METRO WORLD NEWS
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Monday, 30 May 2011 www.metrotravel.com
TRAVEL
MONDAY, 30 MAY 2011
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we live where you’re going
THE ULTIMATE RAINFOREST VACATION {page xx}
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Enjoy your
Picnic in style
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What’s inside
The relaxing baths of Hungary {page xx}
A Dubliner’s Dublin {page xx}
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The relaxing baths of Hungary {page xx} + Yummy Tunisian eats {page xx}
The ultimate rainforest vacation {page xx}
Enjoy your picnic in style {page 06}
A Dubliner’s Dublin {page xx}
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www.metrotravel.com MONDAY, 30 MAY 2011
GET INTO MY CITY: DUBLIN Our guide to Dublin is Liam Hourican, an Irish actor, writer and comedian Liam trained as a Shakespearean actor and now writes for TV in the UK and Ireland His latest project, “The Last Security Man,” a comedy about a Belgian security guard working in a Dublin shopping centre (Liam grew up in Brussels), is in the final of RTE Storyland, an online competition for Irish national TV channel, RTE (www.rte.ie/storyland). LIAM HOURICAN TRAVEL@METRO.LU
The Dubliner’s Dublin
T
he best thing about living in Dublin is the people. It’s more like a village than a city – if you head into town you’re liable to bump into half a dozen acquaintances and if you want to meet up with someone you don’t have schedule it days in advance. The sea breeze and the ever-
First time? Go to Merrion Square and see the birthplace of Oscar Wilde in the heart of Georgian Dublin, then take in our greatest landscape painter Paul Henry in the National Gallery across the road (www.nationalgallery.ie). Wander round the corner to the National Museum of Ireland to see Celtic gold torcs and unsettling, perfectly preserved 2000 yr old bogmen (www.museum.ie). Then have a pint
Been there before? Head south on the Dart line to Sandycove and wander along the coast. On a good day it feels like the Mediterranean. The view of Dublin bay is fantastic. If you really want to experience it properly take a dip in ‘the forty foot’ diving spot. There is a hardcore of Dubliners who bathe here all the
changing weather give it a bustling, vigorous quality. And there is a robust cheerfulness that remains despite the much-vaunted woes of the economic downturn. For more information check out www.tourismireland.com
NATIONAL GALLERY
National Gallery
and a toasted sandwich in Kehoe’s on South Anne St. (www.louisfitzgerald.com/ kehoes)
year round, even on Christmas Day (and they will always tell you that it’s as warm as soup as they come out). This is utterly unfathomable to most visitors, but the effect of a freezing cold dip is electric! Follow it with a nip of whisky. While you’re out there check out the Martello Tower, where the first scene of Ulysses is set. There is now a James Joyce museum there. FÁILTE IRELAND
Sandycove
Dublin’s main shopping street, Grafton Street
Shopping!
Stay in
The shops around Grafton St are the best. Brown Thomas sells all the top-of-the-range stuff (www.brownthomas. com), Genius around the corner if you’re a young and trendy male (or still trying to be young and trendy!) (www.genius.ie). For food shopping the best place is Fallon and Byrne on Exchequer St. it’s a really stylish upmarket deli selling all sorts of delicious delicacies from all over (www.fallonandbyrne. com)
I’ve always wanted to stay at the Shelbourne Hotel on Stephen’s Green. This is a Dublin landmark—featured like so much of the City —in Joyce’s “Dubliners.” It’s old-school grand and houses another great pub, the Horseshoe bar (www.marriott.co.uk).
Fallon and Byrne Shelbourne
Eat
Go out
L’Gueuleton on Fade Street is my favourite place to eat. It doesn’t take bookings so you have to queue well in advance. The atmosphere is lively and the food is great – try their onion soup and steak (www.lgueuleton.com).
The Stag’s Head is my favourite pub in Dublin. It’s a great traditional pub with a long marble bar and excellent barmen. It’s packed most nights of the week with people from all walks of life, and the narrow cobbled street outside is a great place to strike up conversation, or throw an
L’Gueuleton
impromptu street party (www.louisfitzgerald.com/ stagshead). Directly across the road is Sweeneys, another of my favourite haunts. It has a DJ most nights, live reggae and jazz downstairs and another band upstairs (www.sweeneysdublin.co m). For a quieter pint, Neary’s on Chatham St is elegant and comfortable.
