Archive for the ‘destinations’ Category
putting a touch of chic to your christmas shopping list
events at christmas
a chic christmas
Tis the season to be jolly, as well as decked out in all the latest fashions from across Europe. Our friends at Chic Outlet Shopping® have set up a few yule tide gems at their various boutique shopping villages, we could help but take a closer look…
festive shopping in antwerp
This yuletide season Maasmechelen Village is opening its doors to a host of brand new stores to tempt you to its shopping paradise. For cooking up a storm over Christmas you can pick up a few Le Creuset casserole dishes in their new boutique, or wrap up with a visit to the new FTC cashmere boutique.
good santa
During the run up to Christmas Milan’s fashion mecca; Fidenza Village is launching its Santa’s Workshop Boutique, created in association with Convivio, the charity founded by Gianni Versace in 1992. Keep in line with the fashion credentials of course, Santa’s Workshop is a unique boutique where passers by can awe at the magical and timeless festive trinkets. This candle lite, mistletoe adorned grotto can melt the heart of any Christmas Grinch.
a festive o la la
This Christmas season the oh-so-chic La Vallée Village in Paris has launched its even chicer VIP days out. For an exclusive price enjoy return travel tickets, a two course meal at the gourmet palace of Natalie’s Cafe, as well as a gift voucher.
a pop up christmas
For the best German fashion has to offer, Inglostadt Village, Munich welcomes its new Pop-Up boutique BlackBox. Open through out December this new boutique is home to leading brands such as Blauer, and George, Gina, and Lucy. Looking for a show-stopping number to wow at your Christmas party? We think you’ll find it here.
Find out more about our festive shopping trips here
(2 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)
Loading ...a taste of karnataka
fragrant spices used in karnataka's cuisine
India’s delicious cuisine is so popular here at home it’s virtually an institution in itself, but we know we’ve discovered only a mere corner of the enormous gallery of India’s tastes, smells and textures. In Karnataka, the contrasts between cities and provinces is startling; the deep, earthy flavours of Northern Karnataka, the traditional cuisine in the vegetarian heartlands of South Karnataka, the thick meaty curries of Kodagu and the delicate and fragrant spices of the coast. Try Mangalore’s spicy fish with fresh coconut and chillies, or the ‘pure’ vegetarian classics (no garlic or onion) of Udupi made with sweet pumpkin and refreshing gourds. For something with a bit more bite savour the region’s chutneys and spicy curries but leave room for Karnataka’s ubiquitous favourites like gojju (vegetables in tamarind and chilli), huli (thick lentil broth with spices and coconut), and bisibelebheth (rice, dahl, and spices with a splash of cinnamon).
fancy getting to know more about the delights of karnataka… click here
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...crimes of art? we think not…
life on the streets of mexico city, photos by Alexandra Peeters…
It seems the hot topic du jour over the summer months has been graffiti. Following the release of a few captivating documentaries we’ve been able to immerse ourselves in the clandestine world that’s sprayed out right before our very eyes. Yet that’s the thing with graffiti, its covert origins and hush-hush locations are crossed with electrifying designs and a whirlwind of colour that makes us stand back and take note.
loco?
Here at Black Tomato HQ in Shoreditch, London we’re blessed with some pretty hypnotising graffiti and street art that pops up when we least expect it, look further afield and you’ll find each country has their own intriguing way of bringing the streets to life.
First stop on our grand tour de graffiti; the vibrant streets of Mexico. Click on the image for some inspirational shots…
hairs looking at you
green goblin
walls a plenty
graffiti
life like
lady of the night
(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...travel masterpieces
We’ve travelled quite a few (thousand) miles slowly mastering the art of travel, but, no matter how many times we pick up a paintbrush, the art of…art doesn’t come quite as easily. But we can find masterpieces in places you may not think to look. Ever searched for an art museum where once there was just a desert? Or found a gallery almost entirely underground on an island Down Under? Well we have… Guggenheim isn’t just about New York anymore, and Japan has a hotel and museum in one.
part hotel, part museum, one island
Enter into the art world.
