive and the Museo Art Gallarate (MAGA) in Italy.

It is the first time it has been seen outside Italy.

Luca Missoni, director of the label’s archive, says: “This exhibition is designed to showcase the creative process of knitting artwork into fashion forms.”

Celia Joicey, the director of the London fashion museum, adds: “This is the first major exhibition to explore the iconic Missoni fashion house. The mix between fashion and art is always exciting and this show highlights the important dialogue between post-war Italian artists, designers and industry.”

The exhibition runs until September 4 with tickets priced from $8. See ftmlondon.org/ftm-exhibitions/missoni-art-colour/ for details.

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a night at the opera It has been talked about for nearly a decade, formally announced four years ago and eagerly anticipated for months. Now the curtains are about to be lifted at Dubai Opera for the first time this month with a majestic performance from Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. The 2,000-seater performing arts venue will open its doors for the first time on August 31 as he takes to the stage before an audience who will be gazing as much in awe at the impressive surroundings as at the performance. Tickets, unsurprisingly, sold out within three hours of going on sale.

The show, however, is just one of 49 set to take place over the inaugural season. They include orchestral performances, ballet, dance, musicals and an illusion show. Les Miserables, the world’s longest-running musical, will be performed for two weeks in November while tenor Jose Carreras will stop in Dubai as part of his final world tour, called A Life in Music. Other highlights in September include a performance of Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers to mark the UAE’s pearling history, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, a Mozart gala night and Coppelia, danced by the Russian State Ballet and accompanied by the Orchestra of Siberia. The season continues in October with Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi, sitar player Anoushka Shankar and the Europa Galante performing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. There is more to come next year with a five-night run of the popular musical West Side Story in February.

Jasper Hope, chief executive of the opera house, says: “This is the first venue of its kind. The line-up of performances will be a revelation for culture lovers in the city. We are bringing world-class performers to Dubai who will appeal to residents and tourists alike.” He describes the response as “overwhelming” with ticket sales in more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UK, Germany and Japan.

The opera house, first announced in 2012 by the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, will be the showpiece of a new Opera District overlooking the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain. The building is modelled on a dhow, a traditional Emirati sailing vessel, with the main stage, orchestra and premium seats nestled in the bow of the structure. Clever hydraulic engineering means nearly half the seats can be stashed away to convert the venue into a banquet hall or exhibition space.

Tickets can be booked on dubaiopera.com

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Les Miserables

monitor

Placido Domingo

twisty tower When the artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond set out to design the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower as a lasting legacy of the London 2012 Olympics, they wanted to “build the impossible” with “something mythic about it”. Now the 115-metre high sculpture and observation tower in Stratford, east London, has just accomplished a new first with the addition of the world’s longest tunnel slide.

Designed by the artist Carsten Holler and called simply The Slide, it weaves around the original tower in a hair-raising 178m-long run from the top of Britain’s tallest sculpture. It takes 40 seconds to ride from the top to the bottom at speeds of more than 24 kilometres an hour, with a 50m straight run at the end. Made up of 30 sections, there are 12 twists and turns, including a part resembling a tight corkscrew called the bettfeder, the German word for bedspring. It took a team of abseilers to lift the giant slide in place.

Tickets are priced $13-20 and include entry to the observation deck. They can be booked on arcelormittalorbit.com

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Featured 24 Jennifer Lawrence

Talks Hollywood, her co-stars and her rise to the top of her game

32 Bryan Ferry

Image: Getty

On his watch for all seasons

tHe fame games

She is an Oscar winner, the youngest four-time Oscar nominee in Hollywood history and the highest-paid actress in the world. But as Jennifer Lawrence tells John Hiscock, she has had to fight to get where she is today

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featured: jennifer lawrence

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featured: jennifer lawrence

J

ennifer Lawrence isn’t afraid to admit it: she is to blame for introducing the cast of the movie X-Men: Apocalypse to what has become known as “the punching game”.

But, she insists, she is not responsible for the way the game escalated into brutality, leaving some of the movie’s stars battered and bruised.

The 25-year-old actress initially conceived the game, which has complicated rules but basically involves people punching each other, on the set of the Hunger Games movies in which she also starred.

“I technically brought the game from Hunger Games to X-Men but I am not the one who decided to brutalise everyone on the set,” she says with a laugh. “On the Hunger Games we punched each other but no one was trying to permanently, seriously harm someone.”

It was a different matter when her X-Men co-stars, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Oscar Isaacs decided to play.

“They punched each other as hard as they possibly could,” recalls Lawrence when we meet in London. “I mean, James’s arm was so black it looked like he had a flesh-eating virus. And James smacked Simon Kinberg [the writer/producer] so hard in the face that his contact lens popped out.

“So yes, I brought the game but I didn’t bring the psychosis that followed. There is a lot of testosterone in these movies and I will not take responsibility for that.”

There aren’t many Oscar-winning actresses who will gleefully admit to punching the living daylights out of her co-stars but Lawrence has always been a mass of contradictions. She appears elegant and poised in Dior advertising campaigns yet has a habit

of falling over at almost every red carpet event she attends. She is worth a reported $60 million and travels everywhere by private jet, yet her favourite shop is Ikea. And she is arguably one of the most beautiful and approachable movie stars of her generation, yet she says her romantic life is non-existent.

She laughs again and it is impossible not to laugh with her at her effervescent irreverence.

When I check with James McAvoy he confirms: “Jennifer started it and the game escalated to such a level we had to pull back because it was actually becoming an insurance risk.”

The game involves players making a circle with their thumb and forefinger below their waist and if they are spotted, another player is entitled to punch them. In some cases, depending on some complex rules, two or even three punches are allowed.

“It got to the point where people were hitting really hard,” he says.

“I remember nailing Hugh Jackman quite badly and him telling me: ‘I’m going to put you through the wall.’

“His biceps are bigger than my face and when he dead nailed me, I had a huge bruise. We went through a time when it was starting to get out of hand and a little bit crazy so we’ve put an end to it but I’m sure it will resurface again at some point.”

Along with McAvoy, Jackman and Fassbender, Lawrence is one of the veterans of the X-Men team, having portrayed the shapeshifting Raven/Mystique in three movies. They are joined by several newcomers, including Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, who portrays the telepathic and telekinetic fan favourite Jean Grey.

This time, in what is the ninth installment of the long-running comic book franchise, the villain is the cult leader-like Apocalypse,

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Starring in American Hustle

Image: Courtesy / REX /Shutterstock Image: Getty

Image: Getty Image: Moviestor / REX /Shutterstock

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On the red carpet in 2015

As the lead in the film Serena

At this year’s Oscars

featured: jennifer lawrence

played by Oscar Isaacs, who, angered by the state of the world, wants to wipe out civilisation and usher in a new order.

Both the X-Men and Hunger Games franchises have been box office gold, propelling Lawrence into the uber-league of Hollywood’s biggest earners: the X-Men series raked in about $4.4 billion at the box office while the Hunger Games franchise made nearly $3 billion.

For Lawrence it is the end of her three-movie X-Men contract and, after the three-movie Hunger Games franchise, she is moving on to other more varied projects. She has the science fiction romance Passengers awaiting release in December and she is currently rehearsing in a warehouse with Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer for Day 6, a drama about a young couple whose lives are unexpectedly disrupted, penned by Black Swan writerdirector Darren Aronofsky.

She will also star as the war photographer Lynsey Addario in a Steven Spielberg film and as Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of a controversial blood testing company, in the Adam MacKaydirected Bad Blood. And she plans to try her hand at directing for the first time with a film called Project Delirium, based on US military chemical experiments on soldiers in the 1960s.

Meanwhile, she has also co-written and plans to star in a movie with her good friend, the comedienne Amy Schumer, who says of her: “She’s the funniest, smartest person you could meet. It’s crazy that she’s so young.”

An Oscar winner, the youngest four-time Oscar nominee in Hollywood history and currently the highest-paid actress in the world, Lawrence – who turns 26 this month – does not agree with some critics who believe such fame and success has come too soon and been too easy for her.

Last year she famously wrote an essay railing against gender pay inequality after the movie giant Sony was hacked and the subsequent leaking of Hollywood salaries revealed she was paid considerably less than her male co-stars in American Hustle. In the polemic, titled ‘why do I make less than my male co-stars?’ and published in Girls creator Lena Dunham’s online newsletter, she wrote: “I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable.”

She admitted in the essay: “It’s hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my problems aren’t exactly relatable.” But she went on to say her need not to seem “difficult” or “spoiled” meant she was not “the only woman with this issue”.

