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Buying an experience If money doesn’t make you happy, then you probably aren’t spending it right! ‘Buying an experience improves wellbeing more than buying a possession, and experiences can create lasting memories’ says Richard Webb. An anonymous thinker once said that travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer. In that spirit, I am indeed a wealthy man. Here are a few of my favourite places I’ve travelled to in my role as a storyteller .
Dubai
‘Dubai was founded on trade, not oil.’ Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
So, what’s all the fuss about? Dubai, with its crisp, sky-reaching architecture, spectacular skylines and obsession with fashion and style, is more like Shanghai than Las Vegas. It also has a flourishing contemporary art scene rooted in its Bedouin heritage. And, being a publisher, I was drawn to Dubai’s traditions of storytelling.
Why go to Dubai? To be honest, I went there initially to hear Bill Ford Jr speak about the future of the car, and to witness the new Ford Mustang convertible being hoisted atop the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa - which in itself is a lofty tourist attraction.
Haggling for gold and frankincense sharpens your negotiation skills in the bustling souks, yet Dubai’s futuristic appeal and wide range of western entertainments and sumptuous shopping malls are really as much fun as the simple pleasures of ‘the Orient’.
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‘Do a Bilbao’
‘Sleepless in Seattle’
The northern Spanish city of Bilbao has not always been pretty. I could see this as I strolled around the town towards the Guggenheim Museum. Bilbao was a cultural backwater before the museum opened in 1997, but since then, more than 10 million visitors have been enthralled by its sheer architectural audacity and breadth of displays. A collaboration between the Guggenheim Foundation and Basque authorities, the museum put Bilbao firmly on the cultural map and Frank Gehry’s fish-like museum had me awe-struck.
‘All those ninnies have it wrong. The best thing about Seattle is the weather.’ Maria Semple
A history of heavy industry had left the town with industrial wastelands during its declining years. But Bilbao’s visionary efforts paid off thanks to this extraordinary shimmering titanium structure nestling on the shores of the Nervión River.
This Pacific Northwest city in western Washington State is so compact that you can see most things by foot, taxi and boat. The waterfront Olympic Sculpture Park, part of the Seattle Museum of Art has a collection of sculptures and with its the sweeping views of the Bay and the Space Needle, is more than memorable. In Seattle, the water constantly beckons, spoil yourself and book a Kenmore Air seaplane flip, as there is no better way to see the full expanse of water, mountains and city than via a 20-minute aerial tour of the area. Or walk 10 minutes to Colman Dock and board the ferry to Bainbridge Island. But whatever you do, head for Pike Place Market within the heart of Seattle’s downtown. More than the city’s beloved public market, Pike Place Market is a vibrant neighbourhood comprised of hundreds of farmers, craftspeople, small businesses and residents.
The town has real character and the transformation has been so dramatic that the phrase ‘Bilbao effect’ now describes how investing heavily in the arts can help any city remake itself from an industrial blight into a vibrant tourist attraction. Guggenheim Museum
It’s the down-to-earth soul of its cuisine and people, rather than its numerous art galleries that are the real attraction of the vital, exciting and cultured city of Bilbao.
Sleepless, I found myself jogging in the early morning rain, using the Space Needle to navigate my way back to my hotel. I was there to drive the Jaguar XF-RS, but also for the coffee and to experience the hip and high-end clothing boutiques. And the food is just about a religion – with the farm-to-table scene taking pride of place.
‘We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.’ Pascal Mercier
‘Of one thing there is no doubt. If Paris makes demands of the heart, then Munich makes demands of the stomach.’ Rachel Johnson
Lisbon
Munich
I arrived in Lisbon not by night train, but in a BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe. I soon parked the car and meandered up the sharply inclined, labyrinthine streets while dodging the shouting fishwives of the ancient Alfama district of Lisbon. The click-clacking yellow trams are a great way to get around to explore Lisbon’s impressive monuments to the Age of Exploration. Europe’s westernmost capital has a charm of its own, and despite Portugal’s troubled economy, it has more than just tradition to attract travellers looking for a transatlantic escape. It’s adventurous and progressive food scene, haute bohème bars and nightlife continues until dawn.
