ultratravel �

ultratravelpLUS

australia

go

urm

et special

t r av e l l e r s ’ ta l e s

david beckhamiris apfel

john legend

rome alone

stanley stewart’s guide to

the finest private palazzi

high spirits

new orleans is back in business

10 years after katrina

skiing with heroes

26 luxury holidays up for grabs

in our charity auction

A u T u m n 2 0 1 5

*Flights are operated as part of our codeshare partnership with Delta Air Lines®. For more details please visit www.virginatlantic.com/americandream

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Upon entering the hotel’s spectacular sail shaped

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hotel time and time again. Guests at this all suite

hotel benefi t from the services of a butler as well

as gorgeous Hermes in-suite amenties. Stay 3

nights for the price of 2 in a One Bedroom

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Escape to paradise staying 7 nights for the

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Vittaveli. At this island resort, each of the 89 villas

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ultratravel 15

© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2015. Published by TELEGRAPH MEDIA GROUP, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT, and printed by Polestar UK Limited.

Colour reproduction by borngroup.com. Not to be sold separately from The Daily Telegraph. Ultratravel is a registered trademark licensed to The Daily Telegraph by PGP Media Limited

Features

36 Sky highs Five countries, 12 days, two little Cessnas.

Lisa Grainger takes off on the ultimate flying safari

42 Back to The Big Easy Ten years after Hurricane Katrina

devastated New Orleans, the Southern city buzzes with

optimism. Douglas Rogers drinks it in

48 All roads lead to home Stanley Stewart unlocks the

secret spaces and private palaces discovered during his

three decades as a Roman resident

57 AUSTRALIA SPECIAL In our 24-page gourmet guide,

Terry Durack hails the arrival of Heston Blumenthal and

René Redzepi, and James Steen asks six chefs to pick their

top restaurants. Plus, picnicking by plane, bar-hopping by

chopper, and a chauffeured wine trip by Daimler

81 Islands of plenty Charlotte Sinclair revels in plus-size

helpings of pleasure at the refurbished North and Fregate

Islands; plus, five of the Seychelles’ finest beach retreats

Regulars

17 Editor’s letter Charles Starmer-Smith on why September is

such a glorious time to travel, given the right advice and access

19 The next big thing John O’Ceallaigh on light as art across

the globe; made-to-measure islands; and a car for superyachts

23 Ultra experts David Beckham models biking gear; plus,

world-time watches; cruisewear; James Bond-style gadgets

31 Aficionado Style icon Iris Apfel on nine decades of travelling

32 Upfront John Simpson recalls the pleasures of Crimea

35 Walden’s World All roads in the Cotswolds lead to food,

discovers Celia Walden at the new, aptly named Thyme hotel

89 Silent Auction Bid on 24 luxury holidays and raise funds

for a charity that helps wounded servicemen to build a new life

93 Intelligence An exclusive stay in Robert De Niro’s New York

penthouse; inside a £34-million jet; a handy hi-tech bag

98 Travelling life Singer John Legend on Tom Ford luggage,

the best pizza in the world and feeding elephants in Thailand

contents Autumn 2015

29

27

81

36 26

48

57

23

81

42

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ultratravel 17

FOR THE

LATEST IN

LUXURY

TRAvEL

telegraph.co.uk/luxurytravel

John LegendWhen he’s not penning award-

winning songs, the American singer

is on the road, touring and meeting

his wife, a model, on photo shoots.

For us, he opens his (extensive)

black book of great world

restaurants and nominates his

favourite city for food – Tokyo.

ultratravel

Editor Charles Starmer-Smith Creative director Johnny Morris Deputy editor Lisa grainger Photography editor Joe Plimmer Contributing editor John o’Ceallaigh Sub editors Kate Quill and Vicki Reeve

Executive publisher for Ultratravel Limited nick Perry Publisher Toby Moore Advertising inquiries 07768 106322 (nick Perry) 020 7931 3039 (Chelsea Bradbury)

Ultratravel, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0dT Twitter @TeleLuxTravel

Contributors

S E P T E M B E R 1 2 2 0 1 5

KaT IRLInThe St Petersburg-born photographer started

her career creating images on Instagram

(where she has 605,000 followers) and has

subsequently shot campaigns for brands from

Tiffany to Belstaff, featuring David Beckham.

New York is her favourite city. “There’s so much

to shoot and it’s ever-changing: so inspiring.”

MaRTIn haaKeThe works of the Berlin-

based artist, who illustrates

John Simpson’s column for

this issue, have adorned

works from Bacardi to

Vanity Fair. To escape from

work, he heads to the Amalfi

coast. “I enjoy the beautiful

landscape and atmosphere,

and slightly chaotic way of

life. And the food is terrific.”

TeRRy dURaCKAfter nine years in London,

the Sydney-based foodie

now heads up Australia’s Top

Restaurants awards, which

sees him “hopping all over

the country like a crazed

kangaroo”. This autumn, he’s

hoping to take the legendary

outback train, The Ghan.

“The end goal is to eat

a massive amount of mud

crab on the beach.”

cover IMAGe

David Beckham on

location in Mexico,

photographed by

Kat IrlIn

Editor

IRIS aPfeLThe celebrated 94-year-old style maven

has travelled all her life, collecting objets to

decorate glamorous homes (including the

White House). She’d most like to visit Japan

next. “But that’s a long trip and I don’t like

to plan too far ahead. I never did when

I was young and I certainly don’t now.”

There’s no better month to travel than this: school’s in,

the oppressive August heat is easing, parched landscapes are

giving way to bucolic autumnal colours and the crowds are

slowly dissipating. But you need to do more than pick the

right time to unlock the door to a destination. You need

expert advice, which is what this issue is all about, from

Stanley Stewart’s guide to the Eternal City and tips from

Douglas Rogers on the Big Easy, to hints from the irrepressible

Iris Apfel on travelling in style, plus hotels that hit the right

note for John Legend. Finally, a former Soviet State that

John Simpson says would be a crime to miss.

ACCESS ALL AREAS THIS AUTUMN

Little Cayman.

Population 197.

Paradise found.

caymanislands.co.uk

3 of life’s little luxuries

GRAND CAYMAN

LITTLE CAYMAN

CAYMAN BRAC

ultratravel 19

The silvery west façade of Houghton Hall in

Norfolk has been given fresh lustre. A site-

specific installation named “The Illumination”

sees cascades of light soak the 18th-century

building in gentle washes of colour. Under

the supervision of the light artist James

Turrell, some 10,000 LEDs have been

secreted into the hall and light installations

laid across its grounds. It is ephemeral,

however – the lights go out on October 24.

Other works of art provide further

opportunity to see how casting new light

on surroundings can dramatically challenge

our sense of perception. Upon entering a

coffin-black hut on the Japanese “art island”

of Naoshima, it is the withdrawal of light

that provides a deeply discombobulating

experience. In comparison, the experience

at the Enoshima Aquarium in Kanagawa

couldn’t be more playful. Projected on to

the centre’s darkened water tank, tumbling

petals are thrown into vivid colour when

they land on the bodies of drifting fish.

At Carrières de Lumières in the South

of France, the limestone walls of this

abandoned quarry provide another

unconventional canvas and are regularly

used to display gargantuan reproductions of

works by artists such as Klimt and Gauguin.

The most transcendental of lightworks,

however, are perhaps those set in nature.

Found on a plain in New Mexico, some

400 polished-steel poles make up Walter

De Maria’s “Lightning Field”. Accessible for

just six months per year and open to only

six people per day, the installation comes

thrillingly ablaze during the lightning storms

that regularly strike the area. Turrell’s most

ambitious piece, meanwhile, is his life’s

work. Inspired by ancient sites such as the

pyramids, he has for decades been adapting

the Roden Crater, an extinct volcano in

Arizona. When finally complete, the cone

and its new chambers will form a celestial

observatory, with light beams dramatically

illuminating darkened recesses at certain

times of the day or year.

the next BIG THING

lighting-up time

From top: James

Turrell’s installation

at Houghton Hall;

artwork, Seldom

Seen commissioned

for the grounds of

Houghton Hall .

Turrell’s observatory

at Roden Crater.

What’s coming up in the world of luxury travel, from light installations and made-to-measure islands to supercars for yachts. Compiled by John O’Ceallaigh

LET THERE BE LIGHT

20 ultratravel

the next BIG THING

w a T e r w H e e l s

Aunique collaboration between Christie’s

International Real Estate and developer

Dutch Docklands looks set to offer reclusive

holidaymakers something even better than

a far-flung private-island hideaway. Amillarah

Private Islands will not just have a similar

sense of serenity and seclusion to nature’s

finest, but can be made to order and

customised for clients. These artificial islands

will also float, meaning that owners could

potentially relocate should their bedroom villa

not quite catch each evening’s sunset.

Founded in 2005, Dutch Docklands has

already created thousands of floating homes

in the Netherlands and worked with the

Maldivian government to design habitations

for the population should the nation succumb

to rising sea levels. Endorsed by the French

oceanic explorer and environmentalist Jean-

Michel Cousteau, this latest development will

supposedly be environmentally “scarless”.

By floating above the seabed, the structures

should make minimal impact; their bases will

provide a new underwater habitat for sea life.

The first location to welcome the islands

is expected to be the Maldives – 10 of them

are to be placed beside a lagoon near Malé

International Airport. Some 33 islands are

earmarked for Dubai and 30 are expected to

pop up in a 175-acre lake in Miami.

amillarah.com

After Britain’s mediocre

summer, it’s fortuitous

that this season’s most

enticing openings take

place in reliably warming

climes. Near Cambodia’s

Angkor Wat, Phum

Baitang (pictured right,

opening this month) is

a scattering of 45 villas

set in paddy fields. Spa

facilities are extensive,

but guests who wish to

engage with the

community may prefer

to accompany chefs to

local markets. Tri Lanka,

near Galle in Sri Lanka,

should be similarly small-

scale and immersive

when it opens in

November. Made from

recycled wood and with

vertical gardens, its 10

suites stand on an island

promontory, with a

treetop yoga studio.

Opening in October,

Phuket’s Keemala resort

offers guests “rustic yet

lavish” stays in one of

four villa styles: clay

cottages, tent villas, tree

houses or bird’s nest

villas. Mandarin Oriental

Marrakech is more

conventionally luxurious.

Opening this month, its

54 walled villas, or riads,

each with private pool,

are enveloped by 20

hectares of landscaped

gardens. Old favourites

return renewed, too.

Destroyed by fire in

March, Cape Town’s

rebuilt Tintswalo

Atlantic will reopen in

November, as will

Shangri-La’s Le

Touessrok Resort & Spa

in Mauritius, following a

six-month restoration.

Expect four new

restaurants and an

enhanced spa.

h ot n e w h ot e l s

F loAt I n G I D e A s

FOR THE

LATEST IN

LUXURY

TRAvEL

telegraph.co.uk/luxurytravel

It’s a given that a number of the gleaming vessels

at the Monaco Yacht Show (September 23-26) will

have helicopters on board. What they are unlikely

to have (yet) is the new supercar created specifically

for superyachts. Launched by yachting company

Camper & Nicholsons International with Briggs

Automotive Company, the Marine Edition Mono

can reach 170mph and go from 0 to 60mph in

2.7 seconds. At 1,269lb, it can be hoisted fairly

easily on to land – or just left on deck for its

owners to admire. camperandnicholsons.com

A power plant billowing plumes of smoke

doesn’t typically serve as a much-loved

tourist landmark, but Danish architect Bjarke

Ingels is so confident that the Copenhagen

facility designed by his firm BIG will capture

locals’ imagination that he is asking the

public to contribute, through Kickstarter,

towards its construction. The Amager Bakke

Waste-to-Energy Plant – expected to open

in 2017 – will produce energy by burning

waste and will have as its most unusual

feature a chimney that emits “smoke rings”

that are, in fact, made of steam. Each,

measuring 69ft in diameter, they will puff

out of the spout whenever a ton of CO2 is

burned in the plant. Although those

innocuous drifts of steam floating lazily into

the air are actually representations of

galloping energy consumption and intended

to remind onlookers of the need to be

environmentally conscientious, the building

has been constructed with pleasure in mind,

too. Its roof has been designed to be used

as a ski slope twice the length of the Sochi

halfpipe and featuring green, blue and black

runs. Perhaps it will be the first building to

train a future Winter Olympics star?

st e A M I n G A h e A D

Model of islands in the

Maldives (left); and a

Miami island (below)

RO

BE

RT

SH

AD

BO

LT

DUSI T T H A N I M A LDI V ES

Mudhdhoo Island, Maldives

I L SA LV I AT I NO

Florence, Italy

T H E L A ST WOR D LONG BE AC H

Greater Cape Town, South Africa

15_420

650 independent hotels. 85 countries. An infi nite number of unique experiences.

PreferredHotels.com #ThePreferredLife

It’s a big world. What do you Prefer?

T H E T T C O L L E C T I O N

E T T I N G E R . CO . U K

AT T H E C U T T I N G E D G E O F T R A D I T I O N . Bold simplicity of line

belies a meticulous refi nement of construction. The understated

elegance of edge-stained cut-out pockets, turn-over edges and soft,

fi ne calf leather, fashioned from eighty years of innovation. Only the

tireless pursuit of handcrafted perfection gives rise to such singular style.

E T T I N G E R . TO E AC H T H E I R OW N .

ultratravel 23

decked outDressing for a day on the water should be a breeze. Pack a pair of this season’s ultra-wide trousers, a swimsuit that can

double as a top, and sun-burnished gold accessories and you will shine from day to night, says Arabella Boyce

PH

OT

OG

RA

PH

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JO

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LIM

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Od

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An

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U LT R A FA S H I O N

Navy nylon-elastane

swimsuit £250,

Lisa Marie Fernandez

(lisamariefernandez.com).

White polyamide-and-silk

trousers £1,130, Antonio

Berardi (020 7235 9153;

modaoperandi.com). Gold-

plate and black-crystal

collar necklace £148, and

gold-plate Twig Flex

bracelets £88 for set of two,

both Diane von Furstenberg

(020 7499 0886; dvf.com).

Gilt-metal 1990s Chanel-logo

earrings £795, Susan Caplan

(020 7734 8040;

fortnumandmason.com).

Nappa-leather shoulder bag

£1,875, Bottega Veneta (020

7629 5598; bottegaveneta.

com). Rose-gold-tinted

framed sunglasses £495,

Cutler and Gross

(net-a-porter.com)

Shot on “La Sultana” yacht,

available for charter in 2016 in

the Mediterranean and the

Caribbean, from €225,000 per

week (lasultanayacht.com)

To discover more call 0843 373 4090, contact your travel agent or visit cunard.co.uk

Let us show you a completely diff erent world.

A world beyond the usual – where unique experiences fl ow into each other as you slip across the seas, in the peerless comfort of one of our Queens.

Cruises from 5 to 40 nights. Full World Cruises up to 120 nights.

World cruises since 1922.

Queen Mary 2, Milford Sound, New Zealand, photo James Morgan.

ultratravel 25

top gear for trail-riders

U LT R A b i k i n g

I’d never been on a boys’ trip into the

unknown, but it’s natural, when you’ve

just retired from an industry which

involves non-stop schedules, that the

first thing you want to do is head into

the middle of nowhere with your

mates. In the past few years I’ve done

two trips, travelling by bike. I loved

the speed, the sense of freedom.

Last year, journeying through the

Amazon with some friends, I slept in

a hammock, which I’d never done

before, and stayed with a tribe who

didn’t know what football was, and

who asked me, ‘What is your forest

like?’ This year, I got to film Outlaws

in the Mexican desert with Harvey

Keitel, Cathy Moriarty and Katherine

Waterston, and ride an incredible

new motorbike. These are the sorts

of adventures I will never forget.

“

“

CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT

John Varvatos “Richards” wide-zip leather boots

Handmade in Italy from black wrinkle-effect leather and

finished with a chunky gold-tone zip fastening, these boots

are destined for rugged adventure. (£645; 020 7022 0828;

matchesfashion.com)

Alexander McQueen skull-print silk-chiffon scarf

Worn by high-profile bikers including Ewan McGregor and Brad

Pitt, McQueen’s signature rock ’n’ roll motif scarf is the ultimate

accessory for real men. (£165; 0800 123400; selfridges.com)

Hedon “Hedonist” carbon fibre and fibreglass helmet

Oozing class, British brand Hedon’s helmets appeal to the

hippest bikers. They are extremely light and finished with

a calf-leather trim and the company’s signature logo plaque.

(£299; 020 8569 2967; hedon.com)

The Atacama Expedition Motorcycle Tent

The ultimate safe haven at the end of a hard day’s riding,

this three-person tent features a sleeping annexe with

enough space to sleep either cross- or lengthways, and has

its own “garage” to protect motorcycles. (€490/£351;

0031 20 822 3029; redverzstore.com)

Nannini leather and brass TT goggles

Classic Nannini leather motorcycle goggles are designed to

fit over open-face helmets and are imbued with inimitable

Italian style. They feature leather inside for top comfort,

and strong, light polycarbonate lenses that provide

a high-definition view and full UV protection.

(£73; 01992 537 546; classicpartsltd.com)

BY LAURA LOVETT

A TRiuMpHANT TRip

David Beckham, on set in

Mexico, wears Outlaw

jacket, £1,250; Fornham

T-shirt, £255; Blackrod

jeans, £255; and

Trailmaster boots, £424,

all Belstaff (belstaff.com).

His film, Outlaws, is

out on September 22 and

can be viewed at

belstaff.com/outlaws

IMA

GE

KA

T IR

LIN

;WO

Rd

S L

ISA

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GE

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Bike it likeBECKHAM

26 ultratravel

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso

Duetto Duo

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso was

designed for British Army polo

players as a watch that could be

flipped in order to prevent its

glass being smashed. The case

design has been adapted over the

years, notably in the women’s

Duetto Duo, which has a dial on

both sides of the case. Both sets

of hands run from the same

movement, but each can be set

to a different time zone.

From £8,250 (steel) to

£35,200 (white gold, gem-set);

jaeger-lecoultre.com

Chanel J12 GMT

The Chanel J12 was created by

the late designer Jacques Helleu

and went on sale in 2000 – since

when it has become one of the

most successful watches ever

made by a fashion house. The

case and bracelet, constructed

from high-tech ceramic, are

scratch-proof, hypo-allergenic,

water-resistant and remain cool

even in direct sunlight. This GMT

version also displays a second

time zone using the additional

hand in conjunction with the

24-hour outer dial.

£3,825; chanel.com

Louis Vuitton Escale Time Zone

Louis Vuitton’s Escale Time Zone

watch features a colourful,

hand-painted dial inspired by the

multi-hued “blazons” once used

to identify the luggage of

steamship passengers. It has

proved so successful that, in

addition to the original gold-

cased version, there is this more

affordable alternative with a

smaller, thinner, 39mm stainless-

steel case. The watch uses a

mechanical movement unique

to Louis Vuitton and is water-

resistant to 164ft.

£4,500; louisvuitton.com

3 of the best women’s world-time wAtChes

U LT R A WATC H E S

3 Once a city has been chosen

to show local time – which is

read using the hour and minute

hands on the inner dial in the

conventional manner – each of

the remaining 23 cities marked

on the outer ring becomes

correctly synchronised with

the 24-hour ring.

5 To add a feminine touch, the

bezel of the watch is set with

62 diamonds weighing a total of

0.82 carats, and the gold buckle

with another 27.

Watches that show the hour in two or more

time zones have traditionally been

more popular with men than with women.

But among regular female travellers,

demand is growing for these “world time”

watches, some of which have a secondary

hour hand, and others of which have

additional hour dials. The ingenious

mechanism of the Patek Philippe World Time

pictured here was invented in 1937 by

a watchmaker called Louis Cottier to show

“home time” on a conventional pair of

hands while also showing the hour in

23 capitals around the world on a rotating

disc. In 2002, a platinum-cased model from

1939 sold at auction for a record £4.3 million –

which makes the £37,000 pricetag of this

World Time a little easier to bear.

Simon de Burton

“

“

A woman’s

WORLD

2 The back of the watch is fitted with

sapphire crystal glass that allows

the movement to be seen, but the watch

remains water-resistant to a depth of 98ft.

1 The caliber 240 HU

self-winding, world-time

mechanism is identical to

that used in the 39.5mm

men’s version, but it is

contained in a more feminine,

36mm-diameter case in

white or rose gold.

4 The push-piece at the 11 o’clock

position is used to rotate the city

ring to align the relevant destination

with the red pointer at 12 o’clock.

Desert island dream Set on the pristine white sands close to Hanifaru Bay in the

Maldives, Anantara Kihavah Villas is a serene retreat of tranquil

villas, underwater dining and sweeping ocean views. Relax at the

lavish overwater spa, watch the sunset from the rooftop bar or

indulge in the underwater wine cellar.

Enjoy great savings when you book your fl ight and hotel together.

To fi nd out more and to book visit ba.com/kihavahvillas

Silversea Cruises sails to over 800 destinations on all 7 continents. For more information please call Silversea on 0844 251 0841, visit Silversea.com or contact your travel agent.

TAKE THEPATH LESSTRAVELLED

ultratravel 29

PREMIUM BONDSlick new technology with the cool factor? No problem, says Mark Wilson – grab one of these 007-style gadgets

U LT R A T e c h

clockwise from main picture

Quiksilver True WeTsuiTs

Need to move quickly from

boardroom to beach? This 2mm

neoprene wetsuit has waterproof

jacket, trousers, shirt and tie, with

side vents for an easy surfing

posture and blind-stitched seams

(about £1,500; truewetsuits.jp).

rimoWa F13

A replica of the Junkers F13, the

first all-metal passenger aircraft,

the F13 will be manufactured by

the luggage company Rimowa. It

can take four passengers, and will

be able to take daytime flights up

to 12,000ft (due spring 2016; price

on application; rimowa-f13.com).

lily

Pop its GPS tracker in your pocket

and this flying camera will film

your sporting exploits. Throw the

Lily into the air, and it films 1080p

video or takes 12MP photos for 20

minutes. Its top speed is 25mph,

and it hovers at up to 50ft (due

May 2016; $699/£450; lily.camera).

mando FooTloose

The world’s first chainless folding

electric bike converts pedal energy

into electricity to top up its 20-

mile range. The gears change

automatically, it can go at 16mph,

and removing the LCD immobilises

it (£3,000; mandofootloose.com).

masTer & dynamic Zero

HalliburTon kiT

This aluminium case contains

Master & Dynamic’s luxe, super-

comfortable MH40 headphones, a

stand and a boom mic for clear

Skype calls. The closed-back

design prevents sound leakage

(£600; 0800 011 9426;

masterdynamic.co.uk).

digiTal bolex d16

This digital version of Bolex’s

16mm movie camera brings film-

like video quality to indie directors.

It shoots uncompressed RAW

footage, is compatible with vintage

C-mount lenses, has a 2.4in digital

viewfinder and a “pistol grip” for a

steady shoot ($3,000/£1,925; 001

213 628 3191; digitalbolex.com).

Travel Through the Sofitel Collection

Paris, miami, marrakech, bora bora… Discover our magnifique

addresses around the world on www.sofitel.com A C C O R H O T E L S ' F R E E L O YA LT Y P R O G R A M

ultratravel 31

NO

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the AFICIONADOIn her tenth decade, Iris Apfel has lost none of her joie de vivre – or her magpie instinct for global treasures, from Turkish jewellery to Belgian linens

Born in Queens in New York,

Iris Apfel studied fine arts

before setting up her own

interior-design business and

then founding the textile company Old

World Weavers with her late husband

Carl. Together they travelled the world,

sourcing fabrics, antiques and curios for

the White House and prestigious

households throughout America. Her

strikingly original wardrobe, composed

of haute couture, flea-market finds and

unexpected artefacts discovered on her

frequent jaunts abroad, formed the basis

of the 2005 Metropolitan Museum of Art

exhibition “Iris Apfel, Rare Bird of

Fashion”. Today, at 94, 10 years after she

became a fashion icon, the self-described

“geriatric starlet” remains active as a

model, designer and revered style adviser.

1i’m always pretty good at marrying

pieces so that they don’t look like

they were put together. When i’d

visit the grand Bazaar in istanbul

(grandbazaaristanbul.org), Carl and

i would go in to the back of jewellers,

where they’d brew us tea. i bought the

most unbelievable treasures there that

i wouldn’t sell for anything – mostly

antique pieces such as harem jewellery

made with mine-cut diamonds in

wonderful settings.

2The whole world has become

homogenised. But Naples is

somewhere where people have

always had enormous style. We went

right after the big war and in the very

early Fifties, when the people there

didn’t have anything. But they had a

zest for life and looked wonderful. It

was their attitude, not what they wore.

3When i began travelling to London

i became friendly with a lot of

the traders at Portobello market

(portobelloroad.co.uk) and went to

their homes for tea or dinner. it was

there that i started getting into church

vestments. i bought them in London

and then from some people in Paris who

specialised in antique fabrics.

4I find shopping today very

difficult. But recently I visited

the most wonderful shop in

Barcelona, a lifestyle place called

Azul Tierra (azultierra.es). The

owner has exquisite taste and mixes

contemporary with antique things.

I was really very taken with the place.

5i love flea markets. i just like

older things and think they have

much more of a soul than these

machine-made contemporary objects,

which don’t have any inner life. i look

at something old and think: “Who owned

you? Where did you live before? Were

you happy there?” it makes it much

more interesting for me.

