Travel | The Blogazine - Contemporary Lifestyle Magazine

10/05/2013

Istanbul: The City of Contrasts

There is a single word that is able to capture the immense size of Istanbul better than any else: megalopolis. With its 15 million inhabitants, this city, standing between Europe and Asia, is the third most populated metropolitan area of the “Old Continent”, after Moscow and London. But Istanbul has another peculiarity, maybe more significant than mere dimension, that can destabilize tourists accustomed to a “European” concept of a city: the contrasts. Istanbul is incessantly in balance between East and West, old ages and modernity. The only way for not being overpowered by this feature is to forget where you come from, especially if you live in a European capital city. Forget identical architectures, orderly traffic, and a few of the rules that usually wall your life. Don’t worry if you see a man with a gun walking around like nothing happened. Don’t let words like “kitsch” and “trash”, always in vogue with some (Italian) tourists, repeat themselves too frequently in your head. If you aren’t able to manage this, and if you have the impression that everything is odd and out of control, stop and take a breath. Then start again.

Most relevant contrasts in Istanbul are the architectural ones – just see the differences between the Ottoman style of Topkapi Palace, a museum that was once the home of the Sultan, and the European look of the palaces of Dolmabahçe and Yildiz, or of the new Museum of Modern Art –, but one can’t certainly ignore the cultural ones. Turkey isn’t even a part of the European Union, because until now it didn’t give importance to the protection of minorities or to personal freedom. This doesn’t mean that you have to fear that something bad can happen to you, considering that Istanbul is a touristic destination. But keep in mind, in any case, that you are in an only partially Western city, and what is morally right for a Turkish person may vary from your point of view.

Istanbul is a constantly changing world. You could return here after one year and see that in the place of a tranquil palace you admired, of a square you crossed by foot, or of a garden you once spent your afternoon in, now there is something completely else. Among all these on-going transformations, don’t forget classical must-see venues: visiting Istanbul without visiting Blue Mosque, Grand Bazar and the same Topkapi Palace, would be like going to Paris without visiting Tour Eiffel. Lose yourself in the vivid colours and smells of the Bazar, breathe the fascination of the Sultan’s Palace, let yourself be washed, rubbed and massaged in the hammams of the city. If you can, avoid the expensive tourist spas and choose one frequented by the Turkish, for example in the Taksin zone. It will be a reinvigorating experience, almost sacre, which you won’t forget.

Antonio Leggieri – Photos Alessandro Furchino

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08/05/2013

On the Roots of Mozzarella di Bufala

Where does the best mozzarella in the world come from? We have been to Tenuta Vannulo, one of the most important and oldest dairy farms of Italy, located near Salerno, in the south. We witnessed the production of mozzarella made of buffalo milk, the most exclusive product of southern Italy. The buffaloes are in about five hundred, and the animals are massaged and pampered to get the most from them. The processing of the mozzarella starts at 4 AM with milking, and at 10 AM it’s already all sold out.

The particularity of this workshop is that they don’t export their product: if you want some, you have to go get it there! This guarantees an excellent quality and a good relationship with the customer. So if you have planned a trip to Italy, you just have to pay a visit to Tenuta Vannulo and have the opportunity to taste some of the most traditional cheese history of the country.

Stefano Tripodi

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03/05/2013

Northern Character

A historical jumble, York mixes Georgian homes with Medieval wonders and Victorian train stations. In the shadow of an ancient castle you’ll find the chicest restaurant and a stone’s throw from a debtors prison turned museum is the most adorable, 60’s-focused vintage store around. There are ghost-harbouring snickleways and cobbles that hail from the days when York bore the name Eboracam, and Romans roamed the streets. It’s the birthplace of Judi Dench and Rowntree’s and boasts a teahouse with a rather mysterious name.

Yet York’s most beguiling feature is its rather northern character. Beautiful and thoroughly British, York is also, quite possible, one of the friendliest cities around. After all, Yorkshire is where you head for eye contact, smiles and to be called ‘pet’, ‘duck’, or ‘love’ by absolutely everybody.