“If I’m honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight.”

She went on to negotiate a much higher salary than her Passengers co-star Chris Pratt, earning a reported $20 million for the love story set in space, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Today she is somewhat defiant: “I didn’t want to have to struggle any longer than I did. I put in my time. I lived in a rat-infested apartment when I was 14 and I was told ‘no’ many times. I put my blood, sweat and tears into all of this. It’s easy to look from the outside and see my career grew very fast but there was a time before that career when I was working for it and I definitely wouldn’t have wanted that time to go on any longer.”

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Lawrence performed in local theatre productions before leaving home at the age of 14 and heading to New York.

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Image: Everrett / REX /Shutterstock

As Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games

“I got discovered or whatever you want to call it and I loved acting and knew it was what I was supposed to be doing and thought I could be good at it,” she recalls. “Then I was flown out to Los Angeles and it all just kind of started.”

Unlike many young actresses who began their acting careers in romantic comedies, Lawrence was cast in more harrowing fare, playing a teenager who was raped by her mother’s pimp in The Poker House, a young woman in search of reasons for her parents’ fractured lives in The Burning Plain and then, in what proved to be her breakthrough role which earned Lawrence her first Oscar nomination, in Winter’s Bone in 2010 as a teenager forced to play surrogate parent in a grim, drug-fuelled world.

Scripts began to pour in and then came The Hunger Games in 2012 and the role of the warrior girl Katniss Everdeen, which vaulted her into the big league of Hollywood money earners and won her a massive fan following of teenage girls.

She went on to win a best actress Oscar for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, in which her co-stars were Bradley Cooper and Robert de Niro. She teamed up with them again for American

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Hustle and Joy, both of which which earned her yet more Oscar nominations.

Although she is probably at the top of every filmmakers’ wanted list, there is no point in them sending her scripts. “I am so booked up for the next few years that there is no time,” she says.

Through it all Lawrence has managed to remain enchantingly natural and down-to-earth and the only thing that seems to bother and upset her is the omnipresent paparazzi, who follow her everywhere.

“I took advantage of some time off after Hunger Games and tried to go on vacation with some of my girlfriends but then we found out a disgusting paparazzo had been following us with a long lens the whole time, so that ruined it and we had to leave after two days,” she says.“There are 10 men sleeping outside my house and I see them every morning and it’s not lovely.

“I’ve talked about it a lot with other actors who have the same problems but we don’t really like to complain about it because if we do people go, ‘Shut up, millionaires’ and say, ‘You’re so lucky.’

featured: jennifer lawrence

THE BIO BORN: August 15, 1990, in Louisville, Kentucky LIVES: Beverly Hills, California FAMILY: Former construction worker father Gary and mother Karen, who runs a children’s summer camp. Two older brothers, Ben and Blaine.

SCHOOLING: Lawrence says she was a “horrible student” and was repeatedly grounded for bad report cards.

CHILDHOOD: An unhappy one. Lawrence suffered from anxiety at an early age and struggled to fit in at school.

Image: Everrett / REX /Shutterstock

NICKNAME: Known as J-Law to her friends.

HER BIG BREAK: Spotted in New York’s Union Square by a model scout at the age of 14.

FIRST ROLE: Minor TV role in Company Town in 2006, followed by regular appearances on The Bill Engvall Show.

RELATIONSHIPS: Dated British actor Nicholas Hoult, star As Mystique in X-Men: Apocalypse

of About A Boy and her co-star in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Linked to Coldplay singer Chris Martin but now says she has no time to date.

STYLE: Kooky, playful, offbeat and refreshingly honest.

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HER: Friends describe her as a “giant goofball”. Comedienne Amy Schumer says she is “the funniest, smartest person you could meet”. Hunger Games co-star Woody Harrelson says: “She is one of a kind. I love how she doesn’t censor herself.”

And yes, we are lucky but I deserve the right to have control over my image. I would prefer that the only time somebody sees me is when I am in a film or in character or if I am promoting a movie.”

HER WORK ETHIC: Director David O Russell, who worked

Unlike most young actresses in health and youth-obsessed Hollywood, the thought of ageing does not bother her.

ON FAME: “I am just not okay with it. I want people to

“Ageing for women is a much bigger deal than ageing for a man. It’s not really fair but it’s life,” she says with a philosophical shrug. “I can’t change my gender and I can’t stop crows’ feet so I’m just going to move on and decay like everyone else. If you are worried about wanting to look younger when you’re not, you’re not going to be a very happy person. You just have to find other things to make you happy that are much more important.”

CAREER LOW POINT: Tripping on her voluminous Dior

with her on Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Joy, says of her: “She has a genuine, in-her-blood joy in the inhabitation of other people.”

have less me.”

haute couture gown as she walked onto the stage to collect her best actress Oscar in 2013. Her dress also appeared to split at the SAG awards, although Dior later claimed that was part of the design.

CAREER HIGH POINT: Getting that Oscar. She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people that

Apart from getting rid of paparazzi there is nothing, she says, she would change about her life. “Every mistake I’ve made, I’ve learned from and become who I am so I wouldn’t really take them back.” Then she thinks for a moment. “But I don’t know... maybe there are a few mistakes I’d like to take back.”

year and last year, Forbes magazine revealed she was the highest-paid actress in the world with annual earnings of $52 million.

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Bill Prince / The Telegraph / The Interview People. Images: Getty

featured: bryan ferry

let’s tick togetHer He is as well-known for his sartorial style as his 45 years in the music industry.

Now the master of reinvention Bryan Ferry has turned his hand to designing watches

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Image: Gus Stewart/Redferns

Image: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

Image: RB/Redferns

This page, clockwise from left: Album cover of Another Time Another Place, released in 1974; Ferry on stage in London, 1974; Roxy Music in 1972. (L-R Paul Thompson, Ferry, Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno). Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Ferry at hotel poolside, Tokyo, February 1983; The Bryan Ferry limited edition watch; Ferry with H Moser chief executive Edouard Meylan in a design partnership

ime is very important to Bryan Ferry. Not in a dying-of-thelight way, you understand – “I’ve still got plenty of energy,” says the 70-year-old British singer and songwriter – but in the sense that time itself waits for no man. It is why, Ferry goes on to explain, he has avoided wasting too much of it on side projects that might detract from his music-making (between 50 and 100 live shows a year, interspersed with new recordings – although not quite matching the frenetic pace of 1973, when he and his group at the time, Roxy Music, released three albums).

So there has been no clothing line from the man who is widely regarded as wearing a suit better than any rock star alive, even after he and his late-1970s sartorial collaborator Antony Price – “a genius” – reinvented the three-piece for a new era of faintly androgynous male peacocks. “I might have done it,” says Ferry, shortly before his worldwide tour. “But I didn’t really have the time. I work very hard on music, you see. And they are distractions you don’t really need.”

Still, last year, at the behest of a mutual friend, Ferry accepted an invitation from the family owners of H Moser & Cie, a reanimated watch manufacturing firm based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to create a limited edi-

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tion Bryan Ferry watch: a guilelessly handsome and classically proportioned, three-handed, manual-winding beauty that, as its wearer will attest, can happily go from day to night and survive the odd game of tennis. “My football days are behind me,” he laughs.

“I thought it would be a nice thing to do,” he says of the collaboration. “Not very time-consuming and to design a watch – well, there are not that many elements involved, actually.”

A watchmaker, as well as anyone partial to a watch’s inner workings, might beg to differ. But for an artist who studied with the late English painter Richard Hamilton and went on, albeit briefly, to teach art (pottery, abandoned after Roxy Music signed its first record deal in 1971), it was the aesthetic opportunity that appealed - the chance to pick his own vintage typeface and choose the case size: “I’ve always liked them on the small side”. Quaintly, Ferry simply refers to the old pocket watch movement that Moser suggested drive the piece as “the machine”.

The watch is a thing of beauty, crammed with period details redolent of the first golden era of watch design (which coincides with Ferry’s beloved pre-

Image: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

featured: bryan ferry

World War II fashions). The firm’s first “celebrity” tie-up – although it seems inelegant to call it such – is identified by the smallest tribute to its designer possible: ‘Bryan Ferry’ in tiny red capitals where the traditional emblem of watchmaking quality, the words ‘Swiss made’, are usually found.

“Watching movies from an early age was a big influence and the movies I like are generally black and white - Bogart, Cary Grant and Fred Astaire. I also like jazz players, going back as far as Duke Ellington,” he says.