6I’ve always been a fabrics freak

and from the Fifties, we’d go

once or twice a year to Europe

and fill a container or two. We’d go to

Belgium for linens, England for prints

(the country was always known for

chintz and prints), antique fabrics in

Paris and complicated handwoven silks

from Italy. Everybody who was anybody

came to us, from Greta Garbo to Estée

Lauder and even OJ Simpson back in

the day, who came with Nicole and

bodyguards. Oh my god, he was

drop-dead gorgeous.

7Museums are the last bastion of

civilisation and, with the way the

world is going, we have to protect

them as much as we can. i think much

of contemporary art is a case of the

emperor’s new clothes and i find it

insulting, but i love Old Master drawings

and old paintings. The Metropolitan

Museum (metmuseum.org) is one of the

greatest encyclopaedic museums going.

8I don’t think there’s another city

that’s quite as multilevelled as

New York. You find people from

all over the world there, every kind of

food, every kind of product. If you can’t

find it in New York, it doesn’t exist. It’s

true. You may have to search for it or

pay for it, but it’s there.

Iris Apfel is a curator for Rosewood Hotels

(rosewoodhotels.com). iris, a documentary

about her life, is on DVD (irismovie.co.uk).

Interview by John O’Ceallaigh

COlOurful CharaCter

Naples (right), whose

people apfel describes as

having “a real zest for life”.

an object from azul tierra

in Barcelona (below) and

an embellished vestment

32 ultratravel

the Light Brigade to stop them, while

the awful Lord Cardigan and his

equally appalling brother-in-law Lord

Lucan couldn’t see anything of the sort

and assumed that Raglan was ordering

them to charge at the massed Russian

artillery. A bugle sounded the charge –

and on YouTube you can hear a

recording of it from 1890, just as it

sounded on October 25 1854; heart-

stirring, despite the hisses and crackles.

At home I have a little wooden block

on which are displayed a couple of

broken British clay pipes and several

Russian, British and French bullets. I

bought it from a junk shop in Sevastopol,

and the objects were found on the

battlefield at Balaclava. Presumably the

soldiers had a quick smoke while they

dodged the bullets. What you don’t hear

much about, certainly from British

history books, is that everyone on all

sides felt so depressed after watching the

British light cavalrymen being mown

down that they just packed up and called

it a day. We think the battle was a draw;

the Russians said it was a victory.

Go there if you can, while you can;

the Russians plan to base long-range

bombers there and could easily block the

whole peninsula again. There are various

pleasant hotels in Balaclava, Sevastopol

and the capital Simferapol, and some

stunning harbourside fish restaurants.

The locals are so amazed to find tourists

that they’re charming. Why not download

the trumpet call from YouTube and play

it there for the first time in 161 years as

you plod across the pleasant battlefield?

Just don’t wait too long…

There are moments in

international affairs when

the clouds part, and the sun

illumines an area which has

been murky for years. They have

recently parted over the magical

peninsula of Crimea; and my advice is,

take advantage of it.

That engaging old crook Nikita

Khrushchev was born in Ukraine and,

as the boss of the Soviet Union, he

handed over Crimea, which had always

been Russian, to the Soviet government

of Ukraine as a present. This didn’t

matter much while it was just another

part of the USSR, but when the big split

came in 1991 and Ukraine and Russia

went their separate ways, Ukraine hung

on to Crimea. It wasn’t until 2014 that

Russia, by foul means, grabbed it back.

Now you can get there only through

Russia. Because of international

sanctions against Moscow, no cruise

ships stop there any more, and there’s

no legal access from anywhere else. As

a journalist, I need special permission

to go to Crimea, but tourists can do it

easily. It’s thoroughly worth the trip.

Crimea is full of pleasant little towns

with whitewashed 19th-century Russian

buildings, and in places like Balaclava

and Sevastopol you feel you’re just about

to bump into Anton Chekhov, looking

for the lady with the little dog. In the

Livadia Palace at Yalta, the chairs where

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin argued

in 1945 are still exactly as they were.

Upstairs, the bedrooms of Tsar Nicholas

II are untouched; even the Tsarina’s

hairbrush is still on the dressing table.

But for Brits in particular there’s

another draw: the Crimean War

battlefields. For most of the 20th

century, it was extremely difficult to

reach Crimea. Sevastopol was a top-

secret nuclear submarine base, and even

Russians needed special permission

to visit. Many historians tried and failed,

which is why, when you read books

about, say, the Charge of the Light

Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava, it’s

difficult to understand exactly what

happened on the ground.

There’s a famous picture, taken by

the pioneering war photographer Roger

Fenton, of a rocky valley whose floor is

littered with cannonballs after the

Charge. That has given thousands of us,

over the years, the idea that the battle of

Balaclava was fought out over rough,

mountainous territory. Tennyson’s line

about the “Valley of Death” reinforces

this idea, though of course he only read

about the charge in the newspaper. True,

there’s a famous engraving by a war

artist of the battle as it really was, on an

open agricultural plain near the sea; but

photographs, even from the 1850s, seem

more reliable than drawings, somehow.

You get a magnificent panorama

of the battlefield of Balaclava from a

monument on Causeway Heights. When

it happened, there was only one smallish

vineyard in the valley, but now most

of the area is given over to vines and

a cavalry battle would be impossible.

You can understand why the perennially

unlucky Lord Raglan could see clearly

that the Russians were trying to haul

some British guns away and wanted

Stirring battle sites, historic palaces, harbourside cafés and charming people – Crimea has much to commend it. But get there quickly

John Simpson

UPFRONT

In the Livadia Palace at Yalta, the chairs where

Churchill,Roosevelt and

Stalin argued in 1945 are still

exactly as they were. Even the

Tsarina’shairbrush is on

the dressing table

Ill

us

tr

at

Ion

Ma

rt

In H

aa

ke

; H

en

ry

Id

do

n

A home for the heart.A private sanctuary.

tunis | mauritius | zanzibar | maldives cenizaro.com

Moment

MAUR IT IUS REUNION MALD IVES CH INA U .A . E (2016) | LUXRESORTS.COM

The Team Members of LUX* help people to celebrate life with

the most simple, fresh and sensory hospitality in the world.

ultratravel 35

A weekend in the Cotswolds can do strange things to a city-dweller’s brain – like make my husband believe he could keep bees

Celia Walden

Until recently,

you couldn’t find

a decent dry martini

or competent

facialist here.

Now, there isn’t

a chef in London

able to match the

lunch at Thyme –

and there’s Soho

Farmhouse

for a debauched

night after ILL

US

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“Corn!” emotes my

husband in the stricken

tones of a Turgenev

hero who has just

spotted his long-lost

love from afar. We’re ambling through

the 150-acre gardens of Thyme hotel

at Southrop Manor (thymeatsouthrop.

co.uk) when he has what can only be

described as “a funny turn”. An earlier

sighting of a swan and cygnets nearly

drew him to tears (I expect she had a

similar reaction to him), and now that

we’ve reached the vegetable gardens, the

man keeps crouching down to coo over

organic legumes. “I’ve always wanted to

grow corn,” he adds as a poignant

afterthought. Whereupon I’m forced to

reiterate what I said a mere half-hour

ago, when we chanced upon the manor’s

bee houses and he wondered aloud:

“Why don’t we make our own honey?”

“People like us don’t make our own

honey,” I explain firmly, “and we sure as

hell don’t grow our own corn.”

It’s the Cotswolds effect, of course.

A few hours in this bountiful part of the

world makes you forget all that you are

and has you dreaming of a life where you

churn your own wildly creamy yoghurt in

between clay-pigeon shoots. And whilst

this bucolic part of Oxfordshire has

always provided the back-to-basics

purity city-dwellers yearn for, and has for

a decade been deemed as chic as the

Hamptons, you wouldn’t until recently

have been able to find a decent dry

martini or competent facialist here.

And, while Ye Olde Worlde

disconnection is all well and good, if you

WA L D E N ’ s W O R L D

can’t offset it with a spot of designer

shopping and a spinning class followed

by a debauched night at the hip new

Soho Farmhouse, it pretty quickly

becomes punitive.

Thankfully, Thyme country-house

hotel has got every facet of the pleasure

spectrum covered. Located in the

grounds of Southrop’s 15th-century

manor, it was previously used by owner

Caryn Hibbert for opulent parties, to

which its exquisitely renovated medieval

halls lend themselves perfectly. Today,

having remodelled the adjoining barns

into luxury cottages with their own

kitchens, dining rooms, log fires and

snugs, Hibbert has opened up the place

to couples seeking weekends away

and perhaps a class at the hotel’s state-

of-the-art cookery school.

My husband had planned to learn how

to make baba ganoush under the tutelage

of the hotel’s culinary director, Daryll

Taylor, until I kidnapped him for an

afternoon’s Cotswolds carousing. There’s

too much to do in this movie-set-perfect

land to waste time on aubergine-based

dips. For one thing, I was yearning to

revisit The Swan Inn, a few miles away in

Swinbrook, where we held our wedding

breakfast five years ago.

Since then landlords Archie and

Nicola Orr-Ewing have hosted David

Cameron and François Hollande, who

held an Anglo-French summit over

potted shrimps, rainbow trout and apple

crumble beside the Windrush river. The

garden remains as wild as ever and we

spend a nostalgic three hours sinking

Nyetimber rosé alongside the chickens.

I can’t think of anywhere else where I

would put up zero resistance to drinking

British fizz. But “home grown” is a big

deal in the Cotswolds, and Londoners

no longer have to settle for a basic

Ploughman’s lunch at the myriad of

gastropubs peppering the area. Lady

Bamford’s Wild Rabbit is still one of the

most popular eateries around, Cowley

Manor has recently opened its excellent

new restaurant and Sebastian Snow is

pulling in the celebrity crowd at his new

pub, The Plough Inn Kelmscott, but

Thyme’s light lunches and cream teas

remain unsurpassed. There isn’t a chef

in London able to match the delicacy

of Taylor’s courgette, pea and tarragon

tart, and after tasting his home-made

raspberry jam, I fear supermarket

preserve is forever ruined for me.

Just as every road leads to the beach in

the Hamptons, every 15th-century lane in

the Cotswolds leads to food, drink – and

yet more food and drink. Still sated from

our cream tea, we head to Lechlade’s Old

Swan Inn for vast scotch eggs and crab

risottos before staggering back to our

preposterously comfortable beamed suite.

Had the amorous cries of doves not

roused me the following morning, I

would have slept until Christmas. But

Piers is already up and making coffee –

pensive at the thought of our departure.

“It makes you realise everything you’re

missing out on, living in London,” he

murmurs. “You’re not on about growing

your own corn again, are you?” I sigh.

“No,” he rejoins, a mournful lilt to his

voice. “But one day I really would like to

learn how to make baba ganoush.”

36 ultratravel

BIG COUNTRY Buffalo herd in the

Selinda-Linyanti region of northern

Botswana. Insets, left to right; the

Cessna 206; a young Maasai woman;

an elephant grazes

Main photograph COLIN BELL

ultratravel 37

A tour of Africa in a Cessna light aircraft, staying in remote bush camps and private beach villas, reveals

the continent’s landscapes and wildlife in ways that overawe even the most experienced Africa hand.

Lisa Grainger soars over waterfalls, deserts, elephants and reefs on the safari of a lifetime

UnderAFRICAN SKIES

38 ultratravel

The airstrip at the Zimbabwean

capital’s second airport is

surprisingly busy for a country

whose economy is in

meltdown. The great African

tree expert, 80-year-old Meg Coates

Palgrave, is being helped out of a four-

seater aircraft returning from the Zambezi

valley. A weekly delivery of thousands of

chicks is being offloaded for Charles Davy

(father of Chelsy, Prince Harry’s old

flame). Six private planes are parked

outside the fuelling station. And coming

down the runway is a smart white

Cessna Caravan, followed by a six-seater

Cessna 206, painted in distinctive giraffe

print, out of which leaps a cheery Italian

guide and a glamorous blonde wearing

layers of African beads.

Luca and Antonella Belpietro can

normally be found in their Kenyan camp,

Campi Ya Kanzi, in the Chyulu Hills. But

last year, at the request of repeat guests

who enjoyed their company and their

African expertise, they organised a five-

week flying safari around East Africa. This

year’s trip, their second, is covering

southern Africa too, and they’re in Harare

to pick me up for the last two weeks.

Since the trip began, their seven other

guests – Swiss, American and German –

have seen chimpanzees in Tanzania,

elephant in the Okavango Delta, dunes in

Namibia, the Victoria Falls in Zambia,

Mana Pools in Zimbabwe and an island in

Lake Malawi. Together, we’re about to

journey to five countries in 12 days.

The flying, I soon discover, is as big an

attraction for each of the travellers as the

journey. The British and American pilots

of our two Cessnas fell so in love with

flying in Kenya that they moved out there

permanently, and each of the

fiftysomething Californians, who were

guests on the first trip, has bought a plane

to learn to fly at home.

“The joy of this trip,” Luca explains, as

he co-pilots us on my first leg, 50ft above

the Shire River in Malawi, whizzing past

fishermen in their dugout canoes, herds of

elephant waving their trunks indignantly

and waterbuck scattering over the plains,

“is that there is no real flight path. If we

want to go low and see something, we can.

Big jets are on a motorway in the sky: told

where to go, how high, how fast. We are

free to go where we want, how we want.

And now that air traffic in Africa has got

more organised we can explore the world

in a way that hasn’t been possible before.

This is the new 21st-century exploration,

but without any of the hitches.”

On a £32,000 (per person) trip like this,

there are no hitches at all, in fact. Every

detail has been taken care of. There are

porters to carry luggage; headsets so

passengers can listen to the pilots; menus

arranged in advance; Luca to educate us

(on subjects from tribes to birds) and the

gregarious Antonella to provide

entertainment. “It’s the best of Africa,”

as one guest puts it, “in one hit.”

DAY 1

HARARE, Zimbabwe

to MVUU CAMP

Liwonde National Park, Malawi

Flying time 3 hours

Distance 318 nautical miles

My first insight into just how much fun

flying can be comes about five minutes

after the two planes take off. I grew up in

Zimbabwe, and spent much of my youth

climbing the giant granite boulders of

Domboshawa, just outside the capital.

Until today, I’ve never seen the ancient

hills from above, their sides carved by rain

and wind and their smooth surfaces

striated with red and white minerals. “This

is incredible!” says Luca to guests over the

headsets. “I’ve been flying eight years in

Africa and never seen hills like this.”

“Nor have I, and I’ve climbed just about

every inch of them on foot!” I chip in.

From that moment, I’m glued to the

window in my comfortable padded,

leather-upholstered seat, as other guests

edit photos on their laptops or listen to

music on their Bose headsets. After three

weeks in the air, they’re used to the drill:

two days in a destination and then three to

five hours in the air, crossing hills, rivers,

deserts, national parks and endless bush.

As a newcomer, I can’t get enough of

the views as we fly between 50ft and

12,000ft above the ground: the aluminium

roofs of villages glinting in the sun; great

millipedes of water cutting through the

forested bush, their “legs” of green

splaying out into valleys; plumes of smoke

drifting into the cloudless blue sky from

bush fires; miles of nothing but grass and

trees, and then, beyond the dry hills of the

Zomba Plateau, the great Shire River in

Malawi: our first destination.

Here, both planes swoop down and

game viewing begins in earnest as we

whizz over big pods of hippo, elephant,

waterbuck, then circle the airstrip a couple

of times before landing beside three

waiting Land Rovers.

Malawi is one of the 10 poorest

countries in the world and in Liwonde

National Park there is just one camp:

Mvuu, where we’re staying. The park is

tiny (204sq miles), with a limited

population of wildlife. The attraction here

is black rhino (of which it has nine, in a

fenced sanctuary) and birds: 380 species,

of which I see 12 from my tent’s deck

within a few hours of arriving.

Having previously stayed in such

glamorous camps as Jao in Botswana, my

fellow travellers aren’t overly impressed

with the eight simple but comfortable

tents around a lagoon. But after one and a

half days, they’ve succumbed to the

charms of this tiny park: the forests and

palm-fringed river banks that look like

a set from the Bogart film African Queen;

the sights of an elephant swimming across

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ultratravel 39

the wide Shire River at sunset; malachite

and pied kingfishers diving for dinner; an

enormous kudu bull grazing; 14ft

crocodiles sunbathing; and, at night,

hippo grazing 20 yards from our firepit.

Although the rhino sanctuary is home to

nine black rhino, we see none on a game

drive. Rhino horn, our guide tells us,

is now more valuable than gold or

diamonds: £15,000 per pound. “People

around here make a few hundred dollars a

year if they are lucky,” we’re told. “So you

can see why, unless we share the value of

tourism with them, it’s easy for them to

regard the animal as more valuable dead

than alive. And why rhinos stay hidden.”

DAY 3

VAMIZI ISLAND

Mozambique

Flying time 4.5 hours

Distance 532 miles

The sun has just risen as we take off and

soar over the silvery, rippling waters of the

Shire River, in which fishermen are

already casting their nets from dugout

canoes and in which elephants swim,

white egrets perched on their backs.

Today’s journey is long, traversing hills

strewn with giant granite boulders, brown

lakes rippling in the breeze and hundreds

of miles of green forest in Malawi, then

wide, flat valleys and Tolkienesque

mountains in Mozambique.

When they see the glorious sea, the

passengers aren’t complaining about the

distance, though. Mozambique’s coastline

stretches for more than 1,500 miles and in

the north it’s spectacular: a wilderness of

long, empty beaches, green woodland, an

occasional thatched fishing village and, off

the coast, islands. As we leave the browns

of the earth behind, dazzling blues take

their place: pale aquamarine near the

beach, lurid turquoise over shelves of

shallow reef, then a deep, inky cerulean

over the Indian Ocean. “It’s a pity it’s not

whale season, as we often see them from

up here,” one pilot comments. Instead,

we pass about a dozen islands, some

inhabited by fishing communities, most

still bare. Occasionally, a creamy sandbar

rises above the surface, and a couple of

wooden dhows float by, white sails

billowing in the wind. Then we spot an

island with a landing strip cut into the

mangroves, and we’re there: Vamizi.

The seven-by-two-mile island is

divided into two parts: a third for the

1,600 local fishermen and their families,

and two-thirds for seven Swedish and

British investors who created a marine

conservation area, and built (rentable)

holiday homes to fund local marine and

natural selection

Clockwise from top left: Flying over Victoria Falls;

a map showing the route of the five-week air

safari; refuelling in a remote airfield; Tartaruga

villa (left) on Vamizi Island, from which fishermen

still go out to sea in traditional dhows

B E ST O F B OT H W O R L DS

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Mediterranean and beyond.

ultratravel 41

We soar above the

Great Ruaha River to

the soundtrack of ‘The

English Patient’, over

elephant browsing the

trees and pods of hippo

beacon of knowledge A guide looks across 400 square miles of Maasai land around Campi Ya Kanzi

community conservation projects. Our

group has taken three five-bedroomed

villas that must rate as among the most

beautiful remote beach properties on

earth. Mine, Tartaruga (or “turtle”) is the

epitome of barefoot chic, with an open-

sided thatched living area decorated with

Zanzibari chests, driftwood lamps, rough-

cotton, ocean-coloured soft furnishings

and contemporary African art. It has five

suites in the gardens, and a smiling butler,

Fazira Salimo, in charge.

Days are spent strolling on powdery

beaches, idly sifting through piles of shells

and watching hermit crabs do little

sideways dances, lounging under palm

trees, sipping watermelon cocktails,

snorkelling in the clear, turquoise

shallows, sailing on Hobie Cats and, most

memorable of all, spending an afternoon

with the island’s resident Mozambiquean

marine conservationist.

Joana Trindade, a turtle specialist, says

that this area of the northern Quirimbas

archipelago is, after the Coral Triangle in

the western Pacific Ocean, the second

richest marine ecosystem on our planet.

Diving at Neptune’s Arm, a dive regularly

ranked as being among the world’s top 10,

we see why she’s spent years here, tagging

turtles and sharks. Beside and above a

660ft-high walled garden of coral, swirl

shoals of thousands of fish, from rare grey

reef sharks, which come here to give birth,

to clouds of rainbow-coloured tropical

species: dotted, striped, frilled and

camouflaged. It is, without doubt, the

richest reef I’ve ever seen.

The food at Vamizi is almost as diverse

and colourful: barbecued lobsters and

varied salads laid out in the shade of a

remote thatched beach banda at lunch;

moonlit seafood feasts on the beach at

night, surrounded by flaming torches;

exotic fruit platters and delicious home-

made muesli at breakfast.

It’s a subdued group that packs at

dawn. “How am I ever going to go back to

my Manhattan apartment after that?” sighs

the New Yorker. “Man, that was paradise.”

DAY 5

RUAHA NATIONAL PARKTanzania

Travelling time 5 hours

Distance 627 miles

The flight over northern Mozambique into

Ruaha National Park almost makes up for

the loss we feel leaving Vamizi. I’m flying

with Luca in his four-seater Cessna 206 on

the agreement I know he’s going to go as

low as he can. For half an hour, we skim

the earth’s surface: wheels just above the

sand on long beaches, rising to avoid trees

and dhow masts, twisting and turning like

a soaring bird, past giant silvery baobabs,

waving children, groups of fishermen

pulling their nets out in the turquoise

shallows. Having cleared customs and

refuelled in Tanzania, we’re once again off:

over forests, rice paddies and then miles of

the wild Ruaha National Park.

We soar above the Great Ruaha River to

the soundtrack of The English Patient, over

elephant browsing the trees, pods of hippo

clumped in pools, and then, beside an

orange dirt airstrip, two safari vehicles.

Mwagusi Safari Camp, our home for two

nights, is the bush home of Chris Fox, and

is a charmingly old-school, no-frills safari

camp with, as one guest put it “everything

you could ever need, and nothing you

don’t”. Spacious thatched rooms with

polished concrete verandas are built high

on the river bank, beside enormous trees

and boulders on which hyrax sunbathe.

Hot showers are strong and solar-heated,

and tea is delivered to your bed at dawn –

a gentle wake-up call. Delicious bush

dinners, cooked by a Tanzanian who’s

worked here for 20 years, are served

beside a campfire on the riverbed

(along which, one night, a huge bull

elephant walks a few feet away). And

the guides – all from a local village and

trained in Fox’s guide school at the

camp – are knowledgeable and friendly.

Old Africa hands have often told me

that the Ruaha is not only the second

largest national park on the continent but

also one of the most beautiful. They’re

right. With just seven camps in 140,000sq

miles of bush, it’s gloriously quiet, with

none of the crowds of the Serengeti or

Ngorongoro. Great forests of baobabs,

thousands of years old, line the horizon. In

winter, big buffalo herds come down from

the hills to join zebra and giraffe on the

plains. There are so many elephant that at

one point we’re surrounded by dozens of

them, picking off tree bark with their

tusks, then stripping it with the finger-like

tips of their trunks. Although, while there,

a census was published showing that the

20,000 elephants counted here in 2014 had

been decimated by poaching to just 8,000

– a figure that one guide said was so

disastrous that in 20 years he predicted

they’d have none left. Watching these

majestic creatures, as we sip G&Ts and

enjoy the sunset, that demise seems

horrifying – but not inconceivable.

“When I was a boy, we had a lot of

rhino here,” says our guide, Geofrey

Karinga, sadly. “The last one was seen in

1984. So we have already seen one of our

great species disappear. I hope the

elephant isn’t the next one.”

DAY 7

MNEMBA ISLAND Tanzania

Flying time 2 hours 15 minutes

Distance 271 miles to Zanzibar

Having traversed the greys, oranges and

browns of semi-desert north-east of

Ruaha; a muddy, shallow lake and the

great luminous green-carpeted folds of the

6,000ft Udzungwa Mountains National

Park, we drop lower and head for the

coast. In the distance, over pale sandbars,

and luminous turquoise shallow reefs, we

can see Zanzibar: the once great Omani

kingdom, where the Sultan’s Palace still

stands, and plantations still produce sugar,

mahogany and spices for export. Just off

that is Mnemba: considered to be the most

luxurious African island resort.

On the beach, a line of 16 waving staff

clad in crisp white cotton is the first sign

of the high level of service on this small

coral atoll. With 50 staff for just 24 guests,

staying here is hardly a Robinson Crusoe

experience. Rooms – pretty, open-sided,

thatched wooden bandas floored in rattan

and cooled with whirring fans – are

immaculate, each furnished with four-

poster beds, cool linen sofas and big

bathrooms. A morning alarm is the dawn

cooing of hundreds of doves who have

made the island their home, or the rustle

of one of the 10 rare Aders’ duiker that

shade in nearby brush. And meals can be

pretty much what you want, from lobsters,

king prawns and crabs to salads, fresh

bread, steaks – and even chocolate soufflé.

We relish being beside the Indian

Ocean, snorkelling, kayaking, paddle

boarding and, late one afternoon, diving

and somersaulting with dolphins.

Leaving the next day, sailing across to

Zanzibar by speedboat, as dozens of

dhows returned from their night’s fishing,

is, one guest says, “the hardest part of the

trip. This place for me is the most

incredible beach place I’ve ever stayed.”

