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Special: London 2012 The capital city of United Kingdom opens its doors to the world to celebrate the XXX Olympic Games. Cosmopolitan and majestic, London dresses up for the third time to act as host of honour, with city tours, shopping, culture and lots of fun.
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novaint o u r i s m c u l t u r e f a s h i o n s h o p p i n g
LondonHost-city of the XXX Olympic Games 2012
interviewChina: a comprehensive and modern experience
destinationsIstanbul: a city for shopping in Turkey
fashionWe are all “Cibelines”
Year I | Issue I | July 2012
BILLABONG STORES:
- FARO AIRPORT- SHOPPING COLOMBO (LISBOA)
- ERICEIRA VILLAGE- FORUM ALGARVE (FARO)
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BILLABONG STORES:
- FARO AIRPORT- SHOPPING COLOMBO (LISBOA)
- ERICEIRA VILLAGE- FORUM ALGARVE (FARO)
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tourismLondon. Culture and entertainment in the host-city of the XXX Olympic Games 2012
trendsFrom Jail to Hotel5 emblematic buildings
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45 48 50
cultureSáo Paulo Market. Gastronomic heart of the city
shoppingLondon in 10 shops
cultureAzerbaijan. Oriental cultural richness in Europe
fashionWe are all “Cibelines”
gourmetAround Spain in 80 croquettes
current newsWorld Tourism Day in Maspalomas
novaint o u r i s m c u l t u r e f a s h i o n s h o p p i n g
LondonHost-city of the XXX Olympic Games 2012
interviewChina: a comprehensive and modern experience
destinationsIstanbul: a city for shopping in Turkey
fashionWe are all “Cibelines”
Year I | Issue I | July 2012
content
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opinionTravelogues: Barichara
interviewChina: a comprehensive and modern experience. Liu Jiangtao and Hui Chengkun (HNA Group)
opinion10 uncomfortable truths about sustainable tourism
INNOVA MAGAZINE Year 1. Issue 1June 2012 Edition
Innova Magazine is a magazine belonging to innova taxfree group, s.l.
CEOLuciano Ochoa de AbreuDirectorAntonio [email protected]
Edition y CoordinationAdriana Morán [email protected]
IT DirectorAbel [email protected]
Graphic DesignDaniel Pérez Arcaswww.danielperezarcas.com.ar
International CoordinationIlenia [email protected]
Marketing and CommunicationMaría Rodrí[email protected]
Country Manager BrasilLuana Clara [email protected] Country Manager ChinaLucía [email protected]
Country Manager FranciaStéphane [email protected]
Country Manager ItaliaGiuseppe [email protected]
Country Manager PortugalJosé Félix [email protected]
Country Manager UKMerton [email protected]
Country ManagerJose Luis [email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS
Aynura HuseynovaFaig GurbatovLuana SánchezÇagla ÇakiciGiuseppe NovaraLucía GalarzaJosé Luis BacieroCarlos BujFrancisco Soler
CONTACT: innova taxfree group Calle Velázquez 140 - 1º izqE-28006 Madrid t. +34 915 237 004 f. +34 915 230 [email protected] www.innova-magazine.com
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shoppingLondon in 10 shops
destinationsIstanbul. City for Shopping in Turkey
destinationsRome and Milan Weekend tour
current newsWorld Tourism Day in Maspalomas
innova tax free group newsThe Soirée in Paris
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AzerbaijanOriental Cultural Richness in Europe
Since the restoration of its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has an important inflow of
tourists that has exceeded any estimation. With an annual renovation with a cost of 6.000 million dollars and 500 new complexes, including sev-eral leisure centers and hotels ranked with 5 and 6 stars, the country shows off with an air of com-placency in front of the most demanding tourist. In this process of self-reinvention, it skillfully com-bines the rich cultural legacy with a bold modern-ism, which makes it a unique place worth a visit.
The city shows its glamour with countless his-torical buildings and new constructions with fine curved lines lighted with lots of bright and color.
“After living for several centuries under the influ-ence of the ideas, cultures and governments of other nations, the Azerbaijan nation finally has the opportunity of choosing: who they want to be as a nation, in which type of city they want to live and, what might be the most important, what type of culture they want to create for themselves. And to find out, they build buildings. And they build them with curves, with inclinations never seen be-fore”, said Danny Forster, TV host of the program “Build it Bigger” of Discovery Channel, who vis-ited two of the most extraordinary complexes of the country, due to their design and construction methods: Flame Towers and the Cultural Center Heydar Aliyev.
Aynura Huseynova and Faig Gurbatov
Called the “European charm of the East”, Azerbaijan is a paradise blessed by its oil wealth, but also by its cultural variety.
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Places of Cultural Interest in Baku
Museum of Modern Art. Azerbaijan State Carpet Museum. Azerbaijan History Museum, located in the former residence
of the most prominent oil magnate, Haji Zeinalabdin Tagiev. Miniature Book Museum.
Cultural syncretism
Azerbaijan has Caucasian, Turkish, Persian, Arabic and central Asia roots. This mix turns it into a unique country. In Baku, the capital, is where this mix is especially evident.
• In the centre of Baku, the bright buildings of French and gothic style which repre-sent the glory of the first oil boom are a source of astonishment. They were built by Polish, French and Italian architects at the end of the 19th Century for the oil bar-ons, who would dedicate or give as a surprise gift these stunning buildings to their wives, sons, daughters or lovers.
• To the south, facing the Caspian Sea, there is the Old Town, surrounded by castle walls and narrow sinuous streets. Complexes rich in culture and history,
public baths, the old commercial center and the traditional tea houses from the 12th Century to the 15th Century are combined with live music and uncountable souvenir shops, carpet retailers and artisans.
• In the distance, there is an impressive sight: the highest flag in the world flutters in Flag Square with a 170 meters tall flagpole and a banner, which weights more
than 600 kilograms. Besides it, the huge construction for the new Eurovision venue can be seen.
• One of the most enigmatic buildings in the city of Baku is the Giz Galasi, or the Maiden Tower. This building was built on a rock ledge on a cliff by the Caspian Sea. There is not a similar one in the entire Near and Middle East and, from it, an amaz-ing view of the Baku bay is available.
• Shiravansháh, or the King of Shirvan´s Castle, is one of the main buildings in the Old Town. Recently restored, it stands imposing over trendy restaurants in a city with a greatly internationalized gastronomy.
• The public baths are an attraction in Baku. The “hamam” are a legacy from the past and have been preserved for centuries. Now they are an entertaining experi-ence for tourists.
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Gabala
Located in the north of the country, it is a great area for leisure, right in the middle of nature.
Recommended: The small market opened right next to the main street, where locals sell fresh fruits and vegetables, vegetables in brine and other natural products. Each offer will have a cheaper price than the one made by the previous seller.
Shakí
Located 300 kilometers to the northeast of Baku, it was the center of the grand duchy (Janlig).
Recommended: During the trip from the capital, there is an astonishing landscape full of natural beauty. From the deserted plain of Absheron to the mountain forests full of chestnut trees, hazelnut trees and leafy oaks.
Lahij
Full of color and far from the hustle of the city, Lahij is located in the south slope of the Great Caucasus in the Ismailli Rayon. It is only possible to get there on a SUV with good wheels able to resist the narrow ways of the steep hills.
Recommended: Locals say “Put on the tunic, say the magic words and, bingo! you are in the past”.
Shamaji
Alexander Dumas stopped in this region during his journey to the south area of the Caucasus, where he compiled lots of recipes for his famous “Dictionary of Cuisine”. The great French novelist was right, Shamaji cuisine is truly exquisite: there are 46 types of plov, 14 types of dolma, 16 kinds of brochettes and other numerous delicacies that are paired with white or red wine produced in the neighbor region of Ismaili.
Recommended: The trip from Shamaji to Ismaili: the biggest wine producing region of the country, located 1.400 meters above the sea level.
