in! NOVEMBER 2017 // £4.20
A EUROPEAN CRUISE FOR TWO
UK EDITION // NATGEOTRAVELLER.CO.UK
Coas to coas
31 beaches to rock your world
Sc eech owls & sco ion s ide s
Could you survive
ecuador? tale o te in
Thailand
he real Hollywood
LAID BACK IN LA LA LAND
ALSO: CHINA // GUERNSEY // BELGIUM // BELFAST // FAMILY YOGA
LYON SEVILLE VENICE
EAST-WEST / WEST-EAST by Richard Serra, Brouq Nature Reserve, West Qatar
Sculpted by time.
A desert speaks, the world listens. A landscape of space, of time, of magnitude.
www.visitqatar.qa
The Taipale brothers are explorer/photographers from Finland. While Samuel has been out skiing, Daniel has been taking shots of the Dolomites and enjoying some high-altitude wine tasting. At the end of the day, they have a lot to tell each other. Share their experiences at visittrentino.info.
visittrentino.info
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The Alps with an Italian touch.
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November 2017
Contents
120
76 Coast to coast From volcanic to windswept, wildlife to Down Under, we pick 31 of the world’s best beaches
108 China High in the mountains of Northern Yunnan is the real Shangri-La. Or is it?
132 City life: Seville At the heart of the Andalusian capital you’ll still find the true spirit of flamenco
94 Ecuador Close encounters with the fascinating flora and fauna of Yasuni National Park
120 In pictures: Belgium The Ardennes, set amid the forests of southern Wallonia, is home to some rather fine food
142 City life: Belfast With its creative, entrepreneurial streak, this revitalised city is among the UK’s most vibrant
Issue 60 Aerial view of blue Mediterranean Sea and sandy beach crowded with tourists, Kefalonia, Greece. IMAGE: Getty
November 2017
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November 2017
Contents
58
68
158
SMART TRAVELLER
36 Family Nine things we’ve learnt
63 Neighbourhood: Los Angeles Exploring south of the Hollywood Hills
39 Top 5 The inside scoop on Florence
68 Sleep: Venice Neo-gothic grande dames and converted mills
41 Stay at home Bruton, Wiltshire’s corner of cool
TRAVEL GEEKS
17 Snapshot Chef Anissa Helou at home in London 19 Editors’ picks These are a few of our favourite things 20 Big picture Horse trekking in the Namib Desert 22 On trend New openings in Paris’s hip tech district 25 What’s new Scientists have perfected the in-flight meal 27 Art & culture A fresh wave of contemporary art galleries 28 Do it now Triathlons: swim, cycle, run, repeat 31 Food Barbados’s Food and Rum Festival in focus
43 The word Magnum’s Around the World in 365 Photos 46 Events: Travel Geeks Join us in December to discuss the Silk Road 49 Author series Catherine Banner takes a slow train to Sicily 50 View from the USA Aaron Millar tackles the Pentagon 52 Online Highlights from natgeotraveller.co.uk INSIDER
33 On the trail Cork’s merriest watering holes
54 Weekender: Guernsey The island’s your oyster
34 Rooms The best beds in Ubud, Bali
58 Eat: Lyon Gastronomic heritage meets Michelin stars
Com�eti�ion Win a European trip with Windstar Cruises, p.45 8
natgeotraveller.co.uk
150 Travel Geeks The experts’ travel manual 158 Thailand: Going local Why community-based tourism is taking off 164 Family yoga retreats Child’s play or an impossible dream? GET IN TOUCH
176 Subscriptions Wrap up your Christmas presents early 177 Inbox Your letters, emails and tweets 178 Your pictures This month’s best travel photos
DON’T MISS
14 Photography Competition The annual competition is now open 149 Reader offer Discounted trips with Holiday Direction
YOU’LL LOVE THE INTIMACY AND CHARM, WHAT YOU’LL REMEMBER IS THE SPIT FROM THE CAMEL.
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Contributors Julia Buckley
It took me years to work this out, but Venice is a place where your choice of hotel really informs your take on the city. As the city is still so fiercely parochial, in the best sense of the word, staying in different areas gives you a completely new experience. VENICE P.68
Adrian Phillips
Ants bit me, thorns scratched me and a spider the size of a small dog claimed the drop toilet as its personal fiefdom. That’s what you get from a stay in the pristine rainforest of Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park. I’d go back in a heartbeat. ECUADOR P.94
Lee Cobaj
With its vast population and seemingly impenetrable language barrier, many see China as a rather intimidating prospect. But this is one of the world’s safest countries with dreamy scenery, a fab transport network and English signage almost all over. CHINA P.108
Jamie Lafferty
Seville crops up on a lot of cruise itineraries, but it’s not all fake flamenco and men in Columbus outfits posing for photos. Cycling around the city for a couple of days, I found no shortage of authenticity, sensational bars and passion. SEVILLE P.132
Tamsin Wressell
Much of Thailand’s reputation for tourism is based on Bangkok’s buzzing Khao San Road and the south’s overcrowded islands. But community-based tourism in the interior aims to highlight a more authentic way of life that benefits everyone. THAILAND P.158
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HIGHLIGHTS
Editor’s letter
W
hile there are thousands of miles of coastline in the UK, fewer than one in five of us actually live in a coastal area, which perhaps explains why we Brits make a beeline for the sea at the first opportunity. And while for many of us a spot of sun and sand and maybe the odd palm tree is preferable, sometimes just feeling that sea breeze in your face is enough. But while all beaches have an inherent appeal, not all are created equal. We’ve scoured the globe for some of the more interesting, beguiling and frankly incredible stretches of coastline. From Malendure Beach in Guadeloupe — overlooking Jacques Cousteau’s Technicolor ‘garden’ — and a ‘secret’ cove in Ireland’s Waterford to the white sands of the Cook Islands and Hong Kong’s urban shores, we’ve found 31 of the best beaches you’ve probably never heard of. Whether it’s wild and windswept, blessed with volcanic sands, home to a wealth of wildlife or completely deserted, we’re sure there’s a coastal spot to float your boat.
Photography Competition 2018 Your chance to make your mark — enter one of the most prestigious photography competitions around. See p.14
Travel Geeks: The Silk Road
Discover the best of the Silk Road and how to tackle it at our next Travel Geeks event on 12 December. natgeotraveller.co.uk/events
Win a cruise with Windstar
PAT RIDDELL, EDITOR
Experience an all-suite small-ship cruise for you and a guest with Windstar Cruises in this month’s competition. See p.45
@patriddell @patriddell
AWARD-WINNING NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER ATTA Media Awards 2017: Best Cultural Article on an African Destination, Best Blogger on Africa & Best Online Coverage on Africa • British Guild of Travel Writers Awards 2016: Best Travel Writer • LATA Media Awards 2016: Online Blog Feature of the Year • British Travel Awards 2015: Best Consumer Holiday Magazine • British Annual Canada Travel Awards 2015: Best Canada Media Coverage • Germany Travel Writers’ Awards 2015: First Prize • British Travel Awards 2014: Best Consumer Holiday Magazine • British Guild of Travel Writers Awards 2013: Best Overseas Feature • British Travel Press Awards 2012: Young Travel Writer of the Year
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BY APPOINTMENT TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II SWAROVSKI OPTIK SUPPLIER OF BINOCULARS
CL COMPANION
TURNING A TRIP INTO AN ADVENTURE The desert extends in its unending expanse and before your very eyes you can see a small herd of animals passing by in the distance. These are oryx antelopes that are now slowly moving on in the evening sun after resting all day long in the shade of the acacia trees. The CL Companion binoculars from SWAROVSKI OPTIK, always ready to hand, let you take in every amazing detail of these graceful animals, from the markings on their fur to their striking horns. Their excellent optics and compact design make these binoculars the perfect companion for observing such unique, unforgettable sights. With SWAROVSKI OPTIK the world belongs to those who can see beauty.
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NOW O P E N
COMPETITION 2018
PRIZE SPONSORS
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IMAGE: TATRA PHOTOGRAPHY
in association with Billingham
Our annual Photography Competition is now open Whether you’re a professional or an amateur, this is the competition for you. Simply submit in your preferred category — single shot, portfolio or video — and you’ll be in with a chance of winning a commission. Single shot: Upload a photograph in one of four different themes: Action, Nature, People, Urban
Portfolio: Professional photographers — upload four shots based on the same subject or theme
The prizes GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Carpathian Mountains
Win a six-night wildlife photography adventure worth nearly £2,000 with Tatra Photography, which has exclusive use of hides in the Carpathian Mountains. Photograph wild brown bears, wolves, lynx, deer, wild boar, raptors and woodpeckers. Professional wildlife photography tutor Ben Hall will provide tutorial and feedback sessions. The prize includes return flights, all transport, six nights half-board, 12 photography sessions (each around five hours long). Lenses for Hire will also provide free 300mm-500mm lens hire — which usually costs £4,000 — during the entire workshop. lensesforhire.co.uk tatraphotographyworkshop.com
PORTFOLIO WINNER
Qatar twin-centre
The winner and a guest will receive three nights at Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels, B&B, and three nights at Banana Island Resort Doha by Anantara, B&B. Also included is a boat to and from Banana Island and flights with Qatar Airways. visitqatar.qa qatarairways.com souqwaqifresort.com doha.anantara.com
SINGLE SHOT & VIDEO
Billingham bag
Video: Send us your YouTube/Vimeo link to an edited clip up to a maximum of two minutes OUR SPONSOR
Billingham
Camera bags, travel bags and laptop bags made in England since 1973 with storm-proof canvas, brass and real leather details. billingham.co.uk
Winners for the Video and each Single shot category will receive a Billingham Hadley One bag worth £265. Made in England, the bag is purpose-built to carry a laptop along with a full camera kit as well as various personal items. It features water-resistant canvas, top-grain vegetable-tanned leather and solid, durable brass fittings. billingham.co.uk
To enter
natgeotraveller.co.uk/photo-competition-2017 Closing date: 9 December 2017 at 23.59 GMT JUDGES TO BE ANNOUNCED
November 2017
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SMART TRAVELLER What’s new // Do it now // Food // On the trail // Rooms // Family // Stay at home // The word
SNAPSHOT
Anissa Helou, London
I first met Anissa in her light-filled Shoreditch loft while shooting a ‘day in the life’ feature for a Middle Eastern publication. Although most famous for her award-winning cookery books, which have brought the culinary heritage of the Levant to the west, I was struck first by the elegant aesthetic of her home — a result, I later discovered, of her background in interior design. We spent a few happy hours shooting in her kitchen, where she made us a delicious fish lunch, and out cafe-hopping in east London. She loved this portrait and asked me back to photograph her in her apartment again, just before she moved out. Anissa’s new book Feast: Food of the Islamic World will be published in May 2018. CELIA TOPPING // PHOTOGRAPHER celiatopping.com @ceetop
November 2017
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St Helena Island’s unique character lies in contrasting and spectacular scenery, a rich cultural heritage and an environment exceptionally rich in biodiversity. Just a few of the reasons why adventure awaits at this remote jewel in the South Atlantic Ocean. The perfect destination for active exploration and discovery.
www.sthelenatourism.com @visit.sthelena
@sthelenatourism
EDS’ PICKS // SMART TRAVELLER
On the wall
IN NUMBERS
CLIMATE CHANGE
WHERE: Basquiat: Boom
for Real is at Barbican Art Gallery, London, from 21 September-28 January. WHO: Jean-Michel Basquiat, an American art prodigy, poet, DJ and musician, famous for his pioneering graffiti aesthetic and tragic death, aged 27, in 1988. WHAT: The exhibition has gathered more than 100 works, and offers a trip into new wave 1980s New York through rare archive material. barbican.org.uk
7
metre rise to sea level if all the ice covering Greenland melts
10-12% of sea ice is lost each year
2100
the year scientists have predicted polar bears will be extinct, linked to ice loss
10
AMELIA DUGGAN
Editors' picks
of the Arctic’s warmest years on record have been within the past 12 years
2-6%
of the Earth is covered in ice sheets TAMSIN WRESSELL
We’ve been here and we’ve been there, and our team have found a few things we thought we’d share
CUSTOM MADE
IMAGES: XALAMY; EDO BERTOGLIO; TOM SACHS
So long selfie
Angling for the perfect shot? No need to find a pal with long arms, the dual-screen technology on the new Nokia 8 smartphone allows you to simultaneously snap a selfie and the view. nokia.com JOSEPHINE PRICE
Airlines, trains, theatres, cinemas, football clubs but rarely hotels… until now. Tour operator Thomas Cook is piloting a Choose Your Room initiative in 50 hotels, ahead of 300 being available next summer. It will allow you to be closer to the pool, overlooking the sunrise/sunset or the sure-to-be-popular as far as possible from the late-night music. thomascook.com PAT RIDDELL
Take the train
This month, Agatha Christie’s best-known book again gets the big screen treatment in the new Murder on the Orient Express movie. Meanwhile, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is introducing plush new Grand Suites, tripling the size of the compartments… more space to conceal a corpse. belmond.com SARAH BARRELL
WHAT WE’RE DOING: NEW EXHIBITIONS TOM SACHS: TEA CEREMONY
FRANKLIN: DEATH IN ICE
JOAN MIRÓ — MATERIALITY AND METAMORPHOSIS
Tea time at Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center fuses traditional pomp and spacey experimentalism. Objects include a koi pond and bowls with the NASA logo. Until 7 January. nashersculpturecenter.org
At the National Maritime Museum, explore the greatest unsolved mystery of Arctic exploration: Sir John Franklin’s fatal expedition into the Northwest Passage. Until 7 January. rmg.co.uk
Drawings, paintings and tapestry depict the artist’s surreal and eclectic oeuvre at Lisbon’s Palace of Ajuda. Until 8 January. palacioajuda.gov.pt
STEPHANIE CAVAGNARO
SARAH BARRELL
FARIDA ZEYNALOVA
November 2017
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SMART TRAVELLER
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SMART TRAVELLER
BIG PICTURE
Vergenoeg Reserve, Namibia It was day four of a 10-day, 155-mile horse ride across the southern Namib Desert with Namibia Horse Safari Company. This photogenic area is part of the larger Kanaan N/a’an ku sê Desert Retreat, a collection of private reserves known for wide, grassy plains dotted with oryx, broken by mountain ridges and bordered by an endless red sea of dunes. The last 10 minutes had been spent galloping along hard-packed earth as loose horses ran alongside us. When we stopped for our midmorning break I spied co-owner Andrew Gillies leading two horses to drink. The lone tree broke the expansive landscape, and combined with Andrew’s relaxed stance, captured some of what it feels like to be riding at the edge of the world. TEAGAN CUNNIFFE // PHOTOGRAPHER @tea.cunniffe teagancunniffe.com
November 2017
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SMART TRAVELLER // WHAT’S NEW
PARIS OPENINGS
Silicon Sentie
Paris’s techy second arrondissement draws in a cool crowd and has just welcomed a hip new Hoxton Hotel Nothing cements the development of an up-and-coming neighbourhood like the arrival of a Hoxton Hotel — and the boutique brand has landed right in the centre of the French capital. A previously unassuming quarter, the second arrondissement has shaken off its past reputation as a centre for the rag trade and adopted the moniker ‘Silicon Sentier’ now it’s home to influencers like Google, Facebook and French ride-sharing company BlaBlaCar. Housed in a former hôtel particulier, the Hoxton includes Jacques’ Bar, all tasselled lampshades and floral wallpaper, a 300-year-old spiral staircase, plus plenty of distressed plaster walls in the Rivié brasserie. There’s free wi-fi, a mini fridge to fi ll with products from the lobby shop and a daily emergency breakfast bag. The 176room abode is the largest so far for the burgeoning brand (but watch out for the Williamsburg outpost to open later this year). The French capital’s smallest arrondissement has big plans, it seems. thehoxton.com JOSEPHINE PRICE
BED DOWN
New digs HÔTEL DE CRILLON
This grande old dame of Paris reopened in July after four years of renovations. There are 124 exquisite rooms — a couple were even decorated by Karl Lagerfeld. rosewoodhotels.com
THE GRANDS BOULEVARDS
The experimental Cocktail Club shook up the libation scene and now the company’s doing the same with hotels. There’s even a rooftop bar. grandsboulevardshotel.com
YOOMA URBAN LODGE
This hotel hides 106 rooms behind a facade by contemporary artist Daniel Buren. Think riverside retreat meets urban lodge. yooma-hotel.com
ALSO IN THE 2EME
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natgeotraveller.co.uk
DRINK: MABEL
As pairings go, this is the first grilled cheese and rum den we’ve come across. The cocktail list will keep you hostage for hours. mabelparis.com
DO: PASSAGES COUVERTS
Meander through the warren of 18th-century covered arcades that traverse the district. Passage des Panoramas is the must-see but there are 11 in total.
IMAGE: GETTY
EAT: FRENCHIE
Eschew the capital’s haughty culinary vibe and try this restaurant, named after one of Jamie Oliver’s ex-chefs that he nicknamed ‘Frenchie’. frenchie-restaurant.com
ZADIG & VOLTAIRE
The iconic, chic clothing brand is set to open its first hotel in 2018 — the building will have 40 rooms and, of course, a luxury boutique. zadig-et-voltaire.com
Ski in - Swim out! In the centre of the world-famous village of Lech you can find the traditional 5-star family owned hotel. Culinary delicacies await in the new panorama restaurant, which also offers the guests a wide range of exquisite wines. The luxury bathing house with its panorama outdoor pool, the sauna world, the fitness room, the kids’ pool and several suites for beauty treatments extend an invitation to an unforgettable vacation.
Hotel “Gasthof Post“ · Dorf 11 · A-6764 Lech am Arlberg Phone +43 55 83 22 06 0 · www.postlech.com
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ESSENTIAL PHILIPPINES w w w. s e l e c t i v e a s i a . c o m Tel: 012 7367 0001 | Price: £2,660
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WHAT’S NEW // SMART TRAVELLER
i ane fa e
GET IN THE MOOD
TIME MACHINE: GOLDEN AGE GRUB
Monarch Airlines and chef Jozef Youssef at Kitchen Theory have created a snack box to battle bloat and ease anxiety 1919
LIQUORICE & ECHINACEA ICE CREAM
WHEN? During check-in
WHY? Monarch’s research shows 39% of Brits get ill when travelling HOW? Liquorice and echinacea are a natural anti-inflammatories and have immune-boosting benefits. They also fight coughs and colds. And the charcoal colour might distract from any pre-flight nerves
GREEN TEA & LAVENDER MOCHI
WHEN? Just before take-off
WHY? This one’s for the nervous flyers out there, to soothe and calm HOW? Lavender is a well-known natural relaxant, and green tea contains calming amino acids and is high in polyphenols (micronutrients) and antioxidants, providing a second immune boost. Why mochi? Because chewy food is calming!
The first inflight meal is served on a flight from London to Paris, costing three shillings (£20 today)
1930s-60s
Drinks are served in actual glasses, food on ceramic plates, and — the height of luxury — with metal cutlery
1970s
Scandinavian Airlines pulled out all the stops with their inflight menu of caviar, carved cold meats and lobster
HERBAL TEA
WHEN? 30 minutes into the flight
WHY? To aid digestion and tackle ‘jet bloat’, caused by air pressure expanding gasses in the body HOW? Fennel seeds target cramps and bloating, chamomile calms inflammation, sea kelp detoxifies to aid digestion and lemon balm has immune-boosting properties. The tea is served with a seaweed biscuit rich in umami
1980s
American Airlines began working with chefs; menus included chipotle ribs and tomato and eggplant soup
CARAMELISED NUT BAR
WHEN? End of the flight
WHY? For an energy boost
HOW? The sweet mix of peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts provides a shot of energy to awaken any sleepy travellers. The umami-rich mushroom and tomato powder sprinkled on top of the bar re-energises with a savoury kick monarch.co.uk TAMSIN WRESSELL
2000s
After 9/11, airlines swapped glasses and metal cutlery for plastic versions CONNOR MCGOVERN
November 2017
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WHAT’S NEW // SMART TRAVELLER
Beyond batik JAKARTA’S NEW ART MUSEUM
The art world looks to Java in November with a double whammy of art biennales plus the opening of Indonesia’s first gallery dedicated to international modern art
A place of rich and fierce cultural contrast, the Javanese city of Jakarta is coming of age with this month’s opening of MACAN (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara). A determinedly outwardlooking art gallery, MACAN is set in a bold contemporary building in the up-and-coming Kebon Jeruk neighbourhood in West Jakarta. It looks set to put the busy Indonesian capital firmly on the cultural tourist map, boosted by the March 2016 launch of Garuda Indonesia’s non-stop flights from Heathrow. Home to the private collection of leading Indonesian collector, Haryanto Adikoesoemo, MACAN will exhibit some 800 modern and contemporary works by names including Damien Hirst, Mark Rothko, Jeff Koons and Tracey Emin. By local standards this is unfl inching stuff but the most controversial piece, perhaps,
is by native artist, Arahmaiani Feisal, who made international headlines in the early ’90s after fleeing to Perth following death threats from Islamic hardliners in response to her painting, Lingga-Yoni. Featuring a Hindu image of male and female genitalia accompanied by Arabic script, this work now returns to Indonesia thanks to the steady hand of MACAN’s director, Aaron Seeto, a veteran of the Australian art scene. museummacan.org SARAH BARRELL
THE JAVA JUICE WHERE: The world’s most populated island, Java sits between Sumatra and Bali in central Indonesia; Jakarta, its capital, lies at the westerly tip. WHY GO: Visit Java this month, when the island hosts two major contemporary art exhibitions: the Jakarta Biennale and Biennale Jogja, in the central Javanese city of Yogyakarta. jakartabiennale.net biennialfoundation.org WHAT ELSE: If the new MACAN and the art biennales don’t appeal, then beat a retreat to the vibrant, colonial streets of Kota districts and Jakarta’s Chinatown — known as Glodok.
DID YOU KNOW
The new MACAN museum takes its name in part from nusantara, which is the Indonesian word for archipelago
GLOBAL VISION
Best new contemporary art galleries IMAGES: MACAN; GETTY
ZEITZ MOCAA, CAPE TOWN
The newest gallery to open in what’s being dubbed as South Africa’s modern art capital, this converted grain silo is the biggest public art space on the continent for more than a century. zeitzmocaa.museum
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, ATHENS
The lengthy reconstruction of EMST at last comes to fruition as its permanent collection finally opens to the public this autumn, housed in the newly reconstructed old Fix brewery. emst.gr
INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES
The Santa Monica Museum of Art gets a swish new home in LA’s Downtown arts district this autumn, and a new lease of life, rechristened and rebranded as the ICLA. theicala.org
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, TORONTO
MOCCA is moving from its hipster rental space in a textile factory on Queen Street West, into the city’s landmark Tower Automotive Building. museumofcontemporaryart.ca
November 2017
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SMART TRAVELLER // DO IT NOW
��iathlons
SWIM, CYCLE, RUN, REPEAT IN NUMBERS
Preparation is key if you’re to compete in a gruelling triathlon. These popular training centres will help you prepare for the big race
ON THE MOVE
550
The average number of Brits per day doing a triathlon — up 67% since 2009 (britishtriathlon.org)
’Tis the season for UK triathletes to head for warmer climes. If you must spend over 20 hours a week training, you may as well do it in the sun. Elite Training Experience (ETE) bookings are open for its first camp amid Stellenbosch winelands with prices from £850 for six days half-board, excluding flights (5-10 February 2018). But if you prefer to prep on a high, Mountain Beach Fitness Retreats has a tri-camp in Verbier, Switzerland, where you can exercise on trails stretching up to 9,000ft, with endless running routes and famous cols to climb on the bike. Cycle to Italy one day and Chamonix the next, and take the plunge in a 165ft outdoor pool with stunning mountain views. From £1,770 per person (3-10 June 2018). etetricamps.com mountainbeachfitnessretreats.com SAM LEWIS
200,000
The sum of athletes in England who did at least one triathlon in 2016 (sportengland.org)
10%
SOME LIKE IT COLD
SOME LIKE IT HOT
NORSEMAN XTREME TRIATHLON, NORWAY
HAVANA TRIATHLON, CUBA
THE RACE Starting at 5am, athletes leap from a ferry into the ice cold waters of
THE RACE A 1.2-mile swim in the Hemingway Marina, followed by a 56-mile cycle race and a 13-mile run through Miramar and the iconic Havana Malecon esplanade. THE TRIP Stretch your muscles on a walking tour of Havana before boarding a short flight east to Santiago de Cuba, the country’s second city and hip centre for Afro-Cuban music and culture. Alternatively, if you’d rather not move another aching muscle, a yacht with a private skipper and chef is an indulgent and undemanding way to see the coast from Santiago de Cuba to Cayo Damas.
DATE 5 August 2018 LOCATION Eidfjord
Hardangerfjord for a 2.4-mile swim, before cycling 112 miles through the fjordlands. The race culminates with a 26.2-mile run and an epic 5,577ft vertical finish to the top of Gaustatoppen, one of Norway’s most beautiful mountains. THE TRIP Travel to Oslo to stay at The Thief, a five-star waterfront hotel, where you can enjoy a relaxing massage and a private tour of the city. Or take a flight north to the Lofoten Islands to kayak through the fjords or hike on Hardangerjøkulen glacier.
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natgeotraveller.co.uk
DATE 25 February 2018 LOCATION Havana
IMAGES: EMERGE LIMITED; GETTY
of triathletes (175,000) took part in a training camp in 2016 (Triathlon Industry Association)
30 YEARS OF SERVING LONDON. 25 mins to Westminster
22 mins to Bank
14 mins to Canary Wharf
*CAPA Regional Airport of the Year Award - 27/10/2016
• Voted Best Regional Airport in the world* • Only 20 mins from terminal entrance to departure lounge • On arrival, just 15 minutes from plane to train
FAST, PUNCTUAL AND ACTUALLY IN LONDON. For timetables and destinations visit:
londoncityairport.com
“Can you feel it, the restlessness, the pull, the desire? To go and do, to be somewhere else, to pack a bag for an hour, a day or even more and just go. To find somewhere special, a favourite spot or a new place to explore. We say go. Go and find your somewhere with our new Autumn range.”
Let’s Go Somewhere
Stores nationwide | cotswoldoutdoor.com
FOOD // SMART TRAVELLER
Barbados A TASTE OF
The ‘Caribbean culinary capital’ holds its biggest food and rum festival this month. UK chef Tom Aikens reveals his hotspots
Beach eats
I’m a big fan of beach shacks, like Cuz’s Fish Shack on Pebbles Beach on the island’s west coast. Few things taste better than fresh fish on the beach — fish cutters are the main draw here: salt bread sandwiches with just-caught fish, topped with pink pepper sauce (if you’ve the palate for it). Fish Pot Restaurant, just outside Speightstown, is another beautiful spot. Set in an old fort, right on the water, the views from the terrace are fabulous, as is the seafood: signature dishes include lobster ravioli and pan-fried mahi-mahi.
Barbados has a wonderful range of fresh, local seasonal produce, which I’m excited about working with when I visit this month. I’m particularly looking forward to creating dishes that showcase the wonderful seafood available on the island. And I’m also keen to meet the local fisherman because, for me, one of the best parts about travelling is the opportunity to discover new ingredients and techniques from local sources. The homegrown spices, too — turmeric, pepper, marjoram, ginger, fenugreek, cumin, anise, allspice, mace, cardamom and loads more — present an opportunity to learn as much as I can about how best to use them. And, having worked on a dessert with rum — when you’re visiting its birthplace, it would be almost rude not to — I’m hoping it will win the approval of the locals.
rum do
IMAGES: GETTY; THECLIFF
TOM AIKENS
At 26, Tom was the youngest British chef ever to win two Michelin stars. Today, he runs several restaurants and makes his debut at the Barbados Food and Rum Festival at The Tides Restaurant on 19 November. tomaikens.co.uk
Fine dining
Chef Guy Beasley and I have been working together to create a menu that incorporates local seasonal produce. We’ve also teamed up with mixologists to create the perfect cocktail. The Cliff restaurant is another place that’s fi rmly on my radar; the setting and the food are both legendary. This is one of the Caribbean’s top dining spots. tidesbarbados.com thecliffbarbados.com
The Barbados Food and Rum Festival (16-19 November) sees various venues host cooking demos, food and rum-pairing menus, cocktail masterclasses, beach parties and more, headed up by local and international chefs. foodandrum.com
November 2017
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ON THE TRAIL // SMART TRAVELLER
HERITAGE PUBS
Cork
1 SIN É
Nobody does pubs like the Irish, so head out and discover some of Cork’s merriest watering holes Words: Connor McGovern
Tap your foot to the sounds of traditional Irish music at this snug little inn on Coburg Street. Serving punters since 1889, the local institution takes its name from the Gaelic, meaning ‘that’s it!’ — a tongue-in-cheek nod to the funeral directors next door.
2 RISING SONS BREWERY
Swing by the Rising Sons Brewery to catch a glimpse of hurling and Gaelic football on the screens. Grab a pizza and a craft beer — the brew on tap has won several awards and ranks as some of the best in Ireland. risingsonsbrewery.com
3 OLD TOWN WHISKEY BAR AT BODEGA CORK
Across the street is Ireland’s largest whiskey bar with over 200 types. Try a smoked old fashioned — a smooth tipple of Jameson Black Barrel, sugar syrup and bitters. oldtownwhiskeybar.com
4 THE OVAL
Saunter south to The Oval: its charming black-and-white exterior has hardly changed for generations. Supposedly haunted, it’s a prime spot to nurse a drink on a Friday or Saturday night — and don’t forget to crane your neck to look up at the ovular ceiling.
5 THE MUTTON LANE INN
7 THE CRANE
LANE THEATRE
Head around the corner for a raucous night of live music, basking in an infectious 1920s/30s vibe. Packed with locals, with Mi Daza stout on tap and three bars to choose from — you’re pretty much guaranteed a good night. cranelanetheatre.ie
6 ARTHUR MAYNE’S
PHARMACY
Marvel at the countless bottles, jars and boxes of medicines adorning the walls at this 120-year-old chemist reimagined as a quirky wine bar. Sit back with a glass of vino and soak up this offbeat addition to Cork’s bar scene.