While lost wandering York’s ancient walls a friendly local spotted my camera, picked me for a tourist and began to impart her local knowledge. I learnt that ‘The Shambles’ is the oldest shopping street in Europe and warranted a mention in the Domesday Book of 1086, York has been officially labeled the most haunted city in Europe and that the city has the only Japanese Bullet train outside Japan. Coming from London, where talking on the tube is somewhat unusual, chatting with a knowledgable stranger felt enjoyable.

In my B&B, the quaintly delightful Bloomsbury Guesthouse, which has rooms named after local flowers, I learnt about all the historical gems leading into town (such as Guy Fawkes’ school), was given tea aplenty and got lost in conversation with almost every other guest I encountered.

Friendliness also reigns supreme of the food front. Pig and Pastry, a packed café/restaurant/bakery, is designed for conversation with large communal tables and no Wi-Fi. It’s about enjoying food and company rather than checking emails. At J Baker’s Bistro Moderne you quickly learn that most of the customers are locals who visit on a weekly basis. Chef Jeff Baker also displays the menus of restaurants he admires. Who needs to be competitive anyway! Similarly, at Lime House Restaurant, chatty staff and a quaint interior give the dishes extra flavor. For whimsy and old-world elegance there’s Betty’s. Here you can dine on delicate tea and fat-rascals (a cross between rock cakes and scones) while pondering just who ‘Betty’ actually was. One of the original British coffee house, conversation and charm flows here as easily as it did in more refined days gone by.

Polished, elegant and utterly magical, few things are as moving as evensong in York Minster or a wander through York’s gardens as Spring takes hold. Go to York for the architecture, food and history but stay for its character.

Liz Schaffer

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26/04/2013

On the Northen Line

“It’s morning time on the Northern Line”. Sometimes a phrase in a song is enough to give you an idea of a place, of its look, even of its smell. If it’s true that every journey has its soundtrack, Jamie T’s “Alicia Quays” is the perfect song if you want to land on the silent chaos of London for six minutes, represented the best by the Tube as its most descriptive scenery. Jamie who? I’m talking about Jamie Treays, stage named Jamie T, one of the roughest diamonds that the underground London has given birth in the last decade: sort of a crazy, brilliant minstrel of London’s working class, especially the one of the East End zone, where people talk with cockney accent and the use of words like “chav” and “scally” is even more frequent than the use of common conjunctions and verbs.

50 stations, the most of them subterranean, 36 miles of rails and tunnels: Northern Line, otherwise known as the “Black”, for the color on the metro maps, transports 252 million people every year. Ex “Misery Line” – as it was named in the 80’s and the 90’s because of the awful conditions of the rails and stations – today, in spite of its name, is the most extended line of the Tube down south of Tamigi, and the line that reaches the most Southern station of the Tube, Morden. From here to the Northern border, High Barnet, the Black slashes an entire city underground, stopping even on the famous (in good as in bad) stops of Camden Town and King’s Cross. Works starting on 2015, the line will be extended until Battersee, in South West London.

Northern Line tells stories about the lives of workers and businessmen, of the aged and the young, of happiness and solitude. While Jamie T sings about it (dedicating a whole song by the same name), journalist William Leith writes about it in his book “A Northern Line Minute” like following: “People never tell you to have a pleasant journey in the underground, just as people will say ‘enjoy your meal’, but never ‘enjoy your cigarette’ if you’re a smoker”. And this instead, is a slightly poetic article, dedicated to the escalators of Angel stop, along the Black. These stories confirm that even, maybe above all, in a dark, subterranean and lonely place (in spite of the thousands of people who use it everyday), one can find out urban poetry from human souls. Just there, where people stare at the ground without talking to anyone and, maybe more often than they’d care to admit, they find themselves thinking “What am I in my own dear eyes?” (Jamie T, Alicia Quays)

Antonio Leggieri – Photos Daniel J. Wolpert & Paul Downey

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19/04/2013

The Gardens of Seville

Architecturally confused and completely beguiling, Seville is a city for the wide-eyed and whimsical. And for those with a proclivity for all things green.