Najichevan
Physically separated from Azerbaijan (divided by Armenia), people from Najichevan is proud of their history of heroism, and preserves lots of historical buildings.
Recommended: The city is rich in mineral and thermal waters.
Inland countryTo travel all over Azerbaijan is to discover a land struggling between its traditions and modernity.
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Local Gastronomy
In the villages of the north, the typical dish is the “Piti”: a type of mutton soup, slowly cooked with herbs and spices. Restaurants serve it as a special lunch dish.
When it comes to sweets, the best is the honey pajlava, the delicate jalva and the flour sticks that melt in your mouth. They are prepared following the traditional recipes that pass from generation to generation; its special taste comes from the Greek pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and the mountain herbs honey.
Tradition under your feet
A tourism circuit visits the carpet factories of Azerbaijan. The visitor will be able to dive into the great variety of high-quality products, hand-crafted and unequalled in the world. Beautiful carpets, made by national weavers, decorate the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Textile Museum in Washington.
A visit to the open-air museum located in the Gala village which is in the Baku outskirts, tells the cultural history of the national carpets. Some archeologists found in Gala remains of the medieval fortress and village and, in that place, it was established the history and ethnic park, with hundreds of pieces from different
times which range from rustic elements which were used to work during the Stone Age days, and crockery covered with petroglyphs, to phaetons from the 19th Century.
From the Museum, with a semi-buried architecture, two stories houses of the locals can be seen. It seems like half of the buildings were built with the same carved stone exhibited in the museum. Woolly sheep run through the narrow streets, the mooing of the cows and the barking of the dogs can be heard coming from the patios and backs of the houses.
Time stops 200 years ago. However, the oil towers that look like a forest surrounding the village and stretch towards the horizon quickly take the visitors back to the 21st Century, to today´s dynamic Azerbaijan.
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Market of São PauloGastronomic heart of the city
Luana Sánchez Luana Sánchez and ICI Comunicação
In addition to a pleasing sensorial experience, a walk around the busy streets of the Municipal Market also uncovers part of the history of the city and its gastronomy.
Emblematic characters, colors, images and flavors. The Municipal Market of São Paulo
has much more to offer to its visitors than it can expected from the impressive architectural work by Francisco Ramos de Azevedo and the amaz-ing stained-glass windows by the Russian artist Conrado Sorgenicht Filho, which give the place a perfect natural lighting.
It is a space for consumption and leisure, the gourmet Paradise for the paulistanos and also for the visitors coming from all over Brazil and the world. It is estimated that a daily average of 15.000 visits the market on Mondays, growing up to 30.000 on Saturdays. The market can also be considered a reflection of the very same identity
of Sao Paulo; a space where people of different nationalities, races and social classes live in har-mony with each other and exchange experiences every day.
Family Tradition
Opened to the public in 1933 in the city center, the Market was the cradle of immigrants that had just arrived from Spain, Italy and Portugal, among other countries, who put down roots there and still preserve their culture. At the beginning of the last century, approximately 240.000 people lived in the city. Of these, half were immigrants who lived close to the place.
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“The Market was opened in 1933 and my fa-ther, who was Italian, was already here with my grandfather. I came in 1940 and now my sons carry on with the business. We have been in the Market for four generations”, tells Ivan Amaro, from Sweet Fruits.
A similar history is the one told by Horácio Fer-reira Gabriel, owner of one of the most visited places of the market, the Hocca Bar. It is almost unthinkable to walk by his business, where lots of people gather together every day, without try-ing the perfectly served Sanduíche de Mortad-ela (a giant sandwich with more than 200 grams of mortadella) or the famous Pastel de Bacalao (Codfish Pie) (a type of fried pie stuffed with codfish).
His father, Horácio Gabriel, a Portuguese from
Vila Franca das Neves, arrived to the market in the 50´s and invested all his savings in a bar which served workers of the area. “They would ask my father to prepare really big sandwiches, because they would eat just once a day and the work was very hard”, explains Gabriel. In this way was born the Sanduíche de Mortadela with the current huge size that is still served today.
Another flagship product of the house, the Pas-tel de Bacalao (Codfish Pie), was his mother´s idea. His mother, Maria de Deus Ferreira, was an eminent Portuguese cooker who decided to use the filling of the traditional Portuguese cod-fish croquette to fill the pastry of the fair pie, a typical paulinista dish.
“Here is possible to find food from all over the world and discover particularities of the city of
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São Paulo. Also, São Paulo is a mix of all parts of Brazil, which makes the stroll quite valuable in cultural terms. This is what I usually say: if you want to know a city, go and visit its market”, says Horácio Ferreira.
Cultural mix
This mix of “all parts of Brazil”, was boosted with the rise of industri-alization between 1950 and 1980, which lead to the migration of natives from the northeast of the country to the southeast region, specially to São Paulo. That is Renato Rabelo´s adventure in the paulista capital started. Renato Rabelo, owner of Disk Peixaria, confesses: “I am from Bahia, but after so many years here I feel more paulistano than from Bahia”.
Rabelo lived closely the development of the Mar-ket and saw his business grow with the reform made in 2004 that recovered the façade and the stained-glass windows. This turned the Market into the meeting point of paulistan food lovers. “Today is a tourist attraction and there is no way to stop progress. We have to evolve together”.
Looking towards 2014
Brazil is getting ready to welcome thousands of tourists during the next most important sport events: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olym-pic Games. Workers at the Market also wait ea-gerly for these events, and that is why efforts are being made to improve the shopping venue.
With the demolition of the São Vito building and the Mercúrio building, the Municipal Market will gain new spaces, as an underground parking and a square will be built. In the grounds where the old buildings were located, a new gastro-nomic center of the National Commercial Train-ing Service will be established and the Avenida do Estado will be turned into a tunnel to ease the pedestrian transit, without the inconveniences of busy streets.
It is part of the paulistano character to do their utmost to make visitors from any part of the world feel at home. This is another excuse to visit the Municipal Market. Also, its gastronomic and human variety makes it unique in the world.
Location: Rua da Cantareira, 306 – Sé São Paulo, Brazil. Business hours: Monday to Saturday from 6 am to 18 pm.
Sundays and holidays, until 16 pm. Guided visits: from Tuesday to Thursday you can have a guided
tour, visiting the main business and locations of the Market, like Hocca Bar and the VIP room at the catering area. To take part in one of these tours advance booking is required by calling to the phone number (11) 3313-2444.
For more information, visit www.mercadomunicipal.com.br
london
tour
ism
londonCulture and entertainment in the host-city of the XXX Olympic Games 2012
United Kingdom capital opens its
doors to the world to celebrate the
next world Olympic appointment.
London, cosmopolitan and majestic,
dresses up for the third time to act
as host-city of honor, like in 1908
and 1948.
tour
ism
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London is known for its imperial majesty, its impressive architecture and its cultural attrac-
tions and entertainment circuits. But this year, it has one more appeal: the hosting of the XXX Ol-ympic Games.
The capital city of United Kingdom is the first city to act as host-city of the Olympic Games for the third time. It was already in 1908 and in 1948. Although its candidacy was much questioned because it was considered London lacked the needed sport infrastructure; it proved that, in that field, London is also in the vanguard of architec-ture and culture. That is how, from July 27th to August 12th, London streets will turn into a big
party of nations, with cultural, tourism, shopping and entertainment tours.
With its welcoming immensity, London, the city of the towers and the clocks, provides countless op-portunities to discover. It combines tradition and modernity, big museums and cozy pubs; exuber-ant shopping centers and street markets, light and color…
In addition, it hosts countless options for all the family, with free entrance to lots of the main at-tractions. Next, there are some of the routes that no tourist should miss:
Tower BridgeThe eye-catching lifting bridge, built in the Victorian style and protagonist in great cinema stories, is one of the most outstand-ing symbols of London. Over the Thames River, this monument stands impressive next to the Tower of London. Since 1982, the footbridge is part of the exposition offered inside the Tower Bridge.