Squeezed beside the English Market is The Mutton Lane Inn, named for the street that was once used to lead sheep into the market. This vibrant haunt has all the trappings of a good Irish pub, from a warm welcome and a cosy candlelit glow to plenty of good beers and stouts on draught.
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ILLUSTRATION: TILLY RUNNINGFORCRAYONS.CO.UK
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corkheritagepubs.com cork.ie
November 2017
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SMART TRAVELLER // ROOMS
bud
WHERE TO STAY
Amid the jungles and rice paddies of Bali’s uplands, the town of Ubud has corned the market in rustic-luxe accommodation
1 BAMBU INDAH
The epitome of rustic luxe, guests at this eco-retreat stay in wooden houses — some on stilts, some antique — set over a fish-filled pond and overlooking lush green rice paddies. One guest house even has a glass floor in the bedroom, through which the fish can be viewed. Doubles from £112, B&B. i-escape.com
2 RUMAH SURGA VILLA
This pair of textbook Balinese villas are set amid rice paddies in a tiny settlement on the town’s outskirts. The one-bedroom has an outdoor bar, and the two-bedroom’s open-air kitchen overlooks the fields. Each has a pool and garden, while the local owners are charm personified. Villas from £69. bit.ly/2eX7XnB
3 NYOMAN BADRI HOMESTAY
Nyoman Badri — better known as ‘Mama’ — started her homestay in the 1980s by renting out two rooms in her family compound to make ends meet. Today, it’s a beloved spot, as popular for her warung (restaurant) as for her hospitality. The four en suite rooms are clean, comfy and have TVs. Doubles from £16, B&B. facebook.com/mamaswarung
4 YOGA BARN
If you’re in Bali for the hippy experience, you’ll want to stay at the guest house at Yoga Barn, the epicentre of Ubud’s New Age scene. The nine calming rooms (plus a women’s dorm) are seconds away from the studio and ‘healing centre’, and breakfast is served in the buzzy Garden Kafe. Doubles from £70, B&B. theyogabarn.com JULIA BUCKLEY
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natgeotraveller.co.uk
WHERE YOU WANT TO BE FAMILY
New area with exclusive facilities and personalised service, for the whole family to enjoy a luxury stay. www.paradisus-varadero.com
E X C E P T I O N A L
SMART TRAVELLER // FAMILY
6
Family fun
NINE THINGS WE’VE LEARNED
Activities Abroad’s family favourite, the Jeris Festive Fun in a Winter Cottage itinerary, is opening up for Betwixmas (that time between Christmas and New Year). Expect husky and snowmobile safaris, Northern Lights, sleigh riding and an ice pool. Departs 26 December. activitiesabroad.com
Free range children, bounce testers, Betwixmas... here’s our pick of what’s happening in the family travel world
A survey by personal care brand Professor Scrubbington’s found many children miss out on the great outdoors. The brand has teamed up with The Bushcraft Company to launch the first ever, literary-inspired family nature camps. scrubbingtons.com thebushcraftcompany.com
2
7
Marmaris: Turkish delight
This Turkish seaside spot tops the Post Office’s annual Family Holiday Report — its Beach Barometer places it as the cheapest of 15 European destinations. It’s followed by the Costa del Sol, the Eastern Med and the Balkans. postoffice.co.uk
3
Great Rail Journeys reminds us: “Autumn is the perfect time to travel; not too hot and the landscapes are beautiful.” Some of the best train journeys include New England, New Delhi, Scotland, Sorrento, The Cotswolds, Nepal, Dubrovnik, Prague, Lisbon and Berlin. greatrail.com
You were young once
One in two Brits disappointingly want child-free flights, says the latest poll of 2,000 Brits by HolidayHypermarket.co.uk. A staggering 52% of us would opt for child-free flights, given the opportunity. Other pet hates: people taking up personal space (23%) and drunk passengers (21%).
BREAK THE BANK
Take the extended family away for Christmas and check out Wow House’s exclusive portfolio of big homes. Cotswold View Manor, set within a private 400-acre estate, has an infinity pool, three saunas and a cinema room. With eight luxury suites, it’s a snip at £24,000 for 22-26 December. thewowhousecompany. com
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Parents rock
What do Britain’s kids love best about their summer break? Spending time with their parents (53%), followed by enjoying sunshine (50%), being outdoors (45%) and visiting new places (41%). cruiseshow.co.uk/ birmingham
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Bounce testers
natgeotraveller.co.uk
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Gardening is in
The Raymond Blanc Gardening School at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons offers a dedicated children’s and adult gardening course. Learn how to sow seeds, look after plants, and the important role insects play in the garden. Courses begin in March 2018. From £225. belmond.com
I-escape’s junior reviewers have left no bed untested, bouncing their way through 900 hand-picked Kids Collection properties in Europe and further afield. How do we sign up to be a reviewer? i-escape.com MARIA PIERI
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Autumn trails
IMAGES: GETTY; THEBUSHCRAFTCOMPANY; THEWOWHOUSECOMPANY; GRETA RAIL; BELMOND
1
Free range children
Betwixmas travel
www.bluelankatours.com | letstravel@bluelankatours.com
VIPAVA VALLEY
TASTE THE DIFFERENCE
verdant and pristine, sunny all year round indulges with its
unique wines and dishes, uncompromising in its authenticity‌, entices the enjoyment of
diverse activities: cycling, paragliding, hiking, climbing, fishing‌, and welcomes you in its
paradise, a meeting place of cultures and a living story
Uniquely different. All year round.
www.vipavskadolina.si
TOP 5 // SMART TRAVELLER
y Florence FIVE TO TRY
BILL BRECKON
lives in Florence and owns the Watermill at Posara in rural Tuscany, a cultural
Skip the queues at the Uffizi and Accademia galleries — some of Florence’s masterpieces can be seen in a church chapel or even a zoology museum
centre for painting holidays, as well as creative writing, Italian language and yoga retreats. watermill.net
OGNISSANTI CHURCH AND REFECTORY In the refectory of the monastery connected to the church, see a Domenico Ghirlandaio masterpiece: a Last Supper scene when Jesus tells the disciples one of them will betray him. In the church itself, the lapis lazuli pigment of Giotto’s crucifix is a magnificent shade of sky blue. museumflorence.com
IL GRANDE MUSEO DEL DUOMO
While crowds jostle outside, admire Ghiberti’s fabulous bronze doors for the Baptistery, described by Michelangelo as ‘worthy to be the gates of paradise’. The museum’s Renaissance masterpieces make up the world’s largest assembly of Florentine monumental sculpture. museumflorence.com
LA SPECOLA
Also known as the Museum of Zoology and Natural History, walk through corridors of stuffed creatures before reaching rooms of human anatomical waxworks, made in the 17th and 18th centuries. Check out the innards on display in the ‘opened-up’ waxy bodies, used for teaching medicine. msn.unifi.it
SASSETTI CHAPEL, SANTA TRINITÀ
For stunning art without the crowds, head here to view early 15th-century frescoes, again by Ghirlandaio, with scenes from the life of St. Francis. I like the miracle of the raising of the fallen boy. It’s often so quiet you have to put a Euro in the machine to illuminate the chapel. museumflorence.com
IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY
BARGELLO MUSEUM
Make a beeline for the Donatello room: there are two panels entered by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi into the 1401 Baptistery door competition, Donatello’s marble St. George, and in front of it a homoerotic bronze David. Look out for Verrocchio’s David — its model was supposedly the young Leonardo da Vinci. uffizi.org
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November 2017
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UK // SMART TRAVELLER
STAY AT HOME
B�uton
What to do
For a small rural retreat, Bruton has culture pumping through its stone streets. Hauser and Wirth’s homage to the arts at Durslade Farm is a world-class gallery, where highlights include the Louise Bourgeois sculptures and Martin Creed’s neon signs before meandering through the 1.5-acre perennial meadow in the stunning landscaped garden. hauserwirthsomerset.com
This corner of cool in Wiltshire pulls in the crowds with contemporary art, a converted chapel and bucolic rolling landscapes Where to stay
At the Chapel — this 17th-century former chapel has been reinvented as the ultimate restaurant with rooms. Upstairs, bedrooms are flooded with natural light — particularly those with original windows; downstairs, three chefs plunge pizzas into a wood-fired oven. Meanwhile, the ever-changing menu features dishes like Dorset crab and Wiltshire Downs wood pigeon. There’s also a bakery, wine shop and bar on site. atthechapel.co.uk
WHERE (ELSE) TO EAT
From Wednesday to Friday, dine at Matt’s Kitchen on the high street. The name is quite literal. Turn up at his home and enjoy the ‘dish of the day’ in a supperclub-style setting. BYOB and heaps of fun. mattskitchen.co.uk
DON’T MISS: STOURHEAD With its sprawling neo-classical landscaped gardens, grottos, languorous lakes and palatial pile, this renowned National Trust escape is a real country idyll. Dating back to the 1740s, the 2,650-acre estate is also home to chalk downs, ancient woods and farmland. Don’t miss the autumn display as the leaves turn to varying shades of burnished red, orange and yellow. nationaltrust.org.uk/stourhead JOSEPHINE PRICE
IMAGES: ALAMY; GETTY
We like
Cheese. We really like cheese. Head past the charming village of Batcombe to the family-run Westcombe Dairy. Venture into the ageing room to meet the world’s first cheddar turning robot — they call her Tina Turner. Their cheddar is awesome but don’t miss the Caerphilly and ricotta too. Fans include Neal’s Yard, Jamie Oliver and us. westcombedairy.com
November 2017
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Save the green gold of the Caribbean The tropical rainforest of Caribbean Guatemala is a treasure chest of species, under threat of deforestation to make way for Oil Palm plantations. Donate online to help protect the ‘green gold’ of the Caribbean at worldlandtrust.org, call 01986 874422 or text donate (TTCA17 with an amount up to £10 to 70070). All donations made between 4-18 October will be doubled during WLT’s Big Match Fortnight. Images: Esteban Alzate, Jason Thompson, Leonardo Mercon/Shutterstock, Carlos Vásquez Almazán, Rick Alabama
Registered charity: 1001291
BOOKSHELF // SMART TRAVELLER
ELEMENTAL READING
AROUND THE WORLD IN 365 PHOTOS
WHILE THE FIRES BURN
A call to arms from photographer Daniel Schwartz, via terrestrial and aerial photographs that capture shrinking glaciers across four continents; from the Swiss Alps to Pakistan’s Karakoram range, and the equatorial African glaciers. RRP: £40 (Thames & Hudson)
THE WORLD OF TIDES
Using a combination of graphic design and science, this intricately illustrated guide to the planet’s most interesting coasts and ocean phenomena — from Norwegian whirlpools to Australian rapids — comes with lyrical text from surfer-cum-oceanographer, author William Thomson. RRP: £20 (Quercus)
Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Magnum Photos agency, this is a world tour via 365 images from such stellar snappers as Robert Capa, Bruce Davidson and Martin Parr. Co-founded in 1947 by Henri-Cartier Bresson, Magnum is a photographic cooperative that’s long celebrated diversity and the shared human experience. Some images, such as Trent Parke’s Australian street scene, are a picture of playfulness, while others, like Raymond Depardon’s Cartagena barbershop, are vivid life studies. It’s not just the mega Magnum names that shine, as Alessandra Sanguinetti shows in her shot from Uripiv Island in Vanuatu, which has an almost surreal serenity. Each country is represented by images from a photographer, and with 84 Magnum masters featured in total, this is armchair travel through a rich and unique prism. SARAH BARRELL
SNJÓR
Magnum Atlas: Around the World in 365 Photos from The Magnum Archive. RRP: £22.50 (Prestel) Readers can buy the book for £18 including UK P&P. Call 01206 255800 and quote: MAGNUMATLAS18
Winter has arrived in Iceland, and just keeps on coming, at least in the Iceland presented in this sparkling book by photographer Christophe Jacrot. It’s populated by white-on-white-on-morewhite images that look like they’re hewn from a snow-dazzled painter’s pallette. RRP: €60 (£55) christophejacrot.com
IMAGES: MAGNUM; GETTY
CHEESY TUNES
Jet lag? Many travellers use white noise apps to drown out the hubbub, but musician and cult YouTuber, Cheesy Nirvosa, has compiled 12hour loops of background noise from sci-fi films and TV shows. cheesynirvosa. bandcamp.com
November 2017
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AN EXOTIC ADVENTURE
Sited a few miles south of the equator on Gan Island, Equator Village is the ideal getaway for those who wish to experience a different side of the Maldives. Located on the upper tip of Addu Atoll’s heart-shaped landmass, the resort is connected by causeway to the
inhabited villages of the atoll. This opens up the opportunity for our guests to easily travel around the atoll, interact with the locals, learn about their customs and culture and experience Addu hospitality first-hand.
Equator Village, Addu City, Maldives, Tel: +960 689 9000, Fax: +960 689 8020 info@equatorvillage.com.mv, www.equatorvillage.com @equatorvillage.mv
@equatorvillage
�in
SPECIAL PROMOTION
A SMALL-SHIP CRUISE WITH WINDSTAR
Out �o sea
Windstar’s fleet of small ships will indulge all your senses — especially your sense of wonder. On a Windstar journey you’ll see the world from a perspective that’s 180 degrees from ordinary.
National Geographic Traveller (UK) has teamed up with Windstar Cruises to offer the winner and a guest a choice of three cruises
YOUR PRIZE An all-suite, small-ship cruise for the winner and a guest, including flights, transfers and meals. Choose between an eight-day GAELIC EXPLORERS journey around Ireland and Scotland’s islands; a 10-day CUISINES & CULTURES OF SPAIN, PORTUGAL AND FRANCE voyage; or an 11-day BELLES OF THE BRITISH ISLES trip. windstarcruises.com
LIKE A LOCAL
Docking at small ports and hidden harbours lets you experience unique cultures and far-flung lands closeup — for example, Windstar Cruises excursions involve encounters like a culinary tour of Da Nang, Vietnam; dinner with a Croatian family in their home; or snorkelling the Polynesian lagoon at Fakarava.
UP CLOSE & PERSONAL
Experience cultures in a personal, immersive and authentic way. With a maximum of 310 passengers, a Windstar ship is large enough to cater to the needs of guests, yet small enough to explore secluded coves and dock in the heart of tiny villages — places most larger ships are unable to reach.
TO ENTER Answer the following question online at natgeotraveller.co.uk/competitions WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF GUESTS ON A WINDSTAR CRUISE? Competition closes 30 November 2017. The winner must be aged 21 or over and the trip is subject to availability. Select dates apply. Full T&Cs available at natgeotraveller.co.uk
windstarcruises.com
November 2017
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SMART TRAVELLER // EVENTS
PANELLIST
E ents
EMMA THOMSON
2 0 1 7
Emma travelled more than 7,000 miles of the Silk Road for the April 2017 issue and has plenty of insider knowledge about the route’s most inspiring spots
Emma’s Silk Road highlights
TIME: 18.00 to 19.00
WHERE: Wallacespace
Covent Garden, 2 Dryden St, London WC2E 9NA TICKETS: £10 (includes drinks and nibbles)
DUMPLINGS are the ultimate Silk Road snack. As the recipe for the portable snack travelled, each country added its own twist: from the tight little parcels filled with meat in China, to the fist-sized Georgian version bulging with mushrooms.
12
DECEMBER
TRAVEL GEEKS:
The Silk Road From the heady cultural crossroads that is Istanbul to the modern metropolis of Beijing, few adventures capture the imagination as vividly as the Silk Road. For centuries, merchants and mariners passed from the ports of the Mediterranean to the Far East, swapping goods and stories along the way. Even now, the myriad trails that weave their way across Asia remain one of the world’s most fabled journeys and continue to inspire the most avid of adventurers. In this Travel Geeks session, our expert panel discusses how, when and where to write your own adventure, with plenty of expert advice and tips.
THE MODERATOR
natgeotraveller.co.uk
In Uzbekistan, a local guide helped me sneak up to the top of a minaret belonging to ULUGBEK MADRASAH . Sprawled below us was Registan Square — the jewel of Samarkand. The floral blue-and-white POTTERY produced in China was popular on the Silk Road and adaptations of it crop up regularly. Most exquisite of them all is the meenakari produced in Iran.
FARIDA ZEYNALOVA
Farida is a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveller (UK) and will keep our panel in check, adding her own tips and tales along the way
NATGEOTRAVELLER.CO.UK/EVENTS 46
Immerse yourself in BARTERING at Kashgar Animal Market. To keep their livestock bids secret, traders cover their hands with a cloth and swiftly indicate their price with a few fingers in their palm. It’s an intriguing, blinkand-you’ll-miss-it, centuries-old form of bartering.
IMAGES: AWL IMAGES; GETTY
Join us for our next Travel Geeks: Rush Hour on 12 December where we’ll be discussing the Silk Road with our panel of experts
The most iconic buildings associated with the Silk Road are CARAVANSERAI — roadside inns where merchants could rest, trade and feed their animals. Hundreds survive to this day, but some of the most evocative are in the Karaköy district of Istanbul.
“Small & Beautiful” boutique hotel in the Dolomites modern design, excellent cuisine, cordial hosts and stunning scenery
GOURMET AND BOUTIQUE HOTEL TANZER, VIA DEL PAESE 1, 39030 ISSENGO/FALZES, VAL PUSTERIA - SOUTH TYROL, ITALY
www.tanzer.it
SMART TRAVELLER
NOTES FROM AN AUTHOR // CATHERINE BANNER
SICILY The slow train from northern to southern Italy has Sicily as its destination, a fabled island where the ghosts of the past continue to shape its future
ILLUSTRATION: JACQUI OAKLEY
I
n the summer of 2009, I made a 36-hour journey by train from the UK to Sicily to visit my Italian family-in-law. The train route between north Italy and the south is a well-travelled one, though usually in the other direction. During Italy’s economic boom, fresh migrants from the south arrived in Turin and Milan on the treno del sole each morning, climbing from the carriages with cardboard suitcases. Now, for €30, you can travel overnight the other way. The cabins are so small you have to take it in turns to enter and exit. For 16 hours, the train edges down the coast, gathering passengers, until one in the morning when it slows even further, passing through the backstreets and peripheries of southern towns, coasting for long periods with its engine switched off to let the passengers sleep, while slatted orange light passes rhythmically under the blinds. On that first journey, I shared a cabin with two women from France, a student from Naples, her grandmother and her 96-year-old grandfather. Around dawn, we were woken by an ominous creaking and clanging, as though the train were breaking through an ice floe. “Siamo sulla nave,” someone murmured. (‘We’re on the ship.’) And we were, still aboard the train. It was 5am, but the elderly couple were already eating breakfast. Leaving the train, I climbed the metal staircase to the deck, which had miraculously appeared above us. A few passengers, already awake, took their first cigarettes and drained coffee from tiny paper cups as we watched Sicily approach. For centuries, people have come to Sicily by sea, usually as conquerors. The Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Barbarians, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, the Spaniards and — during the Second World War — the British and Americans. All have left behind ruins. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, perhaps Sicily’s most famous writer, wrote of ‘these monuments of the past, magnificent yet incomprehensible because not built by us and yet standing around us like lovely mute ghosts’. In Monreale is a cathedral whose stonework was made by Catholics, its mosaics by Byzantines, its cloister by Muslims. In Taormina, the Greek amphitheatre frames the ocean. At Pantalica is a necropolis with 4,000
I wanted to capture the dustblown torpor of small pious towns on July afternoons; the courtyards full of bougainvillea so bright it seemed to pulse with ultraviolet
rooms, where children play in the river pools. There are recent ruins, too: drive along the new highways, where dust and blown paper circle in the riptides of hot air at the feet of the oleanders, and you’ll come upon modern ghosts. Perhaps a half-built multi-storey car park built to serve a village of a thousand, or a viaduct crossing some valley full of dusty orange groves, incomplete, leading nowhere. But even on that first visit, I began to sense this was a land full of stories. Returning home, I discovered Giuseppe Pitrè, a kind of Sicilian Brother Grimm, who, as a travelling doctor in the late 19th century, amassed a collection of his patients’ tales. Many tell of sea crossings, of sea transformations. It was with these I started when I wanted to understand the island’s past. It was two years before I returned to Sicily. This time, as I travelled again along the train line from Messina to Palermo, I became aware of a new kind of monument. In abandoned shops and on dust-blown industrial estates, among the prickly pears on which young lovers have always carved their names, were new shops advertising a single trade: ‘Compro Oro’ (‘We Buy Gold’). In following years, I began to write about them. But somehow, the other stories of Sicily crept into the narrative. I wanted to see the island as previous inhabitants had seen it: to capture the dust-blown torpor of small pious towns on July afternoons; the courtyards full of bougainvillea so bright it seemed to pulse with ultraviolet; the grace of Palermo’s half-Norman, half-Arab streets; the saints’ festivals with their echoing generators and solemn plaster figurines. For an island so full of monuments to the dead, Sicily is oddly alive. It was this life that crept into my work, complicating the melancholy of the past. Seven years after that first sea crossing, I moved to Italy. And gradually, the process of research turned into a personal search for understanding. Because part of learning to belong here, I’ve found, is learning to live peacefully among the lovely mute ghosts of its past. The House at the Edge of Night, by Catherine Banner, is published by Windmill. RRP: £7.99. catherine-banner.com @bannercatherine
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SMART TRAVELLER
VIEW FROM THE USA // AARON MILLAR
WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
I
n his farewell address on 17 January, 1961, President ‘Ike’ D. Eisenhower warned United States citizens to be vigilant against the growing might of the military industrial complex: the network of companies and institutions involved in arming and defending the country. He foresaw their increasing political influence and worried that our peacetime goals would soon be marshalled by war-time leaders, that our democracy itself could be undermined in the pursuit of a perpetual, profitable war. Sound familiar? For a country that prides itself on the promise of world peace, America sure does like a fight: the US spends roughly $600bn (£443bn) annually on defence, more than the next eight countries combined. The ‘war on terror’ has cost close to $4 trillion (£3 trillion). We could literally feed every hungry person on the planet for more than a century, according to UN estimates, for the same cost. “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they’ll believe it.” Hitler said that. The beast is out of control. America is the biggest warmonger on the planet. This is going through my head as I walk through the security gates of Ike’s worst nightmare: the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia. This otherwise friendly annex to D.C. on the other side of the Potomac River is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense. The concrete and steel building, with five wings each five stories tall, looks more like the hub of some giant conglomerate than the fist of the mightiest nation on Earth. And, in many ways, that’s accurate: with more than six million square feet of floor space inside, it is indeed the largest office building in the world and the only one with the codes to the nuclear arsenal in the basement. Surprisingly, given it’s the most sought-after intelligence target in the known universe, it’s also open to the general public for tours. Sweat dripping, mouth zipped, I enter the belly of the beast. At the centre of the building is a leafy five-acre courtyard where, at the height of the Cold War, a hot dog stand used to attract such a queue every lunchtime that Soviet satellite reconnaissance monitored it closely. Apparently the Russians thought it was the entrance to the underground command
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bunker (which is indeed here, but not under the hot dog stand — or so they say). “The US Marine Corps, where I served, is a department of the Navy,” my tour guide, a retired colonel, says by way of an introduction. He shows us the Hall of Heroes, dedicated to the more than 3,500 recipients of the US’s highest military decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor; the Air Force, Navy and Marine corridors, filled with paintings of fighter jets, battles and warships. We pass three star generals in the hall (the colonel saluting, me waving awkwardly) and see exhibits dedicated to test pilots, treaties and prisoners of war: patriotic displays interwoven with the offices of actual military brass. Near the end of the tour, we stop beside a painting of an 1812 naval battle which depicts two warships in full sail, locking hulls in a fight to the death. It’s a classic image of what war used to be: up close, bloody, both sides risking their lives in equal measure. But, of course, war isn’t like that anymore. “The Americans can be right old bastards,” the colonel says. “We aren’t interested in a fair fight.” Technology, he goes on, has allowed us to retreat further and further from the battlefield. But what are the consequences? “If a drone pilot,” he asks, “drops a bomb on the Middle East from a base in Nevada, clocks off and is then killed by a terrorist at his kid’s soccer game later that day, is that murder or an act of war?” The further we remove ourselves from the battlefield, the colonel argues, the more the battlefield comes to us. The military industrial complex, designed to keep us safe, is doing the opposite. But Ike also saw a solution. “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry,” he said, “can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful methods and goals, so security and liberty may prosper together.” America may be the world’s biggest warmonger, but the path to peace isn’t forged by men with guns. Ike was right: time to put the beast back on the lead. stayarlington.com British travel writer Aaron Millar ran away from London in 2013 and has been hiding out in the Rocky Mountains of Boulder, Colorado since. @aaronmwriter
ILLUSTRATION: JACQUI OAKLEY
As the USA’s defence budget continues to soar, a tour of the Pentagon reveals the parodox at the heart of the American war machine
Holidays at home
‌ at Stanglwirt
6353 Going am Wilden Kaiser, Tirol, Austria | Tel.: +43/(0)5358/2000 | Fax: DW-31 | daheim@stanglwirt.com
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SMART TRAVELLER
The
Blog T After the four-hour ascent to reach Fuji’s crater rim, I’m greeted with the unexpected sight of rows of hikers collapsed on wooden beds or sleeping bags, seemingly with little intention of getting to the mountain’s highest point 52
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JAPAN
MOUNT FUJI MADNESS Climbing Mount Fuji is more than just a bucket-list hike — it offers a fascinating insight into Japanese culture
here are grannies inhaling canisters of oxygen, kamikaze runners and a teenage goth wearing nothing but a tutu, Doc Martins and dark eyeliner. I, meanwhile, walk briefly with a guy from Tokyo who’s fantasising about visiting Plymouth. “It must be a very beautiful city,” he says, leaving me convinced altitude hypoxia is messing with my mind. The four-mile hike to Fuji’s 12,389ft summit from Subaru Line 5th Station is proving a uniquely Japanese experience. July to September is peak hiking season, and it’s very much begun. Winter’s snow still lingers in gullies — it’s beautiful, but any preconception I had that I’d be climbing this sacred volcano in Zen-like tranquillity is banished by the weekend onslaught of hikers swarming excitedly up the Yoshida Trail. At the trailhead — imagine Piccadilly Circus in rush hour — I load up on vending machine bottles of Japan’s unflatteringly named electrolyte drink, Pocari Sweat. By mid-morning, in the sweet-scented pine
forests of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, the crowds swell even more, but there are already casualties. A couple of teary backpackers sit trackside, pondering why on earth they chose to hike in fl ip-flops — beyond 8,200ft the track elevates steeply onto caustically sharp lava. All the while, Fuji’s summit ahead remains shrouded in puff y cloud. I pass the 6th Station. Several mountain attendants are hollering Big Brother-style announcements down megaphones about the virtues of staying hydrated. At the 7th Station, a melee of hikers congregates around a little mountainside assemblage of dormaccommodation and huts. Snickers are £3 a bar; bottles of cold water £4. I succumb and buy the latter because the more Pocari Sweat heats up, the more it tastes like armpits. Beyond the 7th Station, bottlenecks form on a tough black basalt section. But that’s fi ne, queuing gives me more time to take in the cherry-red Martian scree slopes that fall away either side of the path. Fuji slowly uncloaks from behind the clouds and the atmosphere becomes fervid, as the
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predominantly Japanese hikers marvel at ascending the most iconic symbol of their national identity. Between the 8th and 9th Station, and at an elevation of 10,662ft, the travelator of boots grinds ever slower. The path zigzags fiercely and I’m in a line of hundreds and hundreds of hikers. There’s LIKE THIS? READ MORE no vegetation, and Snickers are ABOUT JAPAN ONLINE now £5 a pop. Alongside hot treats, like fish sausages and ALL ABOARD JAPAN’S udon noodles, small oxygen INCREDIBLE TRAINS canisters are being snapped The Japanese have up by the less altitudinally launched next-level adjusted. Some hikers stop to luxury sleepers and are promising an invisible pray at a little Shinto shrine… locomotive for greater lung capacity, perhaps? NO PLACE LIKE After the four-hour ascent HOMESTAYS to reach Fuji’s crater rim, I’m In Tokyo, negotiating greeted with the unexpected Japanese culture can be sight of rows and rows of hikers made easy with local help collapsed on wooden beds or sleeping bags, seemingly with EAT: TOKYO Crispy tempura, noodles little intention of continuing in gelatinous stock and to the mountain’s highest chicken skewers with point. I pick my way through sweet teriyaki — a trip to prostrate bodies lapping up the Tokyo is a treat for your sunshine and push onwards taste buds to Kengamine Peak, a further 45-minutes along the crater edge. To my right, the gaping mouth of the volcano is full of grey ash, black basalt, airy pumice and iron-stained boulders. It looks like a bowl of bizarre cake mix; the eggs might be off though, I think, as I inhale wafts of sulphur, standing on the summit of all Japan. Just below me a sign warns that the circumnavigation of the cone, which takes about an hour, is closed due to lingering snow. But a few Japanese hikers are ignoring this so I follow them. Suddenly free of crowds I feel — through exulted oxygendiminished breaths — the power and energy that Fuji inspires all across Japan. I take another glug of my lukewarm Pocari Sweat and soon re-join the hurly-burly of the crowds heading back down. MARK STRATTON @markofdartmoor
�ost �ead From a video of the city of Montevideo to Warsaw’s fascinating reinvention — here are our most popular online posts TRAVEL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Uruguay
This week’s video takes us all the way to South America — to the Uruguayan capital city of Montevideo and beyond
NEIGHBOURHOOD
Warsaw
The Nazi HQ turned boutique hotel; the library with its own roof garden; the vodka museum that shares its digs with Google… Warsaw is in the grip of a fascinating reinvention
CITY LIFE
Tallinn
With visible layers of history — from medieval to baroque and art nouveau buildings — Tallinn’s cultural charms continue to draw visitors with their undeniable beauty
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Haggle like a local
Ever felt ill-equipped for the task of haggling in foreign markets? These tips — and a dash of determination — will see you stroll away from souks with souvenirs at savvy prices DONEGAL
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Driving Donegal’s stretch of the Wild Atlantic Way reveals dramatic landscapes filled with mystery and legend. No wonder it topped our Cool List 2017...