“I had an idea of what I wanted,” he says, proffering his own model on its attractively sports-smoothed strap. “Not too big. That was the first thing we settled on. And then I just looked through their archives and, because it is a company with a very long history, I thought it would be nice to do something old-fashioned or retro.”

“I liked that look but when Roxy Music first went to America, they were appalled at how we looked on stage. They didn’t get it at all. All those earnest men in their cowboy boots were furious.”

Handsome, refined, delicate even, with Ferry’s choice of a white lacquered dial and 38mm gold case, the limited edition, 100-piece H Moser is fittingly au fait with the sort of hauntingly beautiful settings Ferry has always evoked in his music.

Ferry’s sense of classicism extends to his own watches, from an age-appropriate first Timex to a gold Boucheron, now lost. “It was beautiful, like a Cartier Tank. I occasionally spot it in archive shots.” But apart from a couple of old Rolexes – “not big” he insists – his H Moser Endeavour Bryan Ferry Edition is now his timepiece of choice.

It is an image gilded by the glamorous company he kept during the 1970s and 1980s (photos of Roxy cover stars like Marilyn Cole and old flame Jerry Hall line the walls of his London studio) and girded by his interest in glamour, luxury and period details.

“I have been wearing it every day and I like the fact that it looks all right for the daytime and smart enough for the evening,” he says.

“It is quite a good weight as well and I like the strap. It is ageing well. I’m very happy with it. It is a watch for all seasons, you see.”

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CONNECT WITH DUBAI

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LIFESTYLE 38 A Balearic banquet

Mallorca’s rustic cuisine gets a Michelin starred rating

42 Jamming in Istanbul

The Turkish city plays host to a thriving musical resurgence

48 Turtle power

Image: Getty

Endangered turtles are getting the five-star treatment

a taste of mallorca Images: Getty

Once a hub of rustic, simple fare, the Balearic island is now teeming with Michelin-starred restaurants and gourmet cuisine

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cuisine

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nyone who grew up in Britain in the 1980s will recall a certain TV ad, a parody of My Fair Lady, in which a Sloaney girl is being taught to speak Cockney.

“The water in Ma-jaw-ker don’t taste like what it oughta!” barks her exasperated teacher, in a riff on the scene in which professor Henry Higgins teaches Eliza Dolittle to pronounce “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”. In the ad, the student at the School of Street Credibility instead proffers: “The water in Mallorca doesn’t taste quite like it should?”

Rather like the disappearing ‘j’ in Majorca – apparently introduced by the British because they could not wrap their tongues around the ‘y’ sound in the Spanish name Mallorca – so too has the mass tourism to the Balearic island in the 1980s, parodied in that ad, given way to a more sophisticated crowd. And with it has come an evolution in the island’s fare from rustic flavours inspired by the archipelago’s natural produce to gourmet Michelin-starred cuisine.

Incredibly for an island of about 1,400 square miles with a population of less than one million, Mallorca now boasts a host of high-profile restaurants and hotels – including seven Michelin-starred venues – with chefs aspiring to come up with ever-more inventive versions of traditional dishes. In the Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel and Spa, Mallorca’s plentiful almonds are whipped into an emulsion to accompany seafood, the juicy Soller prawns in the surrounding waters are lifted with a cayenne pepper air and slivers of sea scallops are delicately enhanced with roasted peaches.

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“There has been a revolution in cuisine. It started with a big movement in Spain inspired by Ferran Adria [the former head chef of El Bulli, voted the best restaurant in the world],” says Javier Soriano, the executive chef of the Jumeirah Port Soller.

“There are more and more Michelin-starred restaurants in Mallorca using local produce in a contemporary way with new techniques. It is great that this is happening and a good way to reinvent traditional cooking methods.”

The island is helped by its abundance of homegrown fruit and vegetables while the surrounding Mediterranean is teeming with numerous varieties of fish, from cap roig to gilthead and grouper. Soller is famous for its olive and citrus groves and Soller oranges are a star attraction in their own right, needing no accompaniment on the menu in Jumeirah’s hotel on the island. While meat comes from the Spanish peninsula, Soriano says 70 per cent of ingredients used in the hotel’s restaurants come from the island.

“We have everything when it comes to vegetables and seafood,” he says. “We have a Mediterranean climate similar to Italy or the south of France with a lot of sun throughout the year and mild winters. There are vineyards everywhere. Our closest is about 25 minutes away but any direction you drive in, you will come across a vineyard.”

Historically, Mallorca was inhabited by the Romans, the Moors (its Arabic name was once Medina Mayurqa) and the Spanish, all of whom contributed to creating distinctive flavours. Pine nuts, raisins and almonds in dishes

cuisine

Cap Roig

rustic fare with a modern twist Sample Jumeirah Port Soller’s fusion take on Mallorca’s traditional dishes in its two restaurants the dish: Soller prawns what it is: Juicy, redder and sweeter than other types of prawns trY this: Grilled prawns with cayenne pepper air in es fanals restaurant the dish: Cap roig what it is: A local fish with a bright red colour and intense flavour

come from the North African influence, tapas from the Spanish. Weekends in Mallorca are usually a chance for family get-togethers, says Soriano, with tables groaning under the weight of multiple tapas and paella dishes.

trY this: Cap roig with cuttlefish tagliatelle, monkfish

“Without a doubt, Mallorcans love to eat and take their time over it,” writes Bettina Neumann on the website mallorquissimo.com. “The island’s climate certainly helps to stimulate the appetite. The cuisine is very versatile: on the one hand, good and hearty as a legacy of the hardworking, rural population but also subtle. Many people who have passed through have left their influence on Mallorca’s cuisine.”

the dish: Ensaimada

The island’s attractions – and no doubt the fine fare available – have proven a draw for numerous celebrities and high profile figures. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, author Jeffrey Archer and former tennis player Boris Becker all have villas on the island. The composer Chopin and the poet Robert Graves are entrenched in the island’s history while the tennis star Rafael Nadal, supermodel Claudia Schiffer and actor Michael Douglas also have homes there.

Mallorca’s embracing of modernity and innovative flavours while still celebrating its past will be marked next month with a special fusion menu in the clifftop Jumeirah hotel. The chef Tomeu Caldentey, whose restaurant Es Moli den Bou was one of the first on the island to be awarded a Michelin star, will create a gourmet selection of dishes based on Mallorcan haute cuisine and Mediterranean classics on Sunday September 25 in the Cap Roig restaurant, the latest in a series of events this year to showcase the best of Mallorcan fine dining. jumeirah.com/mallorca

sobrassada [usually a type of local sausage] and coconut foam in cap roig restaurant

what it is: A pastry made with flour, sugar and eggs, sometimes filled with sweet cream and dating back to the 17th century trY this: At the breakfast buffet in cap roig the dish: Arroz brut what it is: Translates as ‘dirty rice’; a risotto-like dish in a meaty broth trY this: Beetroot risotto with monkfish medallions and beetroot sponge, or arroz meloso (creamy rice) with baby squid and prawns, in es fanals the dish: Cherries what it is: Fresh cherries grow in abundance on the island trY this: Horchata in es fanals: cake, fresh cherries, cherry ice cream, verbena jelly, complete with foam and soup made from horchata, a drink blended from sugar, water and ground nuts

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culture

JammiNg iN istaNbul Jazz lovers have long been drawn to turkey’s cosmopolitan city. Now the jazz movement is enjoying a new lease of life with young turkish musicians embracing the genre. Ryan Young reports

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unday night in Istanbul. In the corner of a long, dark room, down a steep set of steps, at the end of a modest side street in the Kadikoy neighbourhood – a half-hour ferry ride from the city’s European centre – Ozan Ozel pulls an alto saxophone from his lips and exhales heavily.

Moments earlier a frenetic, spiralling flurry of notes spewed from his horn, the barrelling climax of a gut-wrenching, post-bop solo as physical as it was musical.

He turns his back, leaving the rhythm section – guitar, bass, drums – to comp the chords, sharing their own moments to shine. The scene is Noasis Jazz Club, a poky, subterranean spot which hosts a weekly jam session, alongside one-off regular gigs. There are perhaps two dozen souls in sight but the venue is more than half-full. The crowd is young, with few faces north of 30. Many look barely out of their teens. The musicians mingle between sets, sharing laughs and cigarettes out in the dark street above.

By day, Ozel is a software engineer but after dark, the 26-year-old aspiring Turkish musician takes his place among the city’s blossoming new generation of players, who score late-night gigs across a handful of bohemian hangouts which cater to adventurous ears and improvising players. After nights traipsing through Istanbul’s plethora of nightspots in search of live jazz, meeting Ozel in the street after the gig has the feeling of being let into a secret club.