Data: The facility is open from April to September: from 10.00 to 18.30. And from October to March: from 09.30 to 18.30. Entrance prices range from 5 to 8 British pounds (between 7 and 13 USD).
Astonishing Architecture
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london
Big BenThe most famous postcard of the British capital is the Big Ben, the famous clock from 1858 located at the Houses of the Parliament. With its 106 meters of height, it houses four huge clocks that are a world attraction.
Data: What is really called Big Ben is a huge bell of 14 tons that is inside the tower.
San Paul´s CathedralWith a height of 110 meters, it is the second biggest cathedral in the world, after St. Peter´s Basilica in Rome. The place where it is located has been occupied by religious buildings since ancient times, as it was the place selected to place a dolmen and, after that, a Greek temple. The temple was replaced with the oldest church in England, built in the year 604.
Dato: Horario de visita de lunes a sábado: de 8:30 a 16:30 horas. Los precios van entre las 5 y 15 libras esterlinas (entre 7 y 16 USD).
Buckingham PalaceSince 1837 it is the official residence of the British Royal Family in London. Built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham, it survived extraordinarily well to two world wars. One of the main attractions is the famous Changing of the Guard in the front part of the palace.
Data: Visiting the inside of the palace is only allowed between August and September.
The Tower of London900 years of history are kept in one of the best protected fortifications in the world. The Tower of London has been royal palace and fortress, prison and place of execution, mint, arsenal, house of beasts and “jewel house” (place where the crown jewels are guarded).
Data: Inside the Tower of London, there are several buildings that can be visited; so it is advisable to devote several hours to the visit.
London EyeIt is the tallest lookout-Ferris wheel in the world. The London Eye is the most visible element of the London horizon. More than 50 representative points of the capital can be seen in just 30 minutes from the top.
Data: The entrance includes access to the “4D Experience”, a 3D short film about the city.
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From July 27th to August 12th, London will turn into the world sports capital by being host-city of the XXX Olympic Games 2012. More than 25 sports and 302 competitions will be seen in the whole world.
The opening of the most important sporting event will be responsibility of the film director Danny Boyle, who faces the act as a great show taking place in the Olympic Stadium, specially built for this occasion.
Built for the occasion, the London Olympic Sta-dium is located in Stratford in Lower Lea Val-ley. The construction, started in 2008 under the International Olympic Committee, has been val-ued at more than nine million British pounds and its premises will have a capacity for eighty thou-sand spectators with twenty five thousand per-
manent seats and fifty five thousand demount-able seats.
Tickets
From March 15th to April 25th more than six mil-lion entrance tickets were available for booking. The purchase was only available through the of-ficial web for United Kingdom residents and resi-dents from other 30 designated European coun-tries.
Tickets will have an average price of 500 Euros; the cheapest one will cost 30 Euros and the most expensive ones will be around 800 Euros.
The most expensive tickets for the opening cer-emony of the London Olympics will cost around 850 Euros.
The Olympic metropolis
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tourism |
london
Tickets for football Olympic events were put up for sale last November 11th and will be on sale
until next November 29th. There is still an aver-age amount of one million and a half available tickets, with an existing limitation in the sale of tickets for events in Wembley.
Adults over sixty years old will have special tick-ets available with an average price of 20 Euros; same will happen with people under 22 years old, who will be able to purchase tickets for an aver-age price of 15 Euros.
Sports and Entertainment
In the framework of the Olympic Games, tourist will be able to walk around a city full of surprises. Its entertaining pubs and clubs, the street mar-kets, British gastronomy and much more are part of the big Olympic party.
To go shopping in London, options are countless. In addition to souvenirs, it is also common to find good prices in clothing and electronics.
Alfie’s Antiques MarketHosts hundreds of antique shops in a fantastic labyrinth. Decorative arts, silver, furniture, paintings and engravings, jewelry, ceramics and classic apparel are abundant.
Borough MarketIt is paradise for gourmets and one of the biggest street markets in the city. It is located under the railway arches and the London Bridge.
Portobello MarketIs one of the most classic and well-known markets because of its antique stalls.
Old Spitalfields MarketIt is considered as the springboard to fame for young artists coming from the arts and design school nearby. It displays unique articles, classic and retro apparel, CD, jewelry and handicrafts.
WELCOMING STREET MARKETS
Camden TownAlternative tourism where the whole neighborhood stands out.
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British MuseumThe impressive British Museum exhibits mankind´s arts from Prehistory to modern times in collections coming from all over the world. The Parthenon Sculptures stand out among the most famous treasures of the Museum. Location: Great Russell Street.
Tate ModernTate Modern is the British National Museum of Modern Art. Built in the place of the old electric accumulator by the Thames river bank. In addition to important contemporary art works and installations, the gallery exhibits paintings by Matisse, Picasso and other referents of world art.Location: Bankside.
Science MuseumMore than 40 galleries and two thousand pieces exhibited make up the Science Museum, the biggest museum of its kind in the world. There, the tourist will be able to see, touch and experiment the greatest scientific advances of the last 300 years. Location: Exhibition Road.
Natural History MuseumIts main attraction is the collection of world´s biggest, tallest and oddest animals: a life-size model of a blue whale, a 40 million year old spider and an elephant-bird egg top the list. It also has an important collection of dinosaurs. Location: Cromwell Road.
The National Gallery Home to one of the main European painting
collections in the world. With paintings ranging from 1250 to 1900, the collection includes works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Turner,
Cezanne and Van Gogh.Location: Trafalgar Square.
MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
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ENGLISH TEA
One of the star products to buy in London is the renowned English tea; of which it is possible to find countless varieties. The best known are: Earl Grey tea, with a citric flavor; Darjeeling tea, black tea with a floral bouquet; Assam tea, strong black tea; and English Breakfast tea, a combination of two black teas (Assam and Ceylon).
tourism |
LONDON AT NIGHTAfter the sunset, the metropolis offers count-less places full of music and lights for all tastes. Evening will be complete in this city where you will always want to come back.
Among the best clubs in London, the following ones stand out:Fabric (77A Charterhouse Street)Notting Hill Arts Club (21 Notting Hill Gate)Egg (200 York Way. Kings Cross)Cargo (83 Rivington Street. Shoreditch)Plan B (418 Brixton Road. Stockwell)Cafe 1001 (1 Dray Walk. Shadwell)Heaven (Under The Arches. Villiers Street)
Source: www.visitlondon.com | www.londres.es
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London in 10 shopsAfter a tour around the capital city of United Kingdom, we introduce a list of the 10 shops that every tourist should visit to purchase jewels, clothing, books and other souvenirs from the royal city.
Tin Tin Shop What to buy? Complete collection of the 24
books of the adventures of Tin Tin. Where: 34 Floral Street, London, WC2.
www.thetintinshop.uk.com
7-CamicieFor men: A shirt by one of the most
renowned clothing brands for men in Europe.
Where: 52 Neal Street, London, WC2.www.7camicie.com
Holly & LiL Impossible to miss: Harness and collar
for dogs decorated with the United Kingdom flag.
Where: 103 Bermondsey Street, London SE1.
www.hollyandlil.co.uk
Sass & BelleTo take as a present: Vintage gifts: handbags, cushions, keychain and more. Any style and for any age. Where: 31 The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2.www.sassandbelle.co.uk
Venusrox The best gift: Amethyst crystal, a gemstone of
large range for spiritual growth. Where: 25 All Saints Road, London W11.
www.venusrox.com
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shopping |
Pineapple ShopRecommended: Retro Kit Bag, a funky style bag
perfect for the gym or for going for a walk. Where: 16 Langley Street, London, WC2.
www.pineapple.uk.com
Carolina Herrera Unique: Any of the three CH Carolina Herrera
collection perfumes, for man and woman. Where: 120 Mount Street, London, W1.
www.carolinaherrera.com
Bridal Rogue GalleryPrivilege: The most beautiful tiaras for the modern bride,
hand-made and following the highest standards of beauty. Where: 20-22 Chiltern Street, London W1.
www.bridalroguegallery.co.uk
L Cornelissen & Son LimitedFor beginners: Painter´s Manual, by Mark David Gottsegen. A 355 page guide for anyone who starts in the painting world. Where: 105 Great Russell Street, London WC1.www.cornelissen.com
Jade Jagger
Ethnic: Any of the necklaces of the
Gypsy collection, with beads, crosses and extraordinary stones.