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Weekender
GUERNSEY From standout seafood to beautifully dramatic coasts, Guernsey is the perfect mix of the faraway and the familiar. WORDS: Connor McGovern
W
inding, hedge-fringed lanes, sunny streets festooned with bunting, bowls of mussels served on tables al fresco: there’s something about the everyday in Guernsey that evokes the cheerful, carefree memories of childhood holidays. It owes this appeal, no doubt, to its charmingly French feel, from its laissez-faire attitude through to its street names — after all, this is where the novelist Victor Hugo happily settled for 15 years during his exile from France. Visitors today, however, are more likely to find surfers and sunbathers enjoying the beautiful, rugged coastline with its bays and beaches, or walkers taking in the island breeze with coastal walks that snake around the island. And the French still come here — exiled or otherwise — now tempted by the booming foodie scene that’s giving Guernsey its edge: gourmet restaurants sit with vibrant pubs and Parisian-style bistros, while buzzing food festivals brighten up the calendar year after year. And, with a larder heaving with everything from orchard fruits to locally grown oysters, Guernsey is whetting appetites on both sides of the Channel.
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A step back in time
Delve into the island’s history with a visit to Castle Cornet and its museums; its history stretches from its origins under King John, through the English Civil War to its use as a military storehouse during Nazi occupation. Don’t miss Hauteville House, the former home of French novelist Victor Hugo, banished from his homeland in the 19th century for anti-Napoleonic views. museums.gov.gg
THREE TO TRY
glass of Guernsey BEER
As Guernsey’s only craft beer brewery, White Rock offers a handful of quality beers served in pubs around the island. Try Wonky Donkey, a light, well-balanced bitter whose name is a nod to the islanders’ nickname (donkeys). whiterockbrewery.gg
GIN
The Wheadon family offer a range of handcrafted, small batch gins, infused with the likes of pink grapefruit, mandarin limes grown on one of the island’s vineries and local rock samphire. wheadonsgin.co.uk
CIDER
At its beautifully bucolic farm in the Fauxquets Valley, the family-made Rocquette cider is a real taste of Guernsey — the art of cider-making on the island dates back to the 1500s. rocquettecider.com
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: Guernsey cattle and farmer; Castle Cornet; Wonkey Donkey beer; locally caught bream; street in St Peter Port
IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY
Bon appetit
Guernsey is best-known for its creamy milk, but attention is turning to the rest of its larder. The island has a flourishing food scene with some 200 restaurants. Hunt down a slice of Guernsey gâche (a light, panettone-like bread) at breakfast before tucking into fresh bream or sole for dinner, served with zesty greens picked from the coast. tasteguernsey.gg November 2017
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WEEKENDER
EYEWITNESS
GOURMET GUERNSEY
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which can take up to 18 months, from the tiny specks of shell known as ‘seedlings’, through to purification and exportation. Even though the oysters are sold as far away as Canada and Japan, the farmers take immense pride in their local product. “Not many places can say they have a completely local product, either,” says Justin with a smile. “These beauties have their beginning, middle and end here. All of the oysters we eat on Guernsey are grown, harvested and sold within 10 miles.” As we pull up a chair at Octopus, a chic seafront restaurant just across the harbour, Justin’s oysters are rolled out before us, nestled upon a tangle of fresh seaweed. They look almost beautiful in their silvery, moon-like shells, but I’m no expert and have little idea how to tackle the king of shellfish; there’s Tabasco, shallot vinegar, sea salt and lemon laid out on the table. I’m encouraged to chug it fresh first, as I prise the meat away from the shell. Obediently, I do, left with a gentle breath of the sea lingering on my palate. Gazing out across the bright blue Channel, I’m sure they taste even better when served with views like these. Food certainly doesn’t get fresher than this. Aurigny flies to Guernsey from various UK airports including Manchester, Southampton and Gatwick from £139. Standard doubles at the Ziggurat Hotel in St Peter Port start from £110, B&B. aurigny.com hotelziggurat.com visitguernsey.com
FROM TOP: Golden Guernsey goat; locally harvested oysters at Octopus
Small talk
Bian v’nue! Although English is spoken all over, the local tongue of Guernsey French — Dgèrnésiais — is a close cousin of Norman French, though nowadays only spoken by around 2-3% of islanders
IMAGES: GETTY; CONNOR MCGOVERN
“Pull a little harder,” says Mandy. “Don’t be shy, she doesn’t mind!” I hadn’t expected to be milking a goat when I first arrived at Mandy and Peter Girard’s farm. “Friendly, isn’t she?” she laughs. I can hardly disagree; even with my poor efforts, the nanny hasn’t scarpered yet. What started out as an attempt to keep the golden Guernsey goats’ dwindling population stable has turned into a rather delicious venture for the Girards. “For people who live on the island who can’t consume cow’s milk, there isn’t much choice,” says Mandy. “So, we decided to start making our own goat’s cheese from the milk.” After cooing at the frolicking kid goats, we head inside where she treats me to a wedge of cheese. It’s creamy, mild and smooth; far less astringent than most varieties. “The boys give off pheromones that can affect the nannies’ milk if they’re in the same pen. So we keep the billies and nannies separate.” But the golden Guernseys — a breed unique to this little island — are just the starters in Guernsey’s flourishing foodie scene. I head down to Guernsey Oysters, jutting out into the harbour of St Peter Port, where I’m offered a glimpse into the intricate practice of oyster growing. It’s a far cry from the white marble caviar bars and beds of crushed ice I’ve come to associate these little bivalves with; I’m standing with the company’s Justin De Carteret and Charlotte Dickson in their overalls and wellies, hands deep in a tank of cold seawater. Charlotte talks me through the long and careful process of farming oysters,
guernsey’s premier spa and golf resort St Pierre Park Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort is the perfect base from which to explore the island of Guernsey. Enjoy contemporary bedrooms, an outdoor terrace with picturesque views and a number of dining options to suit all tastes. The newly refurbished state of the art spa provides the ultimate relaxation experience, offering rejuvenating spa treatments, an outdoor hot tub and 18 metre indoor swimming pool. For those wishing to stay active, the hotel’s health club, tennis courts and 9 hole golf course are open throughout the year. Book your stay today and enjoy 3 nights for the price of 2. Quote PNATGEO17 at time of booking
ST PIERRE PARK ST PETER PORT, GUERNSEY
St Pierre Park Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort Rohais, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1FD 01481 728282 handpickedhotels.co.uk/nationalgeographictraveller
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Eat
LYON Locals claim it’s the centre of the culinary universe. And with its rich gastronomic heritage, galaxy of Michelin stars and thriving cafe culture, who are we to argue? Words: Audrey Gillan
IMAGES: AUDREY GILLAN
B
rioche studded with rose-pink pralines, oozy, honking Saint-Félicien and Saint-Marcellin cheeses, cured pork sausages, pike quenelles in creamy crayfish sauce, macaroni gratin, paté en croute and Beaujolais wine. Lyon is heaven for a greedy girl like me — eye-popping, mouth-watering, delicious amazingness lurks on almost every corner. It would be no exaggeration to say this city in the RhôneAlpes region of southeast France is one of the most remarkable food destinations I’ve ever visited. And certainly, the Lyonnaise love to remind anyone who’ll listen about a title bestowed upon the city in 1925 by the famous French food critic Curnonsky, who dubbed it ‘the world capital of gastronomy’ — because they believe it to be absolutely true. At the aptly named Brasserie des Confluences — located at the meeting point of the rivers Rhône and Saône, two major elements of a terroir that’s blessed Lyon with such astonishing produce — co-owner and executive chef Guy Lassausaie explains what makes this area a culinary paradise. “Lyon is at a crossroads, of the Rhône, Saône, La Bresse, Bourgogne and Beaujolais and we have products from all around. We have the influence of Spain, Italy and Switzerland, so it’s a delicious mélange. All these rich surroundings bring wonderful things to our kitchens.” Sitting beside me at the table, in his chef’s whites trimmed with the blue, red and white
collar that marks him out as having been accorded the prestigious title of Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (MoF), Guy laughs and points out that it’s simply not possible to be objective about Lyon, because “we are the best.” “Lyon is a great city for food — you can eat something good at all prices. Even a little sandwich is very good,” says the twoMichelin-starred chef (from his namesake restaurant, in Chasselay). “History here is very important. Good cooking has been passed through the generations. It’s been in my family since 1906. The family story of the chef and the restaurant is important. It’s a heritage. In lots of places in the world, the chefs are young, they have no story and they are the first ones there. That’s the difference.” Lyon’s gastronomic story can’t be told without going back to the famous Mères Lyonnaises (‘Mothers of Lyon’), a lineage of female chefs stretching back to the former house cooks of the city’s wealthy silk weavers and merchants who left their employers after the French Revolution and opened simple bouchons — the fabulous little cafes with red-and-white tablecloths that are still cherished today. The cuisine they pioneered was born of thrift skill, with stomachs, entrails, ears, snouts and feet all featuring prominently in the dishes they created. The most famous Mère, Eugénie Brazier, garnered three Michelin stars in 1933 and in many ways was the mother of Lyonnaise
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT: Joseph Viola, of
Daniel et Denise; crab mousse with fresh herbs and flowers, kaffir lime leaf oil and samphire; cod, mussels, grey prawns, pinto beans, fennel, pickled red onions; interior, Le Canut et Les Gones FOLLOWING PAGES, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT: Restaurants, Vieux Lyon; signature pigeon dish at Les Loges; Les Halles de Lyon-Paul Bocuse; savoury patisseries in shop window
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EAT
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FIVE TASTES OF LYON SAINT-FÉLICIEN AND SAINTMARCELLIN
Not from the city but the surrounding countryside, these creamy cheeses are adored in Lyon.
PINK PRALINES
Vanilla-scented, rose-hued almonds, roasted and crusted in pink sugar, Eaten on their own or used to make pastries like tarte à la praline.
QUENELLE DE BROCHET, SAUCE NANTUA
Puffy pike quenelles baked in the oven and served with a deliciously creamy crayfish sauce.
BEAUJOLAIS
A local wine, of which the locals joke: “There are three rivers in Lyon: the Rhône, the Saône and the Beaujolais.”
SAUCISSON
Sausages, like Jésus de Lyon, rosette, saucisson à cuire, cervelas, sabodet and andouilette, are and worshipped like a religion in Lyon.
IMAGES: AUDREY GILLAN; ALAMY; SUPERSTOCK
high gastronomy, as well as being the woman who taught the city’s most famous chef, Paul Bocuse, everything he knows. She believed in the farm-to-table philosophy before it was even a thing. These first bouchons were frequented by canuts (silk weavers), who came for mâchons (a mid-morning meal), after their night’s work. Traditionally eaten at 9am, it would begin with a communard (an aperitif made with crème de cassis and red wine), followed by cheap pork cuts, or tripe and entrails, washed down with Beaujolais — a satisfying and filling meal for people who worked 18hour days. A passionate advocate of the bouchon tradition and president of local association Les Bouchons Lyonnais, Joseph Viola runs three of the most famous bouchons in the city, all christened Daniel et Denise. I head to the one on Rue de Créqui, where I find Joseph (in whites with MoF stripes) doublecheek-kissing customers, and joining them for a chat at their table. He greets me cheerily, demonstrating a cornerstone of what makes a great bouchon — conviviality. He brings a small pot of the celebrated cervelle de canut (‘silk weaver’s brain’), made from fromage blanc (creamy soft cheese), sliced shallots, dill, olive oil, salt and pepper whipped into a light cream to be spread on pieces of toast. Oeuf poché en meurette à la bourguignonne, is a revelation — a poached hen’s egg served in a rich red-wine sauce, with button mushrooms, diced bacon, onions and shallots. Joseph was the first chef to reintroduce pâté en croûte in Lyon after it had disappeared from menus and his crunchy, glorious golden crust encases duck foie gras and calf sweetbreads. And there’s another Lyonnaise speciality that’s an absolute triumph here — quenelle de brochet with Nantua sauce, a light, airy, pike quenelle served with a crayfish sauce — the two stars of the dish coming from the Alpine streams to the east of the city. Martin Herbelin is one of three 25-yearold, food-loving entrepreneurs behind Le Food Trip, a company that creates bespoke self-guided tours to meet food artisans in Lyon (and also Paris). Martin takes me to Crèmerie Saint Antoine to meet with owner Catherine Fève who offers us tastings of Saint-Félicien and Saint-Marcellins. At Maison Pralus, we try a praluline, a fat brioche stuffed with the city’s famous pink pralines — almonds crusted with rose-tinted sugar — and discover why it is that up to 800 pralulines are sold on any Saturday. There are many markets in Lyon — on the banks of the Saône at Quai Saint-Antoine, and at the top of La Croix-Rousse hill — but the must-see is Les Halles de Lyon-Paul Bocuse, 6,000 square metres of high-end food hall, with 58 shops inside. Here, my guide, Anne Ravet, tells me that during the
EAT
A TASTE OF
Lyon
LES LOGES
Michelin-starred chef Anthony Bonnet embraces the farm-totable ethos by growing his own veggies and keeping beehives on the roof. He also makes his butter from Lyon cream, heather flower honey and fennel, but his signature pigeon dish is the star of the show — breast fillet stuffed with liver and crisp-fried bread crammed with confit leg, all served with spicy fruit. HOW MUCH: Three courses without wine from £83 per person. courdesloges.com LE CANUT ET LES GONES
There’s a great flea-market vibe inside this little restaurant, which has 350 vintage clocks on the walls. This is technically a bouchon but the food is what you might call bistronomique. Owner Franck Blanc and chef Junzo Matsuno have created an affordable, but delightful, set menu. We tried a starter of crab mousse with herbs and flowers, kaffir lime leaf oil and samphire, and a main of cod, mussels, grey prawns, pinto beans, fennel and pickled red onions. HOW MUCH: Three-course lunch without wine from £18.50 per person; dinner from £27. lecanutetlesgones.com CAFÉ SILLON
Mathieu Rostaing-Tayard is one of Lyon's hip, young chefs. His menu changes fortnightly, as per the availability of ingredients. There are only two options per course, with a well-priced set menu for lunch and dinner. We had a stunning starter of snails, bacon, peas, celtuce and garlic flowers, and a main of Vercors trout, smoked beans, cucumber, kohlrabi and wood sorrel. HOW MUCH: Three courses without wine from £14 per person; dinner from £35. cafe-sillon.com
Renaissance, Lyon held four fairs a year, each lasting for a month, to which producers from across the globe would bring food and spices to sell. “We could find all the products of the world, so we were a world city for gastronomy,” she explains. At Charcuterie Sibilia we bump into a fabulous Mère de Lyon, Colette ‘Coco’ Sibelia, a key figure in the city’s gastronomic history, loved for her sausages, including rosette and Jésus de Lyon — not least by Bocuse himself. She’s now sold her business (she’s at the market to do her shopping) but she’s still the queen of saucissons — glorious in chiffon, blingy jewellery and bouffon hair. “I was a friend of Monsieur Bocuse and he talked a lot about me and helped make me and my sausages famous,” she says. “But I can’t tell you what’s so special about them. It’s a secret.” Later, another artisan welcomes me with a cheeky, laughing face full of utter delight. Richard Sève is a famous chocolatier in a region famous for chocolate. Dressed in a brown leather apron, he guides me round his factory like a devilish imp, inhaling the smells and tasting his confections. Chocolate is historically associated with Lyon because
of the city’s geography. “The beans could arrive by river, road and train,” Richard explains. “And we’re near Italy for hazelnuts, Spain for almonds. And people in Lyon love to eat and love chocolate, they like sweets. It’s in their DNA to have really good products, especially locally made.” Standing beside a vast copper cauldron that mixes the almonds with the rose-hued sugar, Richard tells me that the colour is inspired by the roses beloved of the region’s growers, and the flavour is vanilla. As a young pâtissière, he modernised the recipe for pink praline tarts that had been abandoned in the post-war rationing years. Now, they’re one of the culinary keystones of Lyon. “Gastronomy is poetry sometimes,” says Richard, as he offers me a tart. I taste it. He’s right. In fact, this piece of patisserie is almost lyrical. Double rooms at the Fourvière Hotel from £120, breakfast included, while rooms from Mama Shelter start at £64 (on a room-only basis). fourviere-hotel.com mamashelter.com Eurostar services from London St Pancras International to Lyon Part Dieu station from £90 return. eurostar.com/uk-en
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The BP exhibition
Scythians warriors of ancient Siberia Supported by BP
‘thrilling’ The Telegraph
‘utterly riveting’ The Times
‘magical’ The Observer
‘unmissable’ Time Out
Until 14 January 2018 Members/under 16s free Organised with the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia
Book now Gold plaque of a mounted Scythian. Black Sea region, c. 400–350 BC. © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 2017. Photo: V Terebenin.
Neighbourhood
LOS ANGELES
ILLUSTRATION: KERRY HYNDMAN
Sun-drenched and spectacular, Los Angeles is a sprawling gallery of little starry cities. But when you pick a neighbourhood and get to know it better, you might find things surprisingly down to earth. Words: David Whitley
Once you discard the concept of Los Angeles as a single city it all becomes a lot more enjoyable. LA’s vast sprawl is really a collection of separate cities, with all the gaps filled by six-lane roads, parking lots and drive-thrus. Tackle it like that, and the intimidation and frustration some visitors feel quickly subsides. From then on, it’s a case of deciding where to make your home. It could be among the poseurs of Venice Beach, the Malibu surfers, the Beverly Hills credit card-brandishers or the emerging downtown cultural advocates. Handily, three of the most interesting neighbourhoods line up alongside each other, just south of the Hollywood Hills. And these three have an intriguing mix of characters — from out and outrageous to inventive but intimate. November 2017
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NEIGHBOURHOOD
Los Feliz
The Frolic Room is deliciously divey inside. Tattooed men in drag, amorous couples in sports gear and bitching divorcees may be among those gathering to pump money into the jukebox. But all just want a beer, a chat, and maybe a bit of ’80s-hair rock 64
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Remember that bar from the film Swingers? Probably not. Twenty-one years have passed since it came out, and by now you only vaguely remember what it was about, right? Los Feliz is a case study in what happens when short-lived movie cool runs its course. For a period, it was LA’s hippest hood, partly due to its role in that particular movie. This is no longer the case, and it’s had a chance to evolve and mature without the spotlight bearing down on it. Separated from the heart of Hollywood by some frankly grim stretches of strip mall and self-storage depot Americana, Los Feliz’ most engaging street is Vermont Avenue. Here, bookstores have a busy signing schedule and pointedly political tomes in the windows, while clusters of small fashion shops each concentrate on one thing — be it dresses or vintage. There are also a lot of gift stores like Co-op 28, whose stock ranges from homemade cards to vegetable garden kits via body butters and shoe-shine gear. Eating and drinking delves into niches too. Figaro Bistrot does the moochy French terrace thing very well, while Bru is unashamedly po-faced about coffee, offering home brewing classes on Thursdays at noon.
A few blocks along, Hillhurst Avenue seems, at first glance, to be more of the same strip mall hell. But prod around, and things get interesting. Ye Rustic Inn looks dreadful from the outside — covered in Bud Light promos — but brave entry and it’s all mood lighting, stained glass windows, dark red leather booths and cocktails served at all hours to those who don’t much care what time it is. Between the two avenues are beautiful wooden houses, impressive, large-scale murals, bakery-bar hybrids and florists that go in for elaborate, artsy arrangements. There’s plenty of invention here, but no desperate urge to impress. Los Feliz is a place that has had its time as the cool, edgy spot, but is happy to see those edges smoothed and the thirst for the hottest new opening move on. There’s a reasonable amount of money, but no great desire to display it, and enough energy to keep things interesting while never being overcome by the urge to push boundaries to breaking point. There’s now nowhere people are going to be fighting for bookings at, or lining up outside to get in. And that suits Los Feliz just fine. Sauntering along, nosying around a shop or two, then taking a seat at somewhere that tickles your fancy is what the area does best.
NEIGHBOURHOOD
When in Los Angeles
JUICE UP
The stereotype about LA being the world capital of food fads is not entirely unjustified. But this does make for a great collection of juice bars that, between them, manage to throw up just about every combination of weird ingredients imaginable.
LYCRA AND LEGWORK
Want more stereotypes? Then head to the hills, where you’ll find people puffing and panting in lycra, often holding/dragging tiny dogs, along the trails. Runyon Canyon is the prime spot, but there are plenty of others.
TRAIN PAIN?
LA is notoriously car-centric, although the Metro network is slowly expanding. It’s a handy alternative on some routes, such as Santa Monica or Hollywood to Downtown, and virtually useless on others — especially from north to south. metro.net
Hollywood
Anyone coming for Hollywood glamour is in for a rude shock — not least because it’s a far better place to catch live music and theatre than it is to spot movie stars. The studios are to the north in Burbank, and the vibe of Hollywood Boulevard is more grubby circus than movie fantasy. This is not to say that there’s not something weirdly compelling about wandering along the Walk Of Fame, seeing the utter randomness of the names in the adjacent stars (Sting next to Donald Duck is a particular favourite). Yet often hidden in plain sight amid all this is a curiously different Hollywood. It’s somewhere people come for the dream, but for the people who actually live there, there appears to be an intense craving for normality. Next to Hollywood Pantages Theatre, where the touring production of The Book of Mormon has given way to Hamilton, is a joint that couldn’t be less pre-theatre if it tried. The Frolic Room has a garish neon sign out the front, and is deliciously divey inside. Heavily tattooed men in drag, amorous couples in sports gear and bitching divorcees may be among those gathering and pumping money into the labyrinthine jukebox. But all just want a beer, a chat, and maybe a bit of ’80s-hair rock. Then something else emerges once you take a right on Hollywood Boulevard and
head down Cahuenga Boulevard. Here, the Hotel Café has carved out a niche in hosting singer-songwriters, while over the road The Running Goose is an organic restaurant with a herb garden, serving Central American-leaning gastropub dishes and craft IPAs. Further down is the Sassafras Saloon, which has climbing plants outside and mossy grasses hanging from the ceiling. A gorgeous curving balcony set up to be a stage for live bands and a house that’s been transported brick by brick from Savannah, Georgia, are inside, while barrel-aged sazeracs and maple-infused Manhattans are served up. This could all be very pretentious, but it doesn’t come over that way. It’s just a beautifully pulled-off concept that feels homely and welcoming. Cahuenga has several joints like this, where a bit of imagination has created somewhere agreeably down to earth. In a place where the spectacle and hype fails to deliver, the thoughtful indie productions are putting in awardworthy performances.
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Interior of Squaresville vintage store; Vermont Ave, Los Feliz; secondhand store on Hollywood Boulevard, Los Feliz BELOW: Frolic Room and Hollywood Walk Of Fame NEXT PAGE, FROM TOP: Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood; Laurel Hardware cuisine
TV TRYOUTS
This is not just the world’s movie capital, it’s also the centre of the TV universe. And it’s usually free to watch programmes filming in the studio complexes, via agencies like On Camera Audiences. on-camera-audiences.com
IMAGES: GETTY
TO MARKET
Los Angeles is arguably the farmers’ market capital of the world. The Original Farmers Market, at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue in the Fairfax District, is the granddaddy of them all, but there are dozens of others city-wide. LA Weekly has a comprehensive list. laweekly.com
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NEIGHBOURHOOD
On Saturday afternoon at the Petit Ermitage, the huge day beds on the roof deck are occupied by beautifully toned cocktailswiggers. The tunes are perfectly calibrated for the mood, and there’s a feeling that exclusivity could break into excess at any minute. It’s a very in-the-know hotel, filled with the owner’s art collection and a Wes Anderson-goes-to-Europe approach to interior design. Tackled from the south west, West Hollywood is place of discreet dignity. Around the Pacific Design Center and along Melrose Avenue, the stores are aimed at those who know what they want and are prepared to spend to get it. There’s nothing so vulgar as a crowded window display, or sale signs — West Hollywood Design District is all about taste rather than tarting up. Approached from the north east, however, it’s an entirely different story. On the Sunset Strip, absurdly gaudy mock cantinas mix with raucous pastiche saloons where lingerie-clad mannequins lean out of upperfloor windows and happy-hour promos are likely to lead to drunken disgrace. Comedy clubs battle for attention with legendary live music venues such as the Whisky a Go Go, where The Doors were once the house band. There are some high-attitude velvet-rope joints on Sunset as well, but it’s far more enjoyable when you let your hair down rather than meticulously style it up. It carries with it the spirit of West Hollywood, which got its character during the Prohibition years. As unincorporated land between Downtown
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and the beaches, it was lightly policed, and thus the logical place to set up venues you didn’t want cops coming near. Then running through the middle is Santa Monica Boulevard, the beating heart of liberal California. Garish, high-energy bars wrapped in rainbow flags sit next to Big Gay Shops selling #Resistance muscle vests and toilet rolls with pictures of Donald Trump on them. The Whole Foods Market store squares up to the venture opposite selling gourmet food for the city’s pampered population of tiny dogs. And, in among it, are small businesses set up by the longestablished Russian community and the likes of Laurel Hardware, a hip, farm-to-table restaurant you could easily walk past, given it’s disguised as a hardware store. This is the land that’s proud to be La La.
MORE INFO Petit Ermitage. petitermitage.com West Hollywood Marketing Corp. visitwesthollywood.com Whisky a Go Go. whiskyagogo.com West Hollywood Design District. westhollywooddesigndistrict.com Laurel Hardware. laurelhardware.com Hollywood Pantages Theatre. hollywoodpantages.com Frolic Room. T: 00 1 323 462 5890 Hotel Café. hotelcafe.com The Running Goose. runninggoose.weebly.com Sassafras Saloon. sassafrashollywood.com Co-op 28. coop28.com Figaro Bistrot. figarobistrot.com Bru. brucoffeebar.com Ye Rustic Inn. yerusticinn.com Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. discoverlosangeles.com Food blogs: consumingla.com la.eater.com Local news: latimes.com dailynews.com
Air New Zealand flies from Heathrow to Los Angeles from £381 return. Double rooms at Mama Shelter hotel from £168 a night. airnewzealand.co.uk mamashelter.com
IMAGES: LAUREL HARDWARE; ALAMY
West Hollywood
Q60
DRIVEN BY A SENSATION NOT A DESTINATION The precise feel of the 400 horsepower V6 throttle. The customisable feel of the world’s 1st Direct Adaptive Steering™ System. The race-inspired look of a cockpit lined with a black carbon and leather. The all-new INFINITI Q60. Book your Test Drive now at infiniti.co.uk
Starting from
£34,300
Official fuel economy figures for the Q60 range shown in mpg (l/100km): Urban 21.6 (13.1) - 30.7 (9.2), Extra-urban 41.5(6.8) - 52.3(5.4), Combined 31.0 (9.1) - 41.5 (6.8). C02 emissions: 208-156g/km. Fuel consumption and C02 figures are obtained from laboratory
testing and are intended for comparisons between vehicles and may not reflect real driving results. Optional equipment, maintenance, driving behaviour, road and weather conditions may affect the official results. Model shown is an INFINITI Q60 3.0T Sport AT 4WD at £44,625 including Dynamic Suntone Red paint at £1,090.
120484J
Sleep
VENICE
Nowhere is quite like Venice. With her 118 islands connected by 400 bridges, and wide spread of architecture — from Byzantine churches to gothic palazzos – it’s no wonder people flock here. Few cities measure up to her looks: the divine lagoon setting, the jaw-dropping Grand Canal, the near-silence of streets whose only traffic is on foot. Of course, ‘Her most serene highness’, as she used to be known, is rather more fraught these days with visitors; but that shouldn’t put you off. Most stick to the area between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, but Venice is divided into six sestieri, or districts. That’s not to say you have to sleep off the beaten path. Staying on or near the Grand Canal means easy access to the main vaporetto (waterbus) routes, fewer bridges to cart luggage over, and views from your hotel without the crowds. The islands have a very different pace of life, and staying here can be considerably cheaper than on ‘mainland’ Venice but, because of the added journey time, are best for second-timers and beyond. Giudecca — an easy vaporetto ride from San Marco, with incredible views across the lagoon — is a good compromise.
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IMAGE: GETTY
This Italian city may be well trodden by tourists, but its accommodation is anything but predictable, whether you want to stay in a neo-gothic grande dame or a converted flour mill. Words: Julia Buckley
Fo� absolute luxu�y GRITTI PALACE
The Gritti is a state of mind as much as it is a hotel. The 15th-century home of Doge Andrea Gritti, a hotel since the 1800s, has long been a favourite of aesthetes such as Hemingway, Guggenheim and Somerset Maugham. Renovations in 2013 saw the building pulled apart and put back together again, but aside from two modern suites, little has changed on the surface. The stucco has been touched up, sumptuous wall fabrics redone, Murano chandeliers rehung and oil paintings on every wall regilded — so you can lie back and live the 19th-century life. ROOMS: Doubles from £500, including breakfast. thegrittipalace.com
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For wine-lo�e�s VENISSA
A Michelin-starred restaurant on a peaceful island? So far, so unVenetian. But, half an hour away from Piazza San Marco, Venissa whisks you back to a time when the lagoon was famous for its farms and vineyards. The local Bisol family — renowned for their Veneto prosecco — have replanted near-extinct vines around an ancient bell tower and built a six-room hotel around them on Mazzorbo, an island of 300 inhabitants that’s linked to Burano by a footbridge. The rooms pair exposed beams with modern furniture and, best of all, offer views across the vines. ROOMS: Doubles from £104, including breakfast. venissa.it
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IMAGES: MATTIA MIONETTO; FRANCESCO GALIFI
SLEEP
SLEEP
Fo� �iews
HILTON MOLINO STUCKY
In good weather, as boats chug past the window and seagulls loop round the rooftop pool, there’s no better place to be than this behemoth of a hotel, a converted flour mill on the far end of Giudecca that was abandoned for 50 years before Hilton breathed new life into it. As big brands go, it’s fairly non-chainy, with striped walls and Murano chandeliers in all 379 rooms, plus original details like wooden beams, steel columns and old grain chutes. ROOMS: Doubles from £108, room only. hilton.com
For couples
OLTRE IL GIARDINO
Hotel or house? Oltre Il Giardino is a bit of both, with six simple rooms around a stylish modern lounge and beautiful garden. Tucked away behind the Frari church, the house was once owned by the redoubtable Alma Mahler (wife of composer Gustav) and it’s been meticulously restored. Breakfast is served in the garden on good weather days — to the soundtrack of gondolas sloshing down the canal on the other side of the wall. ROOMS: Doubles from £162, including breakfast. oltreilgiardino-venezia.com
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©2017 Marriott International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, The Luxury Collection and their logos are the trademarks of Marriott International, Inc., or its affiliates.