Easily Spain’s most flamboyant and passionate city, Seville mixes Christian-Muslim architecture (think tiled courtyards, cobbled alleys and terracotta aplenty) with flamenco, tapas and Spanish eccentricity. Yet one of its most charming features is its gardens – not to diminish the towering Catedral de Sevilla, Hospital de Los Venerables, Capilla de San Jose or hipster-attracting Alameda de Hercules of course.

Still, to truly lose yourself in this city, where parties spontaneously erupt on steaming Spring evenings and gypsy street performers reign supreme, simply enter the famed Real Alcazar de Sevilla, once the residence of the King of Spain. Walk past the interlinked series of buildings, each as ornate, unique and exotic as the last, and enter the gardens – a blooming nirvana, perfectly maintained and utterly vibrant. The sounds of the city and the shadows of fellow tourists melt away and you’re left with nothing but the buzz of dedicated gardeners and a labyrinth-like layout made up of well-trodden paths, themed floral creations, water features, tile-covered seats and cat-shading trees. All you can do is walk from flowery spot to flowery spot and bask in the beauty (and sun) that surrounds you. It’s re-tamed nature at its best.

Further afield and devoid of an entry fee, you’ll find the Parque de Maria Luisa. Opened in 1914, this area began its life as the private gardens of the San Telmo Palace, before being donated to the people and re-designed by French engineer Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, who gave the space a rather romantic twist. Inspired by the Alhambra and Alcazar, wandering alone with your thoughts here is both exhilarating and bewildering. You loose track of time and place, all sense of direction and the desire to be anywhere but the present. And it is blissful.

In a city famed for its characters, flavours and built attractions, it’s lovely to discover that all things botanical can still consume and amuse you in such a delightful way.

Liz Schaffer

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17/04/2013

Cream Dream

The most important thing to make good ice cream is the ingredients. We visited a workshop for a closer look at some preparations. It’s interesting because the hard choice of which ice cream to pick, is as as tricky also for fresh pastries. The famous Sicilian cannolo, with its crunchy pastry, is filled with ricotta cream and garnished with candied fruit and cherries in brandy. The result is fabulous and it’s a great idea for summer, to be enjoyed with a good sweet wine.

The Piedmontese hazelnuts, fresh and crisp, are the main ingredient of hazelnut ice cream, to match with a softer waffle. The machines help to mix the ingredients and achieve the right texture, the milk is produced in the neighbor’s farm, and the result is amazing. There is nothing better than coming from work and enjoying a cone of ice cream before returning home for dinner. You have to taste blackberry together with vanilla and with a splash of raspberry juice. What a delight!

Stefano Tripodi

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12/04/2013

Bathing, Books and Tea

Brimming with literary allure, Old-world architecture and British quirk, Bath is a city that draws you in and lifts you up. Refined yet playful, it’s been a little different from the start.

Discovered by the temporarily ill-fated Prince Bladud around 863 b.C., the waters of Bath, which cured the aforementioned royal of his skin condition, have mesmerised the Celts, Romans, Saxons and Georgians and remain utterly mysterious. The water you bask in today fell as rain around 10,000 years ago before sinking deep into the earth (it’s impossible to say just how far down this water travels). Heated by high temperature rocks, it returned to the surface, and the city’s baths, through a network of ancient cracks. Naturally, no one is entirely sure where these cracks actually are.

Once you’ve wandered the original Roman Baths and indulged in a little local history you can take advantage of the city’s famed water at Thermae Bath Spa. Mixing ancient and contemporary architecture and focusing of internal wellbeing, here you learn that few things are as delightful as bathing in a steaming rooftop pool as snow falls and the neighbouring Abbey is illuminated by the sunset.

For those after more than just water there’s plenty of Austen. While Jane may have had mixed feelings about this city of stone and poise, which she called home from 1801 to 1806, she shall forever be associated with it – I mean, have you read Persuasion! Connect with the ultimate lady of letters by venturing to the Jane Austen Centre or perfectly preserved Assembly Rooms, conveniently located above the Fashion Museum. You can spend hours waiting for a Darcy here.