Japan – From Naoshima Island, the hotel and art gallery in one, to the glass structures around Lake Toya, art and water seem to go well together in Japan. A balance we rather like.
Mongolia – Where once there was just sand, now lies perhaps one of the most remote art museums around – the Ordos Art Museum. But we know where it is…
Brazil – In Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, the Art Museum floats over the beach below for pretty spectacular Brazilian panoramics…
the brazilian spaceship
Australia – In Tasmania, the Museum of Old and New Art brings the beautiful and the lightly strange together in one underground world…
Bilbao, Spain – Food, art and wine all in one place sounds like a culture vulture’s dream, no? Over in Bilbao, Spain, the Guggenheim Museum feeds any modern art needs before you wander through endless vineyards…
(4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5) Loading ...BVI baby
My BVI
that’s my BVI…
British Virgin Islands
Snuggled amongst the gentle currents and smiling sun of the Caribbean lies a little bit of Britain that couldn’t be further from home. On the British Virgin Islands (BVI) life’s a beach; an isolated paradise to take you back to island living before the invention of fast-food and stress. Four main islands make up the majority of the BVIs; Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke, each with their own personality and unique brilliance.
We’ve got the inside scoop on this one. Oh yes… click here to find some local insights on the BVI’s.
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...which cayman are you?
east end beach
palms swaying in the breeze…
Our new and exciting squeeze, the Cayman Islands have been taking up all our attention the last few weeks as we’ve got to know all the wide-eyed wonders there are to behold on these stunning Caribbean islands. And we’ve fallen hard.
an aquarium... nope just the cayman islands water
We’ve been spoilt with beaches straight out of paradise, enticing us onto their sugary white sands and into their warm clear waters. We’ve been watching the gentle lapping of the waves from our peaceful perch on a hammock, shaded under palm tree leaves, wondering if life could really get any better than this. On Grand Cayman, Seven Mile Beach’s stretch of sun-kissed sand (oddly only five miles, not seven) is our undoubted favourite for chic seaside style. Blessed with some of the most spectacular sand and sea we’ve ever seen, all the hip happenings of Grand Cayman are here too, with top-notch restaurants, trendy bars and five star hotels jostling for beachfront space. Try out some Cayman specialities like conch cerviche and pork stew, or indulge in the island’s delicious international cuisine, serving up all the high-class classics from across the globe.
Having escaped the grasps of development, Grand Cayman’s little sisters, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, offer untouched tranquillity, where the pace of life has slowed down to a serene standstill. On Little Cayman, take to the water and discover the mind-boggling richness of colours that flourish, with corals and shoals of fish at the world famous Blood Bay Wall Marine Park dazzling with its unworldly bright shades and forms. Fish for an exotic catch too, with dream species like bonefish, permit and jacks all breaking the waters here. Cayman Brac’s craggy limestone outcrop is a hiker’s pristine delight, with exceptional bird life to spot, including the rare nesting brown boobies. Beneath the bluff, find an underground lattice of caves, filled with wildlife and still said to possess stashes of pirate gold buried somewhere within it – as if we needed more reason to explore these natural wonders.
Fancy a juant to the Cayman Islands? Then click here to find out more…
(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...after the stampede is over
On Wednesday, the Txupinazo rocket was launched, the gates opened, and the madness began in Pamplona. But in case being chased by wild bulls isn’t your idea of an escape from the grind (although the surrounding party is pretty unforgettable) there are plenty of lesser-visited spots in Spanish spaces you might think you know inside out already. Here are some of our picks:
el teide in tenerife
canary islands
With all year long sunshine, it’s hard to argue with this island group that’s actually a lot closer to Africa than Spain’s mainland. On Tenerife, climb up to Spain’s highest point over lunar landscapes. It’s a live volcano, but don’t worry, no hot lava in sight. For now.
seville
Back into the traditions of Moorish convents, gothic cathedrals and flamenco. In Seville, it’s all about open air squares, towers over the city and trying as many of the thousand-plus tapas bars as possible…
all about wine country
rioja
Spain’s most famous wine region. That’s reason enough really. Taste wine straight from the barrels before dining with the owners while you become a Spanish wine connoisseur.