DAY 10

CAMPI YA KANZI Kenya

Flying time 2 hours 10 minutes

Distance 261 miles

The last leg of a trip is often tinged with

emotion. But on this leg of the air safari it

is heightened – not just because Luca and

Antonella are taking us to their home, but

because we are flying over such immense

and powerful landscapes. Their safari

camp, Campi Ya Kanzi (or “Camp of the

Hidden Treasure”) is on the side of a hill

overlooking 400sq miles (280,000sq acres)

of Maasai-owned land between Tsavo and

Amboseli National Parks. Flying into it, we

are treated not just to a great expanse of

orange desert in Tsavo (crossed by a new

wide-gauge railway linking Mombasa to

Kampala) and thick montane forest, but

great plateaus of dormant volcanoes, wide

flows of brittle black lava stone and, on the

horizon, the snow-capped peak of Africa’s

second-tallest mountain, Kilimanjaro.

When we arrive at Luca and Antonella’s

brick-built, thatched home, a line of

Maasai, colourfully beaded and clad in

bright red robes, are waiting to hug them,

along with their two adorable bushcamp-

educated boys, who run out with shrieks

of delight to greet their parents. Over the

next two days, we are hosted by the Maasai

and the Belpietros: feasting on fine Italian

cuisine by candlelight at night, and by day

being shown the land by guides from the

7,000 Maasai who own this land.

At dawn, a warrior escorts us through

thick, dripping Chyulu Hills cloud forest,

where we hear the whoop of rare turaco

and silver-cheeked hornbills, and spot

purple orchids. We ride horses among

zebra and giraffe, delighted that there is

not another camp for 400sq miles. We visit

schools, clinics and homes, which the

camp and its affiliated trust have helped

the Maasai to build. We climb boulder-

strewn hills, with views over what feels like

the entire Earth, and sit beside the camp-

fire with wine, overawed by the scenery.

And at night, I lie, listening to the

whoop of hyena outside the canvas walls,

the roar of lions in the distance, and hear

reverberating in my head the words of

Ernest Hemingway, who retreated into

these hills to hunt. “All I wanted to do

was get back to Africa,” he wrote. “We had

not left it, yet, but when I would wake in

the night I would lie, listening, homesick

for it already.”

On this trip, having seen so much of

this great continent from the vantage-

point of an eagle – traversing 2,003 miles

and five countries in 12 days – I felt his

pain like never before.

Natural World Safaris (01273 691642;

naturalworldsafaris.com) can arrange an air

safari with Luca Belpietro in 2016, from

about £13,500 per person for a two-week

trip, or £32,000 for a five-week trip.

42 ultratravel

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina a decade ago is history.

New Orleans has not only healed, but is flourishing, with hip fashion quarters, rooftop

bars and a buzzy music scene. Douglas Rogers goes in search of the high notes

U LT R A c i T y

a return toTHE BIG EASY

Kr

is D

av

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on

ultratravel 43

CHANDELIERS, MOSAICS

AND ALL THAT JAZZ

A musical brunch at Arnaud’s

restaurant in the French

Quarter (above) and Dapper

Lou keeps it fun and stylish

at New Orleans Jazz &

Heritage Festival (left)

Photograph KRIS DAVIDSON

44 ultratravel

It’s my fIrst nIghtin New Orleans and I’ve stumbled into an

argument. I’m sipping a Sazerac at The Carousel Bar in the Hotel

Monteleone (Truman Capote is said to have had his first-ever drink here)

and the Englishwoman next to me is telling her boyfriend she’s lost all

respect for him.

“Let’s get this straight – you left this city for Los Angeles? What? Are

you insane?”

“You’ve only been here three hours, what do you know?” he protests.

“Three hours is enough – I’m moving here! It’s like nowhere else

on Earth: the architecture, the gardens, the courtyards – the cocktails!”

and she raises her glass and orders another.

I glance over and realise, to my astonishment, that I recognise

the boyfriend from a television show. He’s Steve Zissis, actor and

co-creator of the hit HBO comedy Togetherness. I introduce myself. The

Englishwoman is Kelly Marcel, a screenwriter living in LA, on her first

visit to Zissis’s home town.

“Written anything I know?” I ask.

“Fifty Shades of Grey,” she mutters. “But I’ve never seen it. Oh, and

Saving Mr Banks. Hey, join us, let’s get a table; you need to move here

too! Steve, tell him he has to move here too!”

And with that we’re away, on a spontaneous

bar crawl through the French Quarter – Zissis

and his sister Maria as guides – that ends with

me stumbling back to my hotel at 5am, the sun

coming up over the Mississippi.

New Orleans gets its hook into you and

doesn’t let go.

I first visited in December 2005, just over

three months after Hurricane Katrina, and,

despite the devastation, I fell in love within three

hours too. I recall checking into one

of the few hotels open at the time, Soniat House,

a gorgeous Creole inn with wrought-iron

balconies and a palm-shaded courtyard, and

going for a walk. The French Quarter resembled

a ghost town, with a vague air of menace. There

were soldiers on the streets, talk of a 2am curfew.

Neon-lit Bourbon Street was more frontier town than fun. But then, as

the sun dipped, a strange thing happened. I turned down Toulouse and

saw a horse tethered to a vintage iron hitching post. A policeman was

smoking a cigarette with two girls under a gas lamp. On Chartres Street a

brass band – six men in white suits and top hats – was playing ragtime

tunes. I felt as if I had stumbled into another century; if Napoleon had

appeared and asked me for a light I would not have been surprised.

Addicted, obsessed, I’ve returned to New Orleans many times since, and

would move here tomorrow if I thought my liver could last.

Of course, back in 2005 the world thought this city lost forever.

Crime-ridden, corrupt, with a collapsing infrastructure before the storm

(people forget it wasn’t the hurricane but the broken levees that destroyed

the city), no one gave New Orleans any chance after it. Yet something

of a miracle has happened since. Although poor areas of the Crescent

City are still deprived, tourism is booming. More visitors come now than

ever before, there are some 1,400 restaurants (from 900 before the

storm), swanky new hotels open all the time, and neighbourhoods that

were once no-go zones are now flush with galleries, theatres, stylish bars

and loft apartments. I was here to sample this glamorous New Orleans –

its fanciest hotels, restaurants and areas – but also to ask a question: can

this sleek new cosmopolitanism co-exist with the

history, tradition and gritty authenticity that made

New Orleans unique in the first place?

“Welcome to the Old No 77 & Chandlery,” says

a uniformed bellhop.

I had made sure to check into the city’s coolest

new hotel, a converted 1854-built coffee and

tobacco warehouse in the Central Business District

(CBD), three blocks from the French Quarter. Most

New Orleans hotels fall into one of two categories:

the gilded-age grande dame (The Roosevelt,

Windsor Court) or the mass-market chain (Hilton,

Sheraton). The Old No 77 is different: all exposed

brick, hardwood floors, rustic wood tables and a

handsome open-plan ground-floor restaurant,

Compère Lapin, helmed by St Lucia-born chef Nina

Compton, famous from the hit television show Top

ultratravel 45

Chef. An espresso bar – the new staple of any hip urban hotel – flanks

the check-in desk. My second-floor room was loft-sized, with a low-

slung king-sized bed splashed with a red throw. Some kinks needed

ironing out – the light and ceiling fan went on in the middle of the

night – but when you return at 5am that matters not.

Being hungover, I dedicated my second day to food.

New Orleans has a rich culinary culture, but if someone had told

me a year ago that the hottest new restaurant in America would be that

of an Israeli immigrant making his grandmother’s baba ganoush for

New Orleans sophisticates, I would have said you were mad.

I meet the chef in question, Alon Shaya, a beanpole of a man in

computer-geek glasses, at Shaya, on Magazine Street, Uptown. If the

Quarter is known for its venerable French-Creole institutions –

Antoine’s, Arnaud’s, Galatoire’s – Magazine Street is its modish cousin,

and Shaya fits the bill: cool blue and white tones, plush seating, marble

tables and wall-to-wall beautiful people. It opened in February; three

months later Alon Shaya won the 2015 James Beard Award for the Best

Chef in the South. A wood-fired oven churned out fluffy pitta breads

the shape of rugby balls, and waiters ferried me delectable small

plates: avocado toast with smoked whitefish; a roasted-pepper and

aubergine purée called Lutenitsa; Louisiana shrimp shakshouka. This

is not traditional New Orleans cuisine, of course, but its basis – fresh

Delta farmland ingredients, abundant Gulf seafood, and immigrant roots

– is perfect New Orleans. This is a port city, after all, with a melting pot

of migrant cultures. “We have a unique food community,” says Shaya.

“The point is to embrace what’s been and move it forward.”

Magazine Street, linking the CBD with the Garden District and

Uptown, is the Rodeo Drive of the South, and I visited its chicest

boutiques. Southern belles snapped up flamboyant home décor in

Mad Men actor Bryan Batt’s store Hazelnut; debutantes cooed over the

silver fleur-de-lis necklaces of jeweller Mignon Faget; I bought a cute

posy-embroidered sundress for my daughter at Pippen Lane, a chic

children’s store owned by the wife of actor John Goodman.

The Garden District and Uptown (historically the American

Quarter) has long been for the moneyed upper classes, though.

I spent my third day in a revived neighbourhood, the Bywater,

east of the French Quarter, adjacent to the Lower Ninth Ward – the

epicentre of Katrina’s devastation 10 years ago.

Back then, when I drove down the Lower Ninth, it was an

apocalypse: houses on top of houses; Cadillacs in treetops. The

Bywater was a ghost town and I gave it little hope. Yet, on visits since,

I’ve observed its transformation. With so many cheap shot-gun shacks

available, young creatives moved in to open cool artisanal shops and

studios: corner wine store Bacchanal; glass-blowing operation Studio

Inferno; an open-air theatre, The Old Ironworks which, fittingly for the

10th anniversary of a storm, was staging The Tempest. All very well, you

say, but hardly luxe or glamorous.

But then there’s Rice Mill Lofts, once the largest rice mill in

America, empty for decades, now an industrial-chic apartment

complex with an acclaimed Italian-American restaurant, Mariza, at the

front. I was given a tour by its owner, Sean Cummings, a boutique

hotelier (he owns International House in New Orleans) and urban

design guru. A soft-spoken entrepreneur with dashing good looks,

Cummings bought the building 20 years ago but could do nothing

with it. Who wanted to be in the Bywater back then? Then came

Katrina. “Everyone thought this city was finished with the storm,”

Cummings recalled, “but I thought: ‘This is a new beginning.’”

Rice Mill Lofts opened in 2011 and affluent tenants drawn to cool

urban living (the rooftop views of the city and the crescent in the

Mississippi are spectacular) moved in. Among them was a pugnacious

New York financier, Ron Bienvenu, who relocated his hedge fund to

New Orleans after meeting Cummings. “I never looked back,” he

grinned. “In New York you lose a little bit of yourself every day. New

Orleans is the opposite – I feel more alive and joyous.”

I spoke to him by the complex’s swimming pool; giant white letters

that read “You Are Beautiful” were stencilled on the brick wall above

us. “Banksy tagged the building after Katrina,” said Ron, grinning.

“Sean made sure to keep it. We are beautiful.”

With the influx of affluent outsiders, among them celebrities (Brad

and Angelina have a house in the French Quarter; Sandra Bullock and

soon Jay-Z and Beyoncé in Garden District), it’s not surprising a VIP

tour company has sprung up to cater to wealthy tourists. I met up with

Jennifer Simpson, co-founder of Bespoke Experiences, who moved to

New Orleans in 2012 from Canada.

“Luxury is well hidden here and I noticed a demand to access it,”

‘In New York you lose a little bit of yourself every day. In New Orleans I feel more alive and joyous’

hot in the city

Clockwise from top left:

Bourbon Street, in the heart

of the French Quarter;

the chef Alon Shaya with his

fresh, fluffy pitta bread;

Crescent Park featuring

David Adjaye’s rusted-steel

Piety Street Bridge; Brad Pitt

at his home in New Orleans

46 ultratravel

she said. Simpson can arrange everything from a ride on a Mardi Gras

float to a picnic under the live oaks in Audubon Park. She got me

private access to something even better: the rooftop of the Cabildo, the

glorious 1790s Spanish colonial building on Jackson Square, site of

the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremony in 1803. The Cabildo

houses rare artefacts, including Napoleon’s death mask, but the

highlight was access to the rooftop spire where I looked down on

Jackson Square and steamboats on the Mississippi beyond. I felt I was

stepping back to the time of Twain.

So what of my original question: what will happen to the classic

New Orleans, its traditions and exotic atmosphere? The answer,

I can report, is that it is thriving as never before. I got a glimpse of this

at the historic Sazerac Bar in The Roosevelt hotel, where a dashing

waiter in a white tuxedo and bow tie poured me a Ramos Gin Fizz as

smooth as those that Governor Huey P Long had when he drank here.

I sensed it in the birdsong and foliage of the courtyard below my

room at the Audubon Cottages, the historic French Quarter inn that

I checked into on my last night. Most of all, though, I saw it at

Galatoire’s classic 1905 Creole restaurant on Bourbon Street where I

had the famous Friday lunch. Galatoire’s is nigh impossible to get into

on Fridays: it takes no reservations, so regulars send their clerks or

servants to stand in line from 6am to secure a table. Through a friend

of a friend, I was able to dine with Melvin Rodrigue, president and co-

owner of the restaurant, and thus the most important man in the room.

And what a room. I entered a glorious museum piece of sea-green

walls, white tablecloths, antique ceiling fans and glittering lamp-lit

mirrors. By 11.30am it was packed: Houston oil men in cowboy hats,

Mississippi lawyers in white linen jackets, local politicos, chefs,

celebrities ordering shrimp remoulade and soufflé potatoes. Melvin

pointed out actress Sela Ward in Jackie O sunglasses; I noticed Alon

Shaya at a table of 10. That the city’s hottest chef dines in its most

revered restaurant says it all.

At about 4pm (it’s usual for Friday lunch to last until dinner)

something astonishing happened. A brass band appeared at the

entrance – some drunken diner had lured it in from busking outside –

and began belting out such a rousing rendition of Satchmo’s When

the Saints Go Marching In that the entire room of 160 people leapt to

their feet, waved white napkins in the air, and sang along. Melvin

looked at me with a wry grin. “Welcome to New Orleans,” he said.

“Where else in the world does this happen?”

I thought of my new friends Kelly and Steve. What the hell;

I might move here too.

THREE HOTELS

Old NO 77 & ChaNdlery

The loft-like rooms – exposed brick,

hardwood floors, ceiling fans – come with

mod cons such as espresso makers, but

the charm is in the open-plan ground

floor with coffee bar, cocktail lounge and

restaurant, Compère Lapin (comperelapin.

com), where chef Nina Compton serves

up tropical Caribbean flavours: spiced pig’s

ears and red-snapper crudo.

535 Tchoupitoulas Street (001 504 527 5271;

old77hotel.com; doubles from $107/£70)

audubON COttages

Along with Soniat House (soniathouse.

com), this 18th-century, seven-room Creole

inn is the most intimate boutique hotel

in the Quarter. I stayed in Cottage Four,

a two-room duplex filled with antiques

and oil paintings. My balcony overlooked a

lush courtyard with a salt-water swimming

pool. Only a block from Bourbon Street,

this is a sanctuary from the chaos.

509 Dauphine Street (001 504 586 1516;

auduboncottages.com; doubles from $269)

INterNatIONal hOuse

Sean Cummings’s 117-room LM Pagano-

designed property in a towering downtown

building is a study in contemporary chic.

Start with a Remington cocktail (mezcal,

Benedictine) in the Loa Bar before

taking a lift to your upper-floor room.

My penthouse had lush rugs, crystal

chandeliers, a seating area with grand

piano and dramatic Mississippi views.

221 Camp Street (001 504 553 9550; ihhotel.

com; doubles from $159)

THREE RESTAURANTS

shaya

Alon Shaya’s award-winning contemporary

Israeli restaurant lives up to the hype.

Try the sabich: fried aubergine, preserved

mango and soft-cooked egg. This is

not his first rodeo. Along with his mentor,

John Besh, he also runs the beloved

Italian restaurant Domenica (domenica

restaurant.com) in The Roosevelt,

and the acclaimed Pizza Domenica

(pizzadomenica.com) on Magazine Street.

4213 Magazine Street (001 504 891 4213;

shayarestaurant.com)

square rOOt

Sixteen diners a night get to sample

the spectacular 14-course tasting menu

of chef Phillip L Lopez at this jewellery-

box-sized space on Magazine Street.

Molecular creations include foie-gras

cotton candy and Cohiba-cigar-smoked

scallops. Allow three hours for dining.

1800 Magazine Street (001 504 309 7800;

squarerootnola.com)

galatOIre’s

What to say? One of the great dining

experiences on earth, particularly Friday

lunch (pictured below). Founded in 1905,

this restaurant’s waiters, in tuxedos, present

Creole classics such as crabmeat Yvonne,

oysters Rockefeller and shrimp étouffée, to

a Who’s Who of Southern society. Queue

from 6am for the Friday table and dress

smart (seersucker and bow ties for boys).

209 Bourbon Street (001 504 525 2021;

galatoires.com)

THREE THINGS TO DO

VIsIt hOumas hOuse plaNtatION

Up until the Civil War the land along the

Mississippi between Baton Rouge and

New Orleans had 250 sugar plantation

mansions. Most are long gone, but the

oak-fronted Greek Revival Houmas House,

bought and restored by entrepreneur Kevin

Kelly, stands strong. Order a mint julep

from The Turtle Bar in the gardens and

take a guided tour of antique-filled rooms.

40136 Highway 942, Darrow, Louisiana

(001 225 473 9380; houmashouse.com)

Walk CresCeNt park

New Orleans’s first green space along the

Mississippi opened in 2014, the brainchild

of hotel-developer Sean Cummings. The

1.4 mile-long park with landscaped gardens

connects the French Quarter with the

Bywater, the highlight being the rusted-

steel Piety Street Bridge, aka the “Rusty

Rainbow”, by superstar British architect

David Adjaye. Stand on the Piety Pier and

watch the steamboats churn the river.

dO a guIded VIp tOur

For curated tours of behind-the-scenes

New Orleans and private access to

everything from French Quarter galleries

to Louisiana State Museum collections

or local jazz station WWOZ, contact

Jennifer Simpson at Bespoke Experiences.

(001 504 534 8874; bespokeprivate

tours.com)

BEST OF THE BARS

Sample the turtle soup and a brandy

milk punch (the latter on a menu of “eye

openers”) for breakfast at the beloved

Brennan’s (brennansneworleans.com)

on Royal Street. “Breakfast at Brennan’s”

is not a catchphrase for nothing.

Savour a Pimm’s Cup at Napoleon House

(napoleonhouse.com), an elegantly

decrepit Creole building on Chartres

Street. Taste the French 75 champagne

cocktail, made to perfection by

Chris Hannah at the French 75 Bar

of the historic Arnaud’s restaurant

(arnaudsrestaurant.com). And sup on a

Sazerac at the legendary walnut-lined

Sazerac Bar in the gilded Roosevelt hotel

(therooseveltneworleans.com).

For further details on New Orleans visit.

neworleanscvb.com or discoveramerica.com

THE ULTRA GUIDE TO NEW ORLEANS

shades of cool

Clockwise from above:

tram travel; the Old No 77 &

Chandlery hotel; Warby Parker

Frame Studio on Magazine

Street, which sells glasses

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48 ultratravel

A ROME OF

ONE’S OWN The Italian capital is a city of secrets that take years to unlock.

Stanley Stewart shares three decades of experience, hanging

out in private palaces and exclusive spaces

ultratravel 49

rome alone

Jep, the main character in

the film la Grande Bellezza,

takes in the Eternal City

from the ideal spot:

a private terrace with views

me

du

sa

fil

m

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ultratravel 51

There is a piazza in Rome with

no traffic, few people, and a single

mysterious door. The Piazza

dei Cavalieri di Malta sits on the

crown of the Aventine, the quietest and

most beautiful of Rome’s seven hills. The

square was designed by Piranesi, a man

who loved a surprise.

That single door is green and sits to one

side of the square. It leads into the Priory of

the Knights of Malta. There is an elaborate

keyhole, surrounded by an escutcheon, which has been

rubbed bare by many hands. If you peer through, you will

find Piranesi’s surprise – the dome of St Peter’s, almost two

miles away, perfectly framed by the keyhole. The square, the

door, the keyhole, even the garden within have been

orientated to offer this private glimpse of one of Rome’s

most famous monuments.

Given that Rome’s public face is so

spectacular and well known, it is easy

to forget that many of its best moments,

many of its loveliest treasures, are behind

closed doors. Beyond the great sights

of the Colosseum, the Forum and the

Vatican is another more private Rome, a

city of surprises and unpredictable secrets. Beyond the

grand hotels with their bustling lobbies is a more elegant and

sophisticated Rome of private villas and luxury apartments

from whose rooms you can embark on the adventure of

making Rome your own (see page 52 for the top five).

Rome is the kind of city in which tourist maps soon fade,

and a different, more personal kind of navigation takes over:

one’s own adventure within the city. This may begin with the

discovery of an old-fashioned workshop in a backstreet. It

might include a romantic pause on a bridge beneath the

silhouette of Castel Sant’Angelo. It should definitely take in

that restaurant with the wonderful straccetti con rucola.

Piazza del Popolo is central to my own private map of

Rome. When I first came to the city 30 years ago, I stayed in

a pensione just off this square. There was a high-ceilinged

room, tall shuttered windows, a door with a pediment that

I am sure included cupids, a beautiful receptionist, and the

sound of a saxophone drifting up from Via Angelo Brunetti

in the evenings. At night, when the saxophonist had gone

home and the traffic ceased, I could hear the splash of the

fountains in the piazza beneath the obelisk that Augustus

had brought home from Egypt 2,000 years ago.

Every morning I sallied forth on a battered scooter

someone had lent me. I careened between ancient ruins

and baroque sculpture and delicious meals, between

Roman triumphal arches, the soft thighs of Bernini’s

Proserpina in the Galleria Borghese and the divine

croissants in a bar in the Via Ripetta. I discovered – in those

days everything was a discovery – Santa Maria in Trastevere,

barnacled with age, its gold-hued interior freighted with

incense and prayer. I made a pilgrimage to Velásquez’s

portrait of Innocent X in Palazzo Doria Pamphilj and

another to Sant’Anselmo on the Aventine where Benedictine

monks filled the Roman dusk with Gregorian chant. I

climbed the steps of the Capitoline at night to Michelangelo’s

exquisite piazza where the equestrian statue of Marcus

Aurelius stood bathed in moonlight. I came home late to

Piazza del Popolo, hoping the beautiful receptionist might

still be on duty. I only ever managed to exchange five words

with her: “La mia chiave, per favore.” Tragically, “My key,

please” was not a gambit to arouse her interest.

More than 20 years later, I came to live in Rome,

graduating from visitor to resident. My Vespa habits have

not changed – though perhaps the current model is less

battered than that first one – but my personal geography of

Rome has expanded to include its more private spaces. The

famous sights will always be fascinating, and still come, at

the right moment, with a sense of discovery. But the Rome I

It is always a matter of knowing which doors to push,

which bells to ring, which keyholes to peer through

private view piranesi’s

keyhole in the piazza dei

Cavalieri di Malta (above)

allows a perfectly framed

glimpse of St peter’s

Basilica, almost two miles

away. Left: a vespa, still the

transport of choice in rome

52 ultratravel

explore now is a place of local streets and neighbourhoods,

of private palaces and lesser-known sights, a Rome whose

glories are often found behind closed doors.

There is no typical day in Rome – there are too many

incidents to distract me. But here is a Roman day, enjoyed

recently in the warm sun of September. In the early

market of Testaccio, where women feigned indifference to

men feigning passion, I bought glossy aubergines and

long plum tomatoes and hunks of flinty parmesan for an

evening meal. Testaccio remains a fiercely Roman quarter,

more local than Trastevere, its touristy neighbour across

the river. And nowhere is more Roman than Volpetti,

a shrine both to Roman food and to Roman excess. It

overflows with prosciutti and salami, ravioli and biscotti,

crostini and torte. White-jacketed attendants fetch plaits

of mozzarella from milky bowls and slice ricotta like cake.

Every Roman day should start and end with food.

From the wonders of Volpetti, I climbed the streets of

the Aventine to Piranesi’s square, and its miraculous

keyhole. In Rome it is always a matter of knowing which

doors to push, which bells to ring, which keyholes to peer

through – as demonstrated by the character Jep, in last

year’s Oscar-winning film La Grande Bellezza. Further

along a leafy avenue, I pushed open the colossal doors of

Santa Sabina. Virtually empty most days, it is one of my

favourite spaces in Rome: few places give such a powerful

sense of the city’s antiquity. Built in the fifth century, the

basilica’s bare, atmospheric interior feels more like a

Roman temple than a Christian church. Columns of light

slant down across the great void from the clerestory. I felt

myself alone with the ghosts of the early martyrs lurking

in the shadows.

But I didn’t linger. I had an appointment in the

centro storico at Rome’s finest Renaissance

building. The Palazzo Farnese, now the French

Embassy is normally closed to the public, but

with the right number to call and a little advance booking,

the doors swing open for a private tour. Upstairs is one of

the greatest masterpieces in Rome, the Carracci Gallery,

easily the peer of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. But while

the latter tells a Biblical story, Carracci has opted for

indulgence. He has gone back to the pre-Christian gods,

scantily dressed mythological figures who cavort across

the ceiling and walls in what looks like a delighted orgy.

