The Irish Mail on Sunday by NBTC

March 20 • 2016 The Irish Mail on Sunday More

giant’s head protrudes from an archway, his mouth underwater and huge hooked nose mirrored in the still canal. On the opposite bank a horrible, cloaked creature with a bird’s skull head plucks menacingly on his harp as we glide by. So, when our boat rounds the next bend and I come face-to-feet with the naked figure of a man being swallowed by a blue monster with a copper cauldron on his head for a helmet, I’m ready for what is in store. The narrow network of waterways in the southern Dutch city of Den Bosch passes under its streets, and from April onwards this year the tunnels will be transformed by clever audio-visuals into the fiery furnace of the damned, writhing with tortured souls on this Heaven and Hell cruise. These bizarre creatures have all leapt and crept from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, the artist famous for his vivid depictions of the diabolical consequences of sin. And to commemorate 500 years since Bosch’s death, his hometown is celebrating the history of art’s wildest imagination. The main attraction is the Hieronymus Bosch – Visions Of Genius exhibition on now at the museum where almost every one of his surviving works, 17 paintings and

bizarre: The canal tour with the Bosch characters, inset

Dutch gem is perfect setting for horror 19 drawings of saints and sinners, angels and demons, have been gathered from all over the world for the first time in a show that will move to Madrid’s Prado in May. The exhibition had me gripped, drawn into the goings on in the triptychs and panels. It is a must-see, but there are many other reasons to visit Den Bosch. The preserved, fortified medieval city is putting on a dazzling son et lumiere show in the Market Square, projecting images from Bosch’s works onto the house in which he was born, his studio and his statue,

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L1349pp 14 NOV 2016: Fly from Ireland to Barcelona where you will board MSC Fantasia and set sail to Marseille (France), Genoa (Italy), Rome (Italy), Katakolon (Greece), Heraklion (Greece), Suez Canal Transit (Egypt), Aqaba (Jordan), Salalah (Oman), Muscat (Oman) and Dubai (UAE) where you will disembark and stay for a further 2 nts in a 5*hotel before ﬂying back to Ireland.

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every evening until December. I climbed a scaffolding staircase, 100ft up the side of St John’s cathedral, to walk on planks around the gutters so close to moss-covered gargoyles and statues of buffoons, imps and fretful souls shinning heavenwards up the flying buttresses, I could look right into their grotesque faces. The views are wonderful and little changed since the days when Bosch was working on altarpieces during the cathedral’s construction. If you don’t have a head for heights, you can see some of the original roof

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statues in the museum next door. Den Bosch is an hour by train from Amsterdam. I stayed in loft-style boutique hotel The Duke at the far end of the street to Market Square with smart shops and lively bars within a short stroll. Another earthly delight to tempt you is local speciality Bossche Bol, a giant pudding with a hard, dark chocolate shell and a soft, sweet, creamy centre. Go on, be a devil. Try one, you needn’t finish it. n Visions Of Genius runs until May 8 – tickets.hnbm.nl. See thedukehotel.nl for doubles from €130 B&B.

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LAS VEGAS & HAWAII OCT 2016 - MAR 2017: Fly from Ireland to Las Vegas where you will stay for 4 nights in a 4* hotel on the strip area,ﬂy to Los Angeles before boarding the Star Princess and set sail to the following Hawaiian islands: Honolulu,Kauai,Maui,and Hilo; followed by Ensenada in Mexico before arriving back in Los Angeles where you will disembark and ﬂy back home STAR to Ireland. PRINCESS

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7 DEC 2016: Fly from Ireland to Miami where you will stay for 2 nights before joining the Celebrity Inﬁnity in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and setting sail to Cartagena (Colombia), Colon (Panama), Panama Canal (Cruising), Manta (Ecuador), Lima (Peru - Overnight), Arica (Chile) and Valparaiso (Chile) where you will disembark the ship and stay a further 2 nights before ﬂying back CELEBRITY to the Ireland. INFINITY

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DEC 2016 - MAR 2017: Fly from Ireland overnight to Dubai and transfer on board Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas for a 7 nights all inclusive cruise setting sail to Kasab (Oman), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Muscat, (Oman), Dubai where you will disembark and stay at the 5*Atlantis hotel for 2 nights before FREE ﬂying back to Ireland. DRINKS VISION OF OFFER THE SEAS

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By Caroline Hendrie