HOTELS THAT DEFINE THE DESTINATION TM
Discover the rich heritage of The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Venice, a palatial retreat of exceptional art and elegance on the majestic Grand Canal. Experience the true essence of each destination at The Luxury Collection, a curated ensemble of the world’s most iconic hotels. EXPLORE THE DESTINATION AT THELUXURYCOLLECTION.COM/GRITTIPALACE
SLEEP
For design
CIMA ROSA
A short walk from San Stae in the Santa Croce district, this beguiling B&B has Grand Canal views from three of its five rooms (it’s worth the upgrade — the other two have no view to speak of), yet, there’s none of the pomp and circumstance of its prime location rivals. Rooms are dressed in the colours of the lagoon — sober greys, greens and blues — with antiques restored and repurposed by the owners alongside modern beds and sofas. There’s a small courtyard and a communal living room, where breakfast is served while light sparkles on the ceiling, reflecting the water outside. ROOMS: Doubles from £162, including breakfast. cimarosavenezia.com
Fo� outdoo� li�ing
BAUER PALLADIO
There’s only one thing not to love about this place — it’s not open year-round, but runs seasonally from March to November. Sitting on Giudecca in a former convent designed by Andrea Palladio that overlooks Piazza San Marco, it’s been transformed by the locally owned Bauer group into a grand hotel where Venice meets Tiki style: traditional decor in the main building, but hessian walls, bamboo-bordered ceilings and palm-frond lamps in the garden annexes. And those gardens are expansive — part lawn, part meadow. There’s a free shuttle to the sister hotel near Piazza San Marco. ROOMS: Doubles from £226, including breakfast. palladiohotelspa.com
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Fo� laid-back �ibes
CENTURION PALACE
Instead of turning the 19th-century neogothic Palazzo Genovese, beside the Salute church, into yet more traditionally styled digs, Italian chain Sina Hotels decided instead on a bold modern look for the Centurion Palace, which opened in 2009. With only 50 rooms in the huge building, there’s a surprising intimacy about the place. Rooms are a stark departure from the Venice norm, with earthy wall palettes of rust, brown and claret, 6.7m-high ceilings (on certain floors), bright modern art, and bathrooms papered with real gold leaf. ROOMS: Doubles from £239, room only. sinahotels.com
THREE TO TRY
PALAZZO STERN
With its gothic exterior and pretty garden right on the water, Palazzo Stern is one of the most photographed buildings on the Grand Canal. Inside, it’s even more interesting: an early 15th-century Moorish palazzo, later owned by an art lover who stuffed it full of valuables. An intricate coffered ceiling in the lobby gives way to a spectacular staircase leading up to 24 traditionally styled rooms. The crowning glory is the ‘altana’, the rooftop terrace, complete with hot tub. ROOMS: Doubles from £135, including breakfast. palazzostern.it
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Fo� qui�ky deco� NOVECENTO
There’s a Marco-Polo-meets-the-early-1900s vibe going on at this jewel-box of a hotel, off a side alley from the Grand Canal, with interiors sourced from all over the globe. Moroccan rugs sit below a reclaimed coffered ceiling; rooms mix heavy drapery with animal-print lampshades, antique beds and traditional terrazzo flooring. The nine rooms aren’t the biggest, but they’re lovingly put together. The owners have a wealth of ideas for getting off the tourist trail. ROOMS: Doubles from £135, including breakfast. novecento.biz
Fo� a local hideaway RELAIS ALBERTI
You taste Venice as it was centuries ago at this upmarket B&B on the far end of the eight-mile Lido island. In a 15th-century house in the main square of Malamocco are 13 rooms, overseen by a chic ‘locandiera’ — an ancient word for innkeeper. It’s a world (rather, a bus-plus-vaporetto-ride) away from the crowds, but every bit as chic as the sumptuous properties in town, smothered in antiques, damask walls, siken furnishings — and a simple patio outside. ROOMS: Doubles from £108, including breakfast. relaisalberti.com
IMAGE: VERONICA GAIDO
For history
IMAGE: 4CORNERS
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Windswept and untamed or picture-postcard pristine, there’s no definitive way to determine the perfect beach. It all depends on when and why we visit, and what we find when we get there
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COAST TO COAST
Hidden below the surface of the Caribbean, off the coast of Guadeloupe,
A
hand beckons and I swim closer. I don’t see anything at first but then, directly below us on the seabed, I catch sight of a huge patchwork shell. The little face attached to it is chewing slowly and steadily, too busy with its seaweed supper to pay attention to the interlopers overhead. I become enraptured by the solitary green turtle, getting on with its reptilian business mere metres from where people are sunbathing and sipping drinks. Why aren’t they all out here, I wonder. Surely if they knew there were turtles, there would be no one left on the beach. Taïna, my guide, gestures to where another turtle is grazing, and we float around for a few minutes, watching. Suddenly, a speckled flipper sweeps up in my peripheral vision, then a third creature glides through the water with more grace than one might expect of something so hefty. Instinctively, I reach out to touch it, but the animal propels itself deftly to the surface for a breath before retiring to the deep, distant darkness.
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It’s hard to believe that just a few moments ago we were pulling up at Plage de Malendure, on the Caribbean coast of Basse-Terre, one of the two main islands of Guadeloupe. An overseas department of France, Guadeloupe remains little-known among nonFrancophone travellers, but its combination of volcanic landscapes, lush rainforest and idyllic coastline has long tempted visitors to cross the Atlantic. Among them was Jacques Cousteau, explorer, filmmaker and conservationist, after whom this marine reserve is named. Here, in the 1950s, Cousteau shot scenes for his film The Silent World, and today there’s a bust of him 40ft beneath the surface for scuba divers to spot — a little Easter Egg for scuba divers. We, however, have chosen to snorkel. And this is the charm of the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve; Guadeloupe does have more beautiful beaches — you only have to head a few miles north to find vast stretches of seemingly untouched white sand — but at
IMAGES: ALAMY; GETTY
is a Technicolor ‘garden’ beloved of Jacques Cousteau
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PREVIOUS SPREAD: Viewpoint on Mount Maungapu across the Lagoon of Aitutaki Island, Cook Islands CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Green turtle in the Caribbean, Galapagos Islands; Malendure Beach, Bouillante, BasseTerre, Guadeloupe; local woman, Basse-Terre
Rare beauties: Lesser-spotted wildlife Leatherback turtles
Irrawaddy dolphins
Painted storks
Giant tortoises
These endangered creatures come ashore to nest on Grenada’s Levera Beach in spring and summer, and can be spotted on a nighttime turtlewatching tour. The beach fringes a nature reserve that’s also home to a wide array of winged wildlife, including green herons and broadwinged hawks.
On the edge of Cambodia’s Ream National Park, Ream Beach’s yellow sands, glassy water and ancient mangroves are home to more than 200 species of birds. Among them are endangered painted storks and you can head inland in search of other rarities, such as the sun bear, pangolin and mouse deer.
Not endangered, but certainly a rare sight, pink Irrawaddy dolphins can sometimes be spotted on long-tail boat trips from Khanom in southern Thailand. It may be just across the water from Koh Samui, but this idyllic six-mile strand of snowy white sand sees a fraction of the footfall.
Isabela Island in the Galapagos is the perfect place to see these creatures, only found here and the Seychelles. Drop anchor at Puerto Villamil, near the Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre; later, make your way to Concha de Perla, a shallow bay where you can paddle with fish, sea lions, turtles and sometimes even penguins.
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FROM LEFT: Hot springs at Bouillante, BasseTerre, Guadeloupe; surfer on Karekare Beach, North Island, New Zealand
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I hold my breath for a few seconds to listen to the ocean. It’s not quite as silent as Cousteau’s film suggests; I can make out a distant, gentle trickling and a few soft creaks. I’m tempted to linger, but it’s soon time to go. A short drive along the coast brings us to Bouillante, a town whose name translates, aptly, as ‘boiling’. Another symptom of the island’s geothermal activity, hot springs emerge in some surprising places around Basse-Terre — in this case, directly into the sea. Hand-painted signs for ‘bains chauds’ lead us along a footpath to the spring; it’s encircled by a rock pool, a kind of natural hot tub. I slide in and gaze out over the Caribbean. There’s little sign anything is going on under the surface, but the tiny fish milling around are a reminder of the other world we’ve just left behind. NICOLA TRUP WESTERN & ORIENTAL has seven nights in Guadeloupe from £1,755 per person, flying from London City via Paris Orly, B&B accommodation and car hire. Guadeloupe Explor has day tours from £75 per person. westernoriental.com guadeloupe-explor.com visitguadeloupe.co.uk
IMAGES: ALAMY
Malendure you can wade into the water and be amid colourful corals within minutes. Having said that, the beach here is certainly no eyesore, with a smattering of colourful shacks housing beach bars and diving schools, and a fringe of palms screening the hills beyond. The curve of soft, dark sand betrays the island’s volcanicity; La Grande Soufrière (‘The Big Sulphurous One’) is still active, towering over the rainforest in southern Basse-Terre. We leave the turtles’ feeding ground and swim to the end of the beach. Just under a mile offshore lie the tiny Pigeon Islands — the epicentre of the reserve — but we don’t need to go that far. Taïna, who’s halfFrench, half-Guadeloupean and has been coming here since she was a child, leads the way to a colourful reef she later tells me is called The Garden. In place of foliage are vibrant corals, dotted with sponges and urchins, and instead of bees and birds are fish of electric blue and neon yellow — though this analogy comes up short when I spot the frankly bizarre sea cucumbers, which are unlike anything on land, lounging benignly below.
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Volcanic coastlines Karekare, New Zealand
The black sand of Karekare and Piha, its neighbour on Auckland’s west coast, has a tendency to redefine ideas of what a beautiful beach looks like. A winding creek leads from the car park down to a point where lush green hills give way to the moodiest and starkest of coastlines — a haven for surfers.
Anse des Pitons, St Lucia
Swim in the shadow of two volcanoes at Anse des Pitons on St Lucia’s southwest coast. The island’s iconic cones loom over this sheltered cove, while the sea is part of a marine reserve, offering excellent snorkelling. But all is not what it seems — the white sand was shipped in from Guyana.
Reynisfjara, Iceland
Fancy heading North of the Wall? Fans of Game of Thrones may recognise this black-sand beach as one of several Icelandic locations. Set near Vík, on the south coast, Reynisfjara’s basalt columns and sea stacks are awesome, but with extreme undertows and rogue waves, this one’s not really for swimming.
Tejakula, Bali, Indonesia
Cut off from the rest of Bali by the Abasan mountains, Tejakula, in the north, is an underthe-radar charmer, made up of sleepy villages, sunbleached fishing boats and black beaches. Not the silvery hue of Seminyak but a deep, smoky, coal black, lapped by the impossibly blue sea.
Pointe de la Table, La Reunion, Indian Ocean
The tiny French territory of La Reunion may be just 40 miles long, but it packs in two volcanoes and some unique coastline. In the south, Le Grand Brûlé is an eerie, arid landscape formed over thousands of years by lava flows; you can hike along oceanlashed basalt cliffs at Point de la Table.
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In numbers The number of Blue Flag beaches in Spain — the most of any country in the world. Europe has more than 2,800 in total
The total length, in miles, of mainland Great Britain’s coastline
Copper Coast Geopark, County Waterford OPPOSITE, FROM TOP:
Canoes in Boatstrand Harbour, County Waterford; fishing for bass from Ballydowane Beach, County Waterford
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IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY
Percentage of silica in the sand at Whitehaven Beach, in Australia’s Whitsunday Islands, thought to be the purest silica sand in the world
COAST TO COAST
Spanning just 25 miles, Waterford’s Copper Coast is a local secret and the perfect antidote to the Wild Atlantic Way
‘M
en only’ reads the sign at Guillamene. Don’t worry, though: it’s a relic, a museum piece. Today’s visitors to this little cove, cut into the southern Irish coastline just west of Tramore, can ignore it. Walk past, pop your togs on and head straight for the diving board. Do not pass ‘Go’. Do not collect £200. This isn’t a swimming spot for delicate souls or gradual immersions. It’s a place from which you should leap, hollering and whooping, from the diving board and rocks. Jesus! I was expecting cold, but not this cold. When you hit the water, your body spasms with shock. Summer. Winter. It doesn’t matter. Your organs contract like sea anemones. Your skin turns almost orange. But hold tight. Do not resist. Stay put for a moment, embracing the iciness of the Irish water. “It’s grand after a few minutes,” they’ll tell you. And they’re right. Particularly the ones in wetsuits. The Guillamene Cove is the perfect baptism for one of the shortest and sweetest coastlines in Ireland. I’ve done this drive several times; I still can’t believe it’s so little known. Mention the Wild Atlantic Way and eyes light up. Everyone has a favourite part, a childhood memory (not surprising, given that the 1,500-mile coastal route stretches the entire length of Ireland’s western seaboard). However, bring up the Copper Coast in conversation and it’s another story entirely. You’ll more than likely get quizzical looks in response. Not from Waterford folk, though. They’ve seen millions of tourists miss out. Cars and campers, zipping from the ferry port of Rosslare towards West Cork and Kerry, oblivious to the little patch of paradise just a few minutes from the N25. Those who do swing by get their dues. They’re rewarded with a burst of sea stacks, hidden beaches, blooming hedgerows, pretty little villages and copper mining husks that feel like Cornwall crammed into the Algarve. Fewer visitors, of course, make the secret even more delicious.
Stretching 25 miles or so between Tramore and Dungarvan, the Copper Coast covers a short distance, but a deceptive one. No sooner do I release the handbrake and set off from Tramore (its name comes from the Irish trá mór, or ‘big beach’) than I start seeing excuses to stop and explore the waters and the wild. The Copper Coast dangles its coves at the end of L-roads — after M (motorways), N (national routes) and R (regional roads), the smallest of Ireland’s highways and byways (the L stands for ‘local’, by the way). They’re the ones that look like hairs on Google Maps. The roads on which you pray you won’t meet another car. Or cow. But that’s the thrill of it. You turn off; you nose the car down. The bars disappear from your phone’s screen.
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Beau-Rivage Genève 13, Quai du Mont-Blanc - 1201 Geneva - Switzerland +41 (0)22 716 66 66 - www.beau-rivage.ch
AMONG THE STARS... Beau-Rivage, unique and different, masters the harmony between its memorable classic atmosphere and a vibrant modern touch. The new celestial floor raises at the top and offers a breathtaking view over the lake, Geneva’s water fountain and the Mont-Blanc.
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There’s Garrarus, Kilmurrin Cove, the forested fringes of Stradbally filling its beach with birdsong. Or the jagged stacks of Kilfarrasy, a sandy sweep that looks blessed in sunshine, ominous under cloud. Then there’s Bonmahon, where I once tried to surf with my siblings. The Copper Coast is named for the metal mining industry that thrived here during the 19th century. Along the drive, I pass the bones of old towers and engine houses, heritage ghost notes. Today, it’s also a UNESCO Global Geopark, with rocks scarred by 460 million years of grinding and crunching. Outside Bonmahon, a little visitors’ centre is set in a church. I pop in and learn that this stretch of coastline started on the ocean floor, near the South Pole, when Ireland wasn’t a land yet. Reading about geological heritage is one thing. Seeing it in the ground is another. Mud folds frozen like Impressionist brush strokes. Sea stacks punching up from the ocean floor. Glacial boulders dumped at random. Between Bonmahon and Stradbally, waves peel into Ballydowane Bay. If you look closely, you can see a sand-filled ventilation shaft in one of the sea stacks. It’s the dislocated remnant of an 18th-century silver mine. The short drive floats by. But how long can it stay a secret? Waterford recently completed a new greenway, a 30-mile off-road cycling and walking trail stretching from Ireland’s oldest city to the foodie hub of Dungarvan. At its southwestern end, cyclists emerge to stonking views of Clonea and the Copper Coast. “A lot of the city folk, they absolutely love the silence,” one local says. “We live here, of course, so we don’t think anything of it.” PÓL Ó CONGHAILE
Wild and windswept beaches Hopewell Rocks, Canada Dublin Airport is around a two-hour drive from Tramore, while Cork Airport is about an hour and 15 minutes from Dungarvan. British Airways Holidays offers fly-drive packages from £113 per person with flights from Heathrow to Dublin plus car hire, but not accommodation. For those taking their own cars, Irish Ferries and Stena Line both serve Dublin and Rosslare. ba.com irishferries.ie stenaline.ie visitwaterford.com coppercoastgeopark.com
The Bay of Fundy is home to the world’s highest tides. Twice a day the sea level rises 52ft, forcing 160 billion tonnes of seawater — more than the combined flow of all the freshwater rivers on the planet — into the bay. See it best from the beach at Hopewell Rocks where, at low tide, it’s possible to walk out onto more than a mile of exposed seabed, and explore the strange rock formations and tidal pools the ocean leaves behind.
Cannon Beach, USA
The Pacific coast beaches of Oregon are untamed, with windswept dunes and worldclass surf. Cannon Beach, 25 miles south of the Columbia River, is a four-mile stretch of sand with the huge Haystack Rock jutting from the sea in its centre (for those who grew up in the ’80s, The Goonies used this giant rock to find OneEyed Willy’s treasure). A few miles north is Indian Beach in Ecola State Park: natural rock promontories stretching into fog and mist, lashed by the constant roar of the sea.
IMAGE: AWL IMAGES
Bathsheba Beach, Barbados
The calm western shores of Barbados are where celebrities and wannabes rub shoulders, yet the locals have always loved Bathsheba on the wild east coast. Here, boisterous waves tempt surfers from around the world to ride the rollers of the ‘Soup Bowl’. Beware, though, these are perilous waters to swim in. Instead, join the Bajans in the languid Bathsheba Pools — water-filled holes carved by nature in the reef, from where you can watch the action safely, rum punch in hand. Hiking near Cannon Beach, Oregon
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Just a short distance from the heart of Hong Kong, Tai Long Wan is easy to reach by boat, but choose
I
can hear the siren call of the sea, its melodic ‘shush shush shush’ singing to me through the acacia trees. I quicken my pace as the foliage shrinks to shrubs and the thick clay soil turns to soft golden sand underfoot. And then I see it — finally — a sweet stretch of beach lapped by waters that look like the surface of an opal, swirling from deep blue to vibrant turquoise and pale aquamarine. I pull off my shoes, throw my backpack on the sand, let my hair down and stride in. With the sun beating down and temperatures hitting 32C, I’m fully clothed, and gleefully let the cool waves crash into me. I could be in Mauritius, the Caribbean or Indonesia, but, in fact, this beauty — Tai Long Wan — lies just 25 miles from the centre of Hong Kong. There are only two ways to reach this special place — either by boat or a six-mile hike across the Sai Kung Peninsula — which means it’s an adventure to get to, and when you do arrive there will rarely be more people here than you can count on your fingers and toes. I set off in the morning from Causeway Bay, riding the MTR subway out to the Hang Hau public housing estate in the New Territories, and from here I take a minibus. My phone suggests the next part of the journey will take about 40 minutes, but Hong Kong’s pocket-rockets have me there in half the time, scooting along the coast past low-rise villages, Taoist temples and Spanish-style villas.
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We screech to a halt in Sai Kung, a village known for two things: sailing and amazing seafood. The air smells of brine. Open-air restaurants — complete with bubbling tanks of live crustaceans — line the seaboard, while multimillion dollar yachts, pretty sailboats and little wooden sampans all bob happily alongside each other in the bay. You can hop on a tourist speedboat from here straight to the shores of Tai Long Wan for the equivalent of about £15 each way, but I have set my sights higher. Instead, I catch a double-decker to Pak Tam Au, where I can join the 60-mile Maclehose Trail. Two hours after leaving home I’m at the entrance of Section 2 of the trail, with another two hours of vigorous hiking ahead. The first few steps lead straight into subtropical forest; the concrete path shaded by casuarina, eucalyptus, longan and pandan trees. Winding downhill, every now and then a gap appears, opening onto jawslacking views of the eastern peninsula — all squiggly coastline, luminous jade waters and rippling mountains, as if pulled straight from a Chinese watercolour. In the far distance, paragliders circle in the thermals above forests that twitch with porcupines, muntjac deer and wild boar. Then there is the tiny pier at Chek Keng, an abandoned village half-swallowed by ivy, and a hello from a freshwater turtle, which bobs to the surface as I cross a stream.
IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY
the more challenging route and the reward is even sweeter
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Beyond the city limits: Beaches for escaping urban life Santa Clara, Spain
Everybody knows San Sebastian’s scallop-shaped La Concha beach. But did you know there’s a smaller cove on Santa Clara, the island in the middle of the bay? In summer, take a boat from the fishing port, flip the view back on the city, and refuel at the island cafe. September is the best time to visit, when water temperatures are up but the crowds are down.
Playa del Caballo, Mexico This — mainly downhill — section of the trail has been a breeze, the next part, cutting inland and uphill towards Tai Wan village, less so. I puff and pant my way up the slopes, occasionally meeting other Hong Kongers along the way, some bent double with their hands on their knees, drawing breath, others — usually pensioners — cheerfully marching past with their umbrellas up. Eventually, the path tilts down and into Tai Wan, which is basically two houses and a hut that may or may not sell snacks (it’s hard to tell). There’s only really one way to go from here; left off the path and onto a narrow dirt track sandwiched between bamboo groves. I clamber over tree roots, skip on stones across streams and admire butterflies dancing in pretty green glades before I’m finally beckoned to the beach. No part of the trail has been particularly arduous, but the searing August heat — combined with 90% humidity — has made the traverse feel satisfyingly challenging. But it’s the sight of the shimmering South China Sea that’s the ultimate reward. I move between sea and shore until the sun starts its slide towards the horizon. Then, I make my last 10-minute trek over to neighbouring Ham Tin Beach to catch the speedboat back to Sai Kung. I end the day with the wind in my hair, beguiled once more by the sound of the sea. LEE COBAJ
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:
Hiking in New Territories, Hong Kong; starfish, Sai Kung, Hong Kong; fisherman gutting a fish, Sai Kung, Hong Kong
INDUS EXPERIENCES
has five nights’ B&B at the four-star Harbour Grand Hong Kong from £1,150 per person, including international flights and return airport transfers in Hong Kong. indusexperiences.co.uk
This boat-onlyaccess, palm– backed, white-sand bay is an hour south of one-time celeb favourite hang-out Puerto Vallarta, and home to Casitas Mariaka: five bohochic waterfront houses and a thatched beach bar, hidden along the jungle-fringed hillside. Owned and run by the local community, it’s a laid-back labour of handmade love. casitasmaraika.com
Bell’s Beach, Australia
Around an hourand-a-half’s drive from Melbourne, at the start of the Great Ocean Road, this is one of the
most legendary surfing spots on the planet. There’s no development — just the crashing waves and dozens of people in wetsuits living out their Point Break fantasies.
Lopes Mendes, Brazil
Ask many Rio residents which is their favourite beach and they’ll cite this two-mile stretch of junglefringed shore on Ilha Grande. From Rio it’s a three-hour bus ride south, followed by a 40-minute ferry to the town of Abraão. Then, hike for two hours – or take a water taxi – to Praia dos Mangues, race uphill through the forest, descend through thick foliage, and plunge into the sapphire ocean to cool off.
Khalouf Beach, Oman
Many of Oman’s best beaches are a good 10 hours’ drive south of Muscat, so by comparison, Khalouf — at half that distance — is just next door. Against a backdrop of sand dunes, fishermen compete with eagles for the catch of the day, and you might find yourself paddling beside flamingos.
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South American beaches Cabo Polonio, Uruguay
No roads. No signal. No mains electricity. This tiny fishing village, marooned amid sand dunes in the wilds of Rocha state, is the perfect antidote to the dazzling beach resorts of Punta del Este and Punta del Diablo. Small shacks, festooned with shells and driftwood, pepper an arrowhead peninsula that can only be reached by dune buggy or challenging hike. Shoes are optional; hammock snoozes recommended; fresh seafood dinners are a must. Don’t miss the sea lion reserve or the views from the lighthouse.
IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY
Anakena Beach, Easter Island, Chile
The island’s foreboding cliffs tumble down to a sweep of white coral sand and calm, turquoise shallows at Anakena. It’s not just a pretty place to spend a day; it’s considered the cradle of Rapa Nui culture. The legend goes that the island’s founding king, Ariki Hotu Matu’a, landed here and settled near the bay. Stay in the new, sustainable Ana Tekena campsite to see the sunrise lighting up the moai of Ahu Nau-Nau.
Capurganá, Colombia
This dreamy village sits close to the Panama border — swaddled by mountains and jungle, and accessible only by air or water. It’s the gateway to some of Colombia’s most stunning Caribbean beaches (no small claim): Aguacate Beach with its emerald water, and the bay of nearby Sapzurro village. There are abundant dive sites along its coral reef, too, and a handful of good scuba schools. It’s a great alternative to Tayrona National Natural Park, which can get overrun in high season.
Los Roques, Venezuela
While the political situation in Venezuela isn’t currently conducive to travelling, the 350 islands, cays and islets that make up the spectacular — but little-known — Los Roques archipelago deserve a mention. Fly in from Caracas and set up base camp in a colourful posada in Gran Roque, taking private boats out to deserted islands such as Crasqui for picnics, mangrove walks and snorkelling. It’s also a hotspot for scuba diving, kite surfing and wind surfing.
Did you know? É minha praia is a phrase that’s thrown around a lot in Brazilian parlance. Translating as ‘that’s my beach’, it means something like ‘just my cup of tea’
FROM TOP: South American fur seals near Cabo Polonio, Uruguay; Cabo Polonio, Uruguay
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Did you know? Trinidad, the Caribbean home of carnival, throws a party year-round at Maracas Bay on its north coast, an hour’s drive from Port of Spain. The long, wide sweep of white sand and its frisky seas become a playground on Sundays for a lively crowd of visitors and locals. Energy levels are maintained by shacks serving Bake and Shark, a shark meat sandwich with salad and sauce (the kingfish version is the more sustainable choice of this controversial homegrown street food)
Aitutaki in the Cook Islands has got the looks: white sand, turquoise ocean and swaying palms — yet it’s not just a pretty face scuttling hermit crabs, and, on the horizon, waves crashing into the reef surrounding the lagoon. Beyond that reef, the water gets very deep very quickly. But within its protective embrace, everything is calm, glassy and outrageously good looking. There’s no way of talking about Aitutaki’s lagoon without descending into the realms of starstruck fanboyism. No wonder pictures of it are used on promotional imagery of the Cook Islands, and it’s hardly a surprise that people will shell out for the internal flight from the main island, Rarotonga, to this isolated Pacific speck to see it in person. Those getting on the Bishop’s Cruises boat at the start of the day are giddily excited, and with good reason, especially when the sun comes out and casts its rays over the vast vision of teals and turquoises. This view reaches its apogee at One Foot Island, aided a great deal by the sandbar that stretches out from it. It only takes a little paddle to get out there, and once on it, the full desert island
IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY
T
here’s quite a commotion by the boat. Yelps and shrieks come from the water as if a shark or crocodile has just sidled up. It turns out to be something less terrifying, though — just three or four giant trevallies, zipping around and popping up unexpectedly. They’re occasionally bumping into the snorkelers, but more often just emerging where they’re not expected. They’re big beasts, too, and should probably be extremely wary of anyone with a fishing rod. Lucky for them the skipper is over at the barbecue, cooking up tuna he caught earlier this morning. One Foot Island is the final destination on a flit across Aitutaki’s lagoon, and it does a tremendous job of fulfilling all the necessary Pacific Island cliches. Coconut palms do the lazy swaying thing, ready to drop their fruit on anyone foolish enough to sit underneath. The sand is a powdery white, and just soft enough to make for a satisfying footprint. An idle wander around the island throws up
Reasons to take a beach break Down Under World-class diving
With bone-dry red dirt outback and a campsite to the rear, Turquoise Bay sits in splendid isolation on Western Australia’s North West Cape. It does the white sand thing marvellously, but also has the considerable
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advantage of the Ningaloo Reef being about 300ft off shore.
Beaches that double as roads
Stretching for more than 40 miles, and often with whales swimming along the coast,
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Tapuaetai or One Foot Island, Aitutaki Lagoon, Cook Islands, South Pacific Ocean INSET: Eastern gray kangaroo on the beach, Cape Hillsborough, Queensland, Australia
Queensland’s Teewah Beach also has the novelty factor of being a gazetted road. So you can take a rental 4WD, head down it, and sent up a tent. Further on, the lighthouse at the northern end offers epic views.
Rainbow-coloured sands
Les Sables Rose is a remote stretch at the far end of the lagoon in Rangiroa, the largest of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia.
Dazzling waters are a given, but the sand ups the stakes: it’s an unusual pink colour.
venomous but fortunately non-aggressive sea snakes on the sand.
Bold wildlife
Blissfully empty beaches
At dawn and dusk, Cape Hillsborough in Queensland, Australia, is taken over by gangs of roos and wallabies — and they’ll usually pose for pictures. By contrast, on idyllic Amedee Island, in the giant lagoon surrounding the French territory of New Caledonia, you’ll find
Approaching through the trees, Vavau on Samoa’s main island, Upolu, looks like the daintiest of coves. It’s a mirage — a little green islet blocks the view as it goes around the corner. And you may well find you have the milky waters and palm trees all to yourself.