I had lunch in the Chiostro del Bramante, close to

Piazza Navona – not private, but it feels secret. You enter

the church through a narrow door, climb steep, unmarked

stairs and emerge in a first-floor loggia where you find an

elegant café. From the tables in the arches you gaze down

on the perfect symmetries of Bramante’s cloisters among

the tumble and chaos of Roman rooftops. Should you

come for afternoon tea, I can recommend the carrot cake.

Back on my trusty scooter, I sailed the length of the

Lungotevere to the Circus Maximus, the venue for the

ancient charioteers, whose driving habits still manifest

themselves in modern Roman traffic. Beneath the oval

race track where Ben Hur once thundered up and down is

an underground shrine, discovered in the Thirties – the

Mithraeum of Circus Maximus. I had arranged a private

visit. Descending a stairwell in a nondescript modern

building brought me to another door. I stepped across its

threshold into the third century as suddenly as Alice

slipped into Wonderland. Beneath ancient arches, the bare

rooms were in a state of almost perfect preservation down

to the inlaid marble patterns of the floor. They were once

dedicated to the mysterious cult of Mithras. A splendid

frieze depicted the ritual that took place here: the sacrifice

of a bull. A chill emanated from the walls. Many metres

below the Roman streets, I had entered another world.

And that is why I came to Rome, to the pensione off

the Piazza del Popolo, all those years ago – to enter

another world.

Bellini Travel (020 7602 7602; bellinitravel.com) specialises

in bespoke itineraries in Rome and has access to numerous

private palaces and experiences. British Airways flies from

London several times a day, from £102 return (ba.com).

six WAYs TO sEE THE CITY BEHIND CLOsED DOORs

The SiSTine Chapel

and The VaTiCan

Most visits to the Vatican Museum and the

Sistine Chapel involve a queue, a crowd

and a disappointing multilingual crush as

you crane your neck to view the ceiling of

the Sistine Chapel. But now the Vatican

offers semi-private tours, which involve a

full tour of the museums during normal

hours followed by the opportunity to

remain in the Sistine Chapel after closing

time. To see Michelangelo’s magnificent

work in the hush of the empty chapel

is one of life’s great experiences (see

vatican.va and follow the links to Vatican

Museums). Bellini Travel can arrange a fully

private tour of the Vatican with access to

Fra Angelica’s stunning frescoes in the

rarely opened Cappella Niccolina, as well

as the Raphael Rooms and Sistine Chapel.

Price on request (020 7602 7602;

bellinitravel.com).

palazzo Colonna

The story of Rome is the story of families,

and one of the grandest is the Colonnas.

The family still lives in the Palazzo Colonna,

whose masterpieces include Poussins,

a Tintoretto, and a famous Carracci,

as well as a portrait of Marcantonio

Colonna, a victorious admiral at the Battle

of Lepanto, in a ruff that would have

strangled lesser men, and the beautiful

Vittoria Colonna, poetess, radical thinker

and close friend of Michelangelo. The

family opens the galleries and grand

reception rooms on Saturdays (from

9am to 1.15pm; €12) but private tours can

be arranged at other times.

Private tour with specialist guide from €505.

The Gallery and Princess Isabelle apartment

can also be hired for events and dinners

(0039 06 678 4350; galleriacolonna.it).

Galleria BorGheSe

With one of the most popular collections

in Rome, the gallery operates a timed-

entry system with advance bookings,

which keeps the numbers of visitors to

manageable levels and ensures time and

space to contemplate masterpieces by

Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian, as well

as Bernini’s extraordinary sculptures

(galleriaborghese.it). For more determined

visitors, Bellini Travel can arrange private

after-hours evenings with a gallery tour

followed by cocktails and a full dinner in

the loggia, accompanied by a classical

quartet or an opera singer, and all under

the steady gaze of Canova’s nude statue

of Pauline Borghese, Napoleon’s sister,

which so shocked 19th-century Rome.

Price on request, Bellini (as before).

CaSino dell’aurora pallaViCini

Still occupied by elderly aristocrats, the

doors of the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi

swing open on the first day of every

month for visits to one of the most

enchanting spaces in Rome – an intimate

garden, a grotto and the pavilion known

as the Casino dell’Aurora, designed by

Vasanzio. Inside is Guido Reni’s 17th-

century ceiling fresco of Aurora scattering

flowers in front of the chariot of Apollo.

Reni’s star has rather fallen but in the 19th

century visitors knelt before this ceiling,

which was considered the equal of the

Sistine Chapel. And when the guide

throws open the windows of the Casino,

there is one of the great views of Rome.

Private visits can be arranged: contact the

Casino for conditions and details (0039 06

8346 7000; casinoaurorapallavicini.it).

CaSino ludoViSi

Home to the Boncompagni Ludovisi family,

this grand palace near the Via Veneto is

one of the finest examples of the elaborate

domestic style of the Roman aristocracy –

baroque flourishes, gilt decoration, chubby

mythological figures. The showcase is a

mural by Caravaggio, who appears in a

nude self-portrait as a Roman god. The

palace is open to the public on Friday or

Saturday mornings but private visits can

be arranged. With luck, you will be guided

by Princess Rita, a charming American.

Price on request; 0039 06 483 942.

The BeST of The reST

* Volpetti is at 47 Via Marmorata

(volpetti.com). The door in the Piazza

dei Cavalieri di Malta can be opened by

appointment on Saturday mornings

(0039 06 577 9193).

* Visits to the Palazzo Farnese can be

arranged via inventerrome.com; the

Carracci Gallery reopens later this year

after renovations. Chiostro del Bramante

(0039 06 6880 9035; chiostrodel

bramante.it) also has apartments to rent.

* Private visits can also be arranged to

the Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus

by Bellini (details, as before).

priVaTe Company

It is possible to

see Michelangelo’s

masterpieces (left)

in the Sistine Chapel

without the crowds,

and to take a private

tour of Palazzo

Colonna (below)

Uncommon destinations

Unforgettable moments.

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54 ultratravel

Top: Portrait Roma’s rooms

offer balcony views (top). The

gardens of Palazzo Parisi

(above). Contemporary style

at Villa Nocetta (below)

Aprivate Rome requires a private

residence – room service without

reception, a terrace without other

guests. These properties are large

enough for a family or a group of friends

to share. All of them can arrange

privileged experiences in Rome, from

helicopter flights over the city to

private tours of the ancient Mithraeum

beneath the Circus Maximus.

Portrait roma

“Shoes maketh the man,” my grandfather

used to say. Or, in the case of Portrait

Roma, some of the most luxurious

private suites in Rome. Owned by the

Ferragamo family, famous for making the

best handmade shoes in Italy, this

14-room property has nothing so vulgar

as a reception. Here, it is all about

personal service, with an adviser to

enhance your Roman experience, from

private tours of the Vatican to personal

shopping. Limed wood and dove greys

enhance the Dolce Vita vibe, along with

black-and-white prints of models and

actors from an age when stars such as

Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn

used to join the passeggiata on Via

Veneto. Stylish and effortlessly cool,

Portrait Roma’s rooms have balconies

overlooking the rooftops and one of

the best roof terraces in the city for an

aperitivo or a lavish breakfast.

Suites with kitchenettes from €459/£327

per night (0039 06 6938 0742;

lungarnocollection.com).

La SceLta di Goethe

On a visit to Rome in the late 18th

century, Goethe discovered erotic love –

though his habit of writing verses on his

lover’s naked back probably floated his

boat more than hers. La Scelta di Goethe

– or Goethe’s Choice – consists of two

sumptuous apartments on the Via del

Corso, a few steps from the Spanish

Steps. Through a private entrance you

step into a world of aristocratic Roman

taste – bookshelves of leather-bound

volumes, Old Master paintings, deep

leather armchairs, a personal butler to

lay out an elaborate breakfast on your

private roof terrace. And, for Goethe, the

gilt-framed mirror at the end of the bed

would have let him review his own work

while making love.

The Villa Medici suite, with a double

bedroom, costs from €1,280/£910 a night.

The Trinità dei Monti suite, which sleeps

four, is from €1,760/£1,251. Two suites can

be joined to accommodate six (0039 06

6994 2219; lasceltadigoethe.com).

ViLLa Lina

Just under an hour from the city, this

ancestral estate of olive groves, vineyards,

and rambling gardens has five splendid

houses to rent. The atmosphere is

informal, artistic, quirky and charming –

more bohemian farmhouse than

smart villa. A small organic restaurant

serves food from its gardens, but the

best place for dinner is the 19th-century

conservatory, with candlelight reflecting

in a hundred panes of glass.

Casa Vostra, which sleeps 10, is €550/£390

per night. Torre del Falco sleeps 10 and

costs €900/£640, while the honeymoon

pavilion next door is €300/£214 a night.

There are two swimming pools, and a

private chef can also be booked (0039

3888 274 775; relaisvillalina.com).

PaLazzo PariSi

In the hills of Sabina outside Rome,

Palazzo Parisi is a sumptuous aristocratic

villa dating back to at least the 11th

century. Owned by Arabella Lennox-

Boyd, the famed landscape gardener, this

is a fantasy villa: it has a grand salotto in

which frescoed birds fly across the vaults,

a master bedroom with a gilt-framed

canopied four-poster, labyrinthine

kitchens overseen by the gracious Rita, a

book-lined billiard room and a top-floor

passageway whose crescent window

looks into the nave of the church next

door. Undoubtedly grand in scale, Villa

Parisi is also informal, welcoming and fun.

A tennis court, an infinity pool and walks

in the Sabine Hills help the days spin by.

Palazzo Parisi sleeps 10 adults and two

children under 12 and costs from £5,000 per

week (020 7931 9995; palazzoparisi.com).

ViLLa nocetta

In the hills behind St Peter’s, in a

neighbourhood of discreet walled villas,

is one of the most civilised places to stay

in Rome. In the gardens are a sun terrace

and a heated pool beneath umbrella

pines. Indoors are lavish spaces, from a

hi-tech kitchen to a living room larger than

most London flats. There is a fireplace,

a grand piano, plus long elegant sofas and

a collection of modern art. Downstairs,

there are two options beyond the

cinema-size television: a sedate game

of billiards or a workout in the gym.

Upstairs, spacious suites are beautifully

appointed with luxury Italian bed linen.

Villa Nocetta sleeps 12 in six suites and is

available from €3,900/£2,777 per night

(0039 06 663 7119; villanocetta.com).

Five OF THe FiNeST PRivATe viLLAS

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THE MOST INCLUSIVE

LUXURY EXPERIENCETM

EXCEEDING THE LOFTIEST

EXPECTATIONS OF LUXURYat seaChalk July 2016 in your diary because that’s the date

the new ship from Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seven

Seas Explorer – heralded the most luxurious cruise ship

in the world – sets sail on her inaugural season in the

Mediterranean.

It will be an exciting moment, the culmination of years

of planning by Regent Seven Seas Cruises, a six-star

company already well versed in the meaning of luxury.

After all, this is the cruise line that brought the world

the fi rst all-suite, all-balcony ships and delivers truly

individual cooking stations where you can learn to

create scrumptious dishes under the guidance of

expert chefs. And the Canyon Ranch SpaClub will

feature a beautiful infi nity-edged plunge pool!

Naturally there is plenty of sumptuous

accommodation to choose, from the spacious

entry-level Veranda Suites to Park Avenue-styled

Master Suites, all kitted out with the quality fi ttings

and furnishings you’d expect from the world’s most

luxurious ship. Choose a suite at Penthouse level or

above and you’ll be looked after by a private butler;

opt for a Concierge or higher suite and you’ll enjoy

unlimited free wifi so you can keep in touch with

family and friends. Step outside your suite and you’ll

fi nd many of Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ signature

dining venues, but all featuring the spectacular new

look and feel that really sets this ship apart.

There is certainly something to suit every taste,

from succulent steaks and Italian favourites to

the delicious multi-course menus served in the

Compass Rose main dining room, the ever-popular

Prime 7 steakhouse reminiscent of a London private

members’ club plus, two further new speciality

dining options, Chartreuse and Pacifi c Rim. As befi ts

a luxury ship, the restaurant has an open-seating

policy so diners are free to eat when and with whom

they wish.

The icing on the cake is that all dining, including

the specialty restaurants, is included in the price.

But then what else would you expect from the

winning combination of a cruise on the world’s most

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the world.

all-inclusive prices, from fl ights and transfers to drinks,

gratuities, shore excursions, even Wi-Fi.

But the best just got even better. Seven Seas Explorer

might be another all-suite, all-balcony ship but in

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56,000 tons, she holds just 750 passengers, which

gives a space ratio of 74.6, one of the highest in the

industry.

There are lots of amazing new features on Seven Seas

Explorer® including a Culinary Arts Kitchen with 18

inaugural season

THE MOST LUXURIOUS SHIP EVER BUILT™

SEVEN SEAS EXPLORER®

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ARRIVING JULY 2016

MONTE CARLO TO VENICE

20 July 2016 | 14-nights

VENICE TO ROME

3 August 2016 | 10-nights

ROME TO LISBON

13 August 2016 | 12-nights

LISBON TO BARCELONA

25 August 2016 | 10-nights

BARCELONA TO ROME

4 September 2016 | 10-nights

ROME TO VENICE

14 September 2016 | 10-nights

VENICE TO MONTE CARLO

24 September 2016 | 10-nights

MONTE CARLO TO ATHENS

4 October 2016 | 8-nights

ATHENS TO ISTANBUL

12 October 2016 | 10-nights

ISTANBUL TO JERUSALEM

22 October 2016 | 11-nights

JERUSALEM TO ROME

2 November 2016 | 14-nights

ROME TO MIAMI

16 November 2016 | 16-nights

MIAMI ROUNDTRIP

4 December 2016 | 14-nights

MIAMI ROUNDTRIP

18 December 2016 | 10-nights

MIAMI TO LOS ANGELES

28 December 2016 | 16-nights

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AUSTRALIA

EAST TIMOR

Perth

Broome

Lacepede IslandsTalbot Bay

Jar Island

Montgomery ReefWyndham

King George River

Darwin

Jaco Island

Hunter River

For full details on this holiday call us today on 020 7752 0000 for your copy of our brochure. Alternatively view or request online at www.noble-caledonia.co.uk SMALL SHIPS - BIG EXPERIENCES

SMALL SHIPS – BIG EXPERIENCES

BOOK EARLY & SAVE £500 PER PERSON

Day 1 London to Perth, Australia. Fly by

scheduled indirect fight via Singapore.

Day 2 Perth. Arrive this afternoon and

transfer to the Duxton Hotel (or similar) for a

two night stay.

Day 3 Perth. After breakfast in the hotel,

enjoy a guided tour of Perth followed by a

free afternoon before we meet tonight for a

welcome dinner.

Day 4 Perth to Broome. This morning enjoy

a cruise along the famous Swan River before

returning to Perth airport for our scheduled

fight to Broome. On arrival transfer to the

MS Caledonian Sky.

Day 5 Lacepede Islands. This nature reserve

has been identifed by BirdLife International

as an Important Bird Area as it supports up

to 18,000 breeding pairs of Brown Boobies

and Roseate Terns, possibly the largest such

population in the world. Board the Zodiacs

and explore the island’s lagoon, keeping an

eye out for many species of marine birdlife.

Days 6 & 7 Buccaneer Archipelago, Talbot Bay and Horizontal Falls. We spend two

days cruising the Buccaneer Archipelago,

made up of over 800 islands and home to

a wealth of wildlife and fascinating rock

of the river. We follow the Hunter River to

reveal the spectacular backdrop of Mount

Trafalgar while to the north Mount Anderson

rises to an impressive 480 metres. We will

drop anchor at Naturalist Island and have the

choice to join a Zodiac excursion around the

island or an optional helicopter excursion to

Mitchell Falls.

Day 10 Vansittart Bay & Jar Island. We have

the whole day to explore Vansittart Bay. First

thing we will use the Zodiacs to land on Jar

Island to see the Gwion Gwion Aboriginal

art gallery. Discovered by Joseph Bradshaw

in 1891 some of the art has been dated

back over 17,000 years and is unique to this

region. Return to the vessel for lunch and this

afternoon land on the Anjo Peninsula where

our naturalists will lead various walks.

Day 11 King George River. At dawn we will

start our 12 kilometre journey through some

of the world’s most spectacular scenery along

the mighty King George River. Millions of

years of erosion have created vertical sheer

walls that resemble stacks of sandstone. The

highlight is sure to be King George Falls, the

highest single drop falls in the whole of the

Kimberley and your Expedition Team will get

you to the cascading waters.

Day 12 Wyndham. We will arrive in

Wyndham before breakfast and have a

choice of optional excursions. Choose to join

a scenic fight over the Bungle Bungles rock

formations and a hike into Cathedral Gorge

and Piccaninny Creek. Alternatively join the

Ord River Cruise.

Day 13 At sea.Day 14 Jaco Island, East Timor. After clearing

custom formalities in Com we will travel to

uninhabited Jaco Island, part of East Timor’s,

Nino Konis Santana National Park, for a day of

beachcombing, swimming and snorkelling.

Day 15 At sea.Day 16 Darwin, Australia. Disembark

after breakfast and enjoy a full day tour

to Litchfeld National Park, famous for its

magnifcent waterfalls and where bird and

wildlife species abound. On arrival in Darwin

we will transfer to the Hilton hotel (or similar)

for an overnight stay and meet this evening

for a farewell dinner at the hotel.

Day 17 Darwin to London. After breakfast

in the hotel transfer to the airport for our

scheduled indirect fight to London.

Day 18 London. Arrive this morning.

The Itinerary in Brief

Rarely visited in any comprehensive way due to its wild and undeveloped nature, the

Kimberley is a wonderful place for the genuine traveller to explore and perfect for

expedition style cruising. There are so many highlights, it is diffcult to know where to

begin when extolling its virtues. From the tidal phenomena at the Montgomery Bay Reef to the

Horizontal Waterfalls near Talbot Bay, from the hundreds of islands in the Buccaneer Archipelago

to the gorges of the Mitchell, King George and Prince Regent. The whole vast area offers a

cornucopia of natural world delights on a scale seldom witnessed anywhere else in the world.

The Kimberley region of Western Australia has fewer people per square kilometre than almost any other place on earth

and is truly one of the world’s last great wilderness areas with a complex landscape which encompasses spectacular

gorges and waterfalls, fascinating cave systems and an incredibly diverse variety of wildlife.

An expedition cruise to Australia’s ‘Top End’ from Broome to Darwin aboard MS Caledonian Sky

26th August to 12th September 2017

formations. We will use our Zodiacs in Yampi

Sound to make beach landings and enjoy a

swim in the natural pool at crocodile creek,

an area that defes its name. We will also visit

Talbot Bay, known for its massive 12 metre

tides that create an amazing spectacle, the

unique Horizontal Falls.

Day 8 Montgomery Reef & Raft Point. An unforgettable adventure today as the

magnifcent Montgomery Reef ‘rises’ out of

the ocean as the tidal waters cascade down

in to the surrounding deep channels in an

awesome display of the power of nature. Join

our Expedition Team aboard your Zodiac to

experience this natural phenomenon up close

and discover the reef’s diverse marine life.

Over lunch we position to Raft Point and use

Zodiacs to land on the beach. Either enjoy

time to relax whilst the energetic can climb to

a secluded Aboriginal rock art gallery.

Day 9 Hunter River & Naturalist Island. The Prince Frederick Harbour is home to

some of the most spectacular scenery we

will see. Soaring red cliffs, green rainforest

and mangroves paint a beautiful canvas for

our arrival as we sail through Nine Pin Head,

the sandstone bluff that marks the mouth

The MS Caledonian Sky is one of the fnest small ships in the world. She accommodates a

maximum of 114 passengers in 57 spacious outside suites. All suites have outside views and

many have private balconies, walk-in wardrobes and some feature tub baths. The spacious and

fnely decorated public rooms include a large lounge and an elegant bar where a pianist plays

periodically throughout the day. The travel library is the perfect place to relax with a book as

is the Club Lounge on the Panorama Deck. Outside there is a rear Lido deck where meals are

served in warm weather under shade and on the top deck there is a further observation and

sun deck with bar service. There is also a small gymnasium and hairdressers onboard. With only

one sitting and a maximum of just over 100 passengers,

the cuisine will be of a consistent superior quality. The

atmosphere onboard is warm and convivial and more

akin to a private yacht or country hotel in which you can

learn more about the wonders of nature and the culture

of places you are visiting in the company of like-minded

people and a knowledgeable expedition team.

MS Caledonian Sky

Prices & InclusionsSpecial offer prices per person based

on double occupancy range from

£7995 for a standard forward suite to

£9395 for an owner’s suite. Suites for

sole use from £10795.

What’s Included:• Economy class scheduled air travel

• 12 nights aboard the MS Caledonian

Sky on a full board basis

• Wine, beer and soft drinks with lunch

and dinner onboard,

• Two nights hotel accommodation in

Perth and overnight accommodation in

Darwin with breakfast

• Welcome dinner in Perth

• Farewell dinner in Darwin

• Shore excursions

• Noble Caledonia Expedition Team

• Transfers

• Gratuities

NB. Flights schedules are yet to be released at the time of going to print and the itinerary may change on their release. Zodiacs will be used during this expedition. Travel insurance and visas are not included in the price. All special offers are subject to availability. Our current booking conditions apply to all reservations.

Before embarking

the MS Caledonian

Sky in Broome we

are offering the

opportunity to join a

seven night escorted extension discovering

the wildlife and wildfowers of Western

Australia at the perfect time of the year. Full

itinerary and pricing available on request or

can be viewed at www.noble-caledonia.co.uk

Pre Cruise Extension:

Wildlife & Wildfowers of

Western Australia21st to 29th August 2017

across the top of australia

ultratravel 57

GOURMET SPECIAL

24 PAGES OF

FOODIE WALKABOUTS

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AUSTRALIA .COm

ULTRAAUSTRALIA

n o m a g o e s d o w n u n d e r h e l i - d r i n k i n g i n da r w i n b a r o s s a b y da i m l e r

ADELAIDE, WINES& BEYOND

Fr £440PP

5-NIGHTS, 4 STAR, ROOM ONLY,

CAR HIRE INCLUDED

SAVE £100

WWW.AUSTRAVEL.COM

OR CALL 0808 163 6126

Follow your tastebuds around four of Australia’s premier wine regions and

indulge in some of the country’s most celebrated food and wine experiences.

Visit the world-famous Barossa, picturesque Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale

and the quaint Clare Valley. Stop in at cellar doors, taste award-winning

wines and feast on gourmet local produce at restaurants set amongst

sprawling vineyards.

A gourmet escape in South AustraliaSouth Australia is justifi ably known for the quality of its wines and is one of

the country’s great culinary destinations. With over 200 cellar doors within

an hours’ drive of Adelaide, farmers markets, festivals and an abundance

of restaurants and cafes, you don’t need to travel far. Enjoy the foodie

experience year-round in South Australia with this 6-day self-drive, taking

in Adelaide and the Hills, McLaren Vale, Barossa and Clare Valley.

southaustralia.com

Australia’s Great Food and Wine Touring Route in South Australia

EPICUREAN WAY

ultratravel 59

the next BIG THINGImpressive architecture in the cit, musical delights in the outback and breathtaking walks on Kangaroo Island. Here is the new, says John O’Ceallaigh

Kangaroo Island’s rugged bushland and pristine

beaches off the south coast are set to become a

touch more accessible in 2016. A 39-mile walking

route, the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, is being

developed and, when fully open in June, will enable

visitors to explore a terrain that incorporates wind-

sculpted rocks, tumbling cascades, soaring clifftops

and a warren of stalactite-strewn caves. The five-

day walk traverses Flinders Chase National Park,

Cape Bouguer Wilderness Protection Area and Kelly

Hill Conservation Park, with four campsites en route.

parks.sa.gov.au

Australia’s only national

orchestra, the Australian

Chamber Orchestra (below),

regularly performs at the Sydney

Opera House, but next month

music fans have a unique

opportunity to see them play

at another Australian landmark.

On October 30 and 31, the

troupe will for the first time host

a series of three concerts at

Uluru Meeting Place. There, in

the vast, still expanse of the

Red Centre, just 380 guests will

hear the ensemble perform a

carefully considered programme

that draws on the talents

of the country’s most respected

musicians and pays due

reverence to this sacred place.

Three dining events – from an

outback barbecue lunch to a gala

dinner with orchestra members

– will ensure the merriment

continues in the leisurely pauses

between performances.

Changes are afoot in Brisbane’s Queen’s

Wharf precinct: Queensland’s government

this summer approved plans to redevelop

the quarter within the Central Business

District. Among the many modifications in

store is the construction of a cluster of

curved skyscrapers that will endow the city

skyline with a gleaming new focal point.

The development will be more than

cosmetic, however: it is intended to serve

as a new visitor and investment hub, a

bridge between the city centre and river,

and a recreational area. Alongside more

than 50 new restaurants, cafés and bars,

a casino and a handful of high-end hotels

will cater to visitors. An expansive

promenade and elevated open-air Sky

Deck should prove popular meeting spots

on summer evenings, while additional

cultural spaces will include a new theatre,

a cinema and an arena that will host

nightly water and light shows.