“Jazz can be a very demanding musical experience for the audience,” he says.

“In Istanbul, you are making music for yourself. Most listeners are not trying to understand. Generally, the audience coming to listen to me are musicians too.”

Much of the momentum for this youthful, self-generated enthusiasm can be traced to a new worldwide vogue for jazz led by inventive American fusionists and trendsetters, often strafing boundaries into hip-hop, such as Robert Glasper and Kamasi Washington. This wave of creativity has found a distinctly local strand in Istanbul’s own jazz scene. The city’s storied geographical location, straddling East and West, offers more than mere symbolism. Today forward-thinking players are drawing on their regional heritage, integrating Turkish traditions with Western forms to author a singular, independent voice.

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Artists like Cenk Erdogan, who uses a fretless guitar to imitate the microtonal capabilities of regional instruments such as the baglama and tanbur into the improvisational canvas of jazz. Vocalist Cagil Kaya sings in her native tongue, channelling a streetwise exoticism in her inventive brand of modern jazz, notably captured on 2014’s acclaimed debut album Bir Parca Ay Biraz Kus. Other Turkish jazz names to have made a mark on the international scene include keyboardist Ercument Orkut, who divides time between traditional acoustic trio work and experimental electronic forms. Drummer Ediz Hafizoglu emigrated from Bulgaria in search of opportunity and is now established as a veteran of the scene, appearing on more than 70 albums from Turkey and beyond.

Fellow drummer Ferit Odman spent two years gigging in New York before returning to lead his own quintet around Europe, each of his three releases picking up praise from lofty US tome Down Beat. He credits the new accessibility of modern technology with inspiring the current wave of players but says the city needs a dedicated university jazz department before it can compete with its European and American counterparts.

“With advances in recording technology, it becomes easier to create,” says the 34-year-old musician. “Which is why so many Turkish jazz musicians are producing new albums. Productivity-wise, the scene is much healthier than ever before.”

All these players are necessarily a product of their environment. Historically, Istanbul’s jazz scene has been focused around the central, trendy Beyoglu district in the heart of the city’s European centre. Most renowned is the relatively conservative but consistent live stalwart, Nardis Jazz Club, while the hipper 60 m2 caters for a younger crowd.

culture

This page: Nardis Jazz Club

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Keyboardist Ercument Orkut

But jazz is a tough sell to the mainstream and recent years have seen many central venues close or change booking policies. Nearby, the much-loved jazz spot Cafe Mitanni shut its doors for the final time on May 30. Instead, this new wave of young players is increasingly finding a home on the far side of town, over the Bosphorus river in the Asian half of the city, a brisk 25-minute ferry or 40-minute drive away.

Once principally a residential area, the Kadikoy neighbourhood has attracted a notable hipster community. Focused around several hubs of cafes, restaurants, bars and arts spaces, locals have begun to dub the area ‘Istanbul’s Brooklyn’. And for jazz fans, this creates a growing demand for stages, such as that managed by Noasis.

It is this fertile combination of forward-thinking new venues and a fresh wave of young, enthusiastic players which mean Istanbul can make a fair case for being the Middle Eastern capital of jazz. The feather in the cap of any such claim is the Istanbul Jazz Festival – a huge, sponsored, three-decade-old annual event which caters to many different breeds of jazz fan. Its impressive month-long programme in the summer, which includes dozens of performances hosted at venues across the city, kicked off the day after I met Ozel, who was looking forward to shows from John Scofield, Brad Mehldau and Kamasi Washington.

Alongside these A-list American jazz greats, this year’s line-up showcased more popular fare such as Joss Stone, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers and

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Laura Mvula. Such mainstream commercial concessions are not uncommon at jazz festivals across the world, from Montreux to Dubai, but the Istanbul festival’s credibility is maintained by free park concerts and intimate club pop-ups.

When the festival began in 1986 – initially part of the larger Istanbul Festival, before striking out as a stand-alone brand in 1994 – Turkey’s live music scene was in an embryonic state. In 1992 the festival presented Istanbul’s first-ever stadium show, from Bryan Adams. Today the city is an established major player, frequently cropping up on international tours of big-name bands.

“When we first started, it was groundbreaking. Whatever we did was successful because there was nothing else like it. We sold out every night,” says festival director Pelin Opcin, who has been involved in the jazz festival for 17 years and run it since 2005. “In those early days Istanbul was on the periphery of the European gig circuit.”

Things improved in the late 1990s as Eastern European capitals emerged slowly from the shadow of the Iron Curtain, bringing international tour itineraries closer to the Asian border, which runs straight through the heart of Istanbul in the form of the Bosphorus river. An expanding homegrown arts scene came hand-in-hand with the city’s burgeoning economic and cultural fortunes, with both the number of musicians and live venues increasing phenomenally in the same period. Jazz was given an evolutionary kickstart by the state broadcaster, the Turkish Radio and Television

culture

catch the best of Istanbul’s jazz scene nardIs Open since 2002, the city’s best-known jazz club is an atmospheric, 120-capacity, two-floor space which programmes different acts six nights a week, including touring internationals.

8 Galata Kulesi Sk, Beyoglu. nardisjazz.com

noasIs Sitting beneath a stand-alone bar of the same name, this cramped, subterranean space embodies all the right jazz club cliches, with a young, lively crowd and casual, come-as-you-are vibe.

3 Mimar Cikmazi Sok, Kadikoy. facebook.

com/Noasisjazz

60 m2 Located centrally just a few minutes’ walk north of Taksim Square, this dark, lowceilinged venue attracts a trendy crowd for live gigs every weekend. Arguably Ferit Odman

the hippest place to hear jazz on the European side of the river.

2/2 Sehit Muhtar Cd, Taksim Meydan.

facebook.com/60metrekare

the badau Istanbul This casual, minimally furnished hangout showcases regular live jazz, with a front

Corporation, which has long programmed jazz as well as sponsoring the TRT Big Band and Jazz Orchestra (the latter closed this year’s festival). Since 2013, Turkey has boasted its first dedicated jazz radio station, Joy Jazz.

room-like intimacy adored by regulars

“I don’t want to say we educated the audience but we gave them a chance to find their own voice,” adds Opcin. “We set the standard – now it’s our job to set the standard again.”

thebadau

Standards are indeed being set. The festival this year opened impressively on June 27 with one of six performances from Damon Albarn’s Africa Express tour, whose other engagements included the UK’s iconic Glastonbury and Denmark’s Roskilde festivals. A concept curated by the Blur and Gorillaz frontman, the tour featured The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians – reconnecting 50 artists who have been scattered throughout the globe – who performed alongside a series of guests from across the Middle East and North Africa. This revolving door of talents included Algerian rai performer Rachid Taha, Malian instrumentalist Bassekou Kouyate, Senegalese star Baaba Maal and Eslam Jawaad, a UAE-based rapper of Lebanese-Syrian origin.

This multi-purpose two-storey arts

and gives Noasis a run for its money in the Kadikoy neighbourhood.

49A Duatepe Sokak, Kadikoy. facebook.com/

“It was an amazing evening,” said Jawaad. “Istanbul is a beautiful city. It was very important for all of us to perform this music somewhere in the Middle East and as the bridge into Europe, Istanbul is very symbolic.

lIvIng room art cafe and socIal club complex, also in Kadikoy, includes jazz in its compelling programme of music, theatre and dance and has separate bar and cafe areas.

9 Arayicibasi Sk, Kadikoy. facebook.com/

LivingRoomLR

Where to staY The historic Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah has inspired numerous artists since it first opened in 1892. Located near Beyoglu, it

“I have played in Istanbul with Damon before and he always wanted to come back.

Damon told me he spent some time visiting the city with his family as a child. He is a big fan of this place and this culture.”

is the perfect base to explore the vibrant music scene. jumeirah.com

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environment

turtle power

A rescue project for endangered turtles will get a boost with a purpose-built lagoon in Dubai this year

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tep inside the lobby of the world’s most luxurious hotel and you will discover a magical interior comprised of 24-carat gold leaf, rare Italian Statuario marble and two vibrantly coloured aquariums featuring 50 species of fish. Look even more closely and you might even spot the resident zebra sharks. There is, however, much more to the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah’s environmental projects than the reef-like displays which first meet the eye. Guests might be surprised to learn the Dubai hotel is also home to one of the region’s longest-standing corporate social responsibility initiatives, the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP).