Alternatively, you can just focus on indulging. Don your finery, be flabbergasted by the effortlessly elegant Royal Crescent and slink through the door of number 16 for the ultimate high tea. Overlooking a blossom packed garden, this thoroughly secluded haunt, otherwise known as the Royal Crescent Hotel, makes overindulging feel rather glamorous. Match your afternoon foodie selection with an equally delightful place to spend the night. The Queensberry Hotel, found just behind The Circus a little away from the boutique-lined cobbled streets, reminds guests not to duel or ride horses in the lobby and recommends removing motorbike helmets before downing a cocktail. There is just a touch of Wonderland in the air here.

Relaxing, indulgent and just a little stuck in Regency days gone by. Bath is modern England at its Georgian best.

Liz Schaffer

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10/04/2013

Have You Ever Been to Olympus?

A popular Italian belief says that Gods live on the Amalfitana Coast. We remember “What?”, the beautiful Roman Polanski movie, that was set in Sofia Loren‘s villa, not far from Amalfi. In that setting occur surreal situations and the sun and the sea do the rest. If you are lucky enough to spend a few days in Amalfi, you have to try Zaccaria, a small restaurant suspended on a stone balcony. It is located near Atrani, and instead of giving you a menu the waiter will ask how hungry you are. The fish arrives early in the morning from the boats which have spent their night at sea. The view is breathtaking and the white wine will help you to reach ecstasy.

Walking is the best thing to do here. It’s also the best way to see the most hidden and unknown places. Over the mountains you can find vineyards, cheese makers, the old paper mills. Further down, however, there are the lemon gardens, fragrant and tasty. You must try Limoncello, lemon liqueur, or coffee with lemon, they are delicious. It’s true, in this piece of coast there are really all the ingredients to live a heavenly life.

Stefano Tripodi

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05/04/2013

Lost in Torres del Paine

At the end of the Chilean world, 350km from the nearest big city, lies Torres del Paine; a prehistoric-feeling National Park famed for its granite spires, ancient plains, ethereal glaciers and isolated beauty. This is a place of adventure and intrigue. While days are passed braving the Patagonian terrain – a combination of grassy fields, impossible cliffs, snow-covered mountains and dazing waterfalls – nights are spent watching the beautifully choreographed light display put on by the various constellations of the Southern Hemisphere. The fact that the only other light at night comes from the moon only adds to the region’s mysticism.

Feeling whimsical and rather in awe, you’re up for any challenge Torres del Paine decides to throw at you. You’ll dare to tackle at least a small part of the famed ‘W’ Trail. Voted as one of the world’s best hike by National Geographic magazine, the entire trail covers a distance of 75km and takes three to six days to complete. You walk through the Park’s iconic las torres (the towers), huge granite monoliths that turn pink at sunset and foster pastel-hued glacial lakes. You’ll also venture through the French Valley, a forest, wildflower and mountain-covered area that still carries the scars of bushfires past. Then there is Glacier Grey, accessed only by boat, this glacier glows the most astounding shade of blue. Alternatively, you could always bike through the plains, watched over by Alpaca-like Guanacos, who are simultaneously inquisitive and terrified. Or just indulge in the region’s famed Patagonian food and local wine – somehow Malbec always tastes better when actually devoured in Chile.

However you choose to pass you time in this uniquely stunning National Park, one thing is sure. Being this isolated is utterly exhilarating.

Liz Schaffer

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03/04/2013

Piedmont, an Italian Slow Pace Weekend

Italy is an adventure. It’s nice to drive around and discover wonderful places where you can eat, take some pictures and drink good wine. We were in Piedmont, in the northwestern Italy. In a weekend you can see lots of places and discover taverns that offer you local products. In San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, near Alba, you can find Osteria Italia, a small inn ran by Renato and Marina. You can get there by asking the locals. San Rocco is nestled in the countryside, where farmers raise rabbits and produce Barbaresco, a red wine into which you can drown all thoughts.

In the hills of Diano d’Alba we discovered a farmhouse. After a long walk in the woods we paused to find something to eat. Francesco, an old peasant we met, fed us veal with tuna sauce, fried bread with spiced lard, maltagliati with tripe and Dolcetto di Diano red wine stew. These places are magical. You can feel the joy when you smell the fresh air after it has snowed, and when the sun is slowly peeking.