Construction is expected to start

in 2017 on the revival of this historically

significant district, where Brisbane

originated some 180 years ago and many

of the city’s most significant cultural

attractions – the Botanic Gardens,

Cultural Precinct and South Bank among

them – are situated.

m o r p h w h a r f

Next month sees the opening of the latest of

Melbourne’s MPavilions – a series of

aesthetically exceptional temporary

structures designed by leading international

architects in Queen Victoria Gardens. This

year’s design, by Stirling Prize-winning

architect Amanda Levete and her AL_A

studio, is the second to open, and will host

talks, workshops and performances.

Levete’s design, which resembles a futuristic

forest in the centre of the city – a series of

slender columns atop which stand sleek and

sinuous translucent petals – will be open for

shade and creative sustenance from October

5 to February 7 2016 (mpavilion.org).

hop-foot It

classIc rocK

aN ENchaNtED forEst

EXPERIENCE THE ICONS

OF AUSTRALIAA perfect way to experience the land down under is by combining the icons of Sydney, the fiery red sands of the Outback and the spectacular colours of the Great Barrier Reef. Discover the famous architecture of the Opera House or head inside to enjoy one of its many concerts. Cycle across the Harbour Bridge, or for a little adventure take part in the Bridge Climb. Sail the magnificent harbour and head inland to the Blue Mountains to view the glorious Three Sisters rock formation, before travelling to the heart of the Outback for a sunset tour at Uluru (Ayers Rock), and in Cairns cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel with majestic marine life.

SYDNEY, ROCK & REEF

8 nights from £1,649 pp

Saving £90 per couple

Includes: FREE Sydney Harbour Story Cruise, 3nts 4★ Sydney hotel, 2nts 4★ Ayers Rock hotel, 3nts 4★ Cairns hotel and return International Flights with Etihad Airways*. Selected travel in March 2016.

Calls are free from landlines, mobiles and other providers’ charges may vary. Off ers subject to change and availability.

Valid for bookings made from the 19th August to the 18th September, only one free excursion valid per person. No cash

alternative and no refunds will be given for unused free excursions. Blackout dates may apply. *Flights are priced with

Etihad airways departing London Heathrow. Prices are correct at time of going to print, for selected travel and may be

withdrawn at any time. ATOL protected.

Call our expert Travel Designers on FREEPHONE 0808 115 0879

or visit austravel.com

We don’t just go there, we know there

$%7$�1R�:����

FREE DAY TOUR

ultratravel 61

SUNNY SIDE UP IN SYDNEY

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AUSTRALIA .COm

TAmARAmA KIOSK TAmARAmA

This award-winning Lahznimmo-

designed café, set along one

side of a small scalloped

beach, is a haunt of fashionistas

(hence the neighbourhood’s

nickname, Glamarama). Favourites

include bircher muesli, quinoa and

pistachio granola, and croque

madame, accompanied by an

iced latte blended with honey

(facebook.com/kiosk.tamarama).

ICebeRgS TeRRACe bONdI beACH

Although this restaurant is best known for its

spectacular paninis, frittatas, eggs and coffees, it

also serves healthy options such as coconut water,

goji berries, kale, beetroot and micro herbs, thanks

to walkers who pound the two-mile Bondi to Bronte

trail. The popular city eating hole attracts a real mix

of Sydneysiders, from surfers and smart walkers to

a glam celeb crowd. It’s worth turning up early

when the Sunday market is on (idrb.com/terrace).

SeASALT CAfé CLOveLLy

One of the few spots at which, if you arrive

early, you can park – and then snare a

protected spot by the seawater pool. The

spot, adjacent to a narrow inlet and beach,

is popular with families and those seeking

a sheltered tanning spot after a sweetcorn

stack with guacamole, tomato relish and

bacon. The Clovelly Surf Life Saving Club

is a minute away, as is Gordon Bay for

snorkelling (seasaltcafe.com.au).

THRee bLUe dUCKS bRONTe

Up until 11.30am you can sit on a bench by the road and

watch the world drift by, or go inside and enjoy the arresting

local art. The famous black sausage with scrambled eggs

and dill tastes splendid in either spot. Just up the hill from

Bronte Beach, this cool restaurant will crack open a fresh

coconut to wash down breakfast, and serves toast with

honey from its own bees (threeblueducks.com/bronte).

WATSONS bAy HOTeL WATSONS bAy

After a breakfast of Sicilian-style baked eggs on

sourdough at this celebrated eastern-suburbs

waterside hotel you can transition seamlessly into

a typical Australian brunch of mashed avocado

with tomato and feta. Arrive early for a window-

side seat with classic harbour views. A ferry from

Circular Quay in the Central Business District is

the best way of getting here as parking can be tricky

(watsonsbayhotel.com.au).

bATHeRS’ PAvILIONbALmORAL beACH

If you’re after culinary bragging rights,

then this restaurant by the culinary superstar

Serge Dansereau is an essential stop-off.

No reservations are taken and queues form

early on weekends, when the café swells with

gourmands waiting to tuck into his vegetable

tart with poached free-range eggs and lemon

hollandaise (batherspavilion.com.au).

Whichever way you like your eggs, there will be a hip beachside breakfast spot in the city that serves them just so.

Ralph Bestic tests the waters – and several brunches – on a road trip around the coast

THe bOWeR ReSTAURANT mANLy

Located at Fairy Bower on a pathway

between Manly and Shelly beaches that is

hugely popular with dogwalkers and cyclists,

the restaurant is white-themed throughout,

a dazzling foil to the blue water that laps just

metres away below a seawall. Here, any dish

served with avocado is delicious; regulars

often then grab an iced coffee and wander up

to Shelly Beach (thebowerrestaurant.com.au).

bRONze KIOSK mONA vALe

This casual spot is in hard-core surfing

territory: boards, bleached hair and

attitude are all on show, over a black

coffee and eggs with tomato salsa.

North of the Mona Vale Surf Club,

this spot is adored by early-morning

swimmers. Breakfast, beach and a dip are

the order of the day (bronzekiosk.com.au).

Illu

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atIo

nsa

m F

alc

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er

62 ultratravel

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AuSTrAlIA .COm

TheSUPeRCheFS

hAVeLANDED

Roo with bunya-bunya nuts, wagyu with

riberries – Australia’s cuisine has never

been so inventive, attracting masters from

Heston Blumenthal to René Redzepi.

Terry Durack charts the great gastro revolution

Australian customs officers are getting very used

to the top chefs of the world landing in front of

them clutching their passports and flip-flops.

If it isn’t Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck,

it’s René Redzepi of Copenhagen’s Noma,

both regular visitors as they juggle their new restaurants.

Suddenly, Australia is the special of the day.

This autumn Blumenthal transforms his pop-up restaurant

into a permanent branch of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in

Melbourne – a place he rates as one of the top five food cities

in the world. He was, he says, simply following his heart.

“Yes, it’s a long way away from home,” he told Ultratravel.

“But I don’t care, because I love it. I am also in love with

Australia’s food. I’ve never seen a country explode food-wise

the way Australia has.”

In the meantime, Redzepi of Noma (named four times the

best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine),

ping-pongs back and forth between Denmark and Australia

in preparation for moving his entire team of chefs and

waiting staff – and even the dishwasher – to Sydney in

January 2016 for a 10-week “restaurant-in-residence”. Why

Sydney? Why Australia? Why now? “I love the country,

but I also love the breed of chefs there,” says Redzepi.

There is something also in the water; Redzepi is in awe of

the huge diversity of crabs, prawns, lobsters, oysters, scallops,

clams and wild-caught fish in the clean, cold, southern-

hemisphere oceans. His Australian restaurant will present

a menu inspired by the Australian coastline, based on salty,

crunchy sea succulents and seaweeds, foraged indigenous

leaves and berries, seabirds, wild fish and shellfish.

ultratravel 63

Aussie gold Bennelong restaurant in Sydney Opera

House, overseen by chef Peter Gilmore. With its

soaring interiors and harbour views, it’s widely

regarded as the most beautiful place to eat in the city

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

WESTERN AUSTRALIA, FAMOUS FOR ITS BEACHES AND SUNSHINE, HAS LONG

BEEN A NIRVANA FOR WINE LOVERS. NOW IT HAS A FOOD SCENE TO MATCH,

WITH THE SOUTH WEST OF THE STATE LEADING THE GASTRONOMIC CHARGE.

GRAPE ESCAPES WINE, SURF & SEAFOOD IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

FROM SURF TO SAUVIGNON

Margaret River Region, Western Australia’s most

famous wine region, is just a three-hour drive from the

State’s capital city, Perth. ‘Margs,’ as it’s known to its

famously laid-back locals, frst gained popularity as a

surfng town (the waves here roll as impressively as

the scenery), but since the late 1960s its favourable

climate and soil conditions have seen it emerge as an

internationally-acclaimed wine-making centre too.

The region is now home to over 200 wineries

creating an extraordinary array of gold-medal-winning

chardonnays, cabernet sauvignons and semillon-

sauvignon blancs. Visitors are not merely welcome; they

are lavishly catered for. Drop in for a tasting, gourmet

lunch or behind-the-scenes tour at, among others,

Leeuwin Estate and Cullens (biodynamic pioneers), or

venture further south to rising star, Snake and Herring,

in the Great Southern region.

On route to most wineries you’ll also fnd numerous

stores and farm shops offering everything from artisan

cheese to chocolate, along with mircobreweries and

restaurants doing delicious things with local seafood.

Want to search for your supper? Head for the forests

near Pemberton for a spot of guided truffe hunting.

A TASTE FOR ADVENTURE

As well as being a great place to satisfy an appetite,

West Australia’s south west also offers plenty of options

when it comes to working one up. There are stunning

beaches for surfng, snorkelling and sunbathing,

spectacular tall-tree forests for exploring and climbing

and ancient caves to navigate by torchlight.

The Bibbulmun Track, one of Australia’s great

walking trails, also winds along the coast here (spot

wildfowers and migrating whales as you put your best

foot forward). Or how about an adventure by canoe?

Paddle the Margaret River on a bush tucker safari.

WHEN TO GO

The south west has a Mediterranean climate, best

enjoyed from September to May. For foodies, the

Margaret River Gourmet Escape, held annually in

November, is not to be missed.

Staged over three days it features stalls from

150 local producers and attracts a stellar crowd of

international food and wine big-hitters. Relax at a beach

barbecue hosted by Rick Stein, or head to a boutique

vineyard to feast at an exclusive dinner from Michelin-

starred greats such as Heston Blumenthal.

GETTING THERE Western Australia is closer than you think. Perth is around 18 hours fying time from the UK (four hours closer than Sydney). A range of international carriers service the city, including Etihad Airways with prices from £655 per person. Austravel offer a nine day self-drive holiday to Perth and the South West from £1,149pp – fnd out more at

www.austravel.com/australiafood or by calling 0808 163 6126*

For more information and ideas on culinary adventures in Western Australia, visit westernaustralia.com/gourmet

*Calls are free from landlines, mobiles and other providers’ charges may vary.

SAVOUR THE FLAVOURS

of the exotic town of Broome,

where the outback meets

the ocean. Try the mighty

barramundi fsh, tropical

fruits, craft beers and meat

from giant pearl shells.

CATCH & COOK a seafood

campfre supper on a kayak

adventure led by a local

Aboriginal guide in the Shark

Bay World Heritage area.

TAKE A ‘KNIFE & FORK’

WALK in booming Perth.

From fne dining to fusion

food trucks and whisky dens

to rooftop bars, Australia’s

sunniest city offers highlights

aplenty for the discerning

gourmet traveller.

THE ENTIRE STATE ...ON A PLATE

Clockwise from left: Working up an appetite in the surf; supper time on a ‘catch & cook’ adventure; exploring the

wines and vines of Margaret River; Western Australia is home to some of the world’s fnest seafood.

ultratravel 65

Mind you, Australian food hasn’t always been quite so

inspirational. Only 40 years ago, the soup of the day was

pumpkin, the Sunday roast was lamb, pud was pavlova,

and a cold beer was preferred to that fancy stuff, wine.

Its food revival has its roots in the Eighties with

pioneering chefs such as Neil Perry and Tetsuya Wakuda,

both of whom combined classic techniques with an Asian

sensibility and the best produce in the land. Tetsuya’s

confit of ocean trout – a golden arc of marbled, flesh-pink

Tasmanian fish roofed with crunchy kombu seaweed – is

still one of the most photographed dishes on the planet.

“Tetsuya was at the forefront of Australian cuisine, by

introducing Japanese ingredients with his own style and

thought process,” says Martin Benn, head chef of Sepia in

Sydney and a former trainee of Tetsuya. “This crossover of

culture and ideas inspired a generation of chefs.”

Perry, who opened the glamorous, ground-breaking

Rockpool restaurant in the Rocks, Sydney, in 1990, claims

the multicultural nature of Australia society, the

unrivalled quality of Australian seafood and the close

proximity of Asia have been the biggest formative

influences on the nation’s recent cuisine. “No other

country incorporates Asian ingredients and techniques

into their food as well as we do,” he says.

Proof of the multicultural pudding is at the darkly

glamorous Rockpool, in the 113-year-old heritage-listed

Burns Philp Building in Sydney’s financial district, where

you can eat Perry’s mud crab with silken tofu and

fermented vinegar, and abalone meunière with puffed rice

and herb salad. “We are not bound by tradition,” explains

Benn, whose butter-poached Port Lincoln squid with

miso-cured egg yolk, yuzu and sorrel at Sepia is another

local favourite. “So we have a uniqueness and a freedom

with our cuisine like no other nation does.”

The most alluring showcase for new Australian

cuisine lies in the heart of Sydney, beneath the

glorious sails of the Sydney Opera House,

designed by the Danish architect Jørn Utzon. At

the recently reopened Bennelong at the Opera House, the

hugely talented Peter Gilmore showcases Australia’s finest

produce with an intuitive sense of culinary balance.

Sitting in Utzon’s soaring, metal-ribbed galleria space

surrounded by harbour views is lovely enough; add

Gilmore’s meltingly soft smoked and confit of pig jowl

with roasted koji (a sweet, fragrant Japanese ferment),

shiitake mushrooms, kombu seaweed, sea scallop and

sesame, and the combined experience is breathtaking.

Gilmore, who also runs the acclaimed Quay restaurant,

calls the new Australian cuisine “free and imaginative”.

It’s this sense of freedom, says Andrew McConnell,

founder of the informal Cumulus Inc and stylish Cutler

& Co in Melbourne, that means Australian chefs evolve

ideas faster than they could in older cultures. “It’s the best

of both worlds,” he says, “to have native marron

[freshwater crayfish], abalone and native plants, as well

as beef and game.” McConnell nails what observers see

as the catalyst for Australia’s new pulling power as a

foodie magnet – that Australian food is getting more

Australian. The past five years have seen a focus on native

and wild food that is forming a cuisine with an

extraordinary taste. Sour, astringent native riberries, juicy

sea succulents and lightly gamey kangaroo and wallaby

have transcended gimmicky “theme” restaurants and now

inspire the most creative chefs in the country.

Small, sedate Adelaide is home to one of them. At

Orana (Aboriginal for “welcome”), Scottish-born Jock

Zonfrillo is creating an Australian cuisine from the

ground up, with native ingredients foraged from

the rainforests of Queensland to the escarpments of the

Kimberley ranges. Dishes such as Coorong mulloway with

native cherries and sea parsley, and cured wagyu brisket

with riberries, are as much about harmony and grace as

they are about provenance. “Each dish tastes, smells and

looks like an interpretation of the great Australian

landscape,” says Zonfrillo, whose mission is to establish

sustainable markets for Aboriginal communities.

In Melbourne, Attica, run by chef Ben Shewry, is the

highest Australian entry on the World’s 50 Best

Restaurants list for 2015, and with good reason. Shewry’s

evocative tasting menu includes salted red kangaroo with

bunya bunya nuts, marron with lilly pilly (riberry), and

crisp-fried Port Phillip Bay mussels with sea succulents.

Not all restaurants are high end, though. At Billy Kwong in

Sydney, Kylie Kwong celebrates her Chinese-Australian

heritage with Aussie-Chinese food that includes baked

wallaby buns with Davidson plum sauce and deep-fried

John Dory with XO chilli sauce, samphire and sea parsley.

It’s an exciting time for Australian food; one with

rewards at every level. Small wonder savvy food-lovers are

heading to Australia, eager to taste the newest – and the

oldest – cuisine on the planet.

Austravel (0808 163 6126; austravel.com) offers an 11-day

Sydney to Brisbane package from £1,589 per person

including car hire, 10 nights’ accommodation and return

flights with Etihad Airways (etihad.com).

‘We are not bound by tradition, so we

have a freedom with our cuisine like no other nation does’

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AuSTrAlIA .COm

GO NATIVE Clockwise

from top left: Alpine

strawberry meringue at

Sepia; René Redzepi picks

Australian apples; the

kitchen at Bennelong;

Tetsuya’s confit of ocean

trout; kangaroo and

pomegranate at Attica

66 ultratravel

AustrAliA, lickedTake six great chefs, place them in Australia, then ask them to choose

their favourite restaurants. The result is a mouth-watering and essential tick-list

for any foodie going to Oz. Interviews by James Steen

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AUSTRALIA .COm

Queensland

Luke Rayment

Hailed as the Rising Young Chef of Queensland in

2001, Luke Rayment has been cooking in London

since 2006, and is now executive chef at Soho House

I love everything about Cru Bar & Cellar (crubar.

com) on James Street in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane:

its drinks list, superb cocktails, chilled vibe and the

food. also on James Street is Gerard’s Bistro

(gerardsbistro.com.au), whose menu, designed

around the sharing concept, is inventive and

diverse. Beccofino (beccofino.com.au) in teneriffe

specialises in simplicity – the pizza and pasta are

as good as any in Italy. It has the perfect vibe on

a busy night. I’ll always have fond memories of

Il Centro (il-centro.com.au) as I’ve worked there

twice. It serves really good Italian cuisine, the views

over Brisbane River and Story Bridge are amazing,

the service is polished, and you know you’re in for a

good meal when it has a signature dish of sand-

crab lasagne. Frog ’N’ Toad (00 617 3371 7823) in

auchenflower is my guilty pleasure. I head there for

a “burger with the lot”. and it is a lot!

South Australia and the Northern Territory

Jock ZonFRILLo

Glasgow-born Jock Zonfrillo trained with Marco

Pierre White, among other chefs, in Britain. Then he

discovered an enduring love of native Australian

produce, which he cooks to perfection at Orana and

Street ADL, his acclaimed restaurants in Adelaide

South australia is a one-stop shop of incredible

produce, such as scallops off kangaroo Island, and

big fat mulloway fish from the coorong estuary. It’s

a celebration of seasonality. to grab its energy, hit

the Adelaide Central Market and discover all the

small producers who represent the best Sa has to

offer. I love Lucia’s: the smell of sweet, herby Italian

sugo takes me back to my Italian family – fabulous

food for the soul. adelaide is jumping with new

places, but a must-visit is my South african mate

Duncan Welgemoed’s Africola (africola.com.au).

He brings a fantastic mix of flavours from his home

town to a buzzing restaurant/bar. For coffee with

a side of sarcasm, I go to Hey Jupiter (00 618 4160

5072), which does the best pulled-pork sandwich

– christophe, who owns it, is a local personality.

In the Barossa Valley, Fino Seppeltsfield

(seppeltsfield.com.au) is beautiful, with alfresco

dining and, naturally, a pretty good wine list: it is

a place that makes amazing food in a great winery.

Hentley Farm (hentleyfarm.com.au) in mcLaren

Vale, run by Lachlan colwill, is, to me, South

australia’s best restaurant in a winery. Finally,

Osteria Sanso (osteriasanso.com.au) in kanmantoo

is a taste of tuscany; eugenio Sanso brings old-

school glamour to the area. He’s the real deal.

the northern territory also has great restaurants.

In Darwin, try Pee Wee’s at the Point (peewees.

com.au) for its banana prawns, blue swimmer crab,

kangaroo carpaccio and barramundi – and the

timor Sea view. at Hanuman in Darwin (hanuman.

com.au), check out Jimmy Shu’s jungle curry of

beef and his prawns with ginger and coconut.

Western Australia

SHane oSBoRn

Shane Osborn made his name in Britain by winning

two Michelin stars as chef patron of Pied à Terre in

London. Today he creates elegant dishes with a

Scandinavian influence at Arcane in Hong Kong

I grew up in Perth and got out of there as fast as

possible to travel and (as a young chef) taste the

seasonal produce and work in the michelin kitchens

of europe. I’ve learnt a lot, and have come to see

what was on my doorstep the whole time. Western

australia offers some of the greatest produce in

the world. michelin-starred iconic restaurants from

the French Laundry in california to the Fat Duck in

the uk use truffles from this region. the seafood is

some of the best, and my chef buddies can’t

believe their first taste of marron, a type of crayfish.

the forests and coastline offer a bounty of wild and

native ingredients; it’s a chef’s larder.

Lalla Rookh (lallarookh.com.au) in Perth typifies

australia, serving up modern Italian food using

fantastic Wa produce. For something more elegant,

try Restaurant Amusé (restaurantamuse.com.au):

Hadleigh troy’s tasting menu changes depending

on the availability of produce and the vibe in the

kitchen. It’s always a treat. In murray Street, Nao

(00 618 9325 2090) is a Japanese restaurant with

a cult following. Great hot bowls of tasty ramen

with aromatic aromas tease you as you wait. BMT

Vietnamese (00 618 6161 9049) is a surprising

little café in the newpark mall, a must for banh mi

thit (a Vietnamese meat roll): super-tasty fast food.

no trip to Wa is complete without a visit to a

winery restaurant. cullen, Leeuwin, Vasse Felix –

the region is home to many of our finest wineries.

two years ago I cooked at Voyager Estate (voyager

estate.com.au) during the margaret River Gourmet

escape food festival. this year I am honoured to be

cooking alongside tetsuya Wakuda at Knee Deep

(kneedeepwines.com.au). I can’t wait to go back.

New South Wales

Lennox HaStIe

After stints in Michelin-starred restaurants including

Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Lennox Hastie went

back to Australia in 2011, and back to culinary basics.

At Firedoor in the Surry Hills of New South Wales, he is

known as “the fireman”, as he cooks on wood coals,

using different woods for different dishes

In Sydney a favourite is The Bridge Room (the

bridgeroom.com.au), which serves exemplary

australian food with influences from asia and

europe. Ross Lusted cooks passionately, with

incredible attention to detail and clean flavours

that remain true to the ingredients. In the Sydney

opera House, Peter Gilmore’s Bennelong

(bennelong.com.au) captures where the australian

food scene is at the moment: celebrating its

multicultural diversity and the best ingredients. It’s

an iconic space and elegant room, and the menu

is well conceived. Dishes include grilled Lady elliot

Island bug, fermented chilli, organic turnips and

radishes; and Flinders Island salt-grass lamb with

broad beans, Jerusalem artichokes, nasturtiums,

kale and anchovy salt. I love LuMi (lumidining.com)

in Pyrmont for its Italian food with a Japanese

twist. It does inventive, refined food that packs a

punch – the stinging-nettle chitarra is one of the

best things I’ve put in my mouth. I also recommend

Tomah Gardens Restaurant at the Blue mountains

Botanic Garden (bluemountainsbotanicgarden.

com.au). With outstanding views, it is the perfect Be

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ultratravel 67

place to relax over lunch. Sean Moran (from Sean’s

Panorama at Bondi) has a beautiful rustic menu

using local produce such as kohlrabi with fingerlimes

and blueberry scones with honey butter. Food

cooked with fire always tastes better, and Ester

(ester-restaurant.com.au) in Chippendale nails it.

Its killer wine list and laid-back atmosphere also

make it a Sydney stalwart. In Paddington 10

William Street (10williamst.com.au) has a cracking

wine list, buzzy atmosphere and inventive small

dishes – a refreshing riff on casual Italian bar food.

Victoria

Sat BaInS

He has two Michelin stars at Restaurant Sat Bains

with Rooms in Nottingham, and is adored by his

rivals, who awarded him Chefs’ Chef of the Year 2009.

Come November, Bains will be at the Margaret River

Gourmet Escape food festival in Western Australia

I love Supernormal (supernormal.net.au) in

Melbourne. It’s large, loud and bustling, with an

open kitchen and good wine list. andrew McConnell

serves mountains of oysters, steamed pork buns,

and slow-cooked Szechuan lamb. Gazi (gazi

restaurant.com.au), owned by George Calombaris,

is always busy serving Greek “tapas”. The Town

Mouse (thetownmouse.com.au) is a small

neighbourhood restaurant – benches, stools and

good-quality, reasonably priced small eats. In South

Melbourne, The Kettle Black (thekettleblack.com.

au) is excellent for a good breakfast, brunch, lunch

and coffee (it closes at 4pm), with outside space

and relaxed service. Get there early! there’s just

one place for the finest succulent steak: Rockpool

Bar & Grill (rockpool.com/rockpoolbarandgrill

melbourne) in the Crown Complex. a ribeye on the

bone, done on the wood-fired grill, is about £30.