balearic islands
First island that comes to mind is usually Ibiza, but across the waterways, the smallest island of Formentera is our favourite Balearic gem. And at low tide, a walk out to Espalmador for a natural mud bath is definitely far removed from the overload of glow in the dark body paint…
dali's inspirational town of cadaqués
catalonia
Just below the pounding of the bulls’ hooves, Catalonia has its own culture, its own language and its own colourful capital in Barcelona. Just south of there, head to Cadaqués to see where Dali got his inspiration.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...happy canada days
cap bon ami
must be canada…
As a special treat to mark the occasion, we figured we’d skip downing shots of maple syrup and snowboarding at Whistler to instead let you in on a few Canada secrets that are sure to have you out on the streets celebrating this awesome country.
polar bears
What better secret to start with than one involving fluffy white polar bears? We at Black Tomato were all sold at this point, but if you need a harder sell than that, does it help to know that we can arrange to have you flown in your private plane to a special wilderness lodge in the sub-arctic Manitoban prairie lands where friendly and docile polar bears and their cubs lounge away the days in front of your very eyes? We thought that would do it.
Even if you’re more city-styler than sub-arctic explorer, we’ve got a Canada secret for you too. Quebéc’s streets are a culture hot-bed, with Montréal and Québec City hosting hundreds of festivals throughout the year, including the world’s biggest comedy and music festivals, not to mention the Red Bull Crashed Ice event; a hair-raising, bone-crunching, spleen-bursting downhill ice race through Quebéc’s streets. Don’t forget your insurance.
That said, Québec can still bring the 18th century explorer in you out, with a trip to Québec’s wild plains to see herds of gallivanting caribou, followed by whale spotting and a spot of air time soaring over the mighty Saguenay fjord.
No need to thank us, have a Happy Canada Day!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...an epic chat with charley boorman
Charley with his bike
on your bike…
Our brother website Epic Tomato caught up with actor and motorbike adventurer Charley Boorman just days before his latest expedition to Canada to find out what inspires him and what he hopes to learn from his upcoming journey…
And if you fancy a Canadian motorbike escapade of your own, live out your wildest Harley dreams in Québec. Click here to find out more…
What inspired you to go on these adventures, to travel and see as much as you have seen?
I think it was my Dad; he was a film director (producing works such as Deliverance and Point Blank) and would shoot all over the world from the South Pacific to South Carolina and Brazil. As a child I went everywhere with him and was always in his movies…I vividly remember dad’s stunt man teaching me how to shoot a hand gun at age 4, leaning out of the window and shooting sign posts. I guess it was his way of getting a bit of free work…he used to say ‘if you go and sit over there I will give you a tricycle’. Becoming an adult I carried on making movies but was choosing them for location rather than for script. When I met my wife we went to Oz and Africa together to make films and this eventually led to making the TV shows. Now it’s my kids who come out to meet me wherever I am, from Cape Town to Kenya to Tokyo, I think it is really important to instil the travel ethos in kids.
How do you prepare for these kinds of trips, is there a routine that you follow?
(Jokingly) Aside from getting other people to do everything for you? (I am a great believer in delegation!)
When you do go on an adventure and film it, there are endless issues with visas, work permits, film permits etc…for example in Russia every region we travelled through required a separate letter of sponsorship to permit filming.
In terms of dealing with extreme cold or heat like you have had to in the past, is there anything that really gets you through it and enables you to cope?
When we trained with the ex-SAS guys for hostile environmental training, we were taught how to survive and react to border crossings (amongst loads of other things of course) and it was this in particular that I found so useful.
I reckon if you can survive all the preparation then the journey is easy. When you spend all that time and effort preparing for your journey not matter who you are or for how long you are going, it’s very easy to forget to enjoy it; you are always rushing towards your destination but at the end of the day does it matter if you make it that night…or you end up sleeping in the car?