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DAVID WHITLEY
FROM TOP: Coral reef, Aitutaki, Cook Islands, South Pacific Ocean; Vaipae, Cook Islands
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Air New Zealand flies from Heathrow to Rarotonga via Los Angeles from £1,307 per person. From there, Air Rarotonga flies to Aitutaki from around NZ$181 (£100). Two-person bungalows at Tamanu Beach Club start at NZ$495 (£270) a night, B&B. The full-day lagoon cruise with Bishop’s Cruises costs NZ$95 (£52). airnewzealand.co.uk airraro.com tamanubeach.com bishopscruises.com
IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY; 4CORNERS
cliche is complete. It’s 360-degree views of lagoon, islets and sheer, splendid isolation. A channel passes between One Foot Island and the islet next to it. The skipper’s advice is to walk up the beach, then ride the current to float back down. And to take a snorkel. It’s good advice, as it’s not long before schools of distinctive silvery fish with a yellow stripe down the middle zigzag past. Then, on the sandy bottom, are a couple of giant clams, their mouths a vivid velvetesque blue and black coat. Take a breath, dive down and wag a finger in their general direction, and they’ll coyly close up. Don’t get too close, though — there are sea urchins snuggled underneath the rocks, and an encounter with one of their spines is going to seriously hurt. An angelfish, with the black dot on its back designed to trick predators into thinking it’s an eye, glides past. It’s followed by something that looks like it has donned leopard print. Every new character increases the eagerness to be thoroughly nosy. One Foot Island may be the one where you can get your passport stamped (the customs officers look suspiciously like the boat crew), but other islets have a more illustrious history. Akaiami, for example, was once the refuelling stop for Trans Empire Airlines planes heading to Tahiti. That led to a rather illustrious clientele — including Marlon Brando and Cary Grant — stopping off for a swim for a few hours. It’s rather trickier to spot the runway, however. And that’s because the lagoon was the runway, and the planes were flying boats. The service ran between 1951 and 1960 before technological advances made the flights uneconomical. Now, the visitors are scuttling crabs and gleeful swimmers, the latter taking quite some herding to get out of the water and back on the boat. Once the cruise is over, night falls quickly. Aitutaki, with a population of around 2,000 laid-back souls, is no party island. But when the sun rises the next day, it’s just a short stagger from bungalow to beach. One Foot Island may be the target, but in truth, Aitutaki is surrounded by beaches of nearidentical quality. And while everyone else gets an extra hour’s sleep, that lagoon calls. Mask down, snorkel in, and a wade out to swimming depth, and suddenly it becomes your own perfect, private swimming pool. Well, apart from those sneaky fish.
IMAGE: GETTY
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O F TH E
THE HOTHOUSE HEART
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S T E P P I N G I N T O YA S U N I N AT I O N A L P A R K I S N ’ T A T O E - D I P I N T O W I L D E R N E S S . I T ’ S A F U L L- O N D I V E I N T O T H E R A I N F O R E S T, W H E R E T H E A I R I S H E A V Y W I T H T H E S C E N T O F W E T L E AV E S , A N D T H E D A R K N E S S O F N I G H T TIG HTENS AROUND YOU LIK E THE C OIL S OF A P Y THON WORDS
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"WHAT THE
CH RIST IS THAT? " comes the cry from the compost toilet, before David makes a flapping exit through the blue sheet that serves for a door. Fredy interrupts what he’s doing — namely, evicting a swarm of ants from my rucksack — to offer his expert opinion. “Wolf spider,” he informs us, as we peer around the curtain at the hairy creature squatting robustly on the wooden seat. I barely have time to worry whether the wolf spider is so-called because it’s the size of a wolf or because it hangs around in packs, when our attention is diverted once more. “Erm, Fredy?” calls Nick, his voice a touch brittle. “Could I borrow you? There’s a scorpion on my tent.” Our camp for the night is basic: four small bell tents, a bucket shower behind a makeshift screen of woven leaves, and a hole-in-the-ground loo (currently occupied). We’ve only been here an hour, and already Ecuador’s rainforest has laid down some markers, dispatched a few scuttling scouts to dismantle our comfort zone and shake us free of any complacency. Wonder at me, it seems to say, but don’t let down your guard. This isn’t a toe-dip into wilderness before retreat to the downy pillows of a luxury lodge. We’re staying right in the prickly, hothouse heart of the jungle, and as dusk falls its darkness tightens slowly round us like the coils of a python. Having de-anted my bag and descorpioned Nick’s tent, Fredy wants to show us what else is out in the night, and so we line up behind him and thread our way through the foliage. “Don’t touch anything!” Fredy warns, but it’s hopeless because the jungle is intent on patting me down. A creeper’s tendril caresses my shoulder, a web catches my hair; moths buffet my eyebrows as they fuss about the head torch. The mew of a black-banded owl cleaves the air, which is humid, and heavy with the scent of wet leaves and the sound of cicadas. Cameo after cameo of jungle existence is captured in the white disc of Fredy’s spotlight. A black-headed spider
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gorges on something with lacy wings, while a poisonous banana spider sits waiting in its web. We limbo beneath a striped caterpillar hanging from the leaves — “Be careful, its hairs can infect your skin!” — and watch a fishing spider lurking above a stream, biding its time. Somewhere, a tree frog makes a quacking noise, like a dog toy being chewed. Scorpion spider. Tawny-bellied screech owl. ‘Diablo’ grasshopper, with the devil’s face on it. In this real-life gothic drama, the characters even have names of the night, and everything that moves against the forest’s blackened backdrop seems to play the part of either the hunter or the hunted. What’s increasingly unclear is which of the roles we’re filling — whether we’re stalking nature or nature’s stalking us — and it’s while I ponder this blurred line that a flurry of jagged wings fills my torchlight and bursts past my ear, sending me flailing and ducking to the ground. “False vampire bat,” says an amused Fredy, as I straighten up and fight to calm my breath. “It only eats fruit.” This is the Mandari Panga Jungle Experience, a new tourism project set up by Fredy and his wife in the remote rainforest of Yasuni National Park. It involves many of the local Mandari Panga community — a 150-strong group of indigenous Quichua people — in varying roles, with some employed as guides, others providing food. Most live several miles west of here, but one family is nearby, and before retiring to our tents in the undergrowth we’ll cross the river to join them for a meal of chicken and rice, and to have our faces painted in the ceremonial patterns of a hunter (me), a fisherman (David) and — after earnest assurances it’s a genuine job in these parts — a jungle man (Nick). Tomorrow we’ll travel eastward along the Tiputini River, deeper and deeper into the rainforest, and further and further from any other souls. For tourists, the project offers a rare taste of the Amazon at its remotest, but for Fredy it offers nothing less than the hope of salvation. Forget the army of predators prowling around them; the real threat to this fragile community lies beneath. Oil. The prospectors started circling Ecuador in the 1960s, persuading villages to sell drilling rights, and the pipeline is ever-present beside the road on the journey here from Quito, writhing through the landscape like a rust-brown anaconda. We’d passed an oil town shortly before reaching the national park, its greenery cleared for access roads, its people looking hard-faced and holloweyed. At the foot of four roaring gas flares, the bodies of burnt insects formed mounds a metre high. The Mandari Panga community have so far resisted the oil dollars. But for how much longer? Fredy knows tourism can provide an alternative future. “We have something special here,” he says simply.
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Tiputini River RIGHT: Grasshopper using the bark of a tree as camouflage
IMAGE: ADRIAN PHILLIPS
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IMAGES: ADRIAN PHILLIPS; GETTY
On the river
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Nick on the Tiputini River; hoatzins, Anangu Creek, Yasuni National Park; rainforest frog
That special something unfurls before us early the following day. After a candlelit breakfast of fried eggs and mashed plantain, we clamber unsteadily into dugout canoes. I join Nick, a fellow guest from Northumberland, in one of the cedarwood boats; Fredy stepping sure-footed as a cat into the stern. David, an American who came to Quito 15 years ago and is the founder of local tour operator Eos Ecuador, takes the other boat, with a guide called Julio. “That’s best for you guys — I seem to attract the bugs,” David comments ruefully. It’s 5.45am, no longer night but not quite morning either. The air is washed with a sunless light, and mist rests like a sagging net on the crown of the forest. Julio and Fredy paddle stealthily, loose-limbed, each taking a few gentle strokes on one side before flicking the oar up in an elegant arc to take a few strokes on the other. The river oozes, flat and dense and silent. Alongside us, the rainforest is immense and stock-still, not a leaf trembling, the trees silhouetted flat against the grey. I’m struck by a sense of the theatrical, of a stage set ready for the play of life. And as we wait, the orchestra builds the atmosphere. Cicadas lay down the bassline with their enduring electric hum. Next, a woodpecker taps out a tempo, supported by a dove that repeats its single note, luxurious, haunting, and as regular as a metronome. On top of this comes the melody — piping whistles and echoing chimes, a huffy burst like someone working a bicycle pump, the ratcheting noise of a clock being wound, the bubbling of a cuckoo, its call like boiling water, and the sound of an oropendola bird, like a pebble dropped in a pool of liquid gold.
With a sort of guttural drum roll, the first members of the cast enter stage left. “Howler monkeys!” Fredy says, pointing to four redfurred figures emerging from the dry-ice haze at the top of a fig tree. “The males growl like that to mark their territory.” We drift on, and birds start coming thick and fast. A pair of blue-headed parrots make a dash overhead — strangely front-heavy with their stunted tails, and protesting loudly about some outrage or other. We look in on an animated debate between cobalt-winged parakeets, who squawk among the acacia branches. An aloof, Guinness-beaked toucan stares into the distance, pretending not to hear. Fredy and Julio direct the action, moving our gaze from one scene to the next. My eyes ache — genuinely ache! — from the effort of picking shapes from the knotted jumble of green and brown. “Spider monkey,” they say, and I look straight at it but see nothing until the animal scratches a leg and reveals itself, as though spirited there by magic. Goldenmantled tamarind monkeys walk headfirst down a trunk, white markings around their mouths like a toddler’s milk moustache. Julio makes a chesty hissing noise at them, and they make a chesty hissing noise back. We pass a snakebird on a log, red-capped cardinals on a twig, and then — at some hidden cue — the star turns appear, breaking along the bank with a clatter of slapping paws and splashing their way into the water. Three giant river otters — adults and a juvenile; beautiful animals but slightly eerie too, with something of the pitbull about their snouts and the reptile in their eyes. They rest chins on the surface, tracking us unblinkingly, and once more I’m conscious of roles reversed as the watchers become the watched.
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PARAKE ETS
Cobalt-winged parakeets, Napo Wildlife Center, Yasuni National Park
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IMAGE: ALAMY
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By 10am, the mist has turned to wispy cloud and the heat of the sun is at our necks. Nick and I enjoy the sight of a huge owl butterfly lolloping in front of our boat, and of David battling to free himself from a persistent bee that has buzzed around him for the past 10 minutes. “I should give it a name,” he calls across to us, swatting at his hair, and we nod sympathetically and try to keep straight faces. But shortly afterwards, the atmosphere tautens as we pull into a channel where the sun can’t follow, and Julio helps us out of the boats and into a swamp. Places don’t get more primeval and threatening than this. The ground tries to fold us into itself, mud sucking as high as the middle of our thighs as we walk jerkily like robots and fight to hold onto our boots. Finally, thankfully, we find relief in a track of sorts. Julio moves lithely ahead of us, hacking with his machete. “Mind these,” Fredy says, protectively, stepping high-kneed over a bobbing line of leaf-cutter ants. “They can carry their leaves four kilometres,” he adds with evident fondness. (Later, I’ll reflect on the lottery of life as Fredy eats lemon ants by the dozen off a coffee tree. “They taste great if you’re thirsty!”) Anaconda Lagoon greets us with the eggy stink of decay. It’s a blackwater ecosystem very different from the Tiputini River, and a further reminder of Yasuni’s biodiversity. The national park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, its 1.2 million acres making room
for everything from giant kapok trees with crowns like mushroom clouds to ants tiny enough to hitchhike on the leaves carried by the leaf-cutter ants we’ve just left behind. Not far to the south of us is the Intangible Zone, an area home to two ‘uncontacted’ tribes who hunt with spears and blowpipes, and live in total isolation from the outside world. This had seemed extraordinary when considered in advance, but out on this festering oxbow lake I could easily believe we’re the only people on Earth. We’ve joined another dugout; Fredy standing at the front, the better to scan the ragged vegetation spilling over the lake’s edges. The water is inky and smooth, but occasionally it pulses as something invisible moves beneath like a muscle under skin. “I don’t recommend swimming here,” says Fredy, entirely unnecessarily. “There are big electric eels that can give you a shock of 600 volts.” And, as the lake’s name suggests, there are anacondas too, which like to bask on logs. For once, though, Fredy’s radar is off-beam. Instead, he finds a blood-red bird-eating snake, swirling shoals of tadpoles, a row of roosting long-nosed bats. A ribbed nest of warrior wasps, which, when we clap our hands, vibrate to a sound like marching soldiers — pherlunk, pherlunk, pherlunk — as thousands of wings beat a warning from within. Julio trails a fishing line, and pulls in a piranha with a hunched back and jagged underbite. But no anacondas.
G IA N T RI V E R
OT T E RS, WI TH SO M E THI NG O F TH E
PI T B U L L AB OU T TH EI R S NOU TS A N D TH E REP TI L E I N TH EI R
EYE S
IMAGE: GETTY
Yellow-spotted river turtle and butterflies, Yasuni National Park
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ANDES from the inside
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“Last week, I saw one here seven metres long,” Fredy says, clearly frustrated. “An anaconda will hypnotise you if you look it in the eye,” he adds. I keep my head fixed firmly forward until we’re safely out of the lagoon.
IMAGES: ADRIAN PHILLIPS; NICK REDMAYNE
Forest magic
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Julio making chocolate; tents at the first camp, in the thick of the rainforest; opening the achiote fruit, used to make face paint
Scientists will tell you it’s a myth, of course, and that a snake is no more capable of hypnosis than it is of persuading Eve to eat an apple. But the jungle isn’t a place of science, whatever the textbooks say. It’s a place of potions and dream prophecies and tales passed from parent to child; a parallel, otherworldly kingdom where different laws apply. Nature’s power can be something to fear, like the danger in the anaconda’s eye. It can be something to harness: those white onions growing by the path are used to treat burns, Julio says; the juice from this mushroom stalk can heal ear infections; these berries rubbed around a baby’s head will cure its fever. It can even be downright bizarre. “Don’t stare at that bird or your pants will break,” Fredy cautions as we look up at a swallow-tailed kite. That evening, Fredy reveals he’s the son of a yachak — a wise man. We’re sitting crosslegged in a circle, shelling cocoa beans still hot from roasting in the fire. “My father speaks with spirits of the forest and rivers, and guards people from bad energies,” he says, and we
just nod, unsurprised, and ask some practical questions — how long do his ceremonies last? How do the spirits communicate? Because out here, it seems entirely plausible that things might be plucked from thin air. When it comes to food, there’s no greater magician than Alicia, Fredy’s smiley motherin-law. It’s her stilted house we’re in now, the sides open to the forest, and we’ll spend our remaining nights in tents on thatched platforms Fredy has built a few metres away overlooking the river. While we work at the cocoa beans, Alicia chews on boiled chontaduros, spitting pieces of the orange palm fruit into a wooden bowl, and mashing them with a pestle. She’s making chicha, a mildly alcoholic drink. “Chewing makes the chicha less slimy,” Fredy explains. Alicia helps us to grind cocoa beans and sugar into a glossy paste, from which she concocts a frothy hot chocolate, the sweetest of endings to a meal of Julio’s piranha, served on banana leaves with local avocado and tomatoes. UNESCO has recognised Alicia’s work in preserving traditional Amazonian cuisine. She teaches the village schoolchildren ancestral recipes, how to make chocolate and grow their own food sustainably. These are key lessons for the community to learn if the Mandari Panga project is to succeed. “So many lodges in Ecuador bring all their food in from Quito.
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Can pigs fly? It’s the next morning, and we’re halfway up a tree, hiding from wild pigs. White-lipped peccaries, to be exact; a hairy species that can weigh up to 100lbs. We can’t see them, but they’re close, hundreds of them, their fusty scent on the leaves, their prints in the earth; bruised fruit skins littering the ground. The grunts of so many truffling snouts creates a low vibration through the forest, an almost man-made sound, like the thrum of a generator. Peccary herds of this size are dangerous. The males can be aggressive, and if the group panics it will stampede blindly, flattening anything in its way. Julio had sensed them first, putting a finger to his lips with an urgency I’d not seen before, the stakes raised in the blink of an eye. Fredy had ushered us to a fallen tree, propped against another at 45 degrees, and we’d shuffled awkwardly up the trunk as high as we dared. Satisfied we’re safely stored, Julio and Fredy remove their T-shirts to ensure they’re better camouflaged, and melt away to scout the situation.
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Getting there & around Avianca flies daily from London Heathrow to Bogota, with regular flights onward to Quito. Several other airlines, including KLM and Iberia, serve Quito with one connection. avianca.com klm.com iberia.com AVERAGE FLIGHT TIME: 14h15m. From Quito, travel by bus or internal flight to Coca, then by private transport to Yasuni National Park.
Where to go The Amazon has no distinct seasons and rain is a feature all year. Yasuni National Park is great to visit year-round, while rafting is best from late August-March. The Yasuni region is relatively cool with higher rainfall in May and June.
How to do it TRAVELLOCAL has a nine-day Amazon
Adventure from £1,510 per person, including five nights in hotels/cabins (including the Gran Hotel de Lago in Coca) and three nights’ comfortable camping, private transport, a rafting tour along the Jondachi and Hollin Rivers, a visit to the Cueva de los Tayos, and four days exploring Yasuni National Park. Excludes flights. travellocal.com
COLOMBIA
QUITO
Yasuní National Park
ECUADOR
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FROM LEFT: White-lipped peccary, Yasuni National
Park; children at Mandari Panga community centre
PERU 100 Miles
PACIFIC OCEAN
SOUTH AMERICA
IMAGES: GETTY; NICK REDMAYNE. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
We want to do things differently,” Fredy says, rapping his knuckles on the floor.
ESSENTIALS
PACIFIC OCEAN
" D O N ' T STARE AT THAT B I RD O R YOU R PA N TS WI L L B REAK"
Straddling this tree is the very definition of a stress position. My thighs cramp, ants bite, and a twig keeps steady pressure on a part of me that shouldn’t be pressured. Whenever Nick adjusts himself above, I receive a shower of bark and lichen. Fifteen minutes pass, then 20. The thrumming rises and falls as the herd moves below us. All we can do is wait. From here, wrapped in its spiky embrace, corralled by its barrelling foot-soldiers, the rainforest seems invincible. On the river, it had felt infinite, the trees at the bank just the frontline in an organic mass. It’s difficult to believe this mass is a sum of parts, that its things can be counted, that at this moment there’s a precise number of howler monkeys, of tarantulas, of white-eyed parakeets. That somewhere, the uncontacted tribespeople can hear the same rumble of thunder I can. That if you lose a tree, that’s one lost from the total. That the jungle is half the size it was before the oil companies arrived. Thirty minutes pass; there are squeals and a clacking of teeth. Another long roll of thunder, and above us the canopy crackles with rain. All we can do is wait. For all its sorcery and stagecraft, the rainforest is powerless against the anaconda pipeline. This is a modern threat that requires a human solution, and Fredy’s family are training guides and teaching the community about tourism, preparing their forest guardians. Every villager recruited is one added to the total. “These are good people,” Fredy had told me earlier. “I’m desperate to make this project succeed.” Only time will tell if Fredy can work his magic. All we can do is wait. Meanwhile, I’ll cling to this tree, push Nick’s boot off my head, and cross fingers the pigs here can’t fly.
n i a t n u mo IMAGE: GETTY
High on a
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s m a e r of d In the mountains of Northern Yunnan, Shangri-La — that earthly paradise of fiction — is as real as the cobbles that line its streets. Yet from its Tibetan temple to its cosy courtyards, nothing is quite what it seems WORDS
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IMAGES: GETTY; SASKIA WESSELING
I’m high. So very high.
PREVIOUS PAGES: Gandeng Sumtseling Monastery FROM TOP: View from the summit of Shika Mountain; jewellery seller on the streets of Shangri-La
Some 14,205ft to be precise. If I was on board an aircraft and it decompressed, the oxygen masks would have dropped down by now. It seems impossible that anything should grow in this cold, airless place but I’m sitting on a magic carpet of bracken laced with tiny blue Himalayan poppies, wild purple pansies and hot-pink oleander flowers. At my back there’s a lone doubeng, a cairn of loose stones, each of which has been deposited by a Buddhist pilgrim in thanks for their blessings. Vaporous clouds skim across snow-dappled mountaintops, dizzying valleys and azure skies as I breathe in the cool, sharp air and close my eyes. I begin to meditate, and I’m unsure whether it’s the lack of oxygen or Shika Mountain’s supposed holy properties, but with the sun warming one half of my body and shadow chilling the other, my mind softens to mist almost immediately. Hypnotised by the gentle shush, shush, shush of the wind, akin to the sound of a distant river, I quickly drift off to a place of peace, equanimity, contentment. After two years of listening to mind-training podcasts, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. Except I’m not. When I open my eyes some 15-minutes later, there’s a perplexed looking security guard staring down at me. Perched on the Tibetan Plateau, Shika Snow Mountain lies just outside the ancient city of Shangri-La in the far north of Yunnan, China. For now, most arrivals come from China, but their numbers are relatively low. Western travellers are rarer still. I give the security guard a nod and walk slowly, breathlessly — the altitude is taking its toll — back up to the summit, ascending through a tunnel of brass bells and red, yellow and blue prayer flags ringing and fluttering in the wind. From this vantage point I can see the squat rooftops of Shangri-La, more than four miles away, haloed by peaks and valleys in summer shades of coral, copper and pink. Ringed by snow-capped mountains echoing the form of an eight-petal lotus flower, it perfectly fits the Buddhist vision of Shambala as a mythical kingdom. But Shangri-La isn’t what it seems. It’s a projection, a receptacle of dreams. During the Song and Tang Dynasties (1279-960BC and 907-618BC respectively), it was a crucial stop on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a grinding 2,500-mile trade route stretching from Sichuan to Lhasa, India and Nepal. In the 13th- century, Kublai Khan, grandson of Ghenghis, raided it for warhorses before burning it to the ground on his way to conquer China. A few hundred years later, the English
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ABOVE: Sheep farm in a hilltop village outside
Shangri-La town OPPOSITE: Tibetan in front elaborately decorated purple doors
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novelist James Hilton is believed to have commandeered these misty mountains as the utopian mise en scène for his 1933 novel Lost Horizon. More recently (and less romantically), the area was known as Zhongdian, a far-flung corner of China producing yak meat, mushrooms and little else. Then, in 2001, a canny marketer came along and graced it with its current moniker. To its majority ethnic Tibetan people, though, Shangri-La has been — and always will be — Gyalthang, otherwise known as Victory Plains, a key part of Greater Tibet. Despite being conquered and annexed by the Red Army in 1950, its brightlycostumed population still refer to themselves as Tibetan rather than Chinese, with many of their young boys and girls making clandestine journeys across the Himalayas to study at one of the 71 Tibetan schools scattered across India. Set up more than 50 years ago by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Dalai Lama to preserve the culture of Tibetan refugees, the schools offer a free education, room and board to all who land at their doors. Unlike the majority of Tibetans living in the Tibetan Special Autonomous Region, who are denied passports by the Chinese government, those in Shangri-La are allowed to travel fairly freely. As long as they don’t apply directly for an Indian visa — an obvious statement of intent — the authorities turn a blind eye to their comings and goings. Yangse, who works at a foot massage parlour in the old town, was educated in India for 10 years. “I was nine when I went to the Tibetan school in Himachal Pradesh,” she tells me as she tends to my feet with the touch of an eagle throttling its prey. “My sister went with me. We had all classes in the Tibetan language, ate Tibetan food, wore Tibetan clothes. We also learned English to improve our career choices and later, I studied commerce.” When I ask if she ever met the Dalai Lama, she beams. “Yes, of course, His Holiness would pray with us at least twice a year.” Did she ever want to stay in India? “No. I was very happy to go but always wanted to finish my studies and come home to my family, and there’s more opportunity here.” Nowadays, almost every Tibetan school student returns home, and all by the same convoluted means. While the journey isn’t quite so tricky for tourists, reaching Shangri-La does still require some effort, with a visa application beforehand, at least three flights from the UK, and then limited accommodation options when you do land. But there’s a new way of seeing this magical and mysterious place. Blueflower Travel, based out of Hong Kong, has teamed up with Farm Liotard, a Tibetan homestay run by French-British couple Constantine and Phoebe Slizewicz who operate horse caravan tours with blinged-up bell tents, through the untouched wilds of the Aboudji mountains. I’ve bought and borrowed the kit: pricey trekking shoes, super comfy socks, Glasgow Rangers waterproofs and a scarf borrowed from my brother. And I’ve trained beforehand, spending weeks marching up and down the hills of Hong Kong, where I live. But what I hadn’t accounted for was the altitude sickness. It’s advisable to allow at least a couple of days to acclimatise, but it turns out I need more. “Even Olympic athletes can come down with mountain sickness,” my guide, Tashi, warns. I’m advised to go no higher than 3,300 metres above sea level. So instead I spend the next few nights at the Banyan Tree Hotel, housed in a series of beautiful old converted farmhouses in the peaceful village of Ringa. From my balcony I survey the surrounding landscape: gentle hills, flowery meadows, herds of yaks plucking lazily at the grass. Rabbits bounce through the brush, piglets snuffle in the mud and women in embroidered dresses, wellington boots and shocking pink hats plod across soggy fields carrying huge bundles of firewood. Cutting through the centre of this bucolic scene is the Shudu River, a wide, gurgling waterway that leads into the Yangtze before eventually flowing all the way to the East China Sea a few miles outside of Shanghai.
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LEFT: Ceremony at the colourful Gandeng Sumtseling Monastery ABOVE: Monks playing the Tibetan horn
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Burial rites
BELOW: Tunnel of brass bells and prayer flags on the way up to the summit of Shika Mountain FOLLOWING PAGE:
IMAGE: SASKIA WESSELING
Rooster outside Dabao Temple
To ease me in, Tashi suggests a gentle trek to Dabao Temple, which resides halfway up the forested hills behind us. As we set out, the sky whitens and appears to lower, pushing against the hilltops. Then in a blink, blue skies and biblical shards of sunshine. The psychedelic weather continues as we pass through the village, where homes are hidden behind high stone walls and guarded by Tibetan mastiffs the size of ponies. Bored-looking yaks wander by, their thick tresses giving me serious winter coat envy, and a horned goat gives us the evil eye. Sidestepping him we wind upwards, through fir trees webbed with thousands of prayers flags until finally we’re facing the temple’s 800-year old entrance. It’s a humble affair, a small stone block in a shaded glade. Incense pours from its dark interior, where a lone monk is deep in prayer. Not wanting to disturb him, we rest briefly in the grounds before heading back downhill to the riverbank. “They perform water burials in that river,” explains Tashi, before taking me through the somewhat startling local funeral rites. When someone in the village dies (and their body has been deemed free from disease), they’re laid out in a wooden box at home for five days while family and loved ones come to pay their respects. So far, so Catholic. On the fifth day, however, 12 monks appear, offering prayers while two special lamas (spiritual leaders) carry the body down to the riverside. There, they wash the deceased one last time, before unveiling a collection of special knives and cutting the corpse into 108 parts. Moving up the river, they then throw the dismembered parts into the water for the fish to feed on. “This is why we don’t eat fish from the river,” Tashi says. I see where he’s coming from — no one wants to inadvertently end up eating a relative. But Tashi’s meaning is deeper than that. “All of nature has honour. Everything has the right to live. We cannot take more from nature than we need. For us, it’s better to take one life than many. One yak — one life — could feed a large family for over a month, but you would have to kill many fish, and take many lives, to feed that same family. We must give back too. With the water burial we do that, everything goes back to nature, feeding the fish, insects, vultures, the sky and the land.” This practice may appear somewhat alarming to outsiders, but for the Tibetans it’s a response perfectly in line with their nature-loving ways. Before the arrival of Buddhism, the people here were animist, believing that everything in creation — plants, trees, rocks, mountains, water, the sky and even thunder — is alive with demons and spirits. As a concept it’s not that far removed from the Buddhist belief in the sanctity of life, and so over time the two religions fused, with many animist practices remaining an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism today. The next morning, I awaken to the sound of birds tweeting and yak bells clanking, and am met by another guide, also called Tashi. “It means good luck,” he tells me in pitch-perfect English. “It’s a popular name in these parts.” The weather is distinctly Scotland-in-October as we set out for Shangri-La’s old town, passing by cloud-licked stupas, misty prairies and shaggy grasslands. The traditional Tibetan houses that punctuate the landscape are built like trapezium-shaped fortresses, apparently to mimic the shape of the mountains, with tiny barred windows and thick adobe walls. Behind these war-worthy barriers, the layout is nearly
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Ya ng
Riv
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SHANGRI-LA Shika Mtn Me k o n g
t z e River
er
CHINA Yunnan
Kunming
YUNNAN
200 Miles
ESSENTIALS Getting there & around Cathay Pacific flies from London and Manchester to Kunming via Hong Kong. From here, China Eastern Airways operates four flights a day to Deqen Shangri-La airport. cathaypacific.com ceair.com AVERAGE FLIGHT TIME: 2h. With only a handful of bus routes, a hire car’s the best way to get around.
When to go Almost everything’s closed throughout winter, and with monsoon rains during July and August, it’s best to avoid these times of year. Go in April, May or June to view the region’s wild flowers in bloom, or from late September to early November for a better chance of blue skies and sunshine. By day, you can expect temperatures to peak at around 19ºC, dropping to zero at night.