Pope Joan (popejoan.com.au), meanwhile, is good

for breakfast (the porridge includes parsnip, prune

and smoked maple), lunch or dinner and has an

outside area. as for bars, I like Gin Palace (ginpalace.

com.au) and Arbory (arbory.com.au) at Flinders

Street Station. Eau de Vie (eaudevie.com.au) has

no signage, but has a fabulous cocktail list and is a

cool place. Shannon Bennett’s Piggery Café (piggery

cafe.com.au) at Burnham Beeches is on a farm in

the Dandenong ranges, next to Yarra Valley, an

hour’s drive from Melbourne. It has a family feel,

with staples such as bread from Shannon’s bakery

and barramundi burgers, which you could follow by

a game of bowls. In a Windsor backstreet, Saigon

Sally (saigonsally.com.au) is a contemporary

Vietnamese restaurant, whose sharing “buffet” is

excellent value and whose kingfish ceviche is

exceptional. Proud Mary Café (proudmarycoffee.

com.au) in Fitzroy is ideal for cake and great coffee.

Tasmania

Clare SMYth

Raised on a farm near Bushmills in Northern Ireland,

Smyth says her diet always included potatoes. Now

chef patron of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea,

London, she is the first and only British woman to hold

three Michelin stars, and has an MBE to boot

last year, on a tour of australia as part of the

restaurant australia campaign, we ate exceptionally

well at every stop. If you visit Melbourne, Vue de

Monde (vuedemonde.com.au) is a must. I fell in

love with tasmania: it is lush, mountainous and the

produce is unbelievably good. It’s mostly about

rustic eating, with the excitement of exploring

what’s on offer from artisan producers. at the

saffron farm Tas-saff (tas-saff.com.au) at Glaziers

Bay, terry and nicky noonan started with about

five bulbs and now produce the best saffron I’ve

tasted. the region’s wine includes extremely good

pinot noir, and sparkling wines from makers such

as Jansz ( jansz.com.au), whose vines thrive in the

free-draining basalt soils in the Pipers river region.

In Derwent Valley there’s the beautiful Westerway

Raspberry Farm (lanoma.com.au), run by the Clark

family. Bruny Island Cheese Company (brunyisland

cheese.com.au) produces award-winning cheeses

such as tom, Otto and nanna. Its owner nick

haddow’s story is familiar to others in tas: chefs

and food producers from all corners of the globe

head there to open restaurants and businesses.

It’s hip and, hey, there are farms that feed cattle

entirely on grass – no grain! tasmania feels like

a step back in time, with a gentle pace, but is also

“on trend”, delivering the types of food you might

expect to find only in expensive city restaurants.

hobart, the capital, has a pretty harbour with

plenty of restaurants such as Henry’s (thehenry

jones.com). at Ethos (ethoseatdrink.com),

which celebrates the region’s food and serves

home-made charcuterie, we had a fantastic feast

of small plates and craft beers.

A TASTE OF THE OLD

COUNTRY Duncan

Welgemoed’s Africola,

in Adelaide: a buzzy

restaurant and bar with

a South African flavour

WESTERN

AUSTRALIA

NORTHERN

TERRITORY

SOUTH

AUSTRALIA

QUEENSLAND

NEW SOUTH

WALES

VICTORIA

TASMANIA

68 ultratravel

In Australia, taking a flight to have a meal isn’t an extravagance – it’s often the only way to get there in time. Three correspondents sample the gourmet high

haute cuisine

ultratravel 69

life by plane, helicopter and balloon, dropping in for tastings and tipples en route

Food to Fly For

tours by private plane,

hot-air balloon and

helicopter offer a chance to

sample some of Australia’s

finest produce in a day,

from award-winning

wine to wagyu beef

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AuSTrAlIA .COm

70 ultratravel

I’m flying from a grey and breezy coast to the

sunburnt, tranquil interior. I’m flying from

mighty oceanic wilderness towards a serration of

hazy blue mountains, passing over one of

Australia’s great cities. Most importantly, perhaps,

I’m flying in this little private plane from a breakfast of

abalone and samphire canapés to a lunchtime picnic

featuring the world’s finest goat’s cheese.

It may seem the height of decadence to jump in

a plane specifically to eat and drink at my destination.

But three things make this indulgence worthwhile when

you’re Down Under. The first is distance: Australia is so

big, sometimes you have to get in a jet to find the

nearest decent teashop. The second is money: Australia

is a rich country. Miners on the Kimberley coast can

make £200,000 a year, and Sydney oozes affluence. Lots

of people can therefore afford this kind of opulence.

Third: the product. Surveys show that the main reason

visitors come back to Australia is because they loved the

tucker and grog so much the first time.

They are right. Thanks to its clear

seas, Edenic pastures, virgin

forests, pollution-free rivers, mix of

Asian and European cuisines, and

an inventive approach, Australia’s

food and wine is world class.

The oysters of Bermagui. The lamb

of Tasmania. The wines from

Margaret River. And then there’s

the abalone, fished from the

Mornington Peninsula, Victoria –

which I sampled this morning.

To be honest, it wasn’t the most

auspicious start. I woke in my bijou

chalet on the wild western coastline

of the Mornington Peninsula to skies the colour of a

discarded oyster shell, and more than a hint of salty rain

in the air. And yet it is this capricious maritime climate,

given to extremes of cold (from the Antarctic to the

south) and heat (when the north wind blows from

Australia’s inland deserts), that makes the half-

suburban, half-wild Mornington Peninsula so special for

gourmets and tipplers. The fertile soils, blessed with

ample rain and sun, are excellent for pinot noirs and

whites. Rustling orchards abound, so cider is excellent.

But what about the abalone? An hour after rising I was

out on the swell of the Bass Strait with fisherman David

Hunt, seeking out this much-desired delicacy. If you’ve

never seen an abalone in the wild, my advice is, don’t.

They look like diseased barnacles with elephantiasis.

If, as Jonathan Swift said, it took a brave man to eat the

first oyster, then it must have taken an even braver man,

probably also blind drunk and two hours from a hungry

death, to snack on an abalone.

Despite their looks, abalone fetch a high price. As we

bobbed around the chilly waters, I inquired of Hunt how

much he could make fishing them. “In the old days

$20,000 a day,” he sighed. “Now it’s barely half that.

I did say Australia was prosperous. Even the mollusc-

gatherers are millionaires.

Because we had to be in the Yarra Valley by lunchtime,

the morning’s fishing was truncated, and we briskly

repaired to the beach for breakfast, prepared by chef

Julian Hills from the Paringa Estate. Hills dived in and

out of sandy shrubs, delivering sea spinach, warrigal

greens, rock samphire, beach parsley and “pigface

succulents”. Then, as we knocked back crisp

Mornington Peninsula wines – such as Garagiste

Merricks Chardonnay – Hills turned these foraged

veggies into delicate nibbles, served with fine raw slices

of that very ugly abalone. Yep, delicious.

I then jumped in a car with Tim Wildman of Vineyard

Safaris, and headed to tiny Tyabb Airport. And here I

am, soaring over Melbourne in a little scarlet aeroplane

like a middle-aged gourmet James Bond. Wildman, who

is a Master of Wine, devised the idea of this fly-and-dine

adventure. As we descend to Lilydale

Airport in the Yarra he explains his

philosophy. “It doesn’t get much

more special than flying from one

landscape to another, sampling the

best food and wine. But I also want

my guests to meet the people behind

the products.”

After we touch down, Wildman

takes me on a viticultural and

culinary whirlwind of a tour. I meet

Sam Middleton in his vineyard,

where he creates the great Quintet

Cabernet Sauvignon blend. I try

some William Downie Gippsland

Pinot Noir with its maker. I sample gin at the Melbourne

Gin Company with genius distiller Andrew Marks.

And then we have our picnic. And what a picnic:

of Healesville olives, green tomato salad and smoked

paprika, fresh local trout, brochettes of tender

marinated lamb hearts, plus that amazing goat’s cheese

(Holy Goat La Luna, made in Victoria). And all of it

washed down with Thousand Candles 2013 red (one of

the best wines I’ve ever tasted) and all of it enjoyed on

the slopes of the Thousand Candles estate: a vast scoop

of empty valley under a flawlessly blue Australian sky.

Vineyard Safaris’ (0061 428 920 355; vineyardsafaris.com)

one-day wine tours with a Master of Wine cost from £370.

Austravel (0808 163 6126; austravel.com) offers a six-day

Melbourne Gourmet Safari package from £1,395, including

car hire, five nights’ accommodation, hot-air balloon and

wine tours and Etihad Airways flights (etihad.com).

Flights from London, Manchester and Edinburgh via Abu

Dhabi to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, cost

from £655 per person.

FLIGHT of FANTASY

Sean Thomas boards a private plane to flit between a breakfast of abalone and samphire

on the Mornington coast and a dream picnic at an acclaimed boutique vineyard

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AuSTrAlIA .COm

ultratravel 71

Snakes didn’t spring to mind when I signed up to go hot-air

ballooning at dawn. But after piling sleepily into the back of

a utility vehicle and rattling across the retreating sleek edge of the

Australian night, our briefing began. Like a crack troop, albeit a

yawning one who’d never trained together before, we were

warned that the cool fields at dawn may harbour silent slithering

foes. I think the larrikin driving us did this because he could see

that I was the only idiot wearing sandals and was also the only

person in the vehicle with a film crew for ITV’s This Morning.

Unfurling the balloon over its flame is the closest I’m ever

going to get to feeling like a toasted teacake – lovely, incidentally.

As it drifted upward, the towering balloon slowly ruffled into

shape. I clambered into the basket and, as I rose over a ghostly

treeline, the world stopped. Or rather, it began. You move with the

wind, which means it feels breathlessly still even though you

might be travelling faster than a bounding kangaroo. And, as our

captain silently pulled ropes and twisted valves, Yarra Valley

emerged beneath us in a streak of astonishing purple. Its

vineyards, row by row, stood to attention on morning parade

where some of my favourite winemakers such as Mac Forbes

tease out their treasure for the UK shelves. With the world eerily

gathering beneath us, we were the birds’ eyes over the lush Yarra

Valley and Dandenong Ranges, the pastures of Yarra Valley Dairy

and the orchards of the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery.

All too soon the spell lifted, the basket dropped and, with

a semi-dignified bump, I clambered out of my temporary wicker

sky-home and kissed the ground. On all fours, I half expected

to spot a grinning Aussie snake ready to bite the Pom. But

all I saw was Yarra Valley, bathed in golden light, and vineyards,

ripe for exploring.

Global Ballooning (0061 3 9428 5703; globalballooning.com.au)

offers a range of packages departing from Rochford Winery before

dawn. Landings can be followed with wine-tasting excursions,

gourmet tours, cider and ale trails. A day trip, including breakfast at

Rochford Wines, lunch at Yering Station, and visits to five wineries

(Coldstream Hills, Domaine Chandon, Yering Station and De Bortoli

Wines) costs A$575/£268 per person.

‘Drinking For Chaps: How to Choose One’s Booze’ by Gustav Temple

and Olly Smith, is published on October 22 by Kyle Books

the Yarra ValleY bY hot-air balloon

By Olly Smith

FLOAT ON

A hot-air balloon rises

over the hushed, misty

Yarra Valley early in the

morning. Inset, opposite:

Holy Goat cheese and

charcuterie from Victoria

SALE NOW ONFREE DAY TOURSWhether it’s your first time down under, or you’re a returning traveller to the country, you‘ll never be short of unique experiences and adventures in Australia. With four time zones, three million square miles and 22 million people, it’s not that simple to sum up a country that stretches so far and takes in so many different climates and diverse landscapes. Below are just a few of our recommended itineraries, speak to one of our Travel Designers today to start planning your Australia adventure.

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Calls are free from landlines, mobiles and other providers’ charges may vary. Off ers subject to change and availability. Free Excursion applies to selected day tours/excursions and is applicable when booking a minimum of 5 night’s accommodation or 7 night’s motor home hire and return international fl ights. Valid for bookings made from the 19th August to the 30th September, only one Free excursion valid per person. No cash alternative and no refunds will be given for unused free excursions. Blackout dates may apply. Normal booking terms and conditions apply, see Austravel.com for full details. Off ers are correct at time of going to print, for selected travel and may be withdrawn at any time. ATOL protected.

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ultratravel 73

Helicopter pub crawl

By Sean Thomas

Darwin, Australia. It’s barely 6am and dawn

is a pale blue rumour on the horizon. And

as I rub the sleep from my eyes I realise I am

fulfilling a dream: I’m waking up next to a very

beautiful Chinese television starlet.

It’s not quite how I imagined it, though. In my

fantasies I figured we’d be in the same bedroom.

Yet here we are in the same minibus,

surrounded by her television crew, who are all

similarly half-awake, thanks to the early start.

That said, there is something to perk us up.

We’re all here because we’re headed for a

ridiculously appealing adventure. A helicopter

pub crawl. Yes, a day spent choppering from

tavern to tavern.

Moments later, we park at a dusty suburban

airport, climb into two different helicopters and

flit up into the wilds. The choppers are doorless

and windowless. Only our safety belts are

stopping us from falling out of the sky and into

the sluggish, glittery, croc-infested rivers of the

coastal Northern Territory.

The day begins well. Our first touchdown is

on to an actual river-beach – and no matter how

blasé you are, it doesn’t get much funkier than

landing a helicopter on a beach and running out

under the whirling blades, just to go and drink

cold Coopers Pale Ale in an airy wooden

hunter’s lodge.

Unless, that is, the next stop is even better.

Already a bit squiffy from the beers, we peer out

of the racing choppers across the green

rainforests. Where is the next pub? Underwater?

Suddenly, we dive down from the blue, swooping

on a clearing in the jungle. Wild buffalo scatter

from the noise. I feel like a Vietnam war

correspondent – only with more vodka.

Scampering from the chopper we tramp

through rampant greenery to a beery hotel, Goat

Island, owned by a fabulously drunken

Dutchman who keeps a loaded gun on the bar

and dispenses fine sauvignon blanc to boozy

weekend barramundi fishermen.

“The gun is for the crocs,” he says.

“Sometimes they get a bit friendly.”

After that, I confess it becomes a bit of a blur.

But a wonderful blur. Hic.

A Heli Pub Tour can be booked through Airborne

Solutions (0061 8 8972 2345; airbornesolutions.

com.au) for A$895/£417 per person per day, for

a seven-hour tour, excluding alcoholic drinks.

wagyu beef adventure

By Tricia Welsh

This must be the best long lunch in Australia: flying by private jet

from Melbourne to Coonawarra in South Australia, visiting Wynns

winery, then jetting on for a wagyu-beef masterclass and four-course

lunch at Mayura Station. And for dessert? A flight back to Melbourne

over the Twelve Apostles, arriving back just in time for dinner.

John Dyer of Air Adventure clearly thinks outside the box.

This innovative air touring company, established by his late father,

Rod, has been operating for nearly 40 years in the Australian outback

and Africa. Originally farmers in Hamilton, the Dyers now farm

in Victoria’s Western District while taking gourmands out on their

increasingly popular air adventures.

It’s an hour’s flight from Essendon Airport to Coonawarra, where

we transfer to Wynns Coonawarra Estate, the oldest and largest

winery in the vine-covered region famed for its mineral-rich soil.

Following a tour of the cellars, we don lab coats and, under the

guidance of winemaker Sarah Pidgeon, create red-wine blends to

our own liking, using cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot.

We fly farther south to Mayura Station, established in 1845, to

lunch on exceptional estate-grown wagyu beef. Mayura’s herd

started with just 25 heifers and four bulls imported in 1997.

Today, with 6,000 head of cattle on 3,240 hectares, it is the largest

100 per cent full-blood wagyu cattle station outside Japan.

Chef Mark Wright prepares lunch in an open teppanyaki-style

kitchen restaurant. He has two cuts of prime steak ready to chargrill:

large cubes of rump and thick slivers of oyster blade. What he calls a

“mystery box” that is already roasting in the oven turns out

to be a huge melt-in-the-mouth rib-eye that feeds all 10 of us easily.

Luscious wines, including a Rymill Shiraz 1993, Zema Estate Cluny

1998 and a 2002 “Grande Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon by Patrick of

Coonawarra, flow freely before a dessert of vanilla panna cotta.

Before flying off, we stop by a huge barn where the pampered

cattle are grain-fed for up to 12 months. Here, we learn the secret

ingredient in their diet: 3lb of chocolate each day, which goes some

way to explaining why steak and red wine are such a perfect match.

Air Adventure (0061 3 5572 1371; airadventure.com.au) offers the

all-inclusive Great Wagyu Adventure from AU$1,000/£475 per person.

going up on board the

chopper for a pub crawl

(top left), stopping at goat

island (above left). Air

Adventure’s private plane (top)

stops at Mayura Station for

a meal of wagyu beef (above)

and a masterclass (below)

gu

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76 ultratravel

Porongurups

Cape Lodge

Pemberton

Albany

Leeuwin Estate

Margaret River

50 miles

AUSTRALIA

Western Australia’s southern corner is made

for a self-drive holiday, with near-empty

roads curling through vine-clad coastal

hills and forests in which some of the

planet’s tallest and oldest trees grow. It is also a region

in which to fall in love (again) with Australian wine,

from the fine rieslings being produced near Albany,

where I begin my journey, to the world-class cabernet

sauvignons and chardonnays of Margaret River, at my

journey’s end. And all along the way, there are natural

and historical highlights, fresh inventive food and, just

as importantly for the waistline, thrilling national parks

in which to walk off any overindulgence.

In the likeable seaside city of Albany, my exploration

takes me into the community’s past, as well as its

present. Founded in 1826, the town is the oldest

permanent settlement in Western Australia. Its natural

deepwater harbour provided a gateway to WA’s

goldfields in the 19th century, and it also played a

significant role during the First World

War, being the last port of call for

Australian and New Zealand troops: a fact

that is recognised in the National Anzac

Centre, which opened last year.

Unlike most museums, here each

visitor is allocated an individual soldier

from the time with whom to experience

the war. Mine was Gordon Naley, whose

story was particularly poignant. Naley, an

Aboriginal man who survived Gallipoli, was taken to

London in 1915 to convalesce from typhoid and, in 1916,

was sent back to fight on the Western Front. Eventually,

after being held prisoner in Germany, he settled back in

South Australia, dying, aged 44, of a war-related illness.

With Naley’s life reeling through my mind, I head to

the Porongurups, a succession of granite bluffs to the

north. In Porongurup National Park a trail leads up Castle

Rock to the Granite Skywalk, a suspended metal walkway

ranged around several giant tors. Fifty-five million years

ago, these peaks formed part of an island surrounded

by ocean; looking down from the walkway, over waves

of mist billowing up the hills, I could almost picture it.

There are equally dramatic views in the foothills of

the Porongurups, where an impressive wine region is

emerging, making the most of mineral-rich soils to

produce intensely flavoured cool-climate wines. The

vines straddle the slopes of a mist-filled valley in which

the 165-acre Ironwood (ironwoodestatewines.com.au) is

based. This vineyard is named after the Michigan town

at the heart of Hiawatha country from where its

winemaking owner, Eugene Harma, hails, and

mementos of his hometown and of the legendary Native

American chief litter the cellar door.

Down the valley, at nearby Castle Rock Estate

(castlerockestate.com.au), vigneron Rob Diletti can

trace his family history back to Lucca in Tuscany. The

unassuming Diletti, who makes some of Australia’s top

rieslings, is establishing a strong reputation and has

been named by the Australian wine authority James

Halliday as Winemaker of the Year 2015. “Vineyard

management,” Diletti comments, “is about getting it

right for the site, not just doing things to a recipe.” He’s

clearly got it right with a superb 2013 Reserve Riesling.

Following Albany, my next stop is the Valley of the

Giants in the Walpole-Nornalup National Park, where

ranger Julie Ewing guides visitors along an ancient trail,

which occasionally goes through the hollow buttresses

of magnificent giant tingle trees, some 250ft tall and up

to 500 years old. The path has been used for centuries

by the Noongar Aboriginals, who have lived in this area

for some 38,000 years and believe the trees hold the

spirits of their ancestors (as well as a variety of endemic

creatures, including the phascogale: a tiny

marsupial whose rather unfortunate male

dies of stress after mating). Having had

our hearts broken, we’re then led (for light

relief) on to the 131ft-high Tree Top Walk,

a raised platform that stretches like an

enormous Meccano set through the forest

canopy, offering views not just within the

trees but above them, too.

Back down to earth, and after a sublime

drive through 80 miles of sun-smudged karri and jarrah

forests, the small rural town of Pemberton comes into

view. Here, among more towering forests, the 200ft

Gloucester Tree stands out, a rickety ladder bolted into

its trunk leading to the summit. Gripping the rungs

with trembling hands, I feel like Jack clambering the

beanstalk toward the giant’s lair. How I make the

treetop platform I’ll never know, but my giddy ascent

is rewarded by views over the forest canopy all the way

to coastal sand dunes.

It’s indisputably time for calmer pursuits.

Fortunately, the Margaret River region, which produces

more than 20 per cent of Australia’s premium wine from

three per cent of the country’s grapes, is a few hours’

drive away.

Extending some 85 miles between two capes

(Naturaliste in the north and Leeuwin to the south) and

encompassing more than 200 vineyards, a dramatic

granite coastline, 150 limestone caves and more karri

forests, it’s difficult to know where to start when visiting

this region. Its wealth of sophisticated accommodation

and fine restaurants only adds to the conundrum. But,

having visited Margaret River many times, I’ve learnt

that the way to solve this dilemma is with a “less-is-

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AuSTrAlIA .COm

Meals onWHeelsSometimes the best way to sample a region’s produce is to motor through it, stopping

to snack and sip along the way. Daniel Scott gets behind the wheel from Albany to Margaret

River, while Olivia Palamountain sits back in style in the Queen’s Daimler in Barossa

G O U R M E T d R i v E

ultratravel 77

more” approach. So this time, I confine myself to two

wineries: Vasse Felix, the region’s first, set up by Perth

cardiologist Dr Thomas Cullity in 1967, and Leeuwin

Estate, another of the pioneers. Both are popular with

visitors, offering a combination of fine wine, gourmet

food, art exhibitions and concerts, as well as tours

(ultimatewineryexperiences.com.au).

The four-hour cellar experience at Vasse Felix

(vassefelix.com.au) takes in every part of the winery

and wine-making process, led by Virginia Willcock, the

2012 Australian winemaker of the year. Naturally, there

is a chance to taste the results of the picking, which is

done early in the morning to maintain the vibrancy of

the flavour, as well as to sit in the shade and enjoy a

three-course lunch. Here, treats range from charcuterie

plate and local marron (a freshwater crayfish) with

mushroom, radish and nasturtium to pork with

Jerusalem artichoke, pear and seaweed.

And there is more near-religious gastronomic

ecstasy to come, at the glamorous Cape Lodge

(capelodge.com.au). Set beside a lake and in its own

vineyard near the coast, its rooms are spacious and

stylish, and its restaurant a real winner. A change of

executive chef, to Swedish-born Michael Elfwing, who

worked with Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck,

ensures a sublime degustation dinner, again including

marron – this time with quail’s eggs and dill sauce,

artichoke hearts and thyme sauce.

Heading on my final day towards Perth it’s no chore

to be back on the wine trail, this time with an aesthetic

slant, at Leeuwin Estate (leeuwinestate.com.au). While

enjoying a glass of brut in the winery’s art gallery, I

admire canvases from remote indigenous communities,

some Sidney Nolan paintings and John Olsen’s “Frogs

in Riesling”. My Czech-Australian guide, Stepan

Libricky, tutors me expertly through a “flight” of five

Art Series wines, with accompanying entrées conjured

by the executive chef Dany Angove.

Libricky has a strong line in regal imagery,

introducing a $100 chardonnay as “the queen of

wines, very powerful and elegant”, and the cabernet

sauvignon as “like Prince William, the future King”.

Then, as we savour a royal feast, he pronounces the

marriage of crumbly, flaky red emperor fish and the

“queen” chardonnay to be “a match made in heaven”.

Although his phrasing is slightly over the top, I’m

inclined to agree. And, as I drive away, I’m half-inclined

to give Leeuwin Estate a monarchic wave of approval.

Austravel (0808 163 6126; austravel.com) offers an

eight-day Perth Gourmet Drive package from £1,149 per

person, including car hire, seven nights’ accommodation

and return flights with Etihad Airways (etihad.com).

perfect pitstops (clockwise from

top left) Marron at cape Lodge;

Walpole treetop walk; Leeuwin

chardonnay and outdoor restaurant;

beach at Margaret river; Michael

elfwing, chef at cape Lodge

78 ultratravel

Speak to any Australian and they’ll tell

you with fondness that Barossa

people are “different”. Take a seat in

the Daimler belonging to John

Baldwin, a local guide, and it’s nigh on

impossible not to fall in love. Not only

is his car – a restored original used by the Queen on

her 1963 tour of Australia – an absolute beauty, but

Baldwin is also a glorious eccentric, like a characterful

Aussie uncle you never realised you were missing.

With Baldwin at the helm of the Daimler (and

me doing my best regal impression in the back), we

are touring the Barossa Valley in style. This glorious

stretch of South Australia lies around 30 miles

north-east of Adelaide, and can lay claim to being

both one of the country’s premier wine regions

and one of its most beautiful.