Where:45 All Saints Road, London W11.
www.jadejagger.co.uk
For more information on Tax Free shopping in London: [email protected]
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Bond StreetChannel, Armani and Versace are some of the designers that are located in this exclusive street.
Covent GardenIt is a very popular area with shops full of offers.
KnightsbridgeIn this commercial neighborhood are located some of the most famous shopping malls in the world: Harrods and Harvey Nichols.
Regent StreetFull of fashion shops, it is one of the main commercial streets in the capital.
Oxford StreetThe most important commercial street in London, where you can find from small clothing shops to big shopping malls.
OTHERS OPTIONS FOR SHOPPING IN LONDON
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China:a comprehensive and modern experienceInterview to Liu Jiangtao and Hui Chengkun, HNA Group representatives.
All roads lead to Rome, claims the popular proverb. Now, with the globalization and the
expansion of the markets, we can assume that “all roads lead to China”.
China is the second economy and the second power on a commercial level worldwide. Its tour-ism and production development is boosted
thanks to big allied corporations such as HNA Group, one of the most important airlines and associated services companies in the Asiatic continent. With the implementation of the Pro-motion Fund for Beijing Tourism Industry De-velopment, through an agreement between the Beijing Tourism Development Committee and HNA Group, guidance for a new industry and
Lucía Galarza & Adriana Morán Sarmiento HNA Group
With 15 years of experience, eight core business and more than 26.000 employees, HNA Group shows a solid expansion of its capital and diversified businesses. Two representatives from the transnational point out its main objectives, and show us why it is consolidating in both national and international markets, especially through its subsidiaries HNA Tourism and Transforex.
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support channels were established, with the aim of reinforcing the effectiveness of governmental funding, while providing new opportunities and ideas to HNA Tourism in the development of the tourism industry.
Liu Jiangtao, executive vice president of HNA Tourism, assures that in this way the company reinforces its strategic alliances with other com-panies of the tourism sector, or related to it, es-pecially financial groups. It also reinforces the strategic cooperation with governments in order to be able to get positive support in investment approval on their way to internationalization.
- The goal of HNA Tourism is to become leader in the tourism industry ¿which international ac-tions is the group taking to achieve this goal?
-To become leader in the tourism industry is a goal that HNA Tourism pursues at all times. HNA Tourism is a globally oriented group that, by re-laying on the distinctive resource advantages of HNA Group, has grown to become a modern company with six main business areas: airlines,
tourism, new finance, hotels, IT and business innovation. Now it has 21 member brands and the efforts for the development of the group and all its chains in the travel industry are being in-creased. In order to build a new travel economy and create a new era for tourism enterprises in China, HNA Tourism starts by integrating tour-ism industry chains and explores an innovate commercial model of “Industrial capital + Finan-cial capital + IT capital”, while trying to set up a service network with a completely new techno-logical and financial concept.
- Which are the most important countries or re-gions for HNA international tourism manage-ment?
-European countries. Our products and servic-es have Europe as a key area of development, such as outbound tourism, financial service. The development will be a comprehensive one.
Liu JiangtaoExecutive Vice President de HNA Tourism
He graduated in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Nanjing in 2000. In 2007, obtained an MBA by the International City University of America.He has worked in financial management for more than 12 years and in several companies belonging to HNA Group until he reached his current position as Executive Vice President of HNA Tourism, and president of the board at HNA Yishen, Bohai Yishen, Transforex and Caissa. Main achievements: In 2008 he is part of the team in charge of the incorporation of HNA Capital; in 2009 creates Transforex; in 2011 becomes President of the board at Yishen S.L.; in 2012 takes care of the merge of several financial companies within HNA Tourism into just one company, and it is also named president of the board at HNA Yishen. Preferred tourism destination: Spain.
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- How does HNA influence tourism industry in China and in the world?
-With the vision of “a comprehensive service provider of modern tourism”, HNA Tourism has devoted itself completely to the goal of becom-ing “a new tourism economy in China” mainly through the integration of all tourism industry chains. In addition to the resources that are the airlines and travel agencies, HNA Tourism owns HNA Hotel Group, which is among the world´s top 300 hotel groups. It also owns or manages almost 80 hotels with more than 15.000 rooms. So far, HNA Tourism is a group with a diversi-fied portfolio of assets that include luxury and high-end hotels, business hotels, resort hotels, inns and golf courses.
-In tourism there are six key areas: Accommoda-tion, Accommodation plus food, Transportation, Tourism, Shopping and Entertainment. In each of them, which are the greatest strengths of HNA Tourism?
-In theses six areas, our greatest strength is “transportation”, as HNA Tourism owns four air-lines: HNA Deer Jet (the biggest business and private jet company in Asia), Deer Air Co. Ltd. (the biggest charter flight company in China), West Air and Yunnan Lucky Air, as well as 20 commercial planes that offer more than 130 seats. In other words, we can offer thousands of seats each day. Up to this moment, three of our airlines have flights covering destinations like Beijing, Guang-zhou, Chongqing, Hangzhou and dozens of other cities. At the same time, the scale of our fleet and the network of airlines are under an on-going ex-pansion. In addition, HNA Tourism has the sup-port of its sister company Hainan Airlines.
The second greatest strength of HNA Tourism is “accommodation and food”. HNA Tourism holds two trump cards by owning HNA Hotels & Resorts: Transportation and Accommodation & Food. This type of advantage is exclusive of
HNA Tourism in the whole of mainland China. The direct management of hotels allows HNA Tourism to have a total control over the quality of the service and that allows improving com-petitiveness.
-How are HNA Tourism´s efforts focused to make its clients able to enjoy a “new way of living the travelling experience”?
- In the operational aspect of tourism resourc-es, travel agencies are a key element. Only by controlling the client through the travel agency can we integrate all our resource in an effec-tive way. The resource that is the airlines that HNA Group offers to HNA Tourism gives us an unmatchable advantage regarding product de-sign and the use of the resources that the travel agencies are. This exclusive mark of “Air + Trav-el” reinforces the HNA Tourism image and pro-motes its business within the travelling sector. HNA Tourism aspires to achieve the dominant position in the virtual economy, get resources of clients fast and become a creator of industry standards, all of it through e-commerce.
-What new products are you working on besides the “traditional” sun and sand, fishing, sailing?
-When it comes to travelling, it is natural to as-sociate the concept to the image of a walk in the beach, surf practicing, sailing and enjoying the sunset while having a fresh juice and so on. HNA Tourism is devoted to creating and lead-ing a new lifestyle in travelling and consump-tion. We try to produce and disseminate the joy of traveling and we provide each tourist with a tourism experience that comes from the depth of the soul. In order to do so, HNA Tourism is going to continue developing its travel financial business and is going to improve its products and services, like for example tax refund, e-travel cheque, Easylife card, etc. We will also continue making efforts to enlarge and rein-force outbound tourism.
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Transforex: one of the key companies of HNA Group
Transforex is a young company, but with a fast growth, belonging to HNA Group. Among its main goals stands out the goal of learning from the development and product model of foreign tour-ism and financial companies and institutions, to be able to continuously offer innovations in tour-ism related products and services, such as re-mittances for tourists, shopping abroad, E-travel cheque in RMB, increase of the tax-free busi-ness, etc.