More info Tibetan Children’s Villages. tcv.org.in
How to do it BLUEFLOWER TRAVEL offers a five-night
trip from £1,480 per person, including two nights’ room-only at the Banyan Tree Ringa (doubles from £180, B&B) and three nights’ camping with a horse caravan, including meals, guides and transfers. Excludes flights. blueflower.la banyantree.com
IMAGE: SASKIA WESSELING. ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
always the same: a central courtyard cornered by two great double-decker villas, hewn from spruce and intricately carved and painted in cartoonish shades of yellow, pink, turquoise and green. Further on, the scenery becomes less evocative, with dozens of new roads being built and construction on every corner of the small but rapidly expanding new town. “President Xi is coming to visit Shangri-La in September,” Tashi tells me. “This will help to bring more tourists.” I imagine if I returned to this place five years from now, I would hardly be able to recognise it. As it turns out, the old town has already been transformed in recent years. In 2014, nearly 80% of its millennia-old buildings were destroyed when someone’s electric heater malfunctioned, causing an inferno that ripped through its tightly packed streets for 10 hours. What replaced the ancient settlement is a charming, if Disney-fied, version of the town, with winding cobbled streets, cosy courtyards and little wooden shop-houses selling decorative swords, silver trinkets, local delicacies — barbecued meat, yak’s curd cheese, barley wine — and some questionable-looking animal skins. From here, we continue to the fairytale Gandeng Sumtseling Monastery, a structure so grand I’ve already spotted its towering white walls and sail-like golden rooftops from the other side of the city. Built by the fifth Dalai Lama in 1674, and modelled on Potala Palace in Tibet, of the hundreds of Buddhist monasteries scattered across the Himalayas, this was once among the most revered. But it too turns out to be something of an illusion. Just a few decades back, the monastery was raided and left in ruins, its clergy stripped of their robes and condemned to prison or hard labour, victims of the Cultural Revolution. And while policies have long since softened and believers may once again worship here, religion is still strictly controlled by the government. There are no pictures of the Dalai Lama anywhere. On the surface, this knowledge does little to dampen the beauty and mystique of the monastery. Passing through its imposing entrance gate feels like entering a kaleidoscope, every inch adorned with rainbowbright patterns, swirling motifs and cheerful murals of Lord Buddha in his many incarnations: Buddha as a farmer, Buddha as a scholar, boy Buddha, dragon Buddha, Buddha as a businessman showered in gold and jewels. From here, wide stone stairs lead to a dozen different temples, each more vibrant than the last. “We (Tibetans) are crazy about colour,” says Tashi. “Colour can be used to represent many different things: nature, emotions, status and even other dimensions. You can see we use red and yellow a lot on the outside of our buildings. This is to remind us of liberty — red and yellow are the colours of leaves when they fall from the trees in autumn, when they break free. These colours remind us that we should also try to break free of our earthly needs.” I muse on this idea as I continue through the grounds, listening to the sounds of some 700 monks at study and prayer, their murmurations and baritone chants drifting out from behind picturesque wooden doorways. Unexpectedly I think of my mother, who died less than a year ago, and how I wish she were here with me. I reflect on the uncertainty of life and how, over the last week, the mountains, the weather, the people, the very walls of this monastery have spoken of impermanence, as if trying to show me the importance of living in the moment. And I wonder if perhaps this is exactly where I’m meant to be. And if perhaps Shangri-La is exactly what it seems.
Belgium
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS
M A R K PA R R E N TAY L O R
The Ardennes, in Wallonia, is southern Belgium’s most poetic region — a place of rolling hills, deep forest, quirky traditions and some rather fine food
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THE FAT OF THE LAND
The goats reside in an extravagant, Wild West-themed shed and munch away on the surrounding Ardenne grass and herbs that flavours their chèvre cheese. Adèle Reuter forages in country lanes and bridleways near Anseremme for similar wild herbs for her home cooking, while at L’Escargotière in Warnant, they sell edible snails and bottle their slime for use as a beauty treatment. 122
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YOUNG & OLD
Belgium may be a relatively young state compared to its French and Dutch neighbours, but the Gilles de Binche folklore festival, the couque de Dinant biscuit and some Trappist beers long predate the country’s independence. At Namur’s Boulangerie Legrand, bread is made with organic ingredients just as it has been for six generations. An hour away in Durbuy stands the 15th-century D’Ursel Castle (opposite).
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THE HUSTLE & THE HUSH
Chassepierre — considered one of Belgium’s prettiest villages — hosts an annual festival each August that attracts street performers from around the world. Streetside stalls sell local treats, including pâté gaumais, which is similar to a Cornish pasty. Notre-Dame de Luxembourg chapel (above) has stood in Torgny, one of Belgium’s southernmost villages, since 1660.
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CHEESE & BEER
The Ardennes may be home to excellent wines, but its Trappist beers — such as Orval and Chimay — are known the world over. Philippe Polinard (left) makes herve cheese, best enjoyed when it’s ripe and punchy, or when it’s just three days old and as chalky as the local soil.
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THE GUARANTEE OF A TRUE BELGIAN EXPERIENCE
STEIGENBERGER WILTCHER’S
71, Avenue Louise 1050 Brussels - T: +32 2 542 42 42 brussels@steigenberger.com - www.wiltchers.com
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
THE
NORTH BECKONS
Towering icebergs and craggy glaciers fill the fjords of Greenland’s east coast, a dramatic landscape perfect for a wildlife-rich expedition. Words: Tamsin Wressell
DAYS 1 & 2
DAY 4
I CE L A N D
D E I CH M A N N F J O RD
I touchdown in Reykjavik, keen to get exploring. Roaming cafes, bars and museums, I understand the city’s reputation for friendly locals, out-there cuisine and sparkling-clean streets. The next morning, I meet the other passengers for our chartered fl ight to Akureyri, before embarking on the Ocean Atlantic.
After an introduction to polar photography, we leave the ship for a trip on a smaller inflatable boat (Zodiac). At the ancient basalt rocks on the shore, we catch sight of a polar bear — the fi rst of 10 we will see on our voyage. Photos are shared back on the ship before a bar talk from guide David Burton about his time abandoned in Greenland with no money.
DAY 3 D E N M A RK S T R A I T It’s a full day at sea until we reach our fi rst landing spot. A screening of David Attenborough’s The Hunt in the theatre sets the scene before resident historian Bob Headland hosts a lecture on unveiling the Arctic. There’s tales from expedition guide Anders Kjærgaard about his experience dog sledding in Northeast Greenland.
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DAY 5 WA R M I N G I S L A N D & KO N G O S C A R F J O RD It’s an early start as we get the chance to take a Zodiac out to explore Warming Island’s glacier, with mist hanging low around the surrounding mountains. We spot our second polar bear, and then it’s back to the ship for talks on sea ice and ornithology. After dinner, we disembark to explore
Ella Island by foot, climbing over limestone rocks for a view over the bay, as musk ox graze on a nearby beach below.
DAY 6 N A RH VA L S U N D & E LL A I S L A N D All layers are donned for a hike through Northeast Greenland National Park. The group is split up for different paces. I join the ‘chargers’, covering 8.5km with three Danish sheep dogs in tow. We fi nd a reindeer horn (the deer were last spotted here in the 1930s) and rock dating back 65 million years.
LIFE ON BOARD FO O D Breakfast and lunch are buffet spreads, while dinner is a three-course menu. Gaps are filled with afternoon tea and canapes in the evening. Happy hour in the theatre includes classic and contemporary cocktails.
AC T I V I T I E S Daily lectures give an insight into the history, wildlife and geography of the region. In the theatre bar, there’s documentary screenings during the day and anecdotal tales by expedition guides in the evening.
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
WILDLIFE SP OT TED RI N G E D S E A L
HOODED SEAL
H U M P B ACK WH A LE
POL AR BEAR
A RC T I C FOX
M U S K OX
M O RE T H A N 2 5 S P E CI E S O F B I R D (I N CLU D I N G I VO RY G U L L S A N D A R C T I C T ER N S)
DAY 7
IMAGES: GETTY; AWL IMAGES; ALAMY; TAMSIN WRESSELL
B LO M S T E RB U G T E N & KE J S E R F R A N Z J O S E F We hike over slated rock, drink from glacial streams, forage for blueberries and pursue musk ox. Back on the ship, ice cream is served on the deck as we soak up the view of bobbing icebergs. A Zodiac cruise takes us to Waltershausen Glacier, stretching seven miles wide. We explore blue ice and caves before seeing a huge calving, sending waves as the ice tumbles into the water. This is the furthest north we’ll be, making it the ideal time for a polar plunge, where we jump from the ship into the sea. It takes a minute to muster up the
nerve to jump into the chilling 2.5C waters, but it’s exhilarating.
DAY 8 M ACKE N Z I E B U G T In true expedition style, we wake to a thick layer of fog that prevents us from landing. A Zodiac cruise takes us through the strong waves to Bontekoe Island, where a moody cloud formation sweeps over the land. We board to travel south, breaking up the day with waffles, lectures and a movie screening.
DAY 9 S CO R E S BY S U N D We land for the afternoon to explore Ittoqqortoormiit — one
of the most isolated towns in Greenland — before watching the sun set over the fjord.
DAY 10 N O RDV E S T F J O RD It’s another early-morning start to hike around Eskimobugt, a bay where we spot musk ox and Thule ruins. After lunch, we explore the surrounding fjord and icebergs by Zodiac. Dinner is a barbecue on the deck accompanied by mulled wine.
DAY 1 1 N O RDV E S T F J O RD We land to fi nd ancient Thule tools and a burial ground amidst the waterfalls and hills of the
bay. The steep cliff faces of Bear Islands provide a scenic Zodiac cruise before a lecture by marine biologist Annie Inglis.
DAY 1 2 WE S T S CO RE S BY S U N D The morning’s adventure includes a hike into the boggy grounds of Danmarkoer. Before returning to the ship for breakfast, another polar plunge opportunity is offered, this time running in from the beach.We warm up with coffee and documentary screening before we board a Zodiac cruise to a three-mile long glacier, with more sightings of polar bears (with cubs in tow).
To book your cabin on Quark’s Greenland Expedition, visit travel.quarkexpeditions.com/ explore-greenland November 2017
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City life
SEVILLE Layers of history are writ large across the Andalusian capital, and at its heart you’ll still find the true spirit of flamenco WORDS: Jamie Lafferty PHOTOGRAPHS: Nori Jemil
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’m watching a freeloader in a restaurant on a very hot day in Seville. That could be almost any day in this town; in summer, the mercury can sail past 40C, past 50C, even. What to do on days like that? The freeloader knows. Stay in the shade and eat. He (or is it a she?) is strutting over the hexagonal tiles on the street outside Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo, pecking at morsels fallen from the canopy of tables above. Nearby, a baby cries as a boisterous moped hurtles past. A waiter takes a gulp from a perspiring glass of water. They’re trying to do too much. I’m taking the freeloading pigeon’s lead: eating and watching, watching and eating. San Lorenzo is the kind of tapería found across Seville, a tapas bar with tables inside and out, and a menu that seems too affordable for a modern European city. How can roasted Iberian pork loin baked with onion confit be only €3 (£2.60)? And a whole puck of goat’s cheese €2 (£1.80)? An entire bottle of Rioja here costs as much as a single glass in London. Seville is the kind of place that makes me resent living in the UK. Located just west of the popular La Alameda area, San Lorenzo sits in the shadow of an old church, but it’s hardly unique in that — there are a great many churches casting a great deal of shade in Seville. Lanes twist and turn, widen and narrow, then explode out onto grand thoroughfares. Sevillian civilians are understandably delighted with their lot. As well as being blessed with wonderful weather and food, it’s a city dedicated to cycling (only Amsterdam has more cycle lanes) and the sanctity of its historic buildings. Unsurprisingly, UNESCO heavily endorses Seville. To study the Andalusian capital’s history is to study all of humanity’s. I’m given a crash course while cycling with the excellent SeeByBike. As my guide, Justo Lora, explains everything to me, it feels as though every history project I ever did at school rushes back at once. Legend has it the city was founded by the Greek demigod Hercules; what’s more certain is that it was further developed by Julius Caesar and later conquered by the Moors, who themselves had to repel Viking raids. The Christians then won the city back from the Islamic invaders, and immediately began preparations to send out conquistadors of their own. Running through the heart of the city, the Guadalquivir River carried them all. With Seville booming, the Catholic kings spent a fortune building Seville Cathedral. It took 105 years to complete and today is the world’s third-largest. Christopher Columbus planned his four voyages to the Americas from Andalusia; each time he returned to Seville he’d have noticed the cathedral’s grand roof had grown a little higher. Today, he examines it from inside, from the vantage point of his golden coffin, carried aloft by four knights, representing Spain’s ancient kingdoms.
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Almost all Western history — real and imagined — leads back to Seville. The Roman Emperor Hadrian was also born in this province. One day, he decided to build a wall at the edge of his vast empire, in a place now called Britain. Over 1,800 years later, a portly American writer stood on that mighty wall and wondered what would compel an unstoppable force like the Romans to build such a barrier. What did they seek to keep out? Wondering became imagining and that man, George R R Martin, conceived a novel. One book became several books and they became a television series called Game of Thrones, one of the biggest productions in TV history. Part of its enormity comes from being filmed in locations around the world, fantastic places dressed just a little to become fantasy. Consider Dorne, for example, a hot land of hot people doing hot things. When HBO needed somewhere to play the ornate Dornish capital, where did they come? Why, to Seville, of course. Those scenes were filmed in the very tangible palace complex of Alcázar. Over the course of the city’s history, different rulers indulged varying degrees of cultural and architectural appropriation; temple sites became mosques, and they, in turn, became churches and cathedrals. Today, if you start digging down in any part of the old town, you’re likely to find traces of all three. Seville’s Alcázar is one of the best examples of that. A royal network of gardens, residences and churches, much of the design is Arabic, yet covered in seals and sigils bearing the images of a castle and a lion. The quartered coat of arms that represents the united kingdoms of Castile and León was perhaps the first global marketing exercise. It was these symbols that Columbus and his sons carried west to a new world. The legendary, doomed explorer Ferdinand Magellan carried them from here too, all the way to the Philippines, where the warriorking Lapu-Lapu promptly introduced him to the business end of a spear. As riches returned from the newly plundered Americas, Seville became a city gilded in blood. As my bike bumps along cobbled streets, I see the colours of gold and red are common still. Sevillians talk about the romance of the 250-year-old Maestranza bullring, of the heroism of the master matadors, of the red blood spilled across the orange dust as the merciless sun bears down. I can’t think of bullfighting as anything other than cruel, but then this isn’t really for tourists — it’s for the city and her traditionalists. If you go, you’ll at least see some honest, brutally authentic, unvarnished version of Seville. The same is true of flamenco, so long as you know where to look. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Seville annually, determined to see ‘genuine’ flamenco
As my bike bumps along cobbled streets, I see the colours of gold and red are common still. Sevillians talk about the romance of the 250-year-old Maestranza bullring, of the heroism of the master matadors, of the red blood spilled across the orange dust as the merciless sun bears down
PREVIOUS PAGES: Café Bar Las Teresas
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: SeeByBike tour guide; Maestranza; Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo; tapas bar
SEVILLE
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CLOCKWISE: Plaza de España; flamenco dancers; tomb of Christopher Columbus’s son Hernando Colon, Seville Cathedral
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Christopher Columbus planned his four voyages to the Americas from Andalusia; each time he returned to Seville he’d have noticed the cathedral’s grand roof had grown a little higher November 2017
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shows in the heart of Andalusia, the dance’s birthplace. In most instances, they’re paying to watch highly trained performers who’ve rehearsed for years. The dancers’ athleticism is undeniable, but to see one of those shows is something like going to watch Riverdance in the hope of seeing local Irish dancing. Flamenco, at its core, is a barely controlled mayhem for troubled souls who need an outlet for their passion and fury. And it lives on in Seville, away from the stage, away from the box office, in gloriously dilapidated dive joints like Bar Gonzalo. Held up by scaffolding and held together by the community, it looks from the outside like the sort of place you wouldn’t want to enter without someone holding your hand. The SeeByBike team are the ones holding mine. The performance is already well under way when we squeeze in up the back and order some drinks. Men are arrayed around the far table, some holding guitars at acute angles, like soldiers on patrol. Others slap arthritic hands together to keep time. They take turns at singing, their pained expressions — picked out by unkind fluorescent light — mirroring the religious iconography behind them. The walls also display portraits of dearly departed dogs, paintings of matadors in fatal full flow, and photos of serious-looking men in suits seriously too large for them. There are ads for beers that haven’t been brewed for decades, and graffiti that appears to have been there just as long.
I’m told this music is the Spanish equivalent of the blues. “I can’t understand most of the words, but they’re complaining — about love, about work,” says Justo. Bar Gonzalo is a hot mess, full of sweaty Sevillians performing as though their lives depend on it, and as the cold beer hits my stomach I wonder if it’s also the greatest bar in the world. I wonder too how long things like this have been going on in Seville — and how long it can it all last. As the music builds, a small scruffy man with thick glasses and a limp seizes his moment, screeching with minimal skill but maximum commitment. I’m later told he lost his job when he became partially disabled after falling from the third-storey window of a burning building. He’s been homeless since. He really does have something to complain about, then; the broken embodiment of true flamenco. There’s something elemental in his performance, something so obviously authentic that the next morning I find myself unable to think of much else. Seville is well prepared for mass tourism, but unlike comparable historically rich European cities (Rome, Edinburgh) it seems to have retained more of its unfiltered essence.
Bar Gonzalo’s walls display portraits of dearly departed dogs, paintings of matadors in fatal full flow, and photos of serious-looking men in suits seriously too large for them
CITY OF FESTIVALS
The same seems to be true across the region. As the heat eases and evening approaches, I head out to Villamanrique de la Condesa, a small city half an hour west of Seville.
FROM LEFT: Alcázar; Bar Gonzalo
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200 yards
ESSENTIALS
LA MACARENA La Alameda
SPAIN Seville
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Jardines Reales Alcazares
On my last night in Seville, walking alone in Triana’s maze of lanes, I encounter a parade. Due to a quirk in the alley’s acoustics it’s all but muted until it’s right in front of me, a 50-strong brass band erupting as drummers hit their skins so hard spectators blink involuntarily. This is all in honour of the local children’s first holy communion, but in this city of festivals that’s justification enough for music and the parading of a huge float carried aloft by 10 strong men. The thing is so heavy they can only manage one song before needing to stop. After a short break, there’s a knock from inside the float that says they’re ready to lift again. The thing jerks up, candles quiver, drums thunder, horns blast, and the Sevillian parade marches ever on.
Getting there & around
Ryanair flies to Seville from Stansted and Manchester. EasyJet and British Airways both fly from Gatwick. ryanair.com easyjet.com ba.com AVERAGE FLIGHT TIME: 2h40m. Seville’s centre is compact enough to be tackled on foot over a few days. The city also has a limited tram network, which passes through the historic centre. Cycle lanes run across the city, while much inside the walled centre is shared by pedestrians and bikes. SeeByBike offers tours and rentals. seebybike.com
When to go Summer can be fiercely hot; autumn and spring offer sunshine but manageable temperatures.
ABOVE: Torre del Oro
Places mentioned Alcázar. alcazarsevilla.org Seville Cathedral. catedraldesevilla.es
More Info visitsevilla.es andalucia.org spain.info
How to do it RIVIERA TRAVEL has a seven-day tour of Spain, with
six nights’ B&B accommodation, including three in Seville at Hotel Don Paco, plus return flights and transfers, from £499 per person. rivieratravel.co.uk
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
For much of the year, the old agricultural community is virtually dormant. Then festival season arrives. The largest is the Feria de Abril, held at roughly the same time as Seville’s 40,000-odd orange trees blossom, the spring breeze perfuming the entire city. The Feria is marked by holidays, revelry, and the gory demise of several bulls. Out in the countryside, the focus is on a grand pilgrimage to the village church in El Rocío, to worship the Virgin of the Dew. Attracting a million devotees from across Spain, this mass migration, like all these annual festivals, isn’t an imitation of the old days, it’s a continuation of the way things have been done, unchanged, for hundreds of years. In Villamanrique, locals are preparing for the great parade by dancing flamenco to an infectious rhythm set by the pipe and tabor (an instrument comprising a flute and a hand-held drum). In front of thatched farm buildings, girls with heavy, expertly applied makeup move to the music — control just winning out over chaos. The artificial flowers in their hair cope admirably as they spin and flourish in the warm dusk. One girl takes her shoes off to dance barefoot on the grass; another in a polka-dot dress sits atop a horse, which appears to dance too. On and on the drums and flutes play. Then, in the middle of it all, a skinny woman with a long neck and huge golden hoops through her ears begins dancing to a slightly different rhythm. The rest stand back in something like awe. “She’s part gypsy,” my guide whispers conspiratorially in my ear. Gypsy history is important in this region, nowhere more so than in Triana, a Bohemian neighbourhood on the west bank of the Guadalquivir. When the Romani people were expelled from Seville in the mid-18th century, they settled here. Their suffering found release in music, bullfighting and pottery. You can still find the distinctive blue-and-white Triana ceramics all over the city, covering bridges, decorating palaces. “Triana is a factory of artists,” Justo had told me. “All the greatest dancers and matadors came from here.”
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MEET ME IN
MUNICH Missed Oktoberfest? No problem. A trip the Bavarian capital is all about enjoying the German city’s happy-go-lucky gemütlichkeit vibe and chatting to local Münchners
THE BAVARIAN LINGO
Charm the locals by using their regional Bairisch greetings. ‘Grüß Gott’ (‘greet God’) serves for ‘hello’, or opt for the more informal ‘servus’ (‘I’m at your service’). Instead of ‘tschüß’ for ‘goodbye’, Bavarians prefer ‘pfiat di’ (‘may God protect you’).
Drink: Outside of the frothy Oktoberfest
Eat: There’s nothing Münchners like more
Walk: The Englischer Garten park is perfect for strolling, both in the winter, when frosts glaze the landscaped lawns, and in summer, when thousands throng to the beer garden beneath the Chinese Tower, and surfers tackle the fast flowing Eisbach brook.
Climb: For the energetic traveller brave
festivities, when queues stretch through the city centre, the Hofbräuhaus is the place to grab a stein. This Munich institution has three dining halls and a leafy beer garden. You’ll find Bavarian-themed evenings with alphorn and cowbell players, Schuhplattler dancers, and yodelers year-round.
than to eat and drink outdoors. The Viktualienmarkt is the beating heart of the city’s food scene. This warren of 140 wooden stalls serves Bavarian specialities from Leberkäse meatloaf and pretzels, to creamy obatzda cheese and juicy weisswurst (veal and herb sausage).
enough to climb 299 steps, the view from the top of St Peter’s Church on a clear day is a revelation. The distant frieze of the Alps, just a few hours’ drive away, caps an almost medieval cityscape of spires, grand squares and regal edifices.
City life
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With its creative, entrepreneurial streak bubbling underneath, Belfast’s revitalisation as one of the UK’s most vibrant cities is rewarding visitors with warmth and pride WORDS: Pat Riddell PHOTOGRAPHS: Chris Copeland
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here’s a great enthusiasm, urgency, vitality and life in Belfast. Not least while talking to Phil Ervine about his great passion — gin. Of course, the fact that the gin boom has reached Belfast is not news, but what the regeneration of this magnificent city has spawned is a number of gin bars where once there were previously empty buildings. However, we start our tour of these in the city’s most famous pub, a former gin palace, The Crown Liquor Saloon; owned by the National Trust. Alongside food trips, Phil’s Taste & Tour company runs ‘gin jaunts’ exploring the traditional and local spirits found across the city. And, as Phil says, the transformation of the food and drink scene in the past seven years has been nothing short of phenomenal. “There has been an influx of local talent who have travelled and trained across the world, before moving back to Northern Ireland and sharing what they’ve learnt in their new ventures. We now have so many excellent bars, pubs, restaurants and cafes it can be difficult to choose where to go — a struggle I never would have envisaged when I first returned to Belfast.”
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Along the way we meet Gerry White, who is part of the vanguard riding this new wave of entrepreneurial spirit in Belfast. With more than 30 years in the bar trade, Gerry launched Jawbox Gin in early 2016 — the first distillery to be granted a licence to distil spirits in Northern Ireland for 130 years — and has already established distribution in major outlets across the UK. The opening of Titanic Belfast in 2012 marks (but didn’t start) the beginning of this recent revival — which was prompted by the Good Friday Agreement in the late 1990s but stalled by the financial crisis. The city’s oft-troubled past has become very much a part of its history, a much wider history that weaves its way through modern Belfast — something the Titanic exhibition so skilfully reveals — in its music, literature, architecture, industry and beyond. From the CS Lewis and Van Morrison trails in East Belfast and the thriving student population across the city, to the weekly cruise ship arrivals and mesmerising street art now a permanent fixture in the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast has a claim to be one of the most exciting, vibrant cities in the UK.
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE
FROM TOP: Enjoying the green space outside City Hall; a seasonally-based dish at Ox restaurant; architectural detail of Titanic Belfast
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SEE & DO
TITANIC BELFAST: One of the UK’s
best attractions, Titanic is everything a 21st-century visitor experience should be — informative, immersive, entertaining and thoroughly engaging. Charting not just the history of the infamous ship itself, but Belfast’s too, it should be the starting point of any city break. titanicbelfast.com ULSTER MUSEUM: Part of the impressive National Museums Northern Ireland, the Ulster Museum is home to a rich collection of art, history and natural sciences. Takabuti, the Egyptian mummy, is one of the highlights. nmni.com/um STREET ART: Not the murals of the Falls and Shankill Roads but the burgeoning face of the city’s street art scene. Tours led by Adam Turkington showcase some of the spectacular modern creations that pepper walls around the Cathedral Quarter, with commentary on the local and international artists who have helped transform the area. seedheadarts.com/street-art-walking-tour BELFAST GIN JAUNT: With several local distilleries, and a swathe of bars specialising in the spirit of the moment, Phil Ervine’s ‘gin jaunt’ capitalises on his knowledge of gin in its many guises. Sample seven drinks in five pubs and bars, learn about different styles, garnishes and cocktails, and generally see the city from a different perspective. tasteandtour.co.uk/belfast-gin-jaunt EAST BELFAST BIKE TOUR: The opening of the Eastside Visitor Centre — with the help of Belfast City Bike Tours — makes the three famous sons of East Belfast accessible. All grew up within a few miles of each other and the CS Lewis trail, highlights from Van Morrison’s early works and George Best House are enlightening in many ways. belfastcitybiketours.com TAKE A TOUR: Many people opt for a traditional black cab tour of the political murals of West Belfast but for a more bespoke experience, Dee Morgan offers visitors anything and everything from highlights of the city to music, pubs, history and Game of Thrones locations. deetoursireland.com QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY: One of the top universities in the world, Queen’s dates back to the 19th century. Explore the historic buildings and learn about its celebrated former students and academics — don’t miss the neighbouring Botanic Gardens. qub.ac.uk CITY HALL: Slap bang in the middle of the centre, Belfast City Hall is a hugely impressive civic space reflecting the city’s wealth and importance at the beginning of the 20th century. Popular with locals and visitors alike, it’s now augmented with a permanent exhibition detailing the history of Belfast, its people, industries, famous sons and daughters. belfastcity.gov.uk/tourismvenues/cityhall/toursofcityhall.aspx
OPPOSITE, FROM TOP: The greenhouse at the Botanic Gardens; the bustling, Victorian St George’s Market ABOVE: Fresh fish for sale at St George’s Market
BUY
CO COUTURE: Indulge your cocoa
passions at this basement boutique. Small batches made using raw ingredients have seen this award-winning producer become one of the country’s premier chocolatiers. Look out for ginger and lime brownies, dark chocolate with biscuit and cranberry, and Irish whiskey truffles. cocouture.co.uk ST GEORGE’S MARKET: This Victorian insitution has received Lottery funding in recent years to maintain its position as one of the UK’s best markets. As well as featuring local produce — fruit, vegetables, meat and fish — there’s an array of antiques, books, clothes, arts, crafts and artisan foods over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. belfastcity. gov.uk/tourism-venues/stgeorgesmarket/ stgeorgesmarket-index.aspx VICTORIA SQUARE: Home to many of the city’s top high-street brands, Victoria Square’s key attraction is its glass dome overlooking the whole of the city — offering 360-degree views over the likes of Harland and Wolff, Stormont Parliament Buildings and Belfast Castle. Grab the tour guide Gerry Blain for some indepth knowledge. victoriasquare.com/dome
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EAT
ESTABLISHED: Belfast takes its coffee seriously and this is one of the best places — choose your blend from the changing daily menu (El Salvador, Ethiopia, Bolivia) or ask the barista for a recommendation. The inventive food is equally enticing — rarebit waffle with charred leek bechamel, savoy cabbage, fried egg, brown butter hollandaise and dill anyone? established.coffee HADSKIS: A stylish but casual brasserie, Hadskis offers a simple, modern European menu with Northern Irish produce and bold flavours. There’s a buzzy atmosphere and the counter seating overlooking the open kitchen is the best place to sit. hadskis.co.uk OX: Michelin-starred Ox has made a serious name for itself without taking itself too seriously. The simplicity of the decor sits in stark contrast to the creative, imaginative tasting menu based on seasonality — which comes in at a bargain evening price of £50 a head, and even cheaper at lunchtime. Or try Ox Cave wine bar next door. oxbelfast.com
FROM TOP: Established Coffee shop; Ox Cave wine bar OPPOSITE: Striking street art in the Cathedral Quarter
Liam Neeson // I certainly notice the vitality in Belfast, which wasn’t there in the Seventies. There was a war going on then. Now there are cranes everywhere. There really is a sense of renewal and hope LIKE A LOCAL
LATE NIGHT ARTS: More than a
dozen galleries open their doors on the first Thursday of the month for an evening celebration of the dynamic visual arts scene — there are talks, performances and drinks along the way. Take the guided tour bus for £10 or make your way on foot. belfastarttours.co.uk PLENTY OF DOUGH: Soda bread, malt bread, wheaten bread, potato farl… there’s a special relationship with bread in Northern Ireland. Soda bread in particular — made with baking soda and buttermilk — is a standard part of the traditional Ulster Fry breakfast. GET HIGH: Set on the slopes of Cave Hill Country Park in the north of the city, Belfast Castle offers stunning views over the whole of Belfast Lough. The original site dates back to the 12th century although the current building was completed in 1870. The grounds — including an adventure park, walking trails and the landmark Napoleon’s Nose, a basaltic outcrop — are as much of an attraction in themselves. belfastcastle.co.uk
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CRESCENT TOWNHOUSE: Budget but boutique, Crescent Townhouse is probably one of the best-value stays in Belfast. The 19th-century building in the Queen’s Quarter is home to a slick bar and restaurant downstairs while upstairs rooms are smart and stylish. crescenttownhouse.com BULLITT: A Steve McQueen-themed hotel might sound like a bad idea but Bullitt is a discrete, subtle take on the classic 1960s film. Converted from old offices, its exposed air-conditioning, retro fittings and popular bar and restaurant make it a great stay. bullitthotel.com TITANIC HOTEL BELFAST: Stay in the former headquarters of Titanic builders Harland & Wolff in the city’s newest fourstar deluxe hotel. The £28m refurbishment sees original and period features reflecting the legacy of the design and craftsmanship. titanichotelbelfast.com
NIGHTLIFE
LIMELIGHT: From Emeli Sande and
George Best Belfast City Airport is just three miles from the city centre and is well served from across the UK by airlines including Aer Lingus, British Airways, Eastern Airways and Flybe. aerlingus.com ba.com easternairways.com flybe.com Belfast International Airport is 13 miles northwest of the city and served by EasyJet and Ryanair. easyjet.com ryanair.com Alternatively, ferries cross the Irish Sea from Cairnryan and Liverpool Birkenhead with Stena Line and from Douglas, Isle of Man with Steam Packet. P&O operates the Cairnryan-Larne route. stenaline.co.uk steam-packet.com poferries.com Belfast has a compact city centre so is easy to traverse on foot although an integrated public
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BELFAST PORT
transport system, taxis and bike hire make getting around fairly simple. The Belfast Visitor Pass, available for adults (from £6.50) and children (from £3.75), is a Translink smartcard providing unlimited bus and rail travel for one, two or three consecutive days. translink.co.uk belfastbikes.co.uk
More info
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Getting there & around
Belfast Castle
Queen’s Island
George Best Airport
Titanic Belfast
CATHEDRAL QUARTER
Belfast Cathedral
City Hall
TITANIC QUARTER
Victoria Square St George’s Market
EastSide Visitor Centre Stormont 1 mile
visitbelfast.com discovernorthernireland.com
How to do it SUPERBREAK offers flights from across the UK and two nights in a hotel from £97 per person. superbreak.com
Queen’s University 500 yards
NORTHERN IRELAND Belfast
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
ESSENTIALS
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The Crown Liquor Salon, the city’s most famous pub, a former gin palace
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Public Service Broadcasting to Carl Cox and Skream, Limelight bags the best music names to visit Belfast. Home to four venues, there are regular club nights and live gigs as well as a popular bar and rooftop terrce. limelightbelfast.com THE BLACK BOX: Everything from arts events and stand-up comedy to local bands and cabaret, the Black Box is one of the city’s best alternative venues. Throw in one of the finest craft beer selections in Belfast and you’ve got an important arts hub in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter. blackboxbelfast.com BERT’S JAZZ BAR: Grab a cocktail in the bar or book a table for dinner and luxuriate in the live jazz and 1930s art deco-styling — mirroring some of the rooms in the Merchant Hotel, which it’s a part of. themerchanthotel.com/bars-restaurants/ berts-jazz-bar
ORIENTAL TREASURES TO ARABIAN NIGHTS THAILAND, SRI LANKA, INDIA, ABU DHABI
GARDENS BY THE BAY
DUBAI
ABU DHABI
From Far East to Middle East, this transoceanic voyage starts and ends in very diverse but equally fascinating urban metropolises. Starting in the ‘Lion City’, Singapore where smoky temples sit in the shadows of glistening skyscrapers. You will enjoy a Singapore Island tour and visit the Gardens by the Bay during your stay. Board your cruise ship for your sojourn across the Indian ocean calling into Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. Arrive in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. Situated in the Persian Gulf, Abu Dhabi is not afraid to challenge world records whether it’s the fastest roller coasters or the tower with the greatest lean.
