Luxury Hotels|Restaurants|Resorts
When arriving late at night, it’s always worth the suspended joy of opening, like a present, the shutters the next morning. In comes the sun over a clear blue sky above these terracotta roofs of Ronda. With Ronda what’s so special is that it’s that rarity: a European city centre from which I could see the fields beyond.
A really relaxing and enjoyable stay in a hotel is not necessarily governed by the star rating. However, you can be assured when the hotel has five key elements in place: The staff members are welcoming and personable without being intrusive. When you wake up in the morning you know where you are; that is reflected in the room or suite by being individually furnished. The hotel is owned by a family or individual so it is not the boring, corporate standard product.
Midleton Very Rare Whiskey 2019 was launched at The Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin by Master Distiller Brian Nation. This superb whiskey combines only hand-selected single pot still and single grain Irish whiskeys of exceptional quality and rarity, from the Midleton inventory. Each whiskey has been matured exclusively in lightly charred ex-bourbon American oak barrels for between 13 and 34 years. 2019 marks the oldest collection of casks used to create a Midleton Very Rare.
Brian Nation explains:
To spa or not to spa, that is the question. Now, Ludwig van Beethoven and Marie Curie might not automatically spring to mind as spa goers. Born almost 100 years apart, one of the most recognised and influential of all composers and the double Nobel Prize winner frequented spa towns in what is now modern day Czech Republic, though for very different reasons.
Do you know your Pierogi from your Bigos, or your Kluski from your Zurek? Well, it might come as a bit of a surprise to many but the city of Kraków (Cracow in English) in southern Poland near the border to the Czech Republic became the first recipient of the ‘European Capital of Gastronomic Culture’ for 2019.
Royal Huisman and Huisfit have announced that the 44m /143ft ketch Juliet is set to embrace all the latest hybrid technology benefits: the ultimate systems upgrade with leading-edge propulsion and power generation.
Juliet is a fine example of pioneering, custom-built technologies in the late 20th century. With nearly a quarter million of ocean miles under her keel, she still looks and sails like a dream.
To find the true treasures in life, it can be rewarding to seek out the quiet, lesser known ones as they may reveal qualities beyond their description and image offering very individual experiences. You find it in anything from chefs through to skiing resorts; Slovenia hides lots of treasures including the acknowledged “ world’s best female chef”, dig deeper and there is much more to find. Aspen, St. Moritz, Gstaad and Courchevel 1850 are known to all.
Parma, a central city to the valley, is only an hour from either Bologna or Milan airport and is still a hidden joy for most Brits. Yes it gets very hot in August and very cool in January but the other ten months are divine and it’s never crowded so there are none of the queues you can get elsewhere in Italy and mercifully no sign of any selfie-sticks.
I’m just going to pause here. Right here, in the courtyard of this 19th century convent, now home to La Fourvière Hotel.
With the Baltic country of Lithuania marking the 30th anniversary of the restoration of independence this March from the Soviet Union, I thought it appropriate and in order run through some top sights, leading hotels and gastronomic delights in and around Vilnius, the capital, which was first settled in the Stone Age. Over the years it has changed hands between Imperial and Soviet Russia, Germany, Poland, and Lithuania a multiple of times.