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MONDAY, 30 MAY 2011
TRAVEL WITH A TWIST: SPAS OF HUNGARY
The embrace of
healing waters If you’re looking to recharge your batteries on holiday visit Hungary for some seriously restorative spa action Hungary’s natural source springs are full of healing minerals The spas are historic and beautiful but very reasonably-priced
ZSUZSA PUSKÁS
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METRO HUNGARY TRAVEL@METRO.LU
THINGS TO DO FOR CHEAP
“Hungary is great for serious spas without the price tag.” Immersing yourself in nature on holiday recharges your body’s batteries. One of the best ways of harnessing nature’s restorative powers is to visit the healing mineral waters of Hungary's spas. Water beneath Hungary’s Carpathian basin permeates the unique geological formation of the rocks, carrying with it an exceptional amount of minerals and plenty of water, creating more than a thousand springs in the country. It’s why the country has a long thermal spa culture dating back to the 16th century. Here, visiting a spa is not a luxurious indulgence that involves manicures and facials, it’s an essential activity, with healing waters that cures medical ailments – all at very reasonable prices. First up, the ‘spring-capital’ of Budapest offers you five historical baths (and one more is opening soon after a renovation) and eight other spas. Two of them are from the Turkish era (Király, Rudas), intimate spas with beautifully-preserved original interiors. Historic baths, Gellért or Széchenyi, are larger but equally elegant, and
Quick tips EAT Tabáni Terasz is good for local food and wines. This 250-year-old Inn has a charming terrace and a cool interior to hide you from the
BUDAPEST Walk in Városliget park for the lake, trees, castle, and bistros including Vagon (a former railway carriage).
Széchenyi Bath
offer multiple pools with different restorative properties and large outdoor areas that will help you escape the stress of everyday life. Széchenyi offers a charming environment to relax in, as well as therapeutic treatments including mud body masks, massages, water gymnastics and underwater jet steams (www.szechenyibath.com). (www.budapestgyogyfurdoi.hu) Out of town is the hugely popular resort of Hévíz. This small town near to Lake Balaton is built next to a lake whose waters have a curative effect that was probably known by the ancient Romans – it dates back to 16th century Turkish invasion.
Nowadays there is a new set of buildings on the lake, with rooms offering treatments. They even have a brand of special cosmetics made from the mud and water of the lake. Take a romantic swim between the water lilies in the healing lake (www.spaheviz.hu). If you’re feeling adventurous, visit the city of Hajdúszoboszló for the thermal baths and aqua park. Here you can find a pool lined with its own beach, therapeutic water pools and a wellness centre all with stunning views of the famous Hungarian Great Plain. For the young and young at heart, there’s the aqua park, a complex of
aggressive sunshine. Try oxtail soup and honey glazed duck steak with peppered squash. (€3,6; 14 euro) (www.tabaniterasz.hu)
Budapest’s hip crowd, stylish temporary bars in abandoned buildings. Find them mostly in the 7th district in Budapest. (http://ruinpubs.com)
GO OUT Downtown ‘ruin pubs’ are the latest trend with
SHOP The big spa towns have their
HAJDÚSZOBOSZLÓ Hajdúszoboszló
pools, themed baths, pools for children and the inevitable waterslides. The thermal hotel here offers different massages, from ayurvedic to Thai. Most other hotels in the city offer own spa-based beauty products mostly sold locally. For Hévíz there is Kaviczky (www.kaviczky.hu), and other waters are used in the products by Hungarian Thermal Cosmetics ltd. (www.thermal-kft.hu). In Budapest try Herbaház (www.herbahaz.hu)
their own spa and wellness treatments (www.hungarospa.hu).
A spectacular sight, Hortobágy National Park is the largest continuous natural grassland in Europe, grazed by typical Hungarian animals. (www.hnp.hu).
For more information check out www.hungary.com
STAY Central Hotel 21*** offers elegantly-furnished guestrooms and apartments in a small street in downtown Budapest. From €49, www.dominikhotels.hu
HÉVÍZ You can take nice bicycletours in this region among green and yellow fields or even to Balaton, the biggest and most popular Hungarian lake.
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www.metrotravel.com MONDAY, 30 MAY 2011
GOURMET TRAVELLER: TUNISIA
It’s couscous. It’s Tunisia. It’s OK to burp. CONTRIBUTED
Morocco isn’t the only North African country where you can eat a good couscous Too often eclipsed by the popularity of its neighbour, Morocco, Tunisia’s cuisine is simple, refined and fragrant.