INCLUDED IN THIS ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
YOUR ITINERARY
International flights from London All transfers 3 nights 5★ accommodation in Singapore, Marina Mandarin or similar Singapore Island Tour Gardens by the Bay Tour 15 night full board cruise aboard Celebrity Constellation ® 2 night 5★ accommodation in Abu Dhabi, Al Raha or similar
Departure Date
Interior
Ocean View
Balcony
Concierge
12 Jan 2018
£2239
£2759
£4429
£4839
£2099
£2619
£3499
£3549
£2259
£2699
£3439
£4229
£2149
£2529
£3289
£3599
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20 Feb 2018 21 March 2018 3 April 2018
*
23 Days: Fly overnight from London to Singapore. Transfer to your hotel for a 3 night stay in a 5★ hotel. Tour to the Gardens by the Bay — Singapore Island Tour — Transfer to the port & board Celebrity Constellation® and depart Singapore — Phuket, Thailand — Colombo, Sri Lanka — Cochin, India — Goa, India — Mumbai, India — Muscat, Oman — Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Arrive in Abu Dhabi and transfer to your 5★ hotel for a 2 night stay — Abu Dhabi — Day at leisure in Abu Dhabi — Transfer to the airport for your return flight to London
FREE All-Inclusive Classic Drinks Package
(Applicable to Oceanview Staterooms and above)
*Itinerary operates in reverse
Opening Hours Monday – Saturday 9am to 7pm, Sundays 10am to 4pm
CALL FREE
0800 012 5445
www.holidaydirection.co.uk
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Terms & Conditions apply. For full details please visit cruisedirection.co.uk. Prices are per person based on two adults sharing. Prices may change at any time without notice. Hotels will be as stated or similar. No booking fees. Cruise Direction is a fully bonded member of the Global Travel Group (ATOL 3973). Credit Card bookings will incur a surcharge of 2.5% and Debit Cards 0%.
ASK THE EXPERTS
Q // I’ve heard wonderful things about Borneo’s wildlife, but want to know which parts to focus on. Is it easy to cross internal borders? Where’s set up for tourists?
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Dense jungles, riverine landscapes and tropical islands make Borneo an enthralling prospect for nature lovers. But the island’s rare creatures can be tricky to see, so effective planning is a must. Most travellers start with Sabah, which, like neighbouring Sarawak, is now part of Malaysia. You don’t need a visa to enter Borneo and the red tape between Sabah and Sarawak is minimal. In Sabah, spend a couple of days in beachy Kota Kinabalu, before climbing Mount Kinabalu, home to 300 species of birds and Borneo’s star attraction: the orangutan. Next, move on to Sandakan, where you can stay in stilted lodges next to Malaysia’s secondlargest river and head out on boat safaris to spot pygmy elephants and proboscis monkeys. Factor in an excursion to the Borneo Sun
Bear Conservation Centre and Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Continue into Sarawak by catching an internal flight to Kuching. From here, visit Sarawak’s oldest national park, Bako, to spot flying lemurs. Finally, delve into Borneo’s wild heart: the Batang Ai Region. You’ll travel upriver by traditional longboat, stay with the Iban tribe and venture out on hikes and boat excursions through ancient dipterocarp forest, where orangutans reside. LAURA HOLT Borneo. You already have the picture: jungle, adventure and wildlife — especially orangutans. But there’s more, and within easy reach, too: elephants in Sabah; turtles in Sarawak. There’s worldclass diving at Sipadan and some of the world’s largest caves at Mulu, home to millions of bats and birds.
Sabah and Sarawak have a longestablished tourism industry, but for the more adventurous, the Mesilau Basin offers nature treks through virgin rainforest, river safaris and staying in tribal longhouses. Or join rangers on empty beaches counting turtles. The Indonesian state of Kalimantan covers two-thirds of Borneo, but very few venture this far. In Malaysian Borneo, visas are available for three-week stays on arrival at no cost; for Indonesia, 30-day visas are only available at three entry points and there is a charge of US$35 (£26) to extend your stay. Transport is difficult in this undiscovered area and costs are high for the individual traveller but for many this is true Borneo. Tanjung Puting is the hot spot due to the near certainty of seeing orangutangs around Camp Leakey. ROBERT JONES
IMAGES: GETTY
NEED ADVICE FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP? ARE YOU AFTER RECOMMENDATIONS, TIPS AND GUIDANCE? THE TRAVEL GEEKS HAVE THE ANSWERS…
Q // I want to book a cheap ski trip this winter. I’ve heard Eastern Europe is affordable. Where should I focus my attention?
Q // I’m interested in visiting ‘breakaway’ states in Central and Eastern Europe. What do I need to take into account?
Q // I’d like to take the stress out of the holidays by taking the family to a UK hotel for Christmas. Where would you recommend that’s homely, festive and cooks a great lunch?
Once something of a frozen backwater, Eastern Europe increasingly delivers good deals and facilities for skiers. But, thanks to a lack of linked and large-terrain resorts, and unreliable snow cover, it’s still somewhere that best suits families on a budget and casual skiers. Kranjska Gora in Slovenia is probably the region’s most sophisticated resort; with ski in/ out accommodation right at the foot of some respectfully steep
runs, plus recently upgraded snowmaking facilities. A week’s half-board, including flights and transfers, starts at around £500pp, booked with Inghams. Or try the pretty Bulgarian village of Pamporovo. Again, one for beginners and intermediates, and Crystal Ski’s Slope Ready deal here includes a week’s hotel accommodation, lift pass, equipment, tuition, flights and transfers, from £589pp. inghams.co.uk crystalski.co.uk
Breakaway states such as Abkhazia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh are rich in history and culture, and offer fascinating and very rewarding experiences for visitors. Unfortunately most are, at best, only partially recognised by the international community and as such, anyone planning a trip to them may find FCO travel advice variable and standard travel insurance policies invalid. There’s a small number of specialist insurers who offer cover for those undertaking adventurous travel or visiting unusual destinations;
we recommend travellers use one of these companies. These are all destinations in which it is very difficult to travel independently. Border crossings can be complicated, infrastructure and support is very limited, and in most cases locals will speak little or no English. Anyone interested in exploring one of these destinations would be advised to do so as part of an organised itinerary — ideally run by a operator that has specialist experience in travel to difficult and unusual destinations.
There’s nowhere quite like the Cotswolds for a family Christmas, and there are plenty of cosy, child-friendly pubs to spend lazy afternoons in. For something charming, low key and easier on the budget, I’d recommend the 17th-century Wheatsheaf Inn in Northleach (rooms from £89). Come the 25th, the chef puts on a feast of smoked salmon, parfaits and pate, honey-roast ham and, of course, turkey with all the trimmings. But if you want
to splash out a bit more, head to the classic Hampshire manor of Chewton Glen, complete with cookery school and spa (from £325). Make sure to try the festive afternoon tea. I’d also recommend Christmas by the sea. Try The Pig at Combe, in Devon (from £225). You can expect a farmfresh feast washed down with the hotel’s very own wine.
SARAH BARRELL
CARL MEADOWS
TAMARA LOHAN
health corner Q // I’m newly pregnant and want to go travelling. Do I need to be worried about Zika? Yes, most definitely. While the majority of people infected will have only mild viral symptoms or none at all, the consequences for the unborn baby can include serious birth defects such as microcephaly with incomplete brain development. Zika is transmitted by mosquito, and also sexually. As yet, there is no vaccine or cure. Broadly speaking countries at risk fall within the tropics. See cdc.gov/zika PREVENTION: Pregnant women should not travel to at-risk areas, but if unavoidable they must cover up, use nets and repellents (DEET is safe in pregnancy) and either abstain from sex or use condoms. And for those planning a pregnancy, be aware that the Zika virus can remain viable in sperm for six months or more, rendering a partner who has visited a Zika country potentially infective for the whole of that time. DR PAT GARROD
THE EXPERTS LAURA HOLT // FREELANCE TRAVEL WRITER ROBERT JONES // BORNEO TRAVEL BORNEO-TRAVEL.COM CARL MEADOWS // REGENT HOLIDAYS REGENT-HOLIDAYS.CO.UK TAMARA LOHAN // MR & MRS SMITH MRANDMRSSMITH.COM SARAH BARRELL // ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER (UK)
DR PAT GARROD // THEWORLDOVERLAND.COM
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THE INFO
SPACE TOURISM PIPE DREAM OR A REALITY JUST AROUND THE CORNER? COMMERCIAL SPACE FLIGHT IS AVIATION’S NEXT FRONTIER. WILL RELATIVELY AFFORDABLE SPACE TOURISM BE AVAILABLE IN OUR LIFETIME?
Worth it? “I could see the blackness of space, I could see Earth, and the curvature of Earth, and the sight from space was just spectacular. I can’t ever duplicate that euphoric feeling I had at that moment.” Dennis Tito to the BBC in 2011.
SUPPLY & DEMAND THE PRICE TAG
$750m
Approx 550
ticket price to be on the Golden Spike Company’s moon landing trip advertised in 2012.
The number of people who have been into space.
Approx 700
$150m
The number of people who have paid for Virgin Galactic flights.
price reportedly paid to Space Adventures by an unknown space tourist for a seat on a trip around the moon. spaceadventures.com
$20m
price reportedly paid in 2001 by the first space tourist, Dennis Tito. Source: BBC.
How long? 12,000FT LENGTH OF RUNWAY AT
$250,000
SPACEPORT AMERICA IN NEW MEXICO. 7D 22H 04M TIME TITO SPENT IN SPACE. 878D 11H 29M 24S RECORD FOR
the cost of going into space with Virgin Galactic. virgingalactic.com
ACCUMULATED SPACE FLIGHT TIME HELD
LAUNCH DATE?
SO FAR…
2007
The year Virgin Galactic originally planned commercial spaceflights. Richard Branson has “stopped giving dates” but would be “disappointed” if the programme wasn’t well underway by late 2018.
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BY COSMONAUT GENNADY PADALKA.
Did you know? No human being has left the Earth’s orbit since 1972. If Space Adventures’ circumlunar mission goes ahead, it’ll be a six-day round trip.
7
private citizens have paid to go into space, staying on the International Space Station after travelling on Russian Soyuz spacecraft . The most recent was Cirque du Soleil founder, Guy Laliberté.
TRAVEL GEEKS
HOT TOPIC
THE RISE OF
tourismophobia
THERE’S A WAVE OF PROTESTS IN EUROPE THAT DOESN’T STEM FROM CULTURAL OR RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS, BUT FROM UNHAPPY LOCALS TARGETING TOURISTS AND THEIR SELFIE STICKS. WORDS: JAMES DRAVEN Growing up in Canterbury — just 40 miles from France — I’m no stranger to inbound tourism. My father would often return from town, bemoaning the busloads of French school trips that left in their wake a trail of stink bombs, selfie sticks and silly string, purchased from market stalls set up specifically to service their demographic. My dad assured me that it was “just like the bazaar in Cairo,” despite having never visited Egypt. But there’s been more than enough reciprocity, with Kentish kids wreaking havoc in France, and the wholesale export of British pubs (and punters alike) spewing live Premier League analysis and warm bitter onto the Costa Brava. Tourists have irritated locals since the birth of travel. At a time, though, when Airbnb is being scrutinised in some cities
— because of fears it’s causing housing shortages and rent hikes — anti-tourism sentiments are being voiced more strongly than ever in some parts of Europe. In July, a busload of tourists was targeted at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium by extremist pro-Catalan independence group, Arran. They slashed the vehicle’s tyres and spray painted ‘Tourism kills neighbourhoods’ across the windscreen, terrifying passengers. Along with a sustained graffiti campaign, putting superglue in the locks of tour company buildings and reportedly pelting tourists with eggs, members of the group have since filmed themselves slashing the tyres of a tourist cycle-hire scheme in the city, plastering rental cars with antitourism stickers and setting off smoke flares in a Palma restaurant. A spokesperson for Arran justified the group’s actions to the BBC by stating: “Today’s model of tourism expels people from their neighbourhoods and harms the environment.” Spain received a record 75.6 million visitors last year and Barcelona has exploded as a city break destination. Many of Barcelona’s residents have been protesting about the mass-tourism flooding the city, which they say has priced locals out of housing and created an economy that forces residents into low-wage jobs in tourist service industries.
Q&A HOW CAN THE ISSUE BE RESOLVED? ECONOMIES NEED TOURISM, RIGHT?
The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) says the answer doesn’t lie in limiting tourist arrivals. Instead it recommends a number of proven methods for managing overcrowding, like diversifying tourist activities, working to reduce seasonality and encouraging tourists to explore areas beyond the main sights. SHOULD I BE CONCERNED ABOUT BEING TARGETED?
As usual, check the FCO website for advice before travel. It usually errs very much on the side of caution, so you’ll be informed of anything you might conceivably need worry about. The usual sensible precautions apply, such as avoiding demonstrations. I’M A PROTESTOR — WHERE CAN I STOCK UP ON SILLY STRING AND STINK BOMBS?
In Canterbury or Cairo, according to my dad.
Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, agrees; she’s put a freeze on new hotel licences and launched a crackdown on unregulated holiday apartments. After Arran’s bus attack though, she insisted, “Protesting against tourism should never mean intimidating people.” Manel Casals, director general of the Barcelona hoteliers association, insists putting a freeze on hotels won’t help: “Of the 32 million people that visited Barcelona last year, only eight million stayed in hotels. Around 23 million were day-trippers. You’re not going to regulate tourism by limiting the number of beds.” Cruise ship passengers have also been the targets of protests in popular port stops like Venice and Dubrovnik. With a dwindling permanent population of just 55,000 — the same number as the amount of visitors it receives every day — Venice residents have been blockading the docks on and off for years. Now Dubrovnik, a key Game of Thrones filming location, is seeing a similar backlash. The council has limited visitor numbers and installed security cameras in the Old Town to monitor crowding. Meanwhile, church steps are being hosed down in Florence to discourage picnicking and, in a bid to curb littering and antisocial behaviour, Milan has banned food trucks, and even cracked down on selfie sticks. So at least something good has come out of this furore.
IMAGES: GETTY
AND ANOTHER THING... HIGH FLYERS STING IN THE TALE
LOST PROPERTY
PRO PROHIBITION?
CHECK IN CHANGES
LUTON LINK UP
EasyJet fumigated a plane in September after a scorpion was spotted on it. In April, a United Airlines passenger was allegedly stung by a scorpion that fell onto his head from an overhead bin as he ate.
Around 10 million people had items, with a combined value of £306m, confiscated by airport security last year. That figure rises to £645m when combined with belongings handed in voluntarily.
The BBC has reported a 50% increase in arrests for drunken behaviour at UK airports and on flights in the past year. Trade body Airlines UK wants to ban passengers from drinking their own alcohol in the air.
From 1 November, basic tier Ryanair passengers can only bring one smaller carry-on bag on a plane. But the airline is cutting checked bag fees from £35 to £25 and increasing the weight limit to 20kg.
Luton Borough Council has approved a 1.4-mile rail link and a new station for its airport terminal. Come 2020, this should cut journey times from central London to less than 30 minutes.
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CHECKLIST: INFLIGHT ACCESSORIES
BEDTIME BLISS EYE MASK
RRP: £13 bedtimebliss.org
7BOOK waysTHEtoBEST AIRLINE DEAL WE ALL HAVE THAT FRIEND WHO MANAGES TO BAG IMPOSSIBLY GOOD FLIGHT DEALS AND WON’T STOP BRAGGING. HOW DO THEY DO IT? WE’VE GOT THE INSIDE SCOOP
PASSPORT WALLET
RRP: £18.89 outdoorgb.com
NAPANYWHERE TRAVEL PILLOW
RRP: £37 napanywhere.net
4 // PACKAGE UP IF GOING LATE
Buying flight tickets when they’re on sale is pretty obvious advice, but knowing when sales are on without subscribing to millions of junk emails from airlines is trickier. General rules of thumb apply: the most common times to launch sales are just after Christmas, early January and September. Then there are the 48- or 72-hour flash sales, which are almost invariably launched midweek. Newsflash emails from the likes of Travelzoo (travelzoo.com/uk) are handy for filtering out the best of the latter.
If booking direct with airlines, the earlier you book, the cheaper the deal tends to be. But if leaving it until the last minute, the bargains usually come in booking a package — whether indirectly through the likes of Expedia (expedia.co.uk) or directly through Thomson (thomson.co.uk) and co. A few days before, they’re in ‘sell it cheap or not at all’ territory — providing they’ve still got pre-bought inventory leftover.
2 // GO OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
If you want a sunshine break, but it doesn’t really matter if it’s Spain, Portugal or Greece, the likes of Momondo and Skyscanner allow for price-capped searches across multiple destinations. Just let them default to the ‘everywhere’ option.
Supply and demand are the main drivers of flight prices, and most people want to travel during the school holidays, pushing up prices. School Holidays Europe (schoolholidayseurope. eu) is handy for gauging who’s off where and when. Also bear in mind prices will ramp up across Asia around Chinese New Year, in the US around Thanksgiving and Australia during January.
3 // PICK THE RIGHT DAY
THE AIRHOOK ACCESSORY HOLDER
RRP: £19 theairhook.com
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Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are usually the cheapest days to fly, but you can use filters on flight comparison websites to check. Kayak (kayak.co.uk) offers a grid of prices for three days either side, Momondo (momondo.co.uk) has bar charts, and Skyscanner (skyscanner.net) allows you to search across a whole month, colour coding prices by day in green, yellow and red. Generally, the best fares are advertised about 50 days ahead of the departure date.
5 // BE FLEXIBLE ON DESTINATION
6 // TRY ALTERNATIVE AIRPORTS
WHAT else?
Fly indirect Flying indirectly with only a short stopover can save hundreds of pounds, so it’s well worth considering a longer route, says Cheapflights.co.uk. The stopover has seen a resurgence, with Icelandic budget carrier WOW Air inviting passengers to explore Reykjavik between flights. wowair.co.uk
Using the ‘nearby airports option’ can bring up substantial savings by adding flights from, say, LeedsBradford and Liverpool to a search from Manchester. The same applies at the other end, too — Treviso or Verona may be cheaper than Venice, for example.
7 // USE PRICE ALERTS If you’re hedging bets, unsure whether prices are likely to rise or fall, Momondo, Skyscanner and Kayak are amongst the companies that have a price alert service. These sites send you emails tracking the price of the flight you’ve got your eye on, highlighting any major changes.
IMAGES: GETTY
PACSAFE RFIDSAFE TEC
1 // WAIT FOR THE SALE
TRAVEL GEEKS
Tech trave er HOME AND AWAY Smart home tech can keep an eye on your home while you are away, leaving you to enjoy your holiday If you’re one of those people who can’t help wondering if you’ve left the heating on when you go away, or worry about your empty home being an invitation to burglars, you might consider investing in the latest smart home tech. I’ve been testing the Nest collection (nest.com), which includes a smart thermostat (£279) that saves wasting any energy and keeps your pipes from freezing while away. The thermostat can be programmed really easily through the app and you can even link it to your phone so it knows when you leave the house and adjusts the heating accordingly. There’s a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm (£99) and motion-detecting cameras for inside (£159), and out (£179). These all let you monitor activity from your smartphone
anywhere in the world. You can even speak to anyone who rings your doorbell, which is useful if you want to tell delivery people where to leave packages. Turning on the alerts function will make sure you’re notified if anyone is in your house when they shouldn’t be. I also like using my office camera to spy on my cats while I’m away. On the lighting front, I’ve installed Phillips Hue connected light bulbs (meethue.com). They’re on the expensive side, starting at £60 for the basic two LED bulb kit, but are incredibly easy to set up. Just replace your normal bulbs, then connect them and the hub to your Wi-Fi network. The coloured Hue bulbs allow you to control and change the colour of each bulb independently, creating the perfect ambience for any occasion. You can also programme complex timer schedules and operate them remotely from your phone, creating the illusion of home activity wherever you are.
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER FOR @BBCCLICK AND AUTHOR OF WORKING THE CLOUD, KATE RUSSELL PICKS THE LATEST INNOVATIONS
TOP APPS FOR... being phototastic
PLOTAGRAPH
IOS, £4.99. Bring holiday snaps to life with this
amazing animation app. By masking and anchoring the main subject and then using a powerful collection of motion animation tools on the background you can create the illusion of floating clouds, or rippling water. plotagraphs.com
CORNEA AI
IOS/ANDROID, FREE. It’s nice to be liked! Predict
the shareability of your snaps, and choose the best filters and hashtags to get more attention with this A.I. photo app. cornea.ai
VSCO
IOS/ANDROID, FREE. Set the scene with classy filmic
filters using this editing and sharing app. The free app has a good selection of samplers with in-app purchases providing more. vsco.co
AIRBRUSH
IOS/ANDROID, FREE. Beautify yourself with this
selfie-improvement app that lets you remove blemishes and shadows and even apply makeup. appairbrush.com
GET THE GADGET LOHA Flexible Smartphone Stand To capture the perfect pictures to play with in your apps, a tripod is a really valuable addition to your photography arsenal. LOHA has a fantastic mini tripod that packs away neatly into a very small space, and with a spring-loaded grip and adjustable screw it will hold any brand of smartphone safely in place, even if you have a case or skin on it. The adjustable
ball head lets you easily set the angle of your camera, even snapping portrait shots but the best bit is the flexible legs, making it perfect for setting up a steady shot on any kind of terrain. You can even wrap the legs around a lamp post or tree branch to capture some really unusual angles. RRP: £22.49 lohalife.com/tripods
@katerussell katerussell.co.uk
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HOW I GOT THE SHOT
SUN FLARES IN BELGIUM MARK PARREN TAYLOR, THE PHOTOGRAPHER FOR OUR BELGIUM IN PICTURES FEATURE ON P.122, EXPLAINS HOW HE CAPTURED THIS IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF LUXEMBOURG IN BELGIUM’S TORGNY
To get this shot, two ‘rules’ had to be broken: by shooting into the sun and encouraging lens flare. I usually work with a 50mm lens as wide open as possible, but here space was tight, and to get the horizontal scope I wanted, only a wide-angle would work: a 16-35mm zoom, cranked out to its widest. I often find myself shooting into the sun — I like the blast of warm burnout that it gives, and the dynamic shadows and shapes thrown by its low rays. For this picture, I wanted the vibrancy of the backlit leaves and the enhanced texture of the walls and bark as sunlight skimmed over surfaces. When at the end of a long Sunday I ended up by chance at
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Breaking the ‘rules of photography’ can result in a lot of duds, but it can also make images that are compelling and fresh
this hermitage, a chapel known as Our Lady of Luxembourg in Torgny, a small village at the southernmost tip of Belgium, it looked like my kind of shot. The chapel is quaint and the leafy surrounds are emblematic of this charming part of the Ardennes, but the late-summer colour palette is lush, and crucially the scene — thanks to the untidy right-hand side and the wellbehaved left — provides good juxtaposition. I also noted that it could work well as a doublepage spread. To make images like this work, though, it takes a bit of luck, some time (although as the sun gets lower the clock ticks louder) and quite a few clicks of the shutter.
There are one or two settings that can help, so I switched to spot metering, and was prepared to over- or underexpose. As I prefer to have the sun glowing from behind an object or person, after framing the shot I made small adjustments in positioning until the light flooded the viewfinder. I like wider apertures (in this case f5.6) so the focus needed to be fairly tight. Once it all looked good, it was a case of snapping away while bracketing the exposure. There’s a need for speed because at this time of day that light is gone in the blink of an eye. mptphoto.com @markparrentaylor
IN THE NEXT ISSUE
Learn how to survive the Arctic wilderness; traverse the snow on horse-drawn skis; explore Svalbard on a snowmobile — whether up a Chilean mountain or in a Swedish ice hotel, there’s so much more to winter trips than blue, red and black runs
IMAGE: AWL IMAGES
Plus // Namibia, Romania, Munich, Auckland, Cuba, Laos, Ireland
december issue On sale 2 November 2017 For more information on our subscription offers, see page 176 November 2017
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COMMUNITY SERVICE THAILAND’S COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM PROJECTS OFFER AN INSIGHT INTO LOCAL LIFE WHILE SUPPORTING ITS PEOPLE, ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE. WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS: TAMSIN WRESSELL
“O
h, one more way you can die here,” says Ot, halting midstep and resting on his bamboo walking stick. “These low hanging vines? That’s where snakes hang. Poisonous green vipers,” he pauses for suspense, widening his eyes and fanning his fingers. He glances up to gauge the group’s reaction. Satisfied that fear has been induced, he relaxes, shaking off his tense posture before grabbing his stick and continuing up the mountain, beckoning us to follow. “But I like to believe their poison is nocturnal, because they move less in the day,” he continues. “They see rats in the morning, so use up all their poison then. I don’t understand snakes. I’ve never kissed one”. He turns to me, making eye contact, “Have you kissed a snake?” He doesn’t wait for a response, though, and continues his snake-related rambling as we make our way through the humid jungle. We’re an hour into an uphill trek in southern Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park, battling with vines, boulders and lingering insects for a view over Khao Sok Lake, weaving through the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world.
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Today, macaques squawk, shaking the trees as they swing from branch to branch; Malayan sun bears claw at the lower trunks; and tarantulas burrow deep into the earth down among the roots. The forest is flourishing. But it’s had a difficult journey to get to this point. The logging and mining industry took its toll in the 1960s, then the forest was a refuge for Thai students and communist insurgents hiding from government forces in the late ’70s, before its rich biodiversity was finally recognised and the borders were drawn up to make it a national park in 1980. Eco-resorts started to open their green doors to welcome community-based tourism in a bid to help the national park thrive, and survive. Sumnuk — nicknamed ‘Ot’ (‘little frog’ in Thai) for his big head — is our community guide for the day, working for the Krai Son Raft House, a guesthouse on the edge of the lake some 650ft below our current position. Managed by the national park itself, the floating bungalows offer visitors community-based experiences. “Around 300 families used to live here, until the dam was built
and wiped out the houses,” Ot had told me earlier. “It was a small community built around the lake. Dive into the water now and you’ll be swimming on top of a sunken jungle.” The government paid each family to leave. “I think we were all happy to get away from the tigers and bears. Before, when it got dark we’d have to put the light out and be really quiet. We made a lot of babies then. There wasn’t much else to do while we waited for the tigers to pass.” Though decades of hunting and logging had decimated the Indochinese tigers, conservation efforts have led to the recent discovery of a new population in eastern Thailand, but poachers still pose a threat. Now, a small floating shop selling fish and local products bobs on the lake opposite the guesthouse. Longboats ferry guests over and the shop has proven a welcome boost to the community’s fortunes. With few opportunities for their economy to grow, more villages in Thailand are opening up to tourism, and in a bid to avoid exploitation or unethical tourism, some companies — like Rickshaw Travel — are creating authentic, smaller, communitybased trips that can benefit locals.