There’s little that Baldwin doesn’t know about

this part of the world and, as we cruise through

acres of rolling countryside precisely laid with vines,

he fills me in. The first thing to appreciate about the

Barossa Valley is its food and drink. As well as its

wines – most famously its big, bold shiraz – the

valley is renowned among gourmets for its regional

produce, sold at pitstops such as Maggie Beer’s

Farm Shop (owned by Australia’s answer to Delia

Smith) and its restaurants, such as the renowned

FermentAsian. The second thing to appreciate is that,

although Baldwin is as passionate about booze as he

is about driving, he doesn’t mix the two. Thankfully.

A quick snoop in the tiny town of Angaston

confirms there’s much gastro-gold in these hills, from

Casa Carboni, an Italian cooking school and enoteca,

to the Barossa Valley Cheese Company and Schulz

Butchers, founded in 1939 and renowned for its

traditional curing and smoking methods. The Apex

Bakery, up the road in Tanunda, is another delight:

a family business since 1924, this bakery still churns

out the same-recipe sourdoughs, pies and pasties

from its Scotch oven as it did nearly 100 years ago.

These aren’t the only historical success stories of

the Barossa. The vine stocks are among the oldest

on earth, brought over by German immigrants

fleeing religious persecution some 170 years ago –

thus saving them from disease that wiped out many

European vines in the 19th century. With around 50

wineries in the region, it would be hard to know

where to start without some expert guidance, but as

it happens I do recognise the name of our first stop.

Yalumba is well known in the UK for its accessible

plonk, but this pretty estate – at 166 years old, the

oldest family-owned vineyard in the country – also

produces exquisite small-batch wines. At a tasting,

I’m immediately sold on the Paradox, an inky 2010

shiraz of mixed spice and violets with blueberry hints.

Next up on our road trip is Hentley Farm, voted

2015’s Winery of the Year by Australia’s Halliday

Wine Companion. Within restored stables dating

from the 1880s, local lad and head chef Lachlan

Colwill serves inspired, imaginative food ranging

from a mango-yoghurt pudding, designed to look

like a boiled egg and served in a real eggshell, to a

signature dish of oysters and rosemary, the scent of

which comes alive with the addition of dry ice.

Baldwin wangles us a table, but not before I’ve

tasted two of the star wines on offer, evocatively

named “Beauty” and “The Beast”. Ever the sucker for

a bad boy, I pick up a bottle of The Beast.

Although within stumbling distance of Hentley

Farm is Seppeltsfield Vineyard Cottage, a cute

couples retreat perfect for a weekend of solitude, I

head to The Louise, where each suite has a terrace,

fireplace and outdoor rainshower. Designed by a

Californian couple looking for a Napa vibe, it’s the

sort of glamorous place you might want to hunker

down on honeymoon, before wandering to its

destination dining spot, Appellation, which serves

locally and seasonally driven dishes such as Port

Lincoln bluefin tuna with air-dried ham and lemon

marmalade, and pan-fried Gawler River quail with

bitter leaves and roasted hazelnut dressing.

There’s no time for me to hang about, though.

Next morning Baldwin is ready to whisk me off to try

something extra special at Seppeltsfield. This cellar

houses the Centennial Collection, the world’s oldest

and only range of consecutive Vintage Tawny since

1878. I try both a slug from a barrel from 1985 (the

year I was born) and a nip of the 1885, watching with

awe as a phial of liquid gold is extracted, and

presented to me with reverence. It tastes ambrosial.

Later on there is less theatre to be found at the

smaller, modern vineyards, such as Torbreck Wines

(tipped by Baldwin as the next big thing), but the

produce – and producers – are no less impressive.

Indeed, the Barossa folk I’ve come across really are

a different breed: passionate, warm and more than

a little quirky. There’s definitely magic in the vines.

John Baldwin’s Daimler tours (0061 8 8524 9047;

barossadaimlertours.com.au) cost from £225 for a

half-day. Austravel (0808 163 6126; austravel.com)

offers a nine-day Adelaide food trip from £1,789,

including car hire, eight nights’ accommodation, and

return Etihad Airways flights (etihad.com).

IN ASSOCIATION WITH AUSTRALIA .COm

a bite of barossa

By Olivia Palamountain

ultratravel 79

vine, all vine

John Baldwin with one of his

two renovated 1962 Daimlers

in Barossa and outside

Château Tanunda (top left)

Photograph CinDY Fan

ultratravel 81

In the hierarchy of the world’s waters, the Indian Ocean takes some

beating. More hyperbolically described than perhaps any other, it is

outrageously exotic, a spice-scented sea whose warm waves lap at

myriad shores in Myanmar, India, Cambodia and Africa, countries

where islands crumble off the coastline and spin away into waters that

were described by Rudyard Kipling as “so soft, so bright, so bloomin’

blue”. In other words, an ocean to set the mind to travel, to dreams of

creamy sands and sapphire waves, where even the palm trees appear to

bow in submission to all that perfect blue.

Yet even here there are places more beautiful than the rest

(supermodels among beauty queens). Located off the east coast of

Africa, the Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands of lushly green,

granite peaks and quiet beaches that are among the most exquisite in

the world. There is an off-map, castaway glamour to the Seychelles.

Pirates, of the romanticised, swashbuckling variety, used to roam the

waters where now whale sharks are the more frequent visitors. The

wildlife here – including indigenous seabirds, jewel-toned fish that

decorate mile after mile of coral reef, and the world’s largest

concentration of Aldabra giant tortoises – easily outnumbers the

Seychelles’ human population, a balance that has seen the islands

dubbed “the Galápagos of the Indian Ocean”.

This untouched environment is part circumstance – the country only

received independence from British colonial rule in 1976 and endured

subsequent years of political in-fighting before peace was established –

and part grand plan. The latter is the slow and sustainable approach

to tourist development that is rooted in the government’s close study

of the mistakes of its mass market competitors (particularly Mauritius),

and its correct assumption that the country’s thriving ecosystem is

a commodity in itself. Hence, by design, the Seychelles aims to be a

niche destination, targeting affluent visitors and high-end hotel brands:

in the past decade, a Four Seasons and Raffles have opened on Mahé

and Praslin islands, while a Six Senses resort, Zil Pasyon, will debut on

Félicité Island later this year.

It’s no coincidence, then, that the country is the location of two of the

dreamiest private island resorts in the world – North Island and Fregate

Island Private. In a world where luxury has become a tattered, overused

concept, the accommodation on these islands – both recently refurbished,

both heavily committed to their own environmental programmes – has

set a new paradigm. Royal honeymooners and celebrity visitors aside,

North Island, particularly, is almost fictive in its allure, with a whispered,

word-of-mouth reputation among those who have been lucky enough to

experience its unparalleled charm that is at once a part of, and entirely

separate from, the considerable expense of staying here. (Anywhere can

be expensive, but charm is impossible to manufacture.)

I ponder this while sitting beneath a palm tree – helpfully denuded of

potentially braining coconuts – on North’s Honeymoon Beach, eating a

picnic lunch of chicken wraps, vegetable spring rolls and the pinkest,

most delicious macaroons this side of Paris. The wide stretch of powdery

words CHARLOTTE SINCLAIR

ULTRA ISLANDS

The SeychelleSdon’t feel wild – they feel positively Jurassic, with parrotfish the size of terriers, enormous silvery boulders

and giant Aldabra tortoises. The islands are also home to two of the world’s finest resorts, refurbished and

dreamier than ever

82 ultratravel

sand has been roped off for my husband and me for the

afternoon – a whole beach to ourselves – and we spend

the hours shell-hunting, lazing in the shade, and skinny-

dipping in the aquamarine, bath-water waves, silver fish

scattering at our ankles. As an experience, it exemplifies

how hospitality works on North, where each rarely sighted

guest is cocooned in a little slice of their own paradise.

As much as the specialness of North is down to this

careful choreography of space and privacy, it is also

attributable to the jaw-dropping loveliness of the island,

with its mangrove and palm-fringed bays, driftwood

beach bars, a spectacular pool cut into the rocky hillside,

and the thickly canopied peaks – where we walk one

morning led by Taryn, the resort’s nature guide, to a

viewpoint where the dark, swooping silhouettes of eagle

rays can be spied in the frilled waves below.

The island is preposterously pretty and just the right

side of wild, a place where giant, century-old

tortoises, with their gummy smiles and smooth,

lizard necks, crunch through the undergrowth as we zip

along sand paths on our golf buggy. Everything is bigger,

brighter, more beautiful than it has any need to be.

Snorkelling, we encounter parrotfish the size of terriers.

The white sands turn champagne pink at sunset as

enormous fruit bats slice the dusk sky. There’s not a

sound that’s not natural – the hush of waves on the shore,

the flit and jitter of birds, the wind through trees – and the

light is soft, leaf-sifted. At night, the island is lit by

flickering lantern light. North is its own Instagram filter,

a vision beyond betterment.

If luxury is a matter of context – the right thing in the

right place – and character, both are impeccably

demonstrated in North’s barefoot attitude, which extends,

equally, from the charming, chatty, dreadlocked barman

who serves wickedly strong rum cocktails at the bar to the

11 thatched beachside villas, where we have the choice of

lounging in 6,000sq feet of rosewood-floored space, an

outdoor sala, a pool within a tropical garden, and even an

air-conditioned screening room. A sense of generosity

pervades every aspect here, whether in the fully stocked

villa kitchen, or the resort’s flexible approach to menus

and meal times, or in the availability of boats and

equipment to snorkel or dive at a moment’s notice. In

interactions with the staff (150 at last count, with villa

butlers as standard), we’re addressed by our first names –

standing on ceremony being the opposite of relaxing.

“Too early for a cocktail?” asks the young, shorts-wearing

general manager, Nick Solomon, as we settle on to sun

loungers after a late breakfast.

A different but equally persuasive iteration of luxury

is to be found at Fregate Island Private. The island resort

has been managed by Oetker Collection since 2013, and

There’s not a sound

that’s not natural – the hush

of waves on the shore,

the flit and jitter of birds, the

wind through the trees

ultratravel 83

ultimate seclusion

North Island has only

11 beachside villas, each

with 6,000sq feet

of private outdoor space

84 ultratravel

its €4million (£2.8million) upgrade was used not only

to improve infrastructure (unsexy stuff such as new

generators and an upgraded water supply that make this

dot in the middle of the ocean actually work) and renovate

the 16 villas, but also to rebuild a pirate-styled cocktail

bar, marina and yacht club. Under the new general

manager, Wayne Kafcsak, Fregate now enjoys the elegance

and formidably high service that come as standard at

Oetker properties such as Le Bristol in Paris.

What this translates to in practice is a hamper

containing a white tablecloth, silver cutlery, chilled white

wine and grilled prawns being carried, valiantly, down the

80 or so steps to our beach-side lunch spot by our friendly

Sri Lankan butler. The sense of things being done well is

hugely soothing, as are the upgraded, thatched, colonial-

styled villas, set high on the hill overlooking a bright coin

of water, and which feature canopied four-poster beds

and dark, hardwood floors, as well as white sofas

positioned by a wall of windows for sunset-gazing.

Yet, for all its seamless, spoiling smartness, it is

Fregate’s environment that makes it truly special. The

majority of the island has been left undeveloped,

including several tide-swept beaches, and a vine-draped

banyan forest, where we eat breakfast in a canopy-height

tree house one morning, kept company by several

hundred fairy terns, perched still and serene as sculpted

marble in the branches.

Fregate doesn’t just feel wild but practically Jurassic.

More than 2,000 giant tortoises populate the island,

munching leaves under the cashew trees on the high,

igneous outcrops or retreating, slowly, from the heat into

mud baths. Rainbow-bright sunbirds dart from hibiscus

flowers, while Seychelles warblers and magpie robins –

both species rescued from near extinction by the island’s

conservation efforts – hop inquisitively at the edge of our

villa’s infinity pool.

At night, the presence of giant millipedes and hermit

crabs travelling across the paths create a rather crunchy

obstacle course for our drive back to our villa (golf

buggies are the millipedes’ main predator on Fregate).

At Anse Macquereau beach, which we reserve exclusively

for a breakfast swim one morning, the only prints on the

deep scoop of white sand are those of a small brown

plover, pecking at the shoreline.

After a morning spent with the conservation team,

discussing the replanting of indigenous forest and a

protection programme for Fregate’s hawksbill turtles,

I suggest to Wayne that the resort is almost secondary to

nature here. He nods. This is what tourism in the

Seychelles is all about, he says. “The consensus amongst

hoteliers is: ‘Let’s protect these islands, let’s keep this

paradise pristine.’”

For visitors here there can be no sweeter promise than

that of paradise, not lost or found but safeguarded:

perhaps the greatest luxury of all.

ITC Luxury Travel (01244 355 527; itcluxurytravel.co.uk)

offers a seven-night trip to North Island from £12,399 per

person, based on two adults sharing, all-inclusive, and

including economy flights and helicopter transfers.

North Island (wilderness-collection.com; doubles

from €5,530/£3,900 per night, including all meals, drinks

and activities). Fregate Island Private (0049 7221 900 8071;

fregate.com; doubles from €4,400/£3,097 per night, including

all meals, drinks, and non-motorised watersports).

The majority of the island is undeveloped, including several tide-swept beaches and a vine-draped banyan forest where we breakfast with fairy terns

wild at heart

A private villa on Fregate

Island Private (top). The

island is home to

abundant wildlife, such as

fairy terns (above left) and

fruit bats (above right).

One of Fregate’s

windswept beaches (right)

86 ultratravel

Indian Ocean

Desroches

VICTORIA

Four Seasons

Cousine

Deckenia

House

Praslin

North Island

Fregate

MAHÉ

10 miles

50 miles

Denis

S e y c h e l l e s

of the best SEYCHELLES hideaways for...

nature lover

Denis island (above),

on which 24 villas are

surrounded by forest

and beach. View from

Deckenia (right) on

Praslin. A turtle

(below), a regular

visitor to Desroches

5nature

DenIS

The owners of Denis Island, which is

renowned for its excellent game

fishing and diving, have been carefully

restoring the island’s ecology,

eradicating all rodents and alien plants.

One can see why: the island’s native

species are spectacular. Green and

hawksbill turtles lay between October

and December, with hatchlings

scuttling seawards about eight weeks

later. All year round there are turtles in

the sheltered lagoon. There are

endemic magpie robins, Seychelles

white-eyes and the magnificent

paradise flycatcher. No one has to be a

twitcher to be charmed by the pure

white fairy terns that lay their eggs

without any nests on an exposed

branch, or the white-tailed tropicbirds

with crazy-haired chicks that make

their home among the roots of the

spindly casuarina trees. And it wouldn’t

be the Seychelles without a resident

colony of giant tortoises.

Denis has 24 villas, which all face the

beach and offer sumptuous indoor-

outdoor bathrooms and large

comfortable bedrooms. There is a

restaurant and pool, and a jogging trail,

tennis and kayaking for the more

active. The food is superlative: 90 per

cent of it is grown or reared on the

island’s farm, making Denis its own

perfect little world.

Denis Island (00 248 428 8963;

denisisland.com; doubles from £812 per

night, full-board, in a beach villa)

PrIVaCY

CouSIne

There’s nothing like indulging the –

albeit short-lived – fantasy of owning a

tropical island. At just over 60 acres,

Cousine Island is the perfect size for

any dreamer’s tropical hideaway. It’s

not just a flat coral island, but one of

Seychelles’ inner granite islands, with

enough topography to make walkers

feel like they are genuine explorers.

With just four large villas, each with

its own pool, and a spa and restaurant,

Cousine has been designed to offer

the ultimate in privacy for those who

want to hire the entire place – for up

to 12 adults and four children. It’s an

ideal spot for a big birthday celebration

or wedding party.

Conservation is at the heart of how

Cousine has been designed, and all of

the tourism revenue is channelled into

preserving the pristine habitat that is

home to rare birds and turtles.

Cousine Island (00 248 432 1107;

cousineisland.com; from £19,000

a night, exclusive island rental, for 12

adults and four children, in four villas and

the two-bedroom Presidential Villa, all

inclusive, including all watersports and

helicopter transfers from Mahé)

dIVIng

DeSroCHeS

The archipelago’s farthest-flung private

island resort sits on a remote coral

atoll, a 45-minute flight from Mahé,

deliciously discreet and paparazzi free.

It’s perfect for families and groups of

friends, as well as couples, with bright

and airy three- to five-bedroom villas

by the ocean. Hand-crafted casuarina-

wood furniture and beds clad in crisp,

white Egyptian cotton are offset by

splashes of vibrant colour. Glass doors

open on to a wooden deck and a

Hockney-blue pool flanked by tropical

foliage. Here guests can play Crusoe

and Cousteau. There are 14 world-class

dive sites within easy reach, and

arguably the best canyon-, cave- and

tunnel-diving in the Indian Ocean,

among giant grouper, eagle rays and

shoals of sweetlips. And with the reef

line so close, snorkellers can enjoy

the aptly named Aquarium, which

teems with Technicolor fish. Or take

on the game fish from a sleek boat –

heavyweights such as barracuda and

sailfish, and the fly-fisher’s holy grail,

bonefish. On terra firma, guests

crisscross the island by bike, stopping

to picnic on a shell-strewn beach

(there are seven miles of them),

explore with a resident conservationist,

or head to the award-winning, rustic-

luxe Escape Spa for pampering

Elemental Herbology and Dr Hauschka

treatments. Creole-inspired gourmet

food is served in the restaurant, in-villa

or feet-in-the-sand. Stunning sunsets

as standard, shoes optional.

Desroches (0027 82 496 4570;

desroches-island.com; three-bedroom

beach villa from £1,760, including meals)

a VIlla holIdaY

DeCKenIa

Just 20 minutes from Praslin’s airport

is this new private villa, owned by

Seychelloise residents Jacques Le

Vieux and his wife, Aurore. Overlooking

Anse Government beach – quiet,

private and on the north side of the

island – it’s a rare find in this part of

the world: an island home that’s

contemporary, spacious and ideal for

groups who prefer to holiday in a

house, rather than a hotel. As well as

three big double bedrooms in the main

villa, there are two small villas either

side: each with its own living space,

deck and pool, and views over the

creamy beach and tropical gardens.

Named after an endemic palm,

Deckenia is filled with furniture and art

sourced from the islands: a carved

wooden palm leaf on a wall, tables

made from local tree-trunks, paintings

in vibrant tropical colours. Even the

wine cellar is lined with granite rocks

typical of the area, and recycled glass.

The decor, however, is slick: from

moulded white dining chairs and

Starck bar stools to fast Wi-Fi access

and a big modern kitchen. Best of all: a

staff of six is on hand (including chef

and butler); a 36ft boat is moored

nearby; kayaks, paddle boards,

snorkelling equipment and a pedal

boat are set by the beach; and access

is offered to the nearby Raffles spa

and Constance Lemuria golf course.

In short, if offers the best of all worlds:

hotel service, but in a home.

Deckenia (00248 250 8337; deckenia.

com; from £2,790 a night for up to 10

adults and two children, full-board)

famIlIes

Four SeaSonS

Although its beach isn’t private, the

Four Seasons Resort, set in a secluded

bay in Petite Anse on Mahé, feels like

something of a hideaway. The 67 villas

are spacious and allow for open-air

living, but are also totally private. There

are sunken baths overlooking waxy

banana palms, outdoor showers and a

reading pavilion with a day bed.

Families are particularly welcome

here, as the resort has a full range of

services and treats for children, from

babysitters to mini robes, and an

explorer programme for adventurous

teens with activities such as rock

climbing and sailing.

The food draws on local ingredients:

dishes are packed with spices such as

cinnamon, lemon grass and vanilla,

and the sashimi is made with local fish

such as mahi mahi and red snapper.

Guests can try their hand in the

kitchen, too. Dave Minten, the head

chef, will give an entertaining lesson in

how to make a delicious – and filling –

Creole coconut fish curry. A sunset

hike and a yoga session overlooking

the resort will ease the conscience.

The still waters in the bay are

perfect for a family session of paddle

boarding, and a marine biologist can

take a group on a guided snorkelling

trip. For something less active, the

spa’s 150-minute coco de mer

treatment is the perfect way to round

off the day. Even the teenagers aren’t

left out here: they can try a coconut-oil

head massage with hair braiding.

Four Seasons Resort Seychelles (00248

439 3000; fourseasons.com/seychelles;

villas from £562 per night)

Reviews by Tim Ecott, Sarah Gilbert

and Jemima Sissons

Discover the SeychellesTailor Made Journeys - Family Holidays - Honeymoons

Giant Tortoises • World Famous Beaches

Island Hopping • Gourmet Cuisine • Beautiful Golf Courses

Pool Villas • Private Islands • Vallée de Mai

Diving & Snorkelling • Manta Rays & Whale Sharks

ultratravel 89

bid for a life-changing holidayTake part in our silent auction for one of 26 luxury trips and you could support an inspiring organisation that

helps injured former servicemen learn to ski – and then to gain the confidence to start a new career

No one who attended the 2015 Ultras

Dinner at The Dorchester in May this

year could fail to have been moved and

inspired by a speech given by Martin Hewitt, a

great sportsman and a former officer with the

Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan. Hewitt,

who was shot in the shoulder by the Taliban in

2007, resulting in the permanent paralysis of

his right arm, spoke on behalf of an

extraordinary charity that Ultratravel is proud

to support this year, particularly as it relies on

activity travel to tackle the problems faced by

wounded former servicemen.

Skiing With Heroes, as Hewitt told the

audience at the award ceremony, gives

seriously injured ex-servicemen and women

several key things they need to get their lives

back on track: focus, challenge, confidence

and, most importantly, a “sense of freedom

and independence” – something that many of

these formerly active, high-achieving men and

women fear they will never experience again

in the wake of their injuries.

The problems faced by wounded veterans

of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan after

their discharge from the Armed Forces are

well documented but, sadly, still continue.

In addition to their injuries – which can range

from multiple limb loss and debilitating

combat stress – poor confidence and few

contacts outside the military make finding

employment extremely difficult, if not

impossible. With the loss of their sense of

identity, and the protective environment of the

Armed Forces, wounded ex-servicemen not

only have to deal with severe physical

challenges, but also pain, boredom, loneliness,

anger and low self-esteem. Such issues can

damage their personal relationships, and lead

to depression and substance abuse.

This is where Skiing With Heroes steps in

with an innovative, long-term solution. The

charity aims to rebuild the lives of such

veterans through a process it calls

“skihabilitation” – or rehabilitation through

skiing. This involves a week of skiing in

Klosters, Switzerland, for 26 wounded

veterans, using adaptive ski equipment,

12 adaptive ski instructors and a team of 20

trained volunteer “ski buddies” to help them

learn, or relearn, to ski with their disability.

Not only is this a marvellous week of fun,

bonding and challenges for all those involved,

it also helps, crucially, to rebuild the veterans’

confidence and physical strength – a vital first

step towards independence. The programme

doesn’t end there. On the veterans’ return

from the skiing week, Skiing With Heroes’

extensive contacts in the business community

helps them to prepare for employment

through a personal programme of mentoring,

training and networking.

Skiing With Heroes has, in its short life,

been a spectacular success story. In 2013, its

first year, it found full-time employment for

veterans who were looking for employment

while learning to cope with their life-changing

injuries. To date, it has helped 55 veterans

rebuild their lives. One veteran, “KJ”, says:

“Skiing With Heroes allowed me to put some

demons to bed and let me achieve a dream

I never thought might become a reality.”

Skiing with Heroes relies entirely on

donations. It employs one full-time member of

staff and most of the other people who work

with the charity do so on a voluntary basis,

which means the money raised from this silent

auction will go directly where it should: to war

veterans who want nothing more than a sense

of freedom and independence again.

HOW TO BID

We are inviting you, our readers, to bid for

the 26 lots listed on the following page,

erring, please, on the generous side.

To take part, send your bid, stating clearly

which prize and lot number you are bidding

for, how much you are bidding, and your

name, address, email address and telephone

number, to bids@skiingwithheroes.com.

The winning bidder for each lot will be the

highest received by Skiing With Heroes by

midnight on Saturday October 31, 2015. The

highest bidder for each lot will be contacted

and asked to send payment within two

weeks. On receipt of the cheque, each

winner will be sent the prize vouchers by

registered post.

For more information about Skiing With

Heroes, please see skiingwithheroes.com

*Each holiday is for two, and is subject to separate

terms and conditions, in addition to the general

competition conditions available at telegraph.co.uk/

silentauction or by emailing conditions@

skiingwithheroes.com. This auction is open to

residents of the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man

aged 18 years or over, except employees of Skiing

With Heroes, Ultratravel and Telegraph Media Group

Limited, their families, agents or anyone else

professionally associated with the auction.

Rooms and flights are subject to availability and,

unless otherwise stated, all flights are economy class.

Bidders may bid for more than one lot, but may

Heroic eFFort Martin Hewitt

(above) of Skiing With Heroes at

the Ultras Dinner. An injured

veteran (below) skis at Klosters

lot 1

Kandolhu Island in the

Maldives (below). A five-night

holiday for two to the island

is the biggest prize in this

year’s auction

90 ultratravel

LOTS On Offer

TOP LOTS Bid for a stay in

Le Bristol in Paris (above),

a four-night cruise on

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 (left),

or five nights at the

Burj Al Arab Jumeirah

in Dubai (below)

Lot 1 A five-night holiday

in the Maldives

Kuoni, voted Best Large Luxury Tour

Operator – and Universal resorts – are

offering five nights at Kandolhu Island

in a Duplex Pool Villa, including

breakfast, seaplane transfers and

economy flights from the UK.