The Bavarian capital is cracking its conservative shell with travelling art projects and prestigious museums, such as the Deutsches Museum, Museum Brandhorst, Pinakothek, Haus der Kunst and the BMW Welt, which is one of the most compelling large-scale contemporary art installations.
Take the neo-Gothic Santa Justa lift for fabulous views over the district, or head northeast to Praça de Dom Pedro IV. This is the city’s main square and a people-watching paradise. You’ll see Vespa riding hipsters; buskers, assorted tourists and locals shuttling to and from the Estação Ferroviária do Rossio rail station at the edge of the square. In a city that’s famed for its nightlife, there are other artistic expressions and fields of thought, and the MUDE – which means change in Portuguese – is the cultural centre and beating heart in the main artery of the city, with areas of exhibition, diffusion, creation, interaction, education and debate.
The Space Needle
Okay, it was, of course, the city’s beer gardens - a cultural institution in their own right – that attracted me as well. They are as vibrant and lively as ever. Oh, and the gin. It is at the Zephyr Bar where I found a fine selection of German gins with fresh ingredients and bartenders prepared to create fantastic aromatic cocktails.
BMW Welt
The beating pulse of Munich is a great place to explore the delightful specialty food markets; aged beef, handmade chocolates and, of course, the previously mentioned German gins, all of these imbued me with local spirit. An enjoyable Sunday activity is still a lazy amble through the Englischer Garten for a picturesque lake, beautiful beer gardens and an oversized chewy pretzel with your Weissbier in the sun.
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Elegant shops and lively markets. Lille is a city that doesn't feel the need to impress Leaving Paris and travelling north, I discovered Lille a little while ago. Part of the charm of this northern French city is that it doesn’t behave in a manner, which is all hauteur and arrogance. Perhaps unlike the French capital, the slow-moving traffic was patient as swathes of Citroens, Peugeots and Renaults eased their way over stone-paved roads, even though Lille opened the world’s first driverless metro transport system in 1983. Flemish influenced 17th- and 18th-century buildings are now elegant shops. The former stock exchange is a most handsome building – a Flemish Renaissance of garlands and gargoyles, where now, you >
can buy second-hand books, antique postcards and vintage vinyls. The Palais des Beaux-Arts is a mini Louvre, with works from medieval artists to the Impressionists. If you want to pick up a pig’s head or live lobster for lunch, head to the market Wazemme, or for more refined food, try the Place du Concert market with its oyster bar and artisanal cuisine. I took the Metro northeast to Roubaix and the Aux Merveilleux patisserie on rue de la Monnaie, purely to indulge in a not-at-all-Banting meringue and cream creation.
Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” Samuel Johnson
I’ve got so many happy memories of travelling around London on the Tube, for business and pleasure, as a 20-something aspiring publisher. I found London to be a peerless place for revolutionary style, vibrant nightlife, aristocratic architecture and sublime gardens. Those down-to-earth pleasures are made even better during those seemingly never-ending sunny days of summer. Vibrant, noisy and wholly multicultural, London is a megacity of people, ideas and buzzy energy. London originally referred to just the once walled ‘Square Mile’ of the original Roman city known as Londinium. The term ‘Greater London’ embraces Central London
together with all the outlying suburbs that lie in the lower Thames valley. As densely populated as it is, London retains its green lungs with swathes of open spaces, even in the city centre. It’s a surprisingly compact city and incredibly well signposted – perfect for walking – to get a unique experience of the capital. Stroll past Buckingham Palace and then on to the London Eye. Check out the Marble Arch where Oxford St meets Park Lane in Mayfair and head out east to Fleet Street to St Paul’s Cathedral – the Sir Christopher Wren masterpiece – on your way to the Tower of London. It’s unforgettable.