ROMINA MCGUINNESS METRO WORLD NEWS
ROMINA.MCGUINNESS@METRO.LU
“Enjoy the subtle flavours of dishes like couscous infused with rose water and peppered with sultanas.” Blessed with a heady combination of North African flavours and French and Italian colonial influences, Tunisia offers some of North Africa’s best cuisine. Markets still sell fresh ravioli and cheeses from creamy ricotta to the rubbery ‘sicile’ cheese, and a ‘tagine’ here is more like an Italian frittata, rather than the Moroccanstyle stew of the same name. The French legacy comes in the form of excellent bakeries, walk into one here and the shelves will be lined with baguettes and almond croissants. Patisseries are often
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DISHES TO TRY... WHEN YOU’RE DINING IN TUNISIA
equipped with a long counter people lean against drinking lemon juice or almond ‘orgeat’ syrup, in which they dunk ‘caks’, dried semolina biscuits. Don’t let the delectable French bread stop you trying the Tunisian ones. A street food classic is the ‘cassecroute’ sandwich (literally meaning break-crust). The bread used is ‘hobbs tabouna’, dense and flat and shaped like a frisbee. Harissa (chili paste) is spread on the dough as if it was butter and the inside is filled with salad, pickled vegetables, tuna and topped with fries. Meals revolve around seasonal produce including fish (tuna, squid, sea bream), vegetables, fruit and legumes used to make spicy stews, couscous and salads. Every meal begins with ‘kemia’, a selection of tapasstyle dishes including triangular filo pastry parcels filled with potato, parsley, tuna or fried egg, roasted pepper salad ‘slata mechouia’ and meat, that are passed around the table. No dish is more traditional than the couscous and there is a recipe to fit every occasion. The classic version uses seasonal vegetables including courgettes, carrots, artichoke and butternut squash with fish, chicken, lamb or
beef. Spicy chickpea sauce is the main seasoning. Couscous is a basic dish and you will notice there is often very little meat as this is expensive to buy in large quantities. The ‘masfouf’ is a rich sweet and sour version usually served at weddings; the grain is been infused with rose water, orange blossom and the meat cooked with cinnamon, almonds and sultanas. Ending a meal on a sweet note is a key part of the food culture. Mint tea made with fresh leaves is for the Tunisians what Earl Grey tea is to the British or espresso is to the Italians. Whether for breakfast alongside quince jam toast, in the afternoon served with tasted pine nuts or in the evening with the chicha pipe, it’s always time for tea. It’s usually served alongside sweets and pastries made with semolina, almonds, dates, pistachios and oozing with honey. Burping after a meal is not only acceptable, it’s considered a compliment. Your hosts will often say ‘sahra’ (a sort of ‘bless you’) as for them, it’s a sign that you have eaten well and are digesting all this great food.
BONJOURTUNISIE
CREATIVECOMMONS-HALALMAMA
For more information check out www.bonjour-tunisie.com
Relaxed dining in Tunisia
MELOUKHIA
FATIMA FINGERS
MAKROUD
TUNISIAN SALAD
COUSCOUS
This thick dark green stew is made by marinating powdered bush okra leaves with olive oil then leaving it to simmer with beef and water for up to eight hours. It looks unappetizing but the end result is a deeply rich and fragrant dish. It’s an acquired taste but one you must try.
As the name suggests, these are finger-sized filo pastry rolls stuffed with a mix of egg and ricotta or mashed potato, tuna and parsley. As they have been deep-fried they taste best sprinkled with lemon juice as this gets rid of excess greasiness.
These diamond-shaped semolina cakes are stuffed with chopped dates, deepfried in honey and coated in sesame seeds. Don’t even think about what this is doing to your blood sugar levels and your waistline. Try with a glass of ‘Thibarine’, local liquor made from dates.
This simple salad of finelychopped cucumber, tomato and onions topped with boiled eggs, olives and tuna, is a side dish to every meal. Once you’re done there will always be some tomato juice left on your plate that tastes amazing scooped up with fresh bread.
Classic vegetable couscous is the national dish of choice. If cooked properly, the grain alone can takes hours to prepare and every ingredient is cooked separately (the meat, vegetables, grain and sauce) before it is all assembled in a pyramid like cone and topped with fried peppers.