The company looks to make its best effort to of-fer integrated or one-stop tourism services to the traveler, as its Chief Financial Officer Hui Chengkun says: “Our goal now is to create a nationwide brand within the Chinese financial and tourism sector. In addition, to adapt our business to the emergence of new tourism pro-jects, as well as to the new trend in sea journeys abroad, Transforex has planned to offer servic-es such as cruises. Also, some of the objectives for the next years are also the establishment of
branches abroad, mergers and acquisitions of some foreign companies related to the sector. The final goal is to create a unit of tourism and financial services that joins the characteristics of both Transforex and HNA Group, a unit which is a global financial services platform not only for Chinese citizens, but which is also capable of fulfilling the demands of foreign tourists in China.
- Among the several areas that Transforex works, there is the Tax Refund; what are the forecast for such project in China?
-Due to the reduced number of reimbursement points in China, the lack of time within the travel Schedule and the important barrier that is the language of the country of destination, many outbound travelers would not exercise their right to claim their VAT reimbursement.
Learning the importance of the sector, Trans-forex has decided to consider the refund busi-
Hui ChengkunTransforex Chief Financial Officer
Economist by the Universidad of Jilin.Worked in financial management for 8 years.He was vice-manager of the finance department at Luckyway Travel Tour Operators. Most outstanding achievements: merger with the tourism group Jilin Travel Group, with a great network of travel agencies all over China among other tourism related businesses. During the first half of 2012, he took charge of the business project with Caissa Touristic. Preferred tourism destination: “I am going to make a journey beginning in India, the cradle of Buddhism, and continue through Nepal until arriving in Tibet. I am going to follow the path that Buddha followed. I will feel the infinite wisdom and will experiment the greatness and toughness of the path of Buddha. It is going to be a journey of inner and life knowledge”.
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ness an important element within Transforex´s devvvelopment plan and will try to establish an adequate Service channel not only for China, but for the world. Yes, the development and growth of this sector is one of the strategic ob-jectives of Transforex development in the fu-ture. On the other hand, we are not going to limit our business scope to currency Exchange, we are going to gradually research and develop a comprehensive system of currency exchange services, in order to become experts in special-ized financial services.
-How do you think a tax-free program would ben-efit Chinese tourism and economy?
-In the past years, the Ministry of Finance has launched a series of provisions relevant for the tax-free in China. Nowadays we can already see some tax free shops (duty free shops) in some cities, and the products offered are progressively more varied. This type of policies has benefited the tourism sector to great extent, by increasing the number of purchases made while traveling. They have also cause an increase in the num-ber of visitors and in the consumption per capita
of the same, especially in coastal destinations. This will be of great help to the development of a modern services industry, leaded by the tourism sector, and will promote the development of local market economies, with a key role in the strate-gic development of tourism sector in China.
-Which are the great next innovations that we can expect from Transforex?
-In China, the public knowledge of the currency Exchange business is quite limited. That is why Transforex is going to increase its brand promo-tional efforts, in order to reach a better position in the market and create an international currency Exchange brand in China. To do so, Transforex is going to adapt to the current trend of “going out” that we can see in tourism to work with in-ternational and well-known brands of the finan-cial and tourism sectors. This will be a quick way to get used to international standards. We will also reinforce the brand promotion through the HNA Group branches and subsidiaries all over the world, such as international airlines, hotels abroad and others.
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Rome and Milan Weekend tour
The eternal city
Roma caput mundi (all roads lead to Rome), is an obligatory destination for all tourists. The mil-
lenary city is full of history, monuments, culture and traditions. The scent of history can be found at each corner of the city, making Rome a magical place where experiences lived are part of the past, the pre-sent and the future.
Starting from the Plaza del Campidoglio, today home
of the Rome City Hall, you can walk to Via Condotti, the main street for shopping and where shops of the most important brands are located offering the last trends in fashion. From Via Condotti, we can admire the famous Plaza de España and its well-known stairway to the church of the Trinitá dei Monti, frame of the most important fashion shows.
It is impossible to visit Rome in a few days, but if you only have a weekend, these are the must-see magi-cal places:
A walk through Rome, the capital of Italy, and Milan, the second most important city in the country, might be an interesting option for a weekend getaway. Within few travelling hours, the main areas of these two European destinations can be known.
Giuseppe Novara
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The Campidoglio, belongs to the seven hills of Rome: Celio-Palatino-Capitolio-Viminal-Quirinal-Aventino-Esquilino.
The Vittoriano and its romantic views.
The Vatican Museums
The Basilica of Maxentius.
The Circus Maximus.
The Trevi fountain.
The Fountain of the Four Rivers, Gian Lor-enzo Bernini´s masterpiece.
Portico d´Ottavia, old monument from the 2nd Century before Christ.
Also, the Farnese Palace, Saint Peter´s Ba-silica, the Capitoline Museums, the Borghese Gallery… without forgetting the district of Trastevere, the heart of Rome.
Fontana di Trevi
Trastevere
Piazza del Campidoglio
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How to get there?
Milan and Rome are connected by 51 trains per day. 19 of these trains are AV fast trains, with no intermediate stops, which only take 3 hours and a half from the Cathedral to the Coliseum, right to the heart of the Italian cities.
Between both cities there are only 478.51 km. By road, it is a 584 km trip that takes 5 hours and 27 minutes.
With the Frecciarossa train, the needed amount of time is of 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The Frecciarossa train covers the main Italian cities, from the north of Torino to Salerno in the Almafi coast. It reaches 300 km/h, it is fast, safe and comfortable.
Milan, european fashion center
Milan, located in the north of the country, is the center of the Italian fashion and, no doubt, an unavoidable tourism destination. The streets that form the so called “quad-rilatero della moda” are Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga, Via Manzoni and Corso Venezia; it is called like this because the most important fashion brands have their shops and workshops here.
From the cathedral, it is possible to get in a short time to the Via Montenapoleone, where it is obligatory to stop at
Piazza Belgioioso y casa di Manzoni
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the centenarian Bar Cova, which calls the attention of those who long for a traditional high quality service with its style.
Besides, the city has places full of culture and history, such as:
Bagatti Valsecchi Museum. Open to the public since 1998, it is one of the most important and best preserved house-museums in Europe.
Museum of Milan. Located in the first floor of the Morando Attendolo Bolognini Palace, a building from the 18th Century. The museum holds a col-lection of paintings, sculptures, engravings and drawings from 1934, which were witness of the social and urban evolution of Milan between the second half of the 17th Century and the first years of the 19th Century.
Archi di porta Nuova. The old Porta Nuova, from the 12th Century, is located in Via Manzoni.
Church of San Francesco di Paola. The construc-tion of the church began in 1728, by the community of the Minimi Fathers of San Francesco di Paola in 1675. After years of disagreement, they had finally obtained formal approval to settle in the Church of
S. Anastasia, which was located in corso di Porta Nuova (now via Manzoni) in the corner with via Montenapoleone. The construction of the convent was enlarged by the Minimi Fathers with the in-tention of building a bigger new church devoted to their founder and saint man.
Manzoni´s House. The Manzoni Museum is locat-ed there, in the house that the writer Alessandro Manzoni bought in 1813. Located in Via Morone 1 is, more than any other, the true residence of Man-zoni who, after his long stay in Paris, chose it upon his return to Italy, settling in Milan until his death in May 22nd , 1873.
San Francesco di Paola
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IstanbulCity for shopping in Turkey
Due to its strategic location between Asia and Europe, Istanbul has had a great ge-
opolitical importance throughout history. Old Constantinople turned into one of the biggest and most populated cities in Europe, with an area of 7.500 Km2. Nowadays, is the economic center of the Republic of Turkey.
The history of its streets, districts, temples, mosques and palaces enriches the life of a city and its nice and welcoming citizens. An ongo-ing parade of oil tankers and merchant vessels sails every day the waters of the Bosporus, while its markets open its doors to tourists from all over the world.