Behind the aquariums a small team of seven, including two marine biologists, work tirelessly to rehabilitate turtles rescued on a weekly basis from the shores of the Arabian Gulf. To date a total of 1,090 turtles, many of them critically endangered hawksbills, have been rescued by the DTRP and returned to their natural habitat, a fact that makes the team incredibly proud.

Warren Baverstock, the aquarium’s manager, says: “All seven species of marine turtles found globally are listed as vulnerable to extinction, endangered or critically endangered. The hawksbill turtle native to the Middle East is listed as critically endangered with only an estimated 8,000 nesting females left worldwide.”

Dubai partnership The project began after the Wildlife Protection Office (WPO) in Dubai realised the need for a turtle rescue and rehabilitation facility in 2004 when members of the public started to find stranded turtles. The project, based in the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah and neighbouring Madinat Jumeirah, is now in its 12th year. It is run in collaboration with the WPO while veterinary support is provided by the Dubai Falcon Hospital and the UAE’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory. The day-to-day running of the project and animal husbandry is managed by the hotel’s dedicated aquarium team.

The turtles suffer from various types of debilitation. Some have injuries caused by entanglement or ingestion of plastic waste discarded into the sea while others are sick rather than injured and can have abnormally heavy barnacle growth on their carapaces, or shells. Once a turtle has been assessed, it can start on the road to recovery. There are five quarantine facilities in the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah for the initial stages of treatment and a large outdoor enclosure in the Jumeirah Mina A’Salam hotel. The larger enclosure allows the team to monitor the final stages of rehabilitation before the turtles are released back into the UAE’s waters.

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environment

Tagging the turtles To help the team keep tabs on the project’s success and research turtle movements throughout the region, a satellite tracking initiative is in place. Valuable data is recorded and the technology once tracked a turtle which travelled an incredible 8,600 kilometres in nine months, nearly reaching the coast of Thailand.

On the latest release on World Sea Turtle Day last month, hotel guests and children from the Dubai British School witnessed 96 critically endangered juvenile hawksbills, one juvenile loggerhead, two juvenile greens and one large adult loggerhead being set free at sea. Six were fitted with small satellite tags, including Beau, an adult male loggerhead, Cousteau, a juvenile loggerhead, Alpha and Angelo, both juvenile greens and Ali and Pawee, both juvenile hawksbills. Beau was named by the schoolchildren and the tag was funded by the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah. The remaining tags were sponsored by the Dubai Mall Aquarium as part of an ongoing collaboration. The tagging initiative demonstrates how the project not only affects the turtle population on a regional and national level but also on an international level and allows the team to investigate the success of rehabilitation programmes aimed at integrating the creatures back into the wild.

Purpose-built turtle lagoon The project is set to benefit from some impressive new facilities when the new Jumeirah Al Naseem hotel opens later this year. It will be the first hotel in the world to feature a sea-fed, purpose-built outdoor lagoon designed to rehabilitate critically endangered sea turtles. The lagoon will be set among lush landscaped gardens, which incorporate into their design features such as native plant species, thoughtful irrigation and touches which are typically part of Emirati life. Guests as well as schoolchildren on educational trips will be able to take part in feeding sessions and learn about the turtles and native fish from the lagoon’s discovery trail and observation island. You can watch the turtles being fed at 11am every Wednesday at the enclosures near Hanaaya and Tortuga restaurants in Jumeirah Mina A’ Salam hotel. jumeirah.com/turtles

By Claire Hill, PR manager and copywriter, Jumeirah Group. On a weekly basis, new stories about Hill’s travels from across the luxurious world of Jumeirah are posted on experiencejumeirah.com.

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TRAVEL 54 All the fun of the fair

Edinburgh Festival is the launchpad for comedians worldwide

64 The long and winding road Jumeirah takes Bentley’s latest Mulsanne on an alpine adventure

70 Yin to your yang

It’s yoga but not as you know it

74 London on wheels

Image: Getty

Getting on your bike in the British capital is a breeze

all The ciTY’s a sTage

Edinburgh’s festivals more than double the city’s population in August and attract tens of thousands of performers from around the world. Tahira Yaqoob reports from the world’s biggest street party

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edinburgh festival

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56 Image: Getty

edinburgh festival

Image: Getty

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o one warns you about the walking. There are plenty of things people do tell you to expect from your first Edinburgh festival – the carnival atmosphere, the anarchic entertainment and comedic gems you will discover, the sheer exuberance and joy of pinballing from a stand-up show to a performance of Shakespeare without words to circus artists in the street to talks from the likes of JK Rowling and Meera Syal. But no one mentions the ground you will cover crisscrossing the city up to 10 times a day in a military operation to see as much as possible, all of which makes the tartan-covered heels I linger over wistfully in a shop window rather redundant.

The Scottish capital has a population of less than 500,000 but during the month-long festival, the city’s masses more than double.

The numbers are staggering: more than 25,000 artists and entertainers converge on the medieval city to perform in more than 1,000 shows per day in what has become the world’s biggest and best-known arts festival.

Image: Getty

What people refer to colloquially as the Edinburgh festival is actually an amalgam of six festivals – half of the 12 festivals run by the city throughout the year – of which the best-known are the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. They come to a peak during a few glorious weeks in August when hundreds of venues across the city open their doors on shows ranging from the wild and uproarious to the profound.

Most first-timers associate the festival with comedy but in reality, it only makes up one-third of the entertainment. The rest ranges from theatre and concerts to opera, children’s theatre and physical theatre. And that is discounting the unpredictable draw of Edinburgh during the height of its festival season, when every turn down a winding cobbled street or medieval close can yield an encounter with a circus artist, busker or street magician entertaining an impromptu crowd. It is as if the entire city is one big street party and everyone’s invited.

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The EIF, which turns 70 years old next year, was launched in 1947 in the wake of World War II to lift spirits, with a focus on classical music. Eight theatrical companies gatecrashed the event to organise their own entertainment, a spectacle which became known as the Fringe and has now eclipsed the EIF in scale. Its appeal has always been its unfettered access to anyone and everyone who has ever craved a platform to perform, as long as they can cover the minimal registration fee and the cost of their venue of choice. Hence the anarchic nature of proceedings: in the space of 24 hours, I watch a bushily bearded man reading aloud from a phone book – for an hour – another eccentric ranting about conspiracy theories to three people in a pub basement, a rapper beatboxing William Blake’s poetry and a one-woman heartwrenching monologue which leaves half the audience in tears.

But if there is one thing the Fringe celebrates, it is discovery and the possibility of uncovering the next big thing. The sheer volume of raw, unadulterated talent makes it unpredictable but hugely exciting. It has been the launchpad for hundreds of comedians and performers worldwide. Comedians ranging from Lee Evans to Frank Skinner, Jo Brand, Jimmy Carr and Bill Bailey started their careers there while chat show hosts Graham Norton and Craig Ferguson were discovered at the Fringe. For novice performers, it is a chance to hone their craft and test their mettle and bravura in an intimate setting; for seasoned acts, it is a chance to try out new material before unleashing it on a wider audience.

Even for tried-and-tested performers, there are no guarantees of laughs. Performing night after night for nearly four weeks means jokes which leave the audience rolling in the aisles one night could be met with silence the next.

Established performers like to surprise Edinburgh audiences by dabbling in new territory. The Scottish actor Alan Cumming, who stars in The Good Wife and Web Therapy, is on stage crooning in Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, a show which earned him rave reviews when he previously performed it in New York’s Cafe Carlyle. Also on stage at the EIF is Australian Barry Humphries, who has ditched the lilac rinse and oversized specs of his alter ego Dame Edna Everage to take a more serious turn, showcasing jazz

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Image: Getty

“This is what I’ve always dreamed of – cracking jokes in a basement in front of 12 people,” deadpans the Muslim comedienne Shazia Mirza, who turned her back on a career as a teacher to perform stand-up. A Fringe regular, she is back this year with a show called The Kardashians Made Me Do It, in which she takes on jihadi brides in a bold routine.

edinburgh festival

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Indulge in our signature Talise Spa, enjoy a variety of dining options, take a dip in one of our swimming pools or splash out in our very own waterpark. Whatever your dream summer holiday is, we will make sure it’s perfect!

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Image: Getty

edinburgh festival

and cabaret from the Weimar Republic era. The line-up includes Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour, Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, classical music concerts and a celebration of Shakespeare.

Meanwhile the Fringe brings together performers from 48 countries in more than 50,000 shows across 294 venues, including 643 free shows, 164 pay-what-you-like acts and 1,731 premieres.