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MONDAY, 30 MAY 2011
TOP 5: RAINFOREST ADVENTURES
Holiday in the canopies
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Delving into a rainforest is an insane adventure Spot beautiful birds, wild animals and exotic flowers in the air—and everywhere
ELIZABETH WOLFE METRO WORLD NEWS TRAVEL@METRO.LU
“Get wild in the jungle.” If you're looking for adventure on your next holiday, book time in a rainforest. They offer thrills from wildlife-spotting to zip-lining and white water rafting, all set in some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Each rainforest has unique flora and fauna, as well as once-in-a-lifetime experiences to be had.
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COSTA RICA What: Tiny Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, home to half a million species. La Amistad International Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Who: Costa Rica is home to a number of stunning tropical birds, including the Great Blue Heron and the Scarlet Macaw. How: Go where the action is - the treetops. Get a guided canopy tour by an aerial tram or zipline for a monkey’s eye view of the forest. Keeping visitors off the ground offers them the best views and significantly reduces their impact on this fragile ecosystem. www.visitcostarica.com
Spotting exotic flora and fauna in the rainforest
CONTRIBUTED
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THAILAND What: Khao Sok National Park provides everything you could hope for in a rainforest - majestic waterfalls, mysterious caves, convenient walking paths, and some very rare and exoitc flora and fauna. Who: The park is home to the largest growth of the extremely rare Rafflesia kerrii, the largest flower in the world. The large red blooms give off the stench of rotting
meat to attract flies, but tourists are also drawn to the mysterious flower, despite the five-hour hike to reach it. Although there are almost 200 species of birds in the park, the most exciting wildlife can be found on the forest floor. Wild elephants, leopards, tigers and Malayan Sun Bears are just a few of the creatures that call Khao Sok National Park home. How: Give an elephant trek a try. Saddle up and let the pachyderms take you across land and water right into the heart of their rainforest. www.tourismthailand.org
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EASTERN AUSTRALIA What: Along the Golden Coast are rainforests as biodiverse as the Great Barrier Reef. Who: The Daintree Rainforest in Queensland is home to birds, insects, reptiles and almost twothirds of Australia’s butterfly and bat species. How: Drive between the many World Heritage-listed rainforests dotting the East Coast. www.australia.com
KIRK LEE AEDER
THINKSTOCK.COM
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ECUADOR
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HAWAII What: Due to its extremely varied climate, one side of Hawaii’s Big Island is almost desert-like and home to sandy beaches, while the other side contains a lush rainforest that receives more than 200 inches of rain each year. Who: The Big Island boasts the only zoo in the United States that is located within a rainforest. The Pana’ewa
Rainforest Zoo is worth a visit to see the more than 60 species of animals on display, including a very rare white Bengal Tiger. How: Take a helicopter tour over the Big Island for aerial views of the rainforest. This bird’s eye view will you offer you a look at the lush green canopy and the waterfalls and volcanoes dotted throughout it. Some tour operators are beginning to use more efficient and ecofriendly models of helicopters. www.gohawaii.com
What: Just east of the Andes in Ecuador is one of the best places to visit the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon region accounts for half of the country’s land mass but only five per cent of the population. Who: Spot river dolphins, monkeys, parrots, sloths, and macaws here, as well as exotic plants, including 4,500 species of orchid. How: Take a rafting tour down the Napo River, one of the Amazon River’s largest tributaries. This is one of the most accessible ways to see the Upper Amazon Basin. www.ecuador.travel
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MONDAY, 30 MAY 2011
GADGETS: PICNIC ACCESSORIES
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FOR SPONTANEOUS PICNICKING
1 ERGO PARING KNIVES COLORI
Stash this colourful covered knife in your suitcase, and you’ll be able to peel and cut juicy fruits fresh from the farmer’s market of your idyllic holiday village. $12/€8.50, kuhnrikon.com
2 LIGHTMYFIRE SPICEBOX
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Salt, pepper and spice are essential for flavouring picnic food, and this nifty gizmo will allow you to bring all three with you in one tidy, waterproof, shockresistant box. $7/€5, lightmyfire.com
3 CATH KIDSTON PICNIC RUG Set up your picnic in style with this retro-styled, cowboy-themed blanket. One side is oilcloth, so you’ll stay nice and dry even if the grass is wet. €23/$33, cathkidston.co.uk METRO WORLD NEWS
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