In Istanbul is where civilizations from the East and the West meet. This great cultural richness and diversity is what impresses its visitors the most. That is because museums, churches, palaces, big mosques, bazaars and the amazing natural landscapes of the surroundings seem to be endless. It is a matchless destination for shopping.
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Smells and flavors in the Egyptian Bazaar
Its name comes from the Ottoman era, when the spices brought from Egypt were sold there. Dozens of spices and all kind of herbs can be bought there in small packets ready to go or purchase it by weight, from big sacks. In ad-dition, it is possible to find foods among the Egyptian Bazaar specialties like pastirma (beef meet cured with spices), cheeses, marma-lades, nuts, lokum (Turkish delicacies), natural sponges and several oriental perfumes sold in small bottles. It is worthwhile to visit the flower and birds market, located in an outdoor court-yard of the market.
Curiosity: At the spices bazaar there are 97 stalls. It was built in 1660 to fund the Külliye of the New Mosque. It has an inverted cross shape and its domes are covered with lead. The six doors of the market open in six different ways.
Location: Muelle de Eminönü, frente al Puente de Gálata.
Shopping in the Yeni Valide Cami Mosque
The market located inside Yeni Valide Cami, a külliye built in 1710 by Sultan Ahmet III in honor of his mother, it is part of the local attractions together with the imaret or public canteen, a nursery school and an ablution fountain. Next to the Mosque, in the way that takes to the com-mercial street of Üsküdar, it is also possible to visit the Mausoleum of Gülnuş Sultan.
Curiosity: the market is part of one of the last examples of pure ottoman style construction. It has an octagonal layout with slight modifications. What stands out the most is the dome, built on four piles.
Location: Golden Horn, south of the Galata Bridge.
Turkey´s Grand Bazaar
The ‘Kapalı Çarşı’ is one of the best known locations in Istanbul, one of the most varied markets in the world, and also the biggest mar-ket in Turkey. It occupies an area of 35 hec-tares, around 80 streets, and has more than 4.500 stalls and shops where more than 15.000 people work. Among the most desired objects
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stand out the samovars, hookah or water pipes, works of gold- and silver-smithing and copper works, onyx pieces, rosaries, customs for chil-dren, belly dancer attire, wood boxes, mother-of-pearl boxes and ivory boxes and, of course, jewels with fine designs. It is visited by more than 15.000 people every day and it is said that in the shop windows of the around 1.500 jewel-ers there are approximately 10 tons of gold.
Curiosity: In addition to the stalls, the Grand Bazaar has a mosque, 12 chapels or ‘mescid’, a well and six fountains. That is why it is said that it is “a city built for commerce”.
Location: In the center of the “old city”, Between Nuruosmaniye, Mercan and Beyazıt.
Kumkapi Fish Market
After passing through the Kadirga district, that gets its name from the Kadirga Port, where the ottoman ships used to drop anchor, the first dis-trict that we get to is the Kumkapi district. Here is where the fish market is located.
Curiosity: The Kumkapı district is one of the most visited by tourists that want to eat some fresh fish and taste the specialty that is Turkish seafood. It best to visit it at night.
Location: On the shore of the Marmara Sea, in the Fatih district.
Gastronomic culture on the shores of the Bosporus
Ortaköy, by the Bosporus, is an area with excellent restaurants, pubs and bars where you can listen to jazz music. In the Eminönü pier, ships from the ottoman period with fishermen dressed in the osmanli fashion offer the tourist delicious grilled fish.
In Sultanahmet there are a considerable number of restaurants in the restored ottoman and byzantine buildings. These buildings were restored with this purpose in mind, to give the place a unique atmosphere.
In Nevizade street there are some of the best restaurants in the city, where you can taste the Turkish specialties, paired with a raki or a good Turkish wine.
Kumkapı, with its countless fish taverns, pubs, bars and restaurants is another attractive area in the city.
The Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage) in Beyoğlu was, and still is, a meeting point you mustn´t miss to taste seafood.
What else to do in Istanbul?
Istanbul is, by far, an international center of art and culture. That is why after a day of shopping, opera, ballet, movies, concerts, exhibitions and conferences form the cultural offer of the city.
Nightlife is another of its attractions. Its night clubs offer great spectacles while you enjoy some Turk-ish delicacies, music and a selection of songs that have its peak moment with the belly dance show. In addition, there are other modern discotheques, cabarets and jazz clubs in the areas of Taksim and Harbiye.
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Istanbul Shopping Fest2nd Edition
From June 9th to
June 29th, 2012
Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey, became for twenty days the most important center of en-
tertainment, leisure and culture in Europe, when it held the Istanbul Shopping Fest.
With the aim of favoring the knowledge of the shops and stores, as well as promote the shopping activities, especially those related with fashion and leisure, each year the city opens its door to the world with a colorful, exciting and attractive experience. Foreign visitors enjoyed great advantages with their shopping and got back a part of the taxes at the TAX FREE points available at the shopping malls of the city.
The festival, whose first edition was cel-ebrated in 2011, and it had an invest-ment of 50 million Turkish lira and re-ceived 5 million of visitors between Turkish and foreigners. During the first edition there was a rise of 41% in the volume of commercial activity, which
was considered a success. It has been estimated that this year the rise will be of more than 50%.
Istanbul is the third most populated city in Europe. With a population of almost 5 million people and a surface area of 5.343 km² , the city is ready to offer the best comforts and waits for the tourist who loves to shop with more than 100 shopping malls located in districts like Taksim, Nişantaşı, Şişli, Bakırköy, Fatih, Bahariye; and several main commercial streets like Abdi İpekçi, Istiklal and Bağdat, together with other traditional shopping places like the magnificent Grand Bazaar and the Spices Bazaar.
Composici�n
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
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Karostas. Latvia
It was built in 1903 as a military hospital and turned into a prison two years later (until 1997). To spend the night, the guest will have to: sleep
on an iron bed, shower with cold water, exercise, eat prison rations and, occasionally, clean the toilets. Before purchasing this less-than-10-euros experience, a document accepting the accommodation conditions must be signed.
Liberty`s Hotel. Boston
Between 1851 and 1990 this old building by Beacon Hill, home to the Charles Street Jail, was prototype to the design of other jails all over the
world. With an investment of 150 million dollars, it was restored and was open to the public again in 2007; this time with 300 rooms, 10 of which are
luxury suits that overlook the Charles River.
From jail to Hotel5 emblematic buildings
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From jail to Hotel5 emblematic buildings
Ottawa Jail Hostel. Canada
Hostelling International Group acquired this prison that was operative until 1972, and turned i tinto one of the most visited hotels in Canada. Great part of its original structure has been preserved unchanged, including the area for the prisoners sentenced to death, which can be visited by the guests.
Alcatraz. Germany
Located in the area of Kaiserslautern, this building was built in 1867. Nowadays, it has been turned into the Alcatraz Hotel and remains walled and barbed-wired. It is the first prison-hotel in Germany, with 56 rooms between cells and small rectangular cubicles. “Prisoners” can request a striped pyjamas with their name embroidered.
Jailhotel Löwengraben. Switzerland
It is said that 135 years ago, many prisoners tried to break out of the old building, built in 1862. Today, guests can enjoy each and every of its rooms, especially those decorated like the old cells, the library or the prison director.
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We are all “Cibelines”
José Luis Baciero Pablo Mesegar and Santiago BurgosIFEMA- Madrid Fairs
Sometimes trends get mixed up so much between them that we don´t know if a look is trendy because it has been chosen for the most recent indie pop star or if it is just because of the allure of the catwalk… However, it is also not necessary to know the exact delimitations.
I am Cibeline Fest Madrid, 21/24 June 2012
The newest trends in fashion and music, es-pecially for young people, get merged at the
new I am Cibeline Fest. It started as a parallel section of the Pasarela Cibeles Madrid Fash-ion Week, but now it has become independent to be able to accommodate all the new talents that are called to renovate the current and fu-ture fashion outlook.