They include an updated version of Macbeth casting Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love as the protagonists as well as Shakespeare Syndrome, which sees leading characters end up in the same psychiatrist’s office. Elsewhere, the Taiwanese dance troupe NuShu will take to the stage and big-name comedy acts like Rory Bremner, Omid Djalili, Shappi Khorsandi and Richard Wilson will perform.

It is, says Shona McCarthy, the chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, an “open access festival which welcomes anyone with a story to tell. The breadth and diversity of talent that comes to the Fringe is unparalleled and this year is no exception.

Amateur and professional artists from around the world continue year after year to come here to share their stories, hone their skills, create new opportunities for themselves and their work and celebrate the joy of live performance. The diversity of the Fringe’s participants is echoed in its audiences and there really is something for everyone.”

If the Fringe celebrates the unconventional and the EIF the classical, the Military Tattoo is firmly rooted in the traditional. In a show of pageantry and nationalistic pride, more than 1,200 military pipers, drummers and fiddlers from around the world stage a

show in the grounds of historic Edinburgh Castle, parts of which date back to the 12th century. In the former stronghold of the kings and queens of Scotland, they perform nightly for a total of more than 220,000 people. On Monday August 29, as the summer festival season draws to a close, the night sky will come to life over the ancient fort with more than 400,000 fireworks choreographed to live music.

It seems apt that Edinburgh’s summer festivals embrace both the old and the new. The Military Tattoo, the concurrent Edinburgh Art Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival – held in genteel Charlotte Square Gardens and attracting the likes of Philippa Gregory, former British prime minister Gordon Brown, singer Billy Bragg and actor Simon Callow – are a nod to the more traditional. But it says much about the city that they sit comfortably alongside the Fringe and the Edinburgh Mela, the latter arguably representing the modern multicultural face of the city in a weekend-long celebration of south Asian music, food and dance. Like its ancient castle, the city has been rebuilt time and again over the centuries, a perfect marriage of tradition and modernity, which is constantly surprising with its ability to reinvent itself.

Edinburgh’s summer festival season runs from August 5 to 29. See edinburghfestivalcity.com for more details Trains from London to Edinburgh run every half-hour and take approximately four-and-a-half hours. To book one of Jumeirah’s London properties see jumeirah.com

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EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

COMEDY PUTS DOWN ROOTS IN DUBAI It was in Edinburgh, somewhere between Phone Book Man and a onehour tour of the Thermos Museum – fashioned from a ramshackle shed, complete with hand-scrawled sign outside – that the thought first occurred to me. It was the same thought that crosses the mind of every sane, rational person who loves comedy and stand-up at some point in their lives. I thought: ‘I could do that.’

Back in Dubai, I signed up to a stand-up comedy workshop at the Courtyard Playhouse theatre in Al Quoz. Over four weeks, our class of six – a mixed collective from the UAE, Britain, Australia and India – were taught the opposite of what we assumed would make audiences laugh. Don’t try to tell jokes or be funny, warned our instructor Salman Qureshi. Being serious and telling stories from a personal perspective would get more laughs.

He got us to make lists of our fears and pet hates, then ad-lib on stage for a full minute in our first class. It was nerve-racking with no time to

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we worked on our material, practising in front of each other and gauging which lines worked – and which clearly did not – until we each had a fiveminute routine prepared. Getting a laugh out of my fellow participants was addictive; I found the more willing I was to ridicule any personal angst, from getting older to greying roots, the more they guffawed. No one likes a successful person being happy and the more vulnerable I

Image: Tiffany Schultz

prepare material or get comfortable being on stage. Over four weeks,

M

Y

CM

MY

Salman Qureshi

made myself, the funnier it was.

CMY

time. They are helped by a number of comedy clubs which spring up The course finale was a performance before a packed audience in the

sporadically, such as the 1Up comedy club, Tribeca’s comedy night and

theatre. On the day in question, I baulked and nearly pulled out three

The Stables but they have a tendency to close just as suddenly as they

times. The thought of going on stage in front of an audience and dying

appear. Regular venues are limited to the Laughter Factory, which brings

on my feet was too excruciating to bear. It was only knowing no one in

in professional performers from the UK in a partnership with London’s

the audience knew me that was vaguely reassuring. And when it came

Comedy Store and the Courtyard Playhouse, which showcases local tal-

to it, the studio lights were so blinding, I could not actually see anyone in

ent. The latter has proven a hit, with audiences packing out twice-weekly

the audience. And they laughed – at least, I think they did, although not

improv and comedy nights. There is a hunger, says Dickinson, for culture

always in the right places. They laughed at my punchlines, giggled with-

away from Dubai’s shopping malls. “The audience is much kinder and more

out malice when I fluffed my lines, shouted out good-natured responses

forgiving,” he adds.

and reacted surprisingly strongly to one of my punchlines, which threw me completely; I hadn’t factored in audience participation. But there were none of the heckles or abuse one might expect in a packed comedy club in New York or London and I came off stage on a complete high.

Try it The next stand-up comedy workshop runs from August 12 to September 12. See courtyardplayhouse.com for details.

Kemsley Dickinson, the co-founder of the Courtyard Playhouse, says audiences in the Middle East are more forgiving because the comedy scene is nascent. “We have only been going for three years but it has

See it

exploded exponentially,” he says. “When we started, there were three

The Courtyard Playhouse in Al Quoz runs monthly King Gong nights, where

or four comics on the circuit but now we have about 15 performing

audience members can show the red card to any unfunny acts. The aim

regularly.”

is to make it to 10 minutes without being voted offstage. Free; advance booking recommended. courtyardplayhouse.com

Stand-up comedy was more of an afterthought; the theatre was originally opened to provide a platform for drama and improvisation. Since the venue started running comedy classes about a year ago, there has

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CY

Book it

been an influx of lawyers, bankers and journalists, all willingly humiliat-

Book a room at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel a short drive from the lively Al

ing themselves in the name of comedy and performing in their spare

Quoz arts hub. jumeirah.com

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You’re with us today.

Imagine where we can take you tomorrow.

The enhanced Jumeirah Sirius Recognition and Rewards programme. Collect points to go further, stay longer and STAY DIFFERENT™. Become a member before checking out and make this stay count towards unlocking even more privileges*.

If staying at a Jumeirah property, apply at reception; or visit jumeirahsirius.com *Guest on an eligible rate will accrue Jumeirah Sirius Points for their current stay.

AL on gA nd WIn dIn g

It’s b tak ig, dec es B a ent dent a ley’ s ne nd ca rri wM ulsa es a $ 37 nne for 0,000 a sp p in t rice ta hro ugh g. Dan ae the Me Bav aria rcer nA lps

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motoring

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motoring

W

hen you think about driving in Germany, it is the autobahn which first springs to mind. The road has long held a special place in the hearts of car aficionados, particularly in the country which invented the motorway.

Yet to stop at the autobahn would mean missing out on far more scenic routes found in the south of the country. It is there that you will discover narrow roads winding through the Bavarian Alps. And it is there, surrounded by evergreen trees and fresh mountain air, that Bentley decides to launch the latest version of its decidedly luxurious Mulsanne, the Extended Wheelbase.

The Mulsanne is aimed at the wealthy. Once described as a ‘veritable manor house on wheels’ by Car and Driver magazine, this luxurious vehicle is big, decadent and starts at about $300,000 for the base model. Seats are plush and materials – think hand-stitched leathers, real wood polished to a deep sheen and sumptuous carpets – are designed to impress.

The recently launched Extended Wheelbase is aimed at those who prefer to be chauffeured rather than sat behind the wheel. Handy additions, like airline-style reclining seating with extendable leg rests and an extra 25 centimetres of legroom, blackout curtains, in-car wifi, a new sunroof and an optional fridge with customised Bentley-crafted champagne flutes, all aim to make the backseat experience more comfortable. Add to this a fully connected digital platform, including hidden-in-the-seats 10.2in Android-compatible tablets and you have a car designed for work or leisure.

Externally, Bentley has made a few tweaks to the latest Mulsanne. A wider grille in the front is echoed in the back. The rear wheel is marked with a dip to suggest the extended space while updated tail lamps resemble a B shape.

While the new model is definitely aimed at the sit-back-and-relax-as-you’redriven customer, it is still a pleasure to drive yourself. The 6.8-litre turbocharged V8 still offers 505 horsepower and 752 lb-ft of torque. There is undeniable heft to the car – making it challenging at some points on smaller roads – but its potential for speed is impressive.