The thing I have noticed over the years is that it’s not the things that that go off without a hitch you remember, it is the things that go wrong; the break downs, the ‘dodgy’ situations, the immigration officials demanding money off you and the ensuing arguments that really stick in your mind…
Is there anything you miss whilst you’re away…something you always take with you?
It’s funny, you fantasise about food a lot; travelling through Africa and Mongolia and all those sorts of places you find there is not much to eat and the food you can buy in shops is not that great, I guess because the indigenous population are so self-sufficient.
So it’s rations all round?
Yeah, a lot of the time we go for those gooey, orange boil in the bags … not very pleasant and it’s at times like those when I start really craving one meal in particular, and strangely enough it is one that I don’t even have that much at home; Bresaola…a dried beef Carpaccio with rocket, shavings of parmesan, olive oil and balsamic with a squeeze of lemon….it’s on my mind a lot oh as well as American hot pizza with extra cheese!
So you are off to Canada in the next few days and are planning to visit all the different provinces…
Yeah, we will be doing all sorts of different things from really fun extreme stuff to interacting with the indigenous Inuit of the north. It’s going to be interesting to just be in one country for once with much fewer language barriers yet massive contrasts between say the Northern provinces and over on the West Coast. I am particularly looking forward to going down to the border with Montana to the areas where there was prohibition to see the tunnels they used to smuggle the booze in from Canada.
Is there one particular thing you have you have learnt about yourself through all your travels?
When you are travelling, the mistakes you make tend to become more apparent so I always hope you can improve on them. I think I am much more tolerant now, I used to be very impatient; as a kid my nickname was short fuse but I think I have got a handle on that now.
I also now have huge faith in humanity; you hear terrible things about certain places; for example we went through Libya a few years ago…people’s impressions are of torture and tyranny but when you are there it is not nearly as bad…I am sure it all goes on, but we stopped in villages where we were made to feel incredibly at home and people were so friendly…the same in Egypt and Sudan…filled with some of the loveliest, beautiful people.
How did you find it riding through the deserts?
Hot! Really hot…but it’s great, it’s what you fantasize about when you are planning the trip; about being baking hot with tyre sets melting beneath your wheels.
It was brilliant at night, still baking hot, lying there in your little silk liner under just a mosquito net looking up at just the most incredible stars in a pitch black African night sky. Once we came off the road and made camp when it was dark, in the morning we woke up to find ourselves right in the middle of these 3 huge kilns that were used for making bricks out of mud…all we could see was a load of guys looking down at us and a whole lot of commotion.
What are you looking forward to most about Canada?
I am really keen to get up into the mountains and the wilderness. We have arranged a whole host of amazing activities including kayaking, heli-mountain biking and swimming with minke whales in Newfoundland tempered with some time with indigenous tribes whose ancient ways of living remain unchanged to the present day.
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5) Loading ...party on down the québecois way
Festival-d-ete-de-quebec
celebrate the good times…
It’s summertime and we love nothing better at Black Tomato than getting out and partying up a storm to satisfy our yearning for fun in the sunshine. This year we’ve set our sights on Canada’s magical province of Québec to check out its festival buzz and experience how it’s done, Quebecois style…
First stop, Montréal, and we know it’s the place to be, having just hosted its annual F1 Grand Prix at the state-of-the-art Gilles Villeneuve track. This year’s race was undoubtedly a classic with the high-octane drama culminating in a gripping win for British driver Jensen Button, and the teams and drivers already talking about a hotly anticipated rematch next year.
To calm the hearts of the race-goers, the world’s largest jazz festival brings a touch of bluesy peace to Montréal’s sun-kissed streets this June and July, with over 800 jazz concerts to groove to at the Quartier des Spectacles. Then alongside two million other guests, giggle yourself silly at Just for Laughs, with comedy galas, theatre, stand-up, and street entertainment all vying for a crack at your funny bone. Don’t forget to also check out the International Fireworks festival, where the mesmerising ‘Pyro-Musical’ will have you staring for hours into the night sky and also Québec’s legendary Summer Festival, when Québec City is transformed into the live music and entertainment capital of the world.
(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5) Loading ...