Donated by Kuoni and

Universal Resorts, Maldives

Minimum bid £4,000

Lot 2 A week’s holiday in Dubai

Five nights in a one-bedroom duplex

suite at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in

Dubai – voted Best Hotel in the World

at the 2015 Ultras – including

breakfast, with return business-class

Emirates flights from London.

Donated by Jumeirah and Emirates

Minimum bid £8,000

Lot 3 An eight-night safari

in Tanzania

Two nights in Tarangire National Park

staying at Sanctuary Swala Camp, two

nights at Sanctuary Serengeti

Migration Camp and two nights at

Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp,

with a night in Arusha or Nairobi at

the beginning and end of the safari.

The prize includes all internal flights

and transfers, park fees, game drives

and full board while in the camps, and

b&b in Arusha or Nairobi.

Donated by Abercrombie & Kent

and Sanctuary Retreats

Minimum bid £5,000

Lot 4 A four-night cruise

Four nights on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2

or Queen Elizabeth in a Balcony

Stateroom, sailing from Southampton,

with the option of choosing from a

cruise to Hamburg, Guernsey or

Bruges, including all meals and

entertainment.

Donated by Cunard

Minimum bid £1,000

Lot 5 A five-night stay in

the Seychelles

Five nights at the Banyan Tree

Seychelles in a Hillside Pool Villa,

including breakfast at Au Jardin

d’Epices restaurant and private airport

transfers in Mahé.

Donated by Banyan Tree Hotels

& Resorts

Minimum bid £2,000

Lot 6 A five-night stay in Phuket

Five nights in a Pool Villa at the

Banyan Tree Phuket, including

breakfast at Watercourt restaurant

and private airport transfers in Phuket.

Donated by Banyan Tree Hotels

& Resorts

Minimum bid £2,000

Lot 7 A four-night

ski-stay in America

Four nights at Omni Mount

Washington Resort, New Hampshire,

in a Deluxe Room, including breakfast,

alpine lift tickets or Nordic trail pass

for two, and resort fee.

Donated by Omni Hotels & Resorts

Minimum bid £800

Lot 8 A one-night stay in London

One night at Corinthia Hotel London in

a Penthouse suite, including full

English breakfast and a three-course

dinner for two, with wine chosen by

Corinthia’s sommelier, in either The

Northall restaurant or Massimo

Restaurant & Bar.

Donated by Corinthia Hotel London

Minimum bid £1,200

Lot 9 A night’s spa-stay in London

A one-night stay for two guests in a

Deluxe Room at the Four Seasons

Hotel London Park Lane, including

English breakfast and two 50-minute

spa treatments.

Donated by Four Seasons Hotels

and Resorts

Minimum bid £300

Lot 10 A two-night gourmet

break in Jersey

Two nights at The Atlantic Hotel,

including English breakfast and dinner

(one night at the Michelin-starred

Ocean Restaurant and one at Mark

Jordan on the Beach, with half a bottle

of champagne) and a Group B hire car.

Donated by The Atlantic Hotel

Minimum bid £500

Lot 11 A three-night stay in Crete

Three nights at the Elounda Peninsula

All Suite Hotel in a Peninsula

Collection Suite, including breakfast.

Donated by Elounda Peninsula

All Suite Hotel

Minimum bid £500

Lot 12 A two-night ski-stay

near Aspen

Two nights at Viceroy Snowmass near

Aspen, in a Studio, including breakfast.

Donated by Viceroy Hotels and Resorts

Minimum bid £500

Lot 13 A three-night stay

overlooking the Abu Dhabi F1 track

Three nights at the Yas Viceroy Abu

Dhabi in a Deluxe Room, including

breakfast at Origins.

Donated by Viceroy Hotels and Resorts

Minimum bid £500

Lot 14 A two-night stay in

Monte-Carlo

Two nights at the Hotel Metropole

Monte-Carlo in a Deluxe Junior Suite,

including VIP welcome and breakfast

at restaurant Joël Robuchon.

Donated by Hotel Metropole

Monte-Carlo

Minimum bid £600

Lot 15 A two-night stay

in Perthshire

Two nights at Gleneagles, home of the

2014 Ryder Cup, with breakfast, dinner

and two rounds of golf for each guest.

Donated by Gleneagles

Minimum bid £700

Lot 16 A two-night stay in London

Two nights at The Ritz London,

including English breakfast, dinner in

The Ritz Restaurant on one night and

afternoon tea on the other day.

Donated by The Ritz London

Minimum bid £600

Lot 17 A two-night stay in Florence

Two nights at Hotel Lungarno,

Continentale or Portrait Firenze, in a

room overlooking the river, and

including breakfast.

Donated by Lungarno Collection

Minimum bid £500

Lot 18 A three-night stay in

the Maldives

Three nights at Per Aquum Niyama

Maldives in a Beach Studio with pool,

including breakfast.

Donated by Per Aquum Hotels

& Resorts

Minimum bid £900

Lot 19 A two-night stay on

the French Riviera

Two nights at The Château Saint-

Martin & Spa in a Junior Suite,

including buffet breakfast, or

continental breakfast in your suite.

Donated by Oetker Collection

Minimum bid £400

Lot 20 A choice of two-night stays

Two nights’ b&b in any of the 500

hotels belonging to Global Hotel

Alliance, the world’s largest collection

of independent luxury hotels.

(There are four holidays offered in

this category.)

Donated by Global Hotel Alliance

Minimum bid £300 per voucher

Lot 21 A one-night stay in

the Cotswolds

One night, between Monday and

Thursday, at Dormy House Hotel and

Spa in a Splendid Room, including full

English breakfast and £50 towards

dinner in The Potting Shed restaurant.

Donated by Dormy House Hotel & Spa

Minimum bid £300

Lot 22 A two-night stay in Paris

Two nights at Le Bristol Paris in a

Prestige Room, including breakfast.

Donated by Oetker Collection

Minimum bid £600

Lot 23 A two-night stay in

Ultratravel’s Best Hotel in Asia

Two nights at The Peninsula

Hong Kong in a Deluxe Room with

daily breakfast.

Donated by The Peninsula Hong Kong

Minimum bid £400

Lot 24 A night’s spa-stay

in Budapest

A one-night stay in a Danube River-

View Room at the Four Seasons

Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest,

including English breakfast and two

50-minute spa treatments.

Donated by Four Seasons Hotels

and Resorts

Minimum bid £300

Lot 25 A two-night stay in Davos

Two nights at the InterContinental

Davos in a deluxe room, including

breakfast.

Donated by InterContinental Davos

Minimum bid £400

Lot 26 A two-night stay in Capri

Two nights at the Capri Tiberio Palace,

including buffet breakfast in the

restaurant or continental breakfast in

your double room.

Donated by Capri Tiberio Palace

Minimum bid £400

Lot 22

Lot 4

Lot 2

ultratravel 93

dream sUITETRIBECA PENTHOUSE,

The Greenwich Hotel, New York

Pure and simPle

The penthouse has a tactile, pared-back

aesthetic, from the second living room (top)

to the rooftop terrace (above, left, and below)

and the kitchen (above, right)

The suiTe When Robert De Niro’s

Greenwich Hotel opened in 2008, it was

an instant hit: a homely yet arty brick-

built hub for moneyed hipsters looking

to stay in a grand but relaxed New York

home. The TriBeCa Penthouse suite,

which opened last year, is not just the biggest in New York

(6,800sq feet over two floors), but the most individual.

Created by the Japanese architect Tatsuro Miki and the

Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt, the three-bedroom, two

living-room pied-à-terre takes its inspiration from the Japanese

aesthetic sense of wabi, which advocates stripping everything

back to its most basic and authentic in order to achieve calm.

Each surface, object and texture is thus carefully considered.

Roughly plastered walls are coloured in earthy sands, rusts,

charcoals and greys. Floors are laid with polished concrete,

stripped wood and worn stone that echo the industrial

buildings that once lined Tribeca’s streets. Ceilings are formed

from old New York industrial beams, battered old wooden

tabletops from Union Square market, and cracked railway

sleepers. It’s a place that oozes warmth and serenity, from its

linen-covered sofas and bucolic wooden-hewn stools to the

rough-cut organic soap, and the single flowers and stems of

foliage placed in simple pottery to show off their beauty.

The sTyle Quintessential Vervoordt: an aesthete who says

he values his collection of pebbles and pieces of wood as

much as he does art, who describes feeling “a deep emotion

when I see the nobility in poor, humble objects like a

shepherd’s table carved by time… that would last generations”.

Although its interiors are unlike any other, what makes this

penthouse breathtaking is the 4,000sq feet of private gardens,

which wrap around the living quarters and continue on the

roof above. Look out of any window and there are plants, from

hedging and ground cover to a canopy of trailing wisteria

which shades the hot tub, the outdoor fireplace, the dining

table seating 20, the sprawling sofas, and the outdoor bar, with

its industrial-chic stools and barbecue. Most guests use the

space to entertain: Italian cuisine can be ordered from the

Locanda Verde restaurant downstairs, and a chef can be sent

up to create bespoke menus in the kitchen or at the barbecue.

The hoTel More like the private home of a well-travelled

aesthete than a hotel, The Greenwich features a library of

antique books, Persian carpets, Chinese cartoons and paintings

by De Niro. Hotel guests have exclusive use of a drawing room

with wood fire, as well as a landscaped, vine-covered

courtyard, Italianate cloisters with murals of scenes from The

Third Man, and a four-storey portrait of James Dean by BJ, the

American graffiti artist. The Shibui Spa, with large pool, gym

and treatment rooms, has a similar aesthetic to that of the

penthouse: housed within the frame of a 250-year-old wood

and bamboo Japanese barn, lit by delicate reed light fittings,

and featuring shiatsu treatments and wooden soaking tubs.

Who goes According to one paparazzo, one of a crowd

hanging outside on a Friday night in the hope of snapping

a well-known face, “everyone and anyone who is famous.

I’ve seen Beyoncé here, Jennifer Aniston, Katy Perry, the Olsen

twins, Gwyneth Paltrow. Celebs just crawl around this place.”

The restaurant is a hot New York hangout, serving sensational

Italian dishes from rabbit terrine with home-made pickles to

tagliatelle with lamb and mint ragù.

loCATioN A block from the Hudson River in fashionable

TriBeCa, which is near SoHo, the West Village and the

Meatpacking District, and is 10 minutes’ walk from Battery Park.

CosT $15,000 a night, inclusive of return airport transfers, two

one-hour spa treatments, four hours in a chauffeured

limousine, snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, daily fruit bowl and

flowers, Wi-Fi, and use of an iPad and iPod.

ADDRess The Greenwich Hotel, 377 Greenwich Street, New

York (01 212 941 8900; thegreenwichhotel.com)

edited by

Lisa GrainGer

intelligence

ultratravel 95

Crisis? What crisis? At Europe’s biggest private-jet show, planes were bigger and more opulent than ever. We stepped into one of the fnest

inside THe £34,000,000 privaTe JeT

the living area

The central zone (8ft 10in wide by 6ft 6in

high) is fitted with white leather banquettes

and fine wool carpets (although buyers can

choose from 700 fabrics and 60 carpets).

Extras include iPod docks, five televisions,

surround-sound speakers, four Blu-ray

players, a satellite telephone and Wifi.

Unusually, the cabin has 323 cubic ft of

on-board luggage space, and 443 cubic ft

in the hold. “It’s not big enough to take a

racehorse or grand piano,” says Wheatley.

“For that, you’d need an additional

freighter. But it can take mountains of

luggage, so is ideal for shopping trips

to Europe from the Middle East.”

If just the thought of someone spending the

equivalent of the GDP of Uruguay on a private jet

raises your blood pressure, then visiting Geneva’s

annual EBACE aeroplane market is not advisable.

Parked on a paved hangar-sized area alongside the

airport’s international runway this summer were

58 private planes and helicopters, both for charter

and sale. While most were slick little jets created

for businessmen to nip to meetings, others, like this

Embraer Lineage 1000E (embraerexecutivejets.

com), were built for what Simon Wheatley, from

the UK broker Air Partner, calls “journeys for families,

royalties or politicians and their entourages who

want to travel in style”. Although the plane costs

£8,300 an hour to charter, last year there was a nine

per cent increase in demand for these “VIP airliners”,

particularly from the Middle East and Asian markets.

“These are people who want the best in life, at any

cost,” Wheatley says, “and they don’t seem to have

been affected by the financial crisis. For instance,

there are two Boeing 747-8 BBJs currently being

fitted in Hamburg, whose bodies have cost about

£214 million and whose interiors could cost an

additional £128 million. And up to five 1000Es

are built a year. So it’s not a dying market.”

the master bedroom

The cabin of the Lineage 1000E

is divided into five areas, one

of which has a queen-sized bed

and walk-in shower: one

of the biggest luxuries on an

aircraft because of the weight

of carrying water. Up front

are two additional lavatories.

the staFF

As well as two pilots and two

stewards, to serve up to 19

passengers, for long journeys

an additional pilot is taken. The front

of the plane has a separate cabin in

which crew can rest.

the teChnologY

It’s the longest VIP jet (84.3ft) permitted

to land at small airports such as London

City and Aspen. “While there are about 500

airports for scheduled planes in the USA,”

explains Wheatley, “there are more than

5,000 that can take smaller planes, and

4,200 in Europe, which give passengers

of private and VIP jets enormous flexibility.”

Of the 40,000 charter flights taken

every month, about 7,000 are made by

a Lineage, or a similar-sized jet, such as

a BBJ, Gulfstream or Falcon 7X. “Passengers

want comfort - and they want safety. This

has General Electric engines, Honeywell

technology and is quiet and fuel-efficient.

So it’s popular.”

the dining experienCe

Seats can be swivelled so four passengers

can eat together on elegantly laminated

wooden tables with fine crockery. The

kitchen has both convection and microwave

ovens, an espresso-maker, plus a dishwasher

(the latest Lufthansa Technik aircraft-safe

model costs €50,000). Gourmet food,

usually vacuum-packed before departure, is

heated and served on board, with fine wine.

the seats

A plane of this size normally seats 90; this

carries a maximum of 19, in seats that can

be converted into flat beds, or double beds

if four are swivelled and joined.

the roUte

Although it doesn’t have the same range

as a Gulfstream 650, which could do

Los Angeles to Melbourne non-stop, the

Lineage 1000E has a range of 5,300 miles,

at a maximum speed of 543mph. Guests

chartering a plane one way will have to pay

for a return flight; London to Dubai would

cost about £125,000 for a 7.5hr flight, and

London-Geneva from £32,000 for a 1.5hr

flight (through airpartner.com).

Dubai

London

*Terms and Conditions apply. **Price is correct at time of print, based on one person aged 18– 65 travelling in Europe on a Comprehensive policy, excluding medical conditions. ***Winter sports cover up to 17 days in 1 trip up to age 70. Prices vary according to medical condition cover and individual needs. Staysure insurance is arranged & administered by Staysure.co.uk Ltd, an independent insurance intermediary authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN. 436804. Staysure, a trading name of Staysure Ltd is licensed & regulated by the Financial Services Commission No. FSC1238B.

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ultratravel 97

c o r k i n g s e r v i c e

320 millionPassengers predicted to use

UK airports in 2030

5Percentage of tourists worldwide

who visit Africa

120,000Cost in pounds of protecting a

tiger for a year in India

25 millionPrice in dollars of Katafanga

Island, one of the last freehold

islands in Fiji

500Vineyards in England and Wales

T r Av e L B Y n U M B e r s

a lot of bottle

Beatriz Machado in

The Yeatman cellarsLe JuLes Verne, Paris

EiffEl TowEr, Avenue Gustave

Eiffel, Paris (0033 1 4555 6144;

lejulesverne-paris.com)

Why go? This restaurant is in an iconic

building – the Eiffel Tower, on the

second floor.

The experience Exciting, right from the

start. After bypassing the crowds and

clearing airport-style security, diners

rise in a private windowed elevator to

a platform 410ft above Paris, with

spectacular views. Though window

seats are hard to secure, diners set

slightly back perhaps enjoy a more

dramatic vista, fragmented by the

tower’s hulking girders and cogs that

slowly heave the lifts up and down.

The food Lauded French chef Alain

Ducasse heads up this sky-high

restaurant, although on a day-to-day

basis Pascal Féraud takes charge.

Though our six-course tasting menu

included some enjoyable dishes –

sautéed scallop with silky whipped

potatoes and Mont d’Or cheese,

followed by tender veal with asparagus

– it was not, we felt, Michelin standard

(the restaurant has held a star for

years, but one wonders if the judges

were dazzled by the views). I barely

touched my sickly Cold Peppermint

cocktail. But the signature Tower Nut

dessert was luscious and delicious.

The highlight The setting. From up

above we saw dusk stretch lazily over

the city and threads of streetlights

slowly setting Haussmann’s boulevards

aflame. Then, when darkness fell,

20,000 white lights danced along the

tower for five minutes each hour; from

within, it was as though a battalion of

paparazzi was making a sudden

effort to document the anniversary

dinners and hopeful proposals that are

a nightly occurrence.

The details Bookings should be made

up to three months in advance

(lejulesverne-paris.com). A three-

course lunch costs from £75; at dinner

a five-course tasting menu costs from

£135 (plus £70 with paired wines).

Where to stay The Shangri-La’s Eiffel

Tower-facing rooms offer unmatched

views. The listed 19th-century building,

originally home to Prince Roland

Bonaparte, also houses an elegant pool

and the Michelin-starred Shang Palace

Chinese restaurant (shangri-la.com/

paris; 0033 1 5367 1998; doubles from

£480). Return Eurostar fares cost from

£72 (03448 224 777; eurostar.com).

John O’Ceallaigh

dining destination gourmet spots worth travelling to

once, villa companies provided just houses –

with a housekeeper thrown in if you were

lucky. Today, as increasing numbers of

wealthy travellers opt to stay in private homes rather

than hotels, the size of villas and the range of services

on offer has improved substantially. Tuscany Now

(tuscanynow.com), which manages more than

150 high-end villas in italy, including la Tocella (below),

with a 62-acre garden, lemon groves and 32ft pool,

has seen demand for experiences grow so much that

from this month it will have an extra 30 on offer.

“People now don’t want just gorgeous houses, they

want to learn, to explore, to experience the area

they’re in,” says Simon Ball, who co-founded the

company in 1990. “we have always offered a cook,

a babysitter, a coach and, of course, a 24-hour

concierge. But now we can arrange local experts and

lessons, too: a truffle-hunter to explore forests, a

vintner to lead private tours to the $100-million

Antinori cellars, a fiat 500 in which to explore lucca,

an ice-cream expert to make gelato, a private shopper

to introduce guests to artisinal craftsmen. we can

even arrange a visit to the Pope – although, of course,

we can’t guarantee he’ll talk to you.”

As demands become more elaborate, so do

services. red Savannah (redsavannah.com), for

instance, found a 1986 Alfa romeo Spider for a guest

to drive during his stay at a villa and called on a

resident expert ornithologist to guide bird-lovers for

an afternoon. family-villa company oliver’s Travels

(oliverstravels.com) has introduced “Sandcastle

Butlers” to create sculptures on the beach for young

guests. SJ Villas (sjvillas.co.uk), which has on its books

rental homes that cost €150,000 a week, often

supplies yoga teachers, private surf coaches and

entertainment, as well as yachts and jets. “Guests

don’t just want a tennis court any more,” says the

company’s co-founder Judy Menier, “they want

a world-class coach.”

HANDY BAG

The new Gianoi handbag is a handy

accessory for those on the move, who

would prefer to see (rather than to hear)

incoming communication. While it looks

like a classic, each is implanted with a

phone charger and a gold-plated logo that

can be programmed through an app

to flash gently when a message, email

or call is received. Bags range from

a boxy snakeskin clutch to this elegant

formal model (£980; gianoi.com).

eiffel view

Looking out from

Le Jules Verne in Paris,

the Tower’s second-

floor restaurant

intelligence

98 ultratravel

Born John Stephens in Ohio, the

38-year-old singer-songwriter has

won nine Grammys, one Golden

Globe and one Academy Award.

He has sung with and played the

piano for artists such as Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill and

Kanye West. Last year, his song “All of Me” topped

the charts in eight countries, including the US. Next

year Legend will host an 11-day Four Seasons jet trip

(thelegendexperience.com), taking 50 guests on

a series of private visits that will include wineries in

the Napa Valley, the Aston Martin factory in the UK

and Valentino’s atelier in Italy.

How many holidays do you take?

My wife Chrissy [Teigen, a model] and I usually

take at least two a year: one around Christmas

and one during the summer. We’ve been to some

beautiful places, from Italy and the South of

France to the Maldives, Thailand, and Turks and

Caicos. We often return to places where I’ve been

on tour or Chrissy has worked on photo shoots;

our business trips are good research for holidays.

Where would you love to go back to?

The magical Lake Como, where we got married.

The views are stunning, the food is delicious and

the people are warm and friendly. Villa d’Este

(villadeste.com) is the place to stay, and Il Gatto

Nero (ristorantegattonero.com) the place to eat.

Which places on next year’s jet trip are you

most looking forward to?

Lake Como, although Napa Valley will be lovely,

too. It is such a beautiful part of the country, with

some of America’s greatest vineyards and

restaurants. For people like me who love good

weather, scenery, wine and food, it’s fantastic.

Do you travel light?

A little on the heavier side, although no one likes

to admit that. My big luggage is Tumi (tumi.com),

which makes durable luggage that can withstand

my hectic travel schedule. My favourite smaller

bags are by Tom Ford (tomford.com), which have

the best zips and look so luxurious and bold.

Your favourite spots for a weekend away?

When we’re in New York, we like to get away to

the Berkshires, which are a few hours north of the

city. We stay at the Wheatleigh (wheatleigh.com):

a small hotel with a great restaurant. Or, if we go

to Napa Valley, we like Meadowood (meadowood.

com), whose Michelin-star restaurant is one of

the best in the world.

Favourite restaurants abroad?

In France, Alain Ducasse’s restaurant at Le

Meurice in Paris (dorchestercollection.com) and

in St-Tropez, La Vague d’Or (residencepinede.

com). In Italy, the Hotel Splendido in Portofino

(belmond.com), which serves our favourite pizza

in the world, or Trattoria Pandemonio in Florence

(trattoriapandemonio.it), which is a mom-and

pop-style place with great pasta and Florentine

steak. In Tokyo, which may be the best restaurant

city in the world, one of our favourites is the dim

sum brunch at Sense at the Mandarin Oriental

(mandarinoriental.com).

What’s your idea of a perfect day on holiday?

So much of our holidays revolve around eating

great food, which is why Italy is such a great place

to go. We also love to get some sun and maybe

take a boat trip, and in the late afternoon take a

stroll to go shopping and see some museums.

Then we take a nap to get ready for a perfect

dinner, then stumble into a small bar for a late-

night drink before bed.

Favourite spots to eat in America?

Meadowood in Napa Valley (meadowood.com),

Alinea in Chicago (alinearestaurant.com) –

possibly my favourite restaurant in the world –

Giorgio Baldi (giorgio-baldi.com) and Via Veneto

in LA (viaveneto.us). In New York, Babbo

(babbonyc.com), Le Bernardin (le-bernardin.com),

Del Posto (delposto.com), Frank (frankrestaurant.

com), Momofuku Noodle Bar (momofuku.com)

and Dirty French (dirtyfrench.com).

What’s your idea of luxury when travelling?

Attentive, intelligent service; tasteful design and

exceptional food and wine. We just got back from

St-Tropez, where we stayed at the Villa Belrose

(villa-belrose.com), which has incredible staff, and

the Hotel Caruso (belmond.com) in Ravello,

where we were driven along the coast on

incredibly small, twisting roads – even more

winding than where we live in the Hollywood Hills.

The most glamorous room you have

ever stayed in?

I don’t know that I look for “glamorous” when I

travel – that sounds a bit like Vegas to me.

Maybe the room with the stripper pole at the

Palms… (I’m joking).

Do you like adventure trips?

Not really. We like relaxing on holiday. The

Maldives are the most remote place we’ve been.

I proposed to my wife there, at the Anantara

Kihavah (kihavah-maldives.anantara.com).

She’d done a Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot

there, and loved it – so I took her back, and asked

her to commit to us spending our lives together.

The toughest journey you’ve ever been on?

Hiking and riding elephants in Thailand at a luxury

tented camp in Chiang Rai was the closest we got

to camping. We fed the elephants they take care

of and took them to watering holes.

Favourite things you have bought abroad?

Some cool pottery in Marrakech. It’s so nice being

in cities that are old. Growing up in America you

are surrounded by buildings from the last century.

You Europeans are spoilt.

The best airline in the world?

Emirates is pretty great (especially the first-class

suites) although Singapore Airlines is, too. When

it comes to US airlines, I think American has the

best planes for first class, although I love the fact

that Delta has Wi-Fi on every plane.

The best places to stay in the UK?

The Corinthia (corinthia.com) in London. It’s very

classic, the service is great – and it’s near

everything you want to be close to.

Where would you next like to perform?

India, which I have never visited.

Interview by Lisa Grainger

Travelling life John Legend The American singer-songwriter on wining and dining in Napa, a hair-raising drive on the Amalfi coast, and proposing in the Maldives

‘I love old cities. Growing up in the US, you are surrounded by buildings from the last century. You Europeans are spoilt’

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