“It’s a pinnacle product,” says Sam Graham, Mulsanne’s product line director, as we sit in a lodge overlooking the Wettersteinwand mountain range.

“We put more construction into it than anything else we build.”

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motoring

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Ultimately, the car has the sumptuous elements of a Rolls-Royce while incorporating the sportier touches of an Audi. It is definitely more geared toward those who like to be driven but that is quite enjoyable in the right circumstances

The numbers are significant: 120 paint processes, 480 leather parts going into the interiors, 5,800 individual welds in the car. Then there are the 24 shades of hide and the 100 shades of paint available to create a bespoke set of wheels.

But is the Extended Wheelbase worth the price tag? It certainly performs well on the roads as we drive through sun and rain through the Bavarian Alps, passing quaint villages with fresco-painted buildings and into neighbouring Austria, without a single hitch. Even navigating the close quarters of the park around Austria’s Achen lake (well worth a stop for scenic views of this ‘fjord of the Alps’ alone), the sizeable car handles things well.

When we hit the autobahn, the car eases into speeds of 100mph smoothly.

That is not to say it is for everyone. “The latest electronic driver aids – most of which one can now get in a humble Hyundai or a lowly Chevrolet – are glaringly absent here,” wrote Joe Lorio in Car and Driver. He pointed out the lack of forward collision warning, automated emergency braking and 360-degree view camera. “The Mulsanne is no Tesla. In the realm of ultraluxury sedans, in fact, it may be the anti-Tesla,” he stated.

Yet if the extra features matter, with Bentley’s focus on endless customisable options, a customer would really only need to ask. Ultimately, the car has the sumptuous elements of a Rolls-Royce while incorporating the sportier touches of an Audi. It is definitely more geared toward those who like to be driven but that is quite enjoyable in the right circumstances.

Putting it to the test

past castles, up the snow-capped Alps and around Gothic towers. As its name suggests, the scenery – all clear lakes and green trees – speaks of a fairytale.

A great place to start is from Frankfurt. Stay overnight at the Jumeirah Frankfurt Hotel (jumeirah.com/jumeirah-frankfurt) and start the next morning fresh, ready for the 119km drive from Frankfurt to Wurzburg. (Of course, if you’re already based in Germany, you can just go direct to Wurzburg.) At the end of this 90-minute drive, you will reach ‘the pearl of the Romantic Road’, a city replete with vineyards dotted by regal castles. Stroll through Wurzburg’s streets to enjoy baroque architecture and the stunning Schloss Veitschochheim garden.

When ready to head on, travel two hours to the village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in northern Bavaria. This quaint stop is filled with timber houses and cobbled streets, allowing a glimpse into the past. The ornate Renaissancestyle Herterich Fountain is worth a stop. Push on an hour more and you will hit Nordlingen. This historic city, dating back to 898AD, boasts an intact wall (one of only three German cities to do so). Expect charming Bavarian-style red-topped homes, best viewed from the top of the St Georg churchtower.

Next comes Augsburg. As the third largest city in Bavaria, this stop definitely warrants an overnight stop. Indeed, most of the destinations on the Romantic Road could fill an entire day. In Ausburg, visit the Dom St Maria, a ninth century chapel with five rare paintings by Hans Holbein, one of the greatest portrait painters of the 16th century. Or wander over to the Mozarthaus, a museum dedicated to the famous composer.

As for getting into the hot seat, where to take it for a test drive? We started from luxury lodge Schloss Elmau after dinner at the Michelin-starred Luce D’Oro restaurant and drove along the A95 to Starnberg in Bavaria. Then we branched onto the autobahn and eventually headed back south.

On leaving Ausburg, Hohenschwangau village about 90 minutes away is worth a visit. Here you will find Neuschwanstein Castle, a fairytale venue that apparently served as inspiration for Walt Disney’s castle in Snow White.

Across the valley you will find Hohenschwangau, a yellow-tinted castle beloved

by Wagner.

While our route traversed chunks of the roughly 400 kilometre-long Romantic Road, we did not follow it entirely. Whether you are in a Mulsanne or not, it is worth exploring this scenic road properly. Created after World War II to attract visitors, the Romantic Road winds through vineyards and

The Romantic Road represents 400km of beautiful countryside, weaving through small villages and centuries of history while breathing in fresh alpine air. No matter what car you choose, the road is just as enjoyable as the destination.

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yoga

Finding the Yin to Your Yang

Few people know about the benefits of yin yoga but it can have a powerful impact on physical and emotional wellbeing

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yoga Stephan Wagner

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s executives go, Stephan Wagner isn’t what you might expect. For starters, he has swapped the linen shirt and trousers that he wears in his office in favour of wooden hippy beads, shorts and an embellished tee shirt which shows off his tattoos.

He is also more hands-on than the average director, taking such a keen interest in yoga classes at the Talise Spa that come Thursday evening, you are more likely to find him at the front of the class teaching than locked away in his study.

But then, Wagner is not your average spa director. As a former physiotherapist, he is passionate about the benefits of yin yoga, so much so that when he took up his post as wellness director at the spa in Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, in 2013, he was determined to get out from behind the desk.

“I discovered yin yoga about five years ago and am passionate about its benefits,” he says. “It is the only class I teach and such an important way to wind down from the stresses of the week and start the weekend afresh. It is fascinating because it is an inward practice.”

While yoga devotees tend to be drawn to more common yoga practices like hatha or bikram, yin has an appeal all of its own. A much slower-paced, passive practice, it involves holding poses for five minutes or longer. The asanas can be uncomfortable to hold for such long periods of time but doing so helps release tension in the connective tissue between muscles, says Wagner.

“You have to trust the discomfort,” he says. “During yin yoga, you enter a meditative state.”

Yin yoga, which has its roots in India and China, grew in popularity in the West during the 1970s. It is said to increase circulation in the joints, improve flexibility, relieve stress in the tendons and ligaments and introduce a meditative approach to yoga, as there is little movement and more time to reflect as you concentrate on your breathing, a form of meditation in itself. Wagner says the benefits can be felt in as little as five classes but adds it cannot be practised alone and has to complement more cardiovascular exercise.

His class takes place at sunset on the Madinat Jumeirah beach, where the repetitive sound of the waves crashing on the shore lull us into a state of calm.

Germany-born Wagner begins with the dangling pose, hanging loose toward the ground from the hips and alternating it with squats. It is surprisingly uncomfortable, as if our creaky bodies are in need of awakening after a week of sitting hunched over office desks. We continue with the back-stretching – if somewhat undignified – melting heart asana for three minutes, the hipopening dragonfly pose, where we reach for our toes and the sphinx, rather like the cobra in hatha yoga. The overall effect is like having your muscles ironed out. We end looser, more supple and warmer than when we started, although that could be due in part to the steamy summer heat rising during our outdoor workout.

“Yin yoga is not meant to be comfortable,” says Wagner. “It will take you out of your comfort zone. Staying in the discomfort is part of the practice.”

Yin yoga classes take place on the beach by the Talise Spa, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, at 6.30pm on Thursdays. They cost $25 and can be booked by calling +971 4 366 6818 or emailing MJtalise@jumeirah.com

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on your bike London’s parks and monuments make it ideal to explore by bike – thanks to a special tie-in between a Jumeirah hotel and a bicycle company with a difference. Phill Tromans reports from two wheels On a beautiful summer’s afternoon, I am adjusting the saddle on a retro-style bike, custom-made by British manufacturer Kingston Bicycles and emblazoned with Jumeirah’s logo. It’s not the way hotel guests usually explore the British capital but with thousands of attractions on its doorstep, the Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel in Belgravia has invested in a collection of customised house bikes and developed a self-guided map of the surrounding area with suggested pitstops, in a collaboration with the rather eccentric Tally Ho! Cycle Tours company.

The hotel sits between Knightsbridge and Belgravia, south of Hyde Park, which is the heart of the map. The 350-acre oasis of greenery is one of the city’s eight royal parks and crucially, it is very cycle-friendly. But first we head south to take in some of Belgravia’s beautiful surroundings. Often overlooked by tourists flocking to Knightsbridge, Belgravia is an architectural gem with regency buildings and mews to explore, along with some high-end shops, cafes and restaurants. Here bikes mix with light traffic, which might be a little intimidating for those not accustomed to cycling on the road but Weir says guests are always free to get off and walk.

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Images: Getty and Tally Ho! Cycle Tours

Hotel guests can either take a complimentary spin around the city on the bikes or arrange a personalised tour through the hotel’s concierge with one of the Tally Ho! guides. Billed as “the best way to see real London”, the company with a uniquely British twist ranks as one of the city’s top 10 outdoor activities on TripAdvisor. And so I find myself saddling up alongside Tally Ho! guide Tom Weir, who is showcasing some tour highlights.