«I am Cibeline» is a festival that combines nu-merous shows of students of European fash-ion schools with a series of concerts by young promises, in addition to different activities re-lated with fashion and new technologies.
To do it, two runways are organized, where there are shown the creations of the best stu-dents from a selection of prestigious interna-tional design and fashion schools: New York, London, Paris, Berlin or Taipei; as well as some commercial brands. This year Innova Maga-zine was there with the new Spanish and inter-national fashion stars.
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Runway 2012
Luis Eduardo Cortés, president of IFEMA, Rafael Díaz, director of the Madrid University School of Design and Innovation (ESNE), Juan Duyos, vice-president of the Spanish Association of Fashion Creators (ACME), José Aguilar, representative of Mahou Cinco Estrellas and the designer Leonor Pérez Pita (Cuca Solana) attended the opening ceremony and presentation of «I am Cibeline 2012». The first day of the event was commanded by the 10 best students of the third grade of the Fashion Design course of ESNE, who will exhibit their collections also at the national school show. During the second day was held “Entramados”, a fashion program where students representing European schools paraded up and down the catwalk to show their collections. Some of these schools were: Parsons (Nueva York), Central Saint Martin’s (London), Institute Marangoni (Milan), Danish Design School (Copenhagen) or ESMOD Design (Berlin).
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More activities
The young promises fashion shows were accompanied by several micro-concerts with duration of half an hour. For this purpose, Mahou, the official sponsor, turned one of the two catwalks into an exclusive bar where groups like The Noises or El Pescao played for the event. All the performances were recorded and will be posted in the Mahou Cinco Estrellas Facebook wall, where the people will be asked to vote for the best one. The winner will play at one of the shows of the Ego Catwalk, which will take place next September. At that event, there will also be private classes with famous designers. In addition to all this fun, «I am Cibeline» offered different activities such as the workshop «Get ready for the coolest look of the day», where the stylist and photographer Matteo Bardi (Nouva Academia di bele Arti Milano) reviewed the 30 coolest looks of the past editions of the international runways.
Around Spainin 80 croquettes
Croquettes are an emblem of cuisine in Spain. Savory or sweet, these delicious
mixes represent the favorite starter of the most experienced gourmets.
It can be eaten as an accompaniment, main dish, entree or tapa. Spanish bars offer their creations made of typical ingredients and other less usual ingredients, to the delight of locals and tourists.
There is a Spanish croquette for every taste: for those with a taste for the exotic, those who prefer traditional ingredients, those who prefer sweet, those who love seafood…
Delight in Colmenar Viejo
Madrid chef Antonio Madrigal is one of the precur-sors of these small delights, capable of triggering cu-linary memory with just one bite. In his restaurant at Salvadiós Street, in Colmenar Viejo, he arranges his croquette menu in eight different sections: stews, veg-etables, cheese, cold meats, meat, fish and seafood, mushrooms and sweets.
From classic ones –made of acorn-fed Iberian ham or codfish- to the most audacious ones –made of lobster with seaweed or gin-tonic geleé covered with lemon white sauce-, to authentic delicatessen such as: ma-jorero with juniper berries or wild boar with chocolate.
Although thought, in its origins, as a way to reuse leftovers, its variety and taste have made of them an excellent dish, and an icon of the Spanish culture.
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Among the most original creations, stand out the marinated salmon with wasabi croquettes, morel mushrooms with Oporto croquettes, bermeana style marmitako croquettes, foie with purple onion chutney croquettes or curd and honey croquettes. We must not forget to mention dishes like idi-azábal with prunes, bacon with peanuts, scallops with spinaches, trumpet mushrooms from Colme-nar Viejo pasturelands or the Cuban mojito.
Ready to go
In some of the posts at the Madrid market of San
Anton, in the Chueca neighborhood, croquettes are cooked to take away. Although the crisis has forced Spanish businessmen to be extra resourceful, nonetheless it is also true that tourists are greatly enjoying this simple, yet tasteful, gastronomic offer.
Experts specialize in tasty recipes, like cuttlefish in their own ink croquettes, Idiazabal cheese cro-quettes, Iberian cold meats croquettes, leak cro-quettes and so on, up to twelve more different types of home-made, fresh croquettes. Right there, in the same market, they pack them in a box for the clients to take away and fry at home.
MADRIGAL INFALLIBLE TRICK.
Add agar-agar (the queen of all jellies, with eight different types of seaweeds) and a little bit of flour to make the croquettes crunchy on the outside and creamy in the inside.
History of a snack Croquettes originated in France, where they were created by the French cook Antonin Cáreme. It is said that one of the dishes served at a banquet served in honor of the Prince of England and the Great Duque Nicholas of Russia, on January 18th, 1817, were croquettes à la royale.
Alexander Dumas, in his chronicle of his journey to Spain in 1846, mentions his personal récipe to make potato croquettes. Such recipe was preserved in the old kitchens of the United States, where there was great French influence.
• Mussels boiled in White wine.• Carrot and onion. • Eggplant with onion, garlic and carrot.• Scallops and seafood broth.• White sauce and Serrano ham.• Codfish, spinach, potato and almonds.• Millet with a mix of tofu, raisin, pine nuts, onion and
lemon juice.• Spinaches and Serrano ham.• Chicken with rice.• Rice, bacon and a mix of cheeses.
• Noodles cooked in broth and torta cheese.• Serrano ham and chicken meat.• Cheese and carrot.• Tuna in olive oil and white sauce with veggies.• Chicken with spring onion and cinnamon. • Chicken and stew leftovers.• Codfish with vegetables.• Potato, codfish and pine nuts. • Onion and boiled egg.• Serena cheese and raisins.
Photos courtesy of: Restaurante Madrigal
Some Spanish combinations
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World Tourism Day in Maspalomas
By promoting the commitment to sustain-able development by the energy sector,
the celebration will provide greater aware-ness about the rapprochement between tour-ism and energy companies. It is all about not only protect the environment, but also create more economic opportunities and jobs within the different sectors involved.
Maspalomas expects to welcome tourism and renewable energies representatives from all over the world. That is why, a forum about the 2012 motto will be held with the aim of pro-moting the use of renewable energies among tourism public and private sectors.
Tourism is taking the lead in many initiatives regarding energy sustainability and its imple-mentation at all levels. According to Taleb Ri-fai, WTO Secretary-General, investment made by airlines in the use of renewable energies,
or the implementation made by many hotels around the world of solutions that use energy saving technologies, are just a few examples.
The motto «Tourism and energy sustainabil-ity: driving forces behind sustainable devel-opment» also coincides with the International Year of Sustainable Energy for everybody, held by United Nations. This fact will reinforce the responsibility coming from tourism and energy sectors in the world.
«Tourism and energy sustainability: driving forces behind sustainable development» is the motto for the World Tourism Day which will be held next September 27th. The World Tourism Organization has decided to hold it in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria).
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present time |
RENEWABLE TOURISM
Spain is one of the main five countries investing in renewable
energy in the world. 20% of the energy for domestic use
comes from renewable sources. One third of the Gran Canaria Island,
including the city of Maspalomas, is a biosphere reserve, protected
by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO).
WORLD TOURISM DAY It is held every September 27th. The goal is for the international community to pay tourism the attention it has and deserves, due to its social, economic and politic value. The celebration aims to help face the global challeneges defined in the United Nations for the Millennium development goals (MDG), and collaborate in the contribution that the tourism sector can provide to reach those goals.
Source:World Tourism Organization
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Soirée in Parisinnova taxfree group was presented in the French capital
José Luis Baciero innova taxfree group
Last June 14th, representatives from innova tax-free group gathered in the splendid Scabal bou-
tique in Paris to present its new brand in the French capital. In this way, the group reinforces its interna-tional presence, as part of its global expansion plan, with nine countries where it is actively present.