Lodges are built for visitors (under the strict provision that they’re eco-friendly) generating work for the community and investing only in local suppliers. Before travelling deeper into the national park, I spent a few days at Anurak Community Lodge, a collection of 18 eco-friendly bungalow-style rooms that’s an example of accommodation built for mutual benefit. Anurak, meaning ‘to conserve’, offers activities and trips based around nature. I fall asleep each night to the raucous sound of crickets and sip my morning coffee overlooking the limestone karsts that Thailand is so famous for. I spend my days at the lodge tubing and kayaking with community guides An and Lei, before learning to cook massaman curry and turmeric chicken with Jan. In a makeshift kitchen, in the heart of Khao Sok National Park, I eat intricately wrapped rice parcels and thinly sliced lemongrass to the sounds of a tropical storm. The money coming in from tourism goes into conserving natural habitats. An elephant is under the care of Jan and her family, too. With many of the
CLOCKWISE: Cooking Thai curry on the stove, near Anurak Community Lodge; Khao Sok National Park; making rice parcels with Jan, near Anurak Community Lodge; long-tailed macaque, Khao Sok National Park
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community out of work, illegal hunting became rife in this area. Tourism, I’m told, is an attempt to prevent hunting and preserve the country’s wildlife. Back on our hike, and Ot continues to gain pleasure from scaring the group. It’s how he started the walk, and there’s no sign he’ll stop. I like him and his inability to sugar-coat anything instantly. What should we do if we see a bear? We could play dead, but it’s pretty pointless. It’s best just to pray. What if we don’t have good travel insurance? Too late. What if we find ourselves in danger during the walk? Make sure he gets a chance to run first. He continues this routine of asking and answering his own questions, occasionally stopping to point out insects and plants, such as the trees that have strangled others and the towering bamboo — the oldest grass on the planet. For the rest of our 230ft uphill struggle, clambering up rocks to the viewpoint, Ot tells me of his ties to the area. He likes the local people. He likes the land. The lake makes him happy. “If there was no lake, there would be no me here today,” he tells me.
Meaningful experience
Many of the community tourism schemes in Thailand encourage visitors to have a more meaningful travel experience, after popular films like The Beach brought backpackers flocking to get their fill of paradise. Walk down the infamous Khao San Road in Bangkok and your senses are assaulted with neon signs, insects on sticks and ‘I heart Bangkok’ magnets on sale. Just last year, Thailand closed Koh Tachai island after it was declared ruined by tourism, with overcrowding, animal welfare concerns and mangroves cut back to clear a path for further resorts along the shorelines. Speaking to Ot, I get an understanding of where his passions lie — maintaining a sense of community, reducing the harmful effects of tourism and always being two steps ahead, “because remember: the bear. I run before you.” The following day, I leave Ot behind and head south to Khlong Noi to swap eco-friendly resorts for a homestay. Chet, my host, has worked in community-based tourism (CBT) for nine years and wants to show me its impact on
his riverside village. Despite being half an hour away from Surat Thani, the main gateway for tourists arriving by sleeper train to the south of Thailand, this collection of nine villages is relatively undiscovered by visitors. Along with nine other houses, Chet has opened up his home to entice visitors to the area. It’s fairly basic — my bed for the night is a mattress on the floor stuffed with coconut fibre, while a bucket in an empty room is the shower. The grounds, on the other hand, call attention to Chet’s passion for vegetation. He’s an avid topiarist, with hedges trimmed to resemble elephant, fish and a few that are a little more up for debate. Sitting outside to admire Chet’s handiwork, we peel away banana leaves from the parcels of steamed sticky rice cakes Nee, Chet’s sister, has made us as a welcome snack, her son coyly hiding behind her apron. After three years of homestays, he’s still a little shy, but excited by the guests that stay in his house, says Chet. “We like to give information to other countries about how we live our life, and how we do
Drastic measures // Thailand closed the island of Koh Tachai after it was declared ruined by tourism, with overcrowding and concerns over animal welfare
BELOW: Floating shop, Khao Sok Lake
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:
Jan’s elephant, near Anurak Community Lodge; at work on the coconut farm, Khlong Noi; Mr Thon making fishing rods, Khlong Noi
the research and environmental conservation. But we also like to learn about other cultures. My nephew is learning English and it’s building his confidence.” Within an hour, the sticky rice cakes are gone and the hot weather is too, replaced by reduced temperatures and torrential rain. “The weather is turning crazy. Climate change,” Chet says. “We need to save the trees so our community can breathe.” The first rule of CBT in Khlong Noi is for money to be fed into conservation. It’s a circle, where conservation and tourism wouldn’t survive without each other. As the rain slows, we start our tour of the villages. Khlong means ‘little river’, and it’s clear to see how much of local life
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orbits around theirs. It’s a means of transport, a food source and a trading ground. We meet Mr Thon — the only person in the area who can make handmade fishing rods and ‘Mr Frog Man’, who runs a boat-making workshop to keep the tradition going. Later, Chet takes me to a coconut farm. Every part of the coconut is used: the skin for fire, fibre for mattresses, strays for fertilisers and the flesh goes to the supermarket. Locals chop coconuts by the riverside while fishermen throw out nets. “You wouldn’t have seen this before the ethical tourism plan was introduced. The funding meant we could clean up the river. With that, it brought shrimp. And with shrimp, comes money,” he explains.
Back at Chet’s, I’m handed a pair of shears to help with his daily topiary ritual while he continues to explain the importance of CBT. Despite nearby communities being left devastated by the 2004 tsunami, Khlong Noi was protected by the mangrove. The money made from tourism is being invested in planting more palms as added protection. “The project isn’t just about preserving culture,” Chet adds. “It helps communities survive. But it’s also to show people what life is like here for us. So, let me show you something a bit special — fireflies.” With that, Chet dashes back to the house to turn off the lights. We gather on the riverbank and wait for the insects that rely on such conservation to come out and astound us.
WHAT NEXT? Rickshaw Travel works with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to support community-based tourism. It offers ready-made itineraries or the opportunity to build your own holiday from a series of bite-size trips to Thailand, such as the three-day Bangkok: Longtails & Tuk Tuks, the three-day Giant Trees & Lakes of Khao Sok and the two-day Village Life by the River. Prices start from £175 per person. rickshawtravel.co.uk Return direct flights from Heathrow to Bangkok are available from £465 with Eva Air. evaair.com
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YOGA FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY? MEDITATION WITH THE KIDS? FAMILY YOGA? WE FIND OUT WHETHER IT’S CHILD’S PLAY OR AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM ON A WELLNESS WEEK IN SOUTHERN SPAIN... AND DISCOVER THAT QUALITY TIME WITH THE KIDS NEED NOT BE SOMETHING HARD WON. WORDS: SARAH BARRELL
IMAGE: GETTY
T
he kids are alright. Despite screaming newspaper headlines and government reports to the contrary, our kids are doing alright. At least at Centro Santillán, a wellness retreat in the Malaga mountains, they’re doing spectacularly well. They’re barefoot, swimming costume-clad, and in some cases paint-splattered; they’re grinning and running and cartwheeling, and can usually be glanced disappearing just out of sight, into a secret leafy corner of this sprawling old Andalucian cortijo (farmhouse estate). Most of this group of 16 children were strangers when we arrived a day ago. They range in age from nine months to 12 years but have begun moving as a pack: big ones shepherding little ones, little ones entertaining themselves and everyone else with gleeful abandon. Parents? We’re treated to a swing by for a cuddle, or to show off some newly made objet d’arts and crafts. You can usually tell when a kid is happy because they leave you alone; they’ve better distractions. “I heard that Santillán’s owner was edgy about having kids at large,” says one of the mums. “But apparently, she’s sold. She can’t believe how relaxed and respectful they all are.” A few of us raise a wry eyebrow — not least as Adrianna, who recently
inherited Santillán from her father. She’s spent much of her professional life as a tour manager for huge acts including Julio Iglesias and Ed Sheeran. Managing children, apparently, is a more terrifying prospect. But Santillán’s first family yoga retreat is proving a positive litmus test. Known for hosting meditation courses and adult yoga retreats, Santillán has a show-stopping clifftop shala (yoga studio) — designed by Adrianna’s neighbour, British yoga luminary, Simon Low — complete with sprung floor, two glass walls, and two fitted with rope stations, and, as of 2017, a family yoga week set up by the UK’s RoRo Retreats. Founded in 2014, RoRo Retreats is the born-out-of-necessity brainchild of two yoga-mad north London working mums, Rowena Goldman and Rosie Harrison. “We love doing yoga, we love being with our kids, and we looked all over for yoga retreats that included children, but we couldn’t find anything,” explains Rosie. “So, we decided to set up our own. We’d worked with Tara Fraser before on adult yoga retreats and were really impressed by her work with families. She and her husband, Nigel [also a yoga teacher] seemed the perfect fit.” Along with match-made yoga teachers, carefully managed simplicity is the key to the RoRo
concept. Parents and children come together for a daily yoga class and meals, and inventive childcare whisks them away during twice-daily adult classes. And somehow there’s free time engineered in between, most of which, inevitably, centres on the palm-fringed swimming pool. Given the wide-ranging ages of the kids, this set-up could have been hit-and-miss but the group’s muck-in instincts and RoRo’s crack childcare team has it down to an organic art. Albero and Chus, two lively Spanish lads from a local sports club, and Lauren, a serenely skilled school teacher from South Africa by way of London, have the kids tailing them Pied Piper-like, doing everything from herb-hunting hikes to dreamcatcher making, water-bomb fights to fairy housedesigning. Even the older boys get on board with the latter, creating mini works of leafy architecture, secreted under trees, which became ‘magically’ filled with sweets overnight (thank you Lauren). When the children do come into sight, it’s also rather magical to witness. “This perfect behaviour… is it a British thing, or a yogi thing do you think?” one of the mums, a Ukrainian settled in London, muses out loud. I’m not sure it’s either. These certainly aren’t yoga-cult kids — while many of
the parents are keen yogis, most of the children have never tried it before. Their placid calm is, I decide, simply because they’re happy. They’re free, and (with some artful guidance) feel like they’re pleasing themselves.
Freedom
These days, kids rarely have any real freedom. Scheduled to breaking point by parents, tested to within an inch of sanity by teachers and private tutors, and chased into confusing corners by social media and alarming news stories, our children — if we believe the stats — can barely breathe. And the stats are woefully compelling. In one year alone (2015-16), the NSPCC reported that Childline dealt with 11,706 child counselling sessions that mentioned anxiety; a 35% rise on the previous year. Meanwhile — according to a Department for Education study last year — more than a third of teenage girls in England suffer from depression, while recent NHS figures show cases of anxiety in children and young people rising by 42% in five years. Stop. STOP, many of us want to weep. But how? For all the current clamour about the importance of mindfulness, few of us actually manage it, let alone practice it with our children. And while the wellness sector is one
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Yogi-quality // Rusty practitioners, like me, who might be ripe for intimidation from pretzel-posing yoga braggarts, need fear nothing — the classes are accessible and the atmosphere without exclusivity
BELOW: RoRo Retreats, Centro Santillán, Malaga
of the fastest growing sectors of the travel industry, catering to the ever-growing ranks of the desperately over-subscribed, very little of it extends to families. Spa and wellness holidays are something a weary mother drags herself off to, if she can leave kids behind. Or, if a hotel is forwardthinking enough (aka expensive), there may be token treatments for children. Meanwhile, activity travel specialists have benefitted from the boom in parents kicking back against the standardly depressing holiday resort kid’s club. Seeking something more spirit-lifting, many families holiday to a schedule of hiking and biking, sailing and abseiling. But — phew! — the exhaustion of trying to do it all together, beholden to highoctane pursuits that perhaps not all family members really enjoy. “This is the best family holiday I’ve ever had,” says Sev, dad of three, including a nine-month-old baby. “What’s not to like? There’s wi-fi, I get to spend time with my girls, walk in the mountains, and no one is making me do yoga.” The yoga is, of course, optional. For Sev, who works with technology start-ups and
spends much of his time on planes between London and New York, family holidays are precious. His wife Zoe, a foundation yoga course graduate is returning to the practice after her third child. “I saw this retreat and thought: I’m making that happen!” says Zoe. “Sev’s learning to play the piano, and once we found out there was one here, it tipped the balance.” It’s a win-win, not least as our morning practice is accompanied by Sev’s own tuneful practice, his classical piano drifting into the yoga studio on the everpresent mountain breeze. With its Buddha-decked patios and tree-lined paths, terraced gardens and a vast view tumbling down to the burning blue Costa del Sol, Santillán’s setting alone provokes a yogic ‘ahhhh’. And those rusty practitioners, like me, who might be ripe for intimidation from pretzel-posing yoga braggarts, need fear nothing. Yoga teachers and foundation course graduates are present among our group, but the classes are accessible and the atmosphere without exclusivity or assumption, much aided by the sobering presence of the kids. “I think it’s good not to separate yoga practice from life,” says Tara. “Not to make it something mysterious, to make touch and being in touch with the natural movement of your body more part of everyday life. Not something that goes on, necessarily, in a separate place or at a special time.” Family yoga sessions have the kids ‘help’ and ‘correct’ our positions — leaning onto our hands while we’re in a downward dog, for example, to deepen the posture. This light, contact yoga session aids stretches but also reverses the usual parent child role. “It brings humility,” says Tara. “So, we, as parents, aren’t always giving and children aren’t having to receive.” Yoga here is led by families’ mixed abilities and needs, rather than ‘serious’ yoga tenets — but they subtly underpin everything.
During our first family class, Tara has us arrange ourselves in a circle, laying down outside on the lawn, on our backs to make bee humming noises: an unselfconscious way to get an ‘om’ chant from a group of strangers who range in age from not-even-two, to 52. “And for the sausages in the room,” says Tara, smiling encouragingly at two of the younger kids who’ve wrapped themselves into the yoga mats, pink faces staring out like the filling in a sausage roll, “see if you can sizzle.” She manages to lead a surprisingly cohesive class; proof that you can herd cats — or at least little downward dogs.
The elephant god
But can you successfully ‘om’ with an 11-year-old in tow? My almost-teen daughter makes a near-perfect travel companion these days, but doing yoga with her? Untested territory. As it turns out, the answer is a resounding yes. Both keen on dance and gymnastics, she and I enjoy the stretching and balancing together, but more than that, the experience of hanging out, upside down or otherwise, breathing, just being… well, it’s surprisingly moving at points. Each day, Tara teaches us lines from a Ganesh mantra, translating to wide-eyed kids about the elephant god who ‘shines with the brilliance of a billion suns’. By the week’s end, we’re singing in unison, and it’s uplifting, not awkward. Tara’s evening class for adults is less moving — in so far as we don’t really move much at all by usual yoga standards. Tara gets us into ‘illegal’ yoga moves, positions with slack bellies, necks dropped, and has us stay put there. “All of you who are so well trained with yoga, gym and Pilates… you’re not going to believe this is allowed to happen,” she laughs, moving around ‘correcting’ us, for example, into a slack-backed sphinx, with sunken thorax that allows a stretch where it never
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otherwise happens. “You’re definitely not going to see this on the cover of a yoga magazine.” Tara’s theory is that these ‘nonpostures’ stop old habits kicking in; stop us making the same pre-movements. “There’s a premovement for everything,” she says. “There’s the ‘woah, I’m being chased by lions, run!’ primordial pre-movement but there’s also the ‘we have to go to Tescos’ premovement. They’re not bad or good; they’re a tensing, a readying for a learnt movement. We’re avoiding that.” We loll around on our backs, using the weight of our heads to propel us, just like babies do when they first learn basic locomotion, reaching and rolling. It’s stupefying, sedative and I nearly nod off several times (a complete revelation for this uneasy sleeper). “All that technical practice of yoga — it’s the icing on the cake. It’s an adult, learnt thing,” says Tara. “It’s precious. Our bodies know what to do. My children taught me this. Watching them playing Lego, moving around the floor in squats, on all fours,
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reaching behind and around in a way that would seem awkward for adults. But these are instinctive movements. We just have to remember them. Next morning my arms ache like I’ve been weightlifting, and I slept like a log. A practicing Rolfer (a physical therapy that works on realigning the body through the manipulation of fascia — myofascial connective tissue — rather than muscle or the skeletal structure), Tara’s sessions move the body into Rolfing-type positions that help the fascia reset. I’m fast developing a fascianation. There are quiet miracles going on. After 15 minutes in certain positions, some of us have a range of motion only countless regular sessions would produce. By contrast, Nigel’s morning practice features more traditional, dynamic yoga: fast-flowing sun salutations and deep stretches aided by the incredible mountainto-coast panorama through the studio’s glass walls. The perfect yogic balance. Midweek — kids bonded, adults relaxed, sated on the mainly veggie home-cooked
food — we’re evangelical about having found family holiday nirvana. Yes, the price tag is on the hefty side. The costs of childcare, yoga, bed, board and school holiday airfares might suggest a five-star splash out, but yoga jetsetter types need not apply. This retreat is boho not butlerserviced. The cortijo’s rooms are rustic-comfy, meals follow a set menu, and the staff to guest ratio might worry some parents, but it works like a communal dream. “Holidaying solo with two kids seems borderline insane but to try yoga too?” says Helena, travelling with her two toddlers (three and five, respectively). “But RoRo seemed a good solution. Meals are more limited than a hotel, which might be tricky for picky children, but a hotel won’t have this intimate family vibe; everyone together, but the chance to have time to yourself. I’d definitely do it again.” Out of eight sets of parents, all eight are saying the same. By the end of the week, I’m relaxed and the daily-life panic button is set to a tentative ‘off’. Yes, the kids are alright. And so are we.
HOW TO DO IT A seven-day family yoga retreat at Centro Santillán includes full board, childcare and two or three daily yoga classes; flights and transfers are extra. For 2018 dates and prices visit centrosantillan.com RoRo Retreats’ next scheduled family retreat will be 26 May to 2 June 2018 at Loveland Farm in Devon. Rates from £850 per adult and £700 per child for the week. This includes accommodation, yoga classes, food and childcare. rororetreats.com
BELOW: Adults and
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SPECIAL FEATURE
THE NORTHERN CAPE
Nordic odyssey
I step off the bus from Brønnøysund and approach the gangway, flashing my ship’s ID at the security guard. He casts an amused glance at my sopping hair and smudged makeup, and the damp patches on my clothes. “I went for a swim,” I say, sheepishly, and follow the other — perfectly dry — passengers aboard. I’ve never really thought of taking a cruise before. I dismissed them as being for an older generation, and a type of travel that makes it hard to immerse yourself in the destination. Yet, I’m a huge fan of road trips; seeing a new place each day, soaking up the scenery along the way. And, as it turns out, a cruise isn’t so different — except someone else does the hard work of getting you from A to B. All you need to do is get off the ship and — on occasion — remember to take your swimming costume and towel with you.
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My voyage starts in Tromsø, a city draped across a fjord about 215 miles north of the Arctic Circle. In winter it’s the jumping-off point for Northern Lights trips, but when I arrive, at 1am in high summer, the midnight sun is in full swing, casting the city and the water beyond in a surreal twilight. When I ask my taxi driver whether it’ll get darker tonight, he laughs. “No, it’ll just get lighter now.” I spend the night trying unsuccessfully to block the sunshine out of my hotel room, and in the morning set off to explore, crossing a busy bridge to the Arctic Cathedral. Built in 1965, this modernist marvel has drawn comparisons to Sydney Opera House, its angular interconnecting layers forming a kind of concertina shape. At one end, behind the pulpit, the entire triangular side of the building is given over
to a stained-glass window, depicting Christ in shades of blue and yellow. As I cross the bridge again, I catch a first glimpse of my home for the next week. The gleaming white Crystal Symphony, docked in the cruise port in the north of town. Housing just over 900 passengers, this 780ft-long liner isn’t one of those huge behemoths I’ve come to associate with cruising (some carry more than five times the number of people) but it casts an imposing figure nonetheless. After a little more wandering, taking in the small but informative Northern Norway Museum of Art, and Tromsø’s actual cathedral — the only wooden one still standing in Norway — I board the ship and head up to my room. It’s surprisingly spacious — bigger than many hotel rooms — and there’s a balcony, which though
IMAGES: GETTY
A summer cruise in Northern Norway offers a mix of architecture, wildlife and even a quick dip. Words: Nicola Trup
SPECIAL FEATURE
currently overlooking the grey cruise terminal, soon proves to be my favourite place on the ship. That evening I sit, watching as the buildings are slowly replaced by craggy peaks, and a mist stretches out across the water. I have dinner at the Sushi Bar, choosing a stool with a view of the chefs. A partnership with Nobu Matsuhisa, the nigiri, maki and freshas-you-like sashimi are more than worthy of the Japanese star chef’s name, as pretty as they’re delicate. And though I order a few items from the menu (yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño is a particular favourite), the chefs also pass over other things they think I’ll enjoy: a bowl of spicy ceviche here, a plate of marinated tofu there.
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It’s easy to forget I’m on a ship off the coast of a remote part of Norway, and not in central London or New York. And that’s perhaps thanks to the ship’s international catering staff. “The chefs bring ideas from all over the world,” Chilean executive chef Daniel Cataldo tells me. As well as the Sushi Bar and the adjoining panAsian Silk Road, there’s the main Crystal Dining Room, the Italian-centred Prego, plus several other casual dining spots around the ship. No wonder, then, that catering is the biggest department, with nearly 100 staff on board — a huge proportion of the 575 crew. And, in case you were wondering, there’s still such a thing as the captain’s table — I checked. Captain Thomas Larsen, a Swede who’s been working on cruise ships for more than two decades, says it’s “by invitation only”, and that he even has his own special chair. “You need to be very sociable in this job,” he explains. “People are surprised when I appear because they think the captain is busy at the helm the whole time. The most common question I get when they see me is, ‘So who’s steering the ship?’” Thomas laughs.
Glacial paradise
The next day, when we arrive in Honningsvåg, it’s still misty. But, as I learn from guide Helene Hagerup, the weather is incredibly changeable. She regales our group with tales of friends sleeping in cars because they can’t get home, and of having to be prepared for a dinner party to turn into an impromptu sleepover if the snow comes in hard and fast. Helene is taking a group of us up to Nordkapp — the North Cape. Billed as the most northerly point in continental Europe, it’s closer to the North Pole than it is to Oslo, though it’s not exactly deserving of its title. In reality, that honour goes to Knivskjellodden, a headland just west of Nordkapp a mile further north, only reachable on foot. So, for reasons of accessibility (and aesthetics — Knivskjellodden is said to be a less impressive sight), Nordkapp it is. The landscape on the journey up from Honningsvåg is glacial, the rolling hills dotted with lakes and patches of snow. As we follow the coast, there’s a rumble of excitement — a smattering of reindeer come into view in the distance. The indigenous Sami are the only people in Norway allowed to own them, and these belong to a family who bring them here each summer from Finnmark, close to the Finnish border, where they spend the winter.
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SPECIAL FEATURE
IMAGES: GETTY
PREVIOUS PAGE: Honningsvåg; reindeer grazing FROM LEFT: Arctic Cathedral, Tromsø; cafe in Ålesund; Nordkapp on Mageroya island, Crystal Cruise ship, fjords
The North Cape itself is a barren moonscape crowned with a steel globe monument, and a visitors’ centre next to it. On a good day you can see Knivskjellodden and out across the fjords, but the heavy fog is still blanketing the water, reducing visibility. The following days on Symphony fall into a relaxing routine; evenings are spent wrapped up warm on my balcony watching the scenery drift past. The fog clears after Nordkapp, revealing soul-stirring views of the islands and peaks. The captain makes occasional announcements if we pass something notable: humpback whales, for example, which put in a brief appearance one night; another evening it’s Torghatten, a granite mountain with a hole through its centre. In the daytime I explore on foot, getting up close to reindeer in the hills of Hammerfest and enjoying the beautiful art nouveau architecture of Ålesund. On the edge of Bodø, I follow a trail of rocks put in place last year by Sherpas who were flown in from Nepal as part of a wider project to improve Norway’s hiking routes. The trail leads to Keiservarden, a mountain plateau 1,200ft up, with incredible views towards mountains that seem to rise directly out of the sea. In Brønnøysund, a sleepy little town where I spot no more than five people on the street all day, I chance upon Svarthopen, a
sheltered, lake-like body of salt water that’s connected to the sea by a tiny waterway. It’s encircled by a walking route; at one end I pass a tiny beach where a group of children with nets are peering over the rocks, and at the other I come to another, sandier beach, deserted save for a young family. I hadn’t planned to swim. Too cold. But, on spotting a diving tower I decide I’d like to. I strip down to my underwear and climb up to the first platform, about 15ft above the water. It takes me several seconds to steel myself. Finally, I jump. The water envelopes my body, shockingly cold. It’s so deep I don’t come close to touching the bottom. When I resurface, the chill really hits me so I swim a little to warm up before climbing out. After 10 minutes or so in the warm sunshine, I’m nearly dry so start to dress. But then I look at the top diving platform, a few feet higher than the other one. I have to do it. I clamber up and go through the same routine again. I brace myself and take the plunge; the water is so cold it almost feels hot. Back on dry land I check my watch; I have to return to the ship, and there’s no time to dry off for a second time. And this is how I find myself squelching past the ship’s security. But that’s okay — I have the satisfaction of feeling like I’ve unearthed a little local secret; I’ve managed to immerse myself.
ESSENTIALS Getting there Airlines including SAS, Norwegian, British Airways and Ryanair fly from the UK to Oslo; onward connections serve the rest of the country. SAS and Norwegian also fly direct to a number of other airports. flysas.com norwegian.com ba.com ryanair.com
When to go Norway has a fairly mild climate. In winter temperatures drop to about -4C; in summer (June-August) they can reach 25C
Places mentioned Arctic Cathedral: ishavskatedralen.no Northern Norway Museum of Art: nnkm.no North Cape: nordkapp.no
More info Lonely Planet Norway. RRP: £15.99 visitnorway.com
How to do it CRYSTAL CRUISES offers cruises along
Norway’s coastline each summer. The 14-day Into the Midnight Sun voyage — a round-trip from Dover aboard Crystal Serenity — departs 1 July 2018. Prices start at £4,467pp, full-board in a Deluxe Stateroom. Calls include Bergen, Å i Lofoten, Tromsø, Honningsvåg and Stavanger. crystalcruises.co.uk
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Crystal lakes
I love your magazine with its colourful pictures, articles and competitions. I’ve just returned from the Hotel Post am See in Pertisau, Austria. The hotel sits on Lake Achen, surrounded by the Karwendel and Rofan Mountains, both of which have cable cars that can be reached by a free local bus. Here, a week’s travel pass costs €69 (£60): it covers unlimited cable car and boat trips, as well as the steam cog railway to Jenbach in Inn Valley. There are also museums, including the spectacular Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds) in Wattens. BRIAN J SURREY
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Win Wingback travel accessories worth £120!
London-based design boutique Wingback is offering one lucky reader a handmade travel wallet, to keep all your travel essentials in one place. It holds a passport, boarding pass, travel cards and currency, all in a compact size. There’s also a Wingback Cash Wallet which holds up to five cards and 20 notes. wingback.co.uk
STAR LETTER
Caped crusader
Moving march memorial
When I received my first copy of your magazine yesterday, I got a lovely surprise! The magazine is current, glossy and upmarket, and I particularly enjoyed your article on Cape Town (Sleep, September). My husband and I recently travelled to South Africa to see my elderly parents, and then travelled along the Cape coast. It was truly beautiful. We stayed at The Vineyard Hotel, which grows its own organic produce in beautiful grounds where giant turtles roam freely, and then at the oceanfront Camps Bay. I got to swim with baby penguins and even stroked a cheetah at a natural game reserve. Your article bought it all back to me. I’m really looking forward to the next issue!
Your enchanting photo of Bajau Laut ‘Sea Gypsy’ children (Big Picture, September) reminded me of our Malaysian holiday this year. We also visited the stilt village of Semporna. Most travellers come here for the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre, but don’t overlook the Agnes Keith House, full of the writer’s mementoes, and Sandakan Memorial Park — the site of the infamous Death Marches during the Second World War. Of the 2,400 Australian and British troops imprisoned at this Japanese POW camp, only six Australians survived — all escapees. Stay for the short video with its recorded interviews in the small museum — it’s incredibly moving. TOM KINGHORN
SIMONE PLUMMER
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November 2017
177
GET IN TOUCH
our Pictures
We give you a theme, you give us the photos, with the best published in the next issue. This month is ‘Southeast Asia’ — topic of our October cover story People are such an integral part of storytelling when it comes to travel photography and Michael’s shot of a wedding procession in Bagan not only captures a meaningful moment but he timed it well with beautiful lighting, too.
NOW OPEN
The theme: ‘Ice Adventures’. Upload your high-res image, plus a one-sentence description, to ngtr.uk/yourpictures by 9 November 2017.
THE PRIZE
The latest product to come from Billingham, the Hadley One bag is purpose-built to take a laptop along with a camera kit, as well as personal items. It features water-resistant canvas, top grain vegetabletanned leather and solid brass fittings. RRP: £265. billingham.co.uk
W I N N E R
1 MICHAEL SHERIDAN // BLACKHEATH, LONDON:
Women in Bagan, Myanmar wearing traditional outfi ts for a wedding procession. The setting sun cast a band of light onto the women at the right moment. 2 KEVIN MCGARRY // LARGS, SCOTLAND: Botahtaung Pagoda, according to tradition, is home to the first Buddha relics to reach Myanmar. Two monks were praying when I arrived — it was a moving experience. 3 JONJO BORRILL // BARTON UPON HUMBER: As the afternoon sun beats down on Bangkok train station my gaze meets a local both seeking refuge from the heat and hoping for a breeze from the train windows.
To find out more about the next theme, enter and for T&Cs visit NATGEOTRAVELLER.CO.UK
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The Weekender in Sage/Chocolate. Also available in Khaki/Chocolate & Black/Black.
F R E E L A N C E R R W 1 2 1 2
raymond-weil.com
C A L I B R E
R W 1 2 1 2
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