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This page, clockwise from above: Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel provides maps for the tour; Wellington Arch; Jumeirah bike; Natural History Museum; Princess Diana Memorial Fountain; Tally Ho! Cycle Tours. Previous page, clockwise from top left: Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel customised bike; hotel entrance; having fun in London; Serpentine Lake; riding in Theed Street and past telephone booths; Royal Albert Hall; market stall. Centre: Hyde Park

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cycling

As we approach bustling Duke of Wellington Place at the southeast corner of the park, even Weir – a seasoned city biker – dismounts and we wheel our bikes along a busy thoroughfare. This actually makes it easier to take in the sights, including Wellington Arch, built to celebrate the duke’s military victory at Waterloo in 1815. Calm returns as we enter Hyde Park. On a glorious day like this, it is predictably popular but cyclists have dedicated lanes along the paths and I have a bell on the handlebars to alert meandering pedestrians of our presence. We ride past the huge statue of Achilles – another tribute to Wellington’s military prowess – and head west toward the vast Serpentine lake. Boaters are out enjoying the water and on the far side, a brave soul is in the lido swimming area.

At West Carriage Drive, we turn left over the bridge, looping back around to the south side of the Serpentine, taking in the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain on the left. To the right of the cycle path is a sandy bridleway, used by soldiers from Hyde Park Barracks, as well as pedestrians. With Weir pointing out sights along the way, we head along the south side of Kensington Gardens to the ostentatious Albert Memorial – a gothic canopy drenched in gold, opened by Queen Victoria in 1872 as a memorial to her late husband.

It faces the Royal Albert Hall, one of London’s most iconic buildings. South Kensington is also museum country and after cutting through the grounds of Imperial College London, we pass the Science Museum and Natural History Museum before pausing in the square at the end of Exhibition Road, packed with cafes and restaurants.

My legs have still not given in so we press north again, past the Geological Museum and back into Hyde Park. We pass children learning the ropes at the riding school before the splendid Marble Arch looms at the northeast corner, separating Hyde Park from Oxford Street and Mayfair. On the east side, a quick detour can be made to see the Animals in War memorial, a modern tribute to animals that served with the British military. We have covered about 13 kilometres over 90 minutes and while my curiosity could ride all day and

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Our location in the historic district of Belgravia lends itself perfectly to exploring by bike. We can open up hidden spots and areas of interest around the hotel that visitors might not find otherwise

still not see a fraction of what London has to offer, my lungs are starting to demand rest. We head back to Lowndes Square and I reluctantly lock up the bike, making a mental note to start researching the cost of buying one.

It seems I am not alone. Britain is bike-crazy with more than two million cyclists and more than 100,000 people cycling at least once a week, according to Sport England figures. In London, they benefit from seven cycling superhighways – there will eventually be 12 – and a public bicycle hire scheme, dubbed Boris Bikes (so named after Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who was often seen puffing away on one). Tally Ho! founder Jack Harris is not surprised. He set up the company in 2011, inspired by British heritage.

“Our goal is to showcase the best London has to offer in a small space of time,” he says. “The bicycle is the perfect mode to connect the dots.”

Ian Richardson, the general manager of Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel, says the bikes are already proving popular with guests. He adds: “Our location in the historic district of Belgravia lends itself perfectly to exploring by bike.

We can open up hidden spots and areas of interest around the hotel that visitors might not find otherwise.”

Book it Hotel bikes can be booked via the Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel concierge.

Email JLHconcierge@jumeirah.com or call +44 207 823 1234. Personalised tours cost from $250. See tallyhocycletours.com for more details of tours.

Where to stay The boutique Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel is in Lowndes Square, a short walk from Knightsbridge Underground station and a stone’s throw from Harrods and Harvey Nichols. jumeirah.com

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secret spaces There is a ‘table for two’ – and then there is Jumeirah Vittaveli’s dinner à deux, which can mean anything from a private beach barbecue, complete with your own personal chef, to dinner not just beside the pool but actually in it. The resort’s dining by design concept means you can choose exactly where you eat on the island and how, whether you catch the sun’s first rays at dawn at a sunrise breakfast while sipping on chilled champagne at the water’s edge or are whisked away to a private sandbank to enjoy an intimate gourmet picnic.

Guests often opt for a sunset barbecue on a secluded stretch of beach, where the food is cooked to order by a chef on hand and served while they enjoy a fire and light dance show, followed by traditional Maldivian music. A romantic candlelit dinner, served in your villa while a butler draws you a bath, is another popular option.

But it is the aqua dinner which is really something else. A table is laid with crisp white linen in the shallow end of the main pool, complete with two chairs. You can feast on a decadent tailormade menu as you wiggle your toes in the cool water under a canopy of stars. With five restaurants to choose from, ranging from the Asian flavours of Samsara to the Indian spices of Swarna, the options are endless. Guests can even meet the chef to discuss what they would like.

A 20-minute boat ride from Male, the Jumeirah Vittaveli is in a world of its own, encapsulating the very essence of indulgence.

And with a culinary team on hand promising to cater to every whim, booking a table for two for dinner will never be the same again. jumeirah.com/vittaveli

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travel

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ENJOY ENJOY AN ARRIVAL AN ARRIVAL WITHWITH A VIEW A VIEW

Have you Haveever youwanted ever wanted to be inside to be inside Burj AlBurj Arab AlJumeirah?

Arab Jumeirah?

Now you Nowcan. you can.

Start exploring Start exploring any oneany of one our 22 of our hotels 22 and hotels resorts and resorts worldwide worldwide at jumeirahinside.com at jumeirahinside.com ABU DHABIABU | DUBAI DHABI| KUWAIT | DUBAI || MALDIVES KUWAIT | MALDIVES | SHANGHAI | SHANGHAI | BAKU | BODRUM | BAKU | BODRUM | FRANKFURT | FRANKFURT | ISTANBUL| ISTANBUL | LONDON| LONDON | MALLORCA | MALLORCA

The high life:

The Atrium, grosvenor house Suites, Park lane, london

The lowdown: Don’t be fooled by the unassuming entrance to The Atrium

For a truly global evening, start in the Far East with prawn tempura – suc-

in the Grosvenor House Suites by Jumeirah Living. Take the lift and walk

culent king prawns in a featherlight batter – with a subtle lime and coconut

through the Anoushka Hempel-designed contemporary lobby to spill

sauce. Move on to India for your main with the chicken biryani, a guests’

out into the soaring atrium, flooded with natural daylight and a soft jazz

favourite. Tender, delicately spiced pieces of chicken lie under a bed of

soundtrack. Hempel has exploited the natural strengths of the building’s

fluffy basmati rice and are accompanied by a smooth and creamy raita.

heart, creating a courtyard-like setting bordered with stunning white

Finish in Europe with a velvety, pistachio-encrusted chocolate fondant and

orchids and greenery.

vanilla ice cream, presented in a chocolate casing. The dessert looks like a work of art and the taste is to die for.

The atmosphere: A few minutes’ walk from the hustle and bustle of London’s Oxford Street, The Atrium is an oasis of calm in elegant Mayfair.

Insider’s tips: To dine at The Atrium, plan ahead. Access is exclusive to

Come suited and booted or in your comfiest denim – it doesn’t matter.

guests staying in the suites, visitors of guests or holders of the VIP Atrium

The dress code is as relaxed as the atmosphere. If you like space, privacy

card, available for registration at the concierge desk. If you’re celebrating

and attentive service, this is the place for you.

a significant event, let the staff know when you book – they are expert at making you feel extra special.

The food: The menu is as international as the suites’ clientele. Choose

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classic dishes from Europe, the Middle East and Asia or local favourites.

To book: Call +44 207 518 4444 or email GHSreservations@jumeirah.com,

Whatever you select, it’s guaranteed to be a melt-in-the-mouth experience.

jumeirah.com

R E C O R D I N G O LYM P I C D R E A M S S I N C E 1 9 3 2 An Olympic medal is the ultimate sporting dream. A lifetime of dedication can be transformed into gold in less than a heartbeat. This summer in Rio, OMEGA’s team of timekeepers will measure the fractions of a second that determine the medal hopes of the world’s best athletes, including Chad Le Clos. We will be beside every pitch, pool and track to record their achievements as they aim to fulfill their dreams.

Available at OMEGA Boutiques and Rivoli Stores in UAE. Tel: 800-RIVOLI