During the event, Innova Magazine, a magazine about tourism, culture, fashion and shopping, avail-able in 7 languages (Spanish, French, English, Por-tuguese, Russian, Chinese and Italian) was also introduced. The magazine is available at www.innova-magazine.com and it is also available as on-board entertainment in all the South African Air-lines flights (with 17.000 passengers per year) and also through newsletter to 350.000 subscribers. In addition, the product Innova TV was also introduced. This product has been developed in cooperation with Plural Entertainment (Prisa Group) and V-me (vmetv.com), one of the biggest television networks in Span-ish in the United States. It must be highlighted that these agreements are part of a determined commit-ment made by innova taxfree group to communica-tion and a greater interaction with its clients and con-sumers and putting in contact tourists with the shops that that form the offer in international shopping.
Allies
The warmth of the venue, and the attention received from the staff of the Scabal boutique were decisive in order to transmit the shared values of proximity and personalized attention. Scabal, established in 1938, was a pioneer of the tailor-made concept 25 years ago, and is still one of the leader companies in this
regard. It is one of the most innovative manufacturers of new textiles, creating fabrics of great quality, such as Gold Treasure, Diamond Chip, Temptation, Lapis Lazuli, Summit, and Private Line.
For the success of the “soirée”, innova taxfree group also had the close collaboration of Where magazine (www.wheretraveler.com/classic/intl/fr/paris/), a mag-azine with a monthly circulation of 55.000 copies for its French edition and annual editions in Arabic, Rus-sian and Chinese.
In the presentation were also:
Chopard: the luxury watches, jewels and accesso-ries established by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Geneva in 1860.
Carolina Herrera: one of the boutiques with more character of the city located in rue Castiglione 10, very close to Place Vendôme and the Tuileries gar-dens.
Les lunettes plus belles du monde: an exclusive glasses shop.
Obrey: a family company devoted to watch design.
That is show innova taxfree group thanks the par-ticipation of all those who attended the presentation in Paris and made possible a lovely evening where the different participants from the sector exchanged ideas with the aim of the innovation in the sector. Innovation: a distinctive feature for innova taxfree group.
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Carlos Buj turismo-sostenible.net
10 uncomfortable truthsabout sustainable tourism
1 | Only those world´s inhabitants that have a non-sustainable lifestyle care about being more sustainable. However, those living in a sustainable way are more and more interest-ed in copying non-sustainable and material-istic model of the ones already mentioned: it has not been possible to link sustainability to high living standards on a large scale ef-fectively, although it is perfectly possible.
3 | Being irresponsible can turn out to be more profitable, especially in the short term.
2 | Offering more sustainable and responsible products and services does not necessarily mean an increase in the demand, especially if the good practices do not directly and pos-itively affect the tourist´s experience. How-ever, bad practices can kick you out of the market.
4 | Great part of what is called eco, bio, sustain-able, green, etc. it is not in line with reality; this has caused disdain and cynism in the consumer.
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5 | International flights are highly non-sustaina-ble, create a dependence on cheap oil that won´t last long and contribute significantly to the climate change.
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opinion |
7 | Government and Company´s policies do not contemplate the long-term effects their ac-tions have, and are unable to provide a con-vincing solution to the increasingly pressing challenges mankind is facing. The econom-ic system needs important changes, not just superficial changes like the ones we have seen up to this moment.
9 | Sustainability in developed countries neces-sarily goes through limiting to great extent the consumption of material goods. Not hav-ing a car is sustainable, having an ecologic car: not so much.
6 | Social Responsibility (CSR) from compa-nies, instead of focusing in modifying the business model to turn it into a more respon-sible and sustainable one, tend to focus on promoting themselves through small ac-tions, funded by a minimum amount of their benefits. If we want to make changes within the tourism sector (or any other sector) it is not enough to let companies regulate them-selves. If something is a priority for society (like stop using plastic bags), it should be obligatory.
8 | Most part of the consumers do not usually buy ethically, especially if they do not obtain a direct benefit.
10 | Responsible consumption by itself is not enough to modify the current problems of the economic model of market economy.
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travelogues
Barichara
Barichara limits on one side with the Chicamocha canyon which leaves, as it passes, remnants of the Suarez river. The village is located on a plain and is limited on the west by a precipice. The vastness of the canyon spreads to the horizon and leaves a deep silence. From the two look-out points that Barichara has, located in the first street, it is only possible to hear the wind. One of the aspects that is part of the attractiveness of the village is precisely the fact that it abruptly finishes in the ladder and, after that, there is only void. The canyon gives a very particular aesthet-ics, in the same way that an ellipse builds, from the silence, the meaning of all the words that precede them.
To get to Barichara it is necessary go through a 20 km road that passes through hills and com-municates the village with the municipality of San Gil. During the trip appear tobacco plan-tations and trees with musk on their branches in the shape of beards, called Gallineros. Next to the village stands out a group of doors and façades made of earth and hand-made tile that surprise the visitor. Also, these constructions al-low the memory to travel back to our childhood, when life was not driven by reason. The trick is that these doors and fences and the façades are
fake, behind them there are no estates or sown fields, only red ground and wild desert vegeta-tion. They have no practical or logic use. But I might be lying by saying this, they come in use-ful for reminding that we travel for the surprises that we might find at the other side of any door.
Journey to the past
Lots of the municipalities of Colombia have co-lonial remnants in their architecture, but none of these take care of them with as much tem-poral syncretism as Barichara does. That is, in Barichara the past coexists in harmony with the present; so the village is not a memory or an anachronism, time did not stop in Barichara. On the contrary, through its stone streets pass film festivals; white houses are witness to a parade of classical and modern music concerts during the whole year; and the roofs from 1700 cover restaurants that mix local flavors with ingredi-ents from other continents.
Barichara is a mix of three different eras: the pre-Hispanic era, when it was a small village of the natives known as Guanes: the Spanish Col-ony era, when the image of the Virgin appeared in a rock and, therefore, the Aragonese Captain
Barichara, in Santander (Colombia), is a small village that has attracted during the last decades local and foreign visitors. I think the best way to explain the feeling that if causes in the visitors is to compare the place with an unfinished sentence, but a suggestive and full of multiple readings sentence.
Francisco Soler
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from Borja decided to build a village in that same place; and the Contemporary era, when Barich-ara is a tourism destination that offers cultural activities, extreme sport activities and ecological routes. No era surpasses another, they are sev-eral voices that get together in the same space, without interrupting each other.
The silence that reigns in the Chicamocha can-yon, the silence left by the strange function of some doors (that lead nowhere and, therefore, anywhere) and the polyphony of a village, that can have several readings, make it an ambigu-ous and poetic place. That is, a fertile ground for art.
Art and more
Is Barichara a National Monument?: yes. Does Barichara have hotels appropriate for all budg-ets?: yes. Is Barichara an oasis for the visitor, far from the big cities?: yes, too. But is art what gives a “state of mind” and it is impossible not to feel attracted to the village. In other words, we could say that Barichara, being full of artistic expressions, ends up being “a representation of all that is eternal in the world”, as David Cronen-
berg says. For example, right at the entrance of the village, in the first shop, the visitor already finds artistic references. A Quixote and a tiger made with screws, daggers, tubes and chains, all from countless machines useless now for the modern world are there.
Also, next to the place, between the vegetation, there are stone sculptures in the shape of sol-diers, gigantic masks and religious figures that wait for someone to buy them. In fact, artisans from Barichara are famous in the whole Colom-bia for their stone works. They have maintained the techniques of the first settlers, who built the chapel of Santa Barbara, with a Romanic style. The chapel is used to keep art and works as an exhibition hall. Its small windows let little after-noon sunlight get in, enough to illuminate, with an austere tone, the works of art exhibited be-tween the figures of the saints.
If we try to explain Barichara, we risk giving it a meaning; that is, filling up its silences and ambi-guity. That is why, I must leave with an ellipse, without a last word, like when the work of a mu-seum affects us and we see ourselves forces to walk in silence, to go back home…
opinion |
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