Part of Portugal but situated due west of Marrakech, the island of Madeira is ideal for a break in the winter sun. Average daytime temperatures in January hover around 20C. It lies just four hours by plane from the UK, and it is intensely beautiful, said Emma Cook in The Independent.
I found it reminiscent of Hawaii, with its steep volcanic mountains and amazingly “lush” valleys. You can take part in no end of outdoor activities here, including “world-class” surfing.
I stayed in the capital, Funchal, at a “contemporary design hotel” called The Vine, which has “spectacular” views, and went on a whale-watching boat trip (a strong suit here, with very deep seas just offshore), spotting bottlenose dolphins and Bryde’s whales as big as buses. I also ventured into the island’s uplands, where I walked through a laurel forest dating back millions of years, a “mystical” place replete with “looping” vines and giant ferns – like the “land that time forgot”
Narnia’s roots in Northern Ireland
C.S. Lewis drew inspiration for the Narnia in his books partly from his Ulster childhood, and for fans, a trip to some key places can be rewarding, said Graham Little in The Guardian.
In East Belfast, where he grew up, his grandfather was rector of St Mark’s Church, designed by the great William Butterfield. The rectory had a lion’s head doorknob, now present in replica, that “may have inspired” the character of Aslan. On “leafy” Circular Road, the big house where he lived from the age of six still stands.
Lewis once said that the view from the nearby Mourne Mountains above Rostrevor over Carlingford Lough was his “idea of Narnia”; and there are two sites on the “spectacular” north coast – Dunluce Castle and Downhill Demesne – that could have formed the basis of his vision of Cair Paravel, Narnia’s “castle capital”.
Belgium’s beautiful city of design
From “working-class textiles town” to “countercultural student hub” and, finally, “international design destination”, Ghent has been transformed in recent decades, said Chris Allnutt in the Financial Times.
Now those with an interest in design have a fresh reason to visit: the opening of a new wing at the city’s highly regarded Design Museum. Built from “biobased and circular materials” (including salvaged bathroom tiles), it will house exhibitions, as well as children’s activities that promise plenty of doing and making.
After that, you can tour the “chocolate-box” gothic old town, and sample Ghent’s “elegant” dining scene (good new restaurants include Elders and Alberte) along with other fruits of the “Ghentrification”, including the Herbert Foundation, which houses a collection of late-20th-century art.
Plus Narnia’s roots in Northern Ireland and Belgium’s beautiful city of design
