Welcome to the food and restaurant group. If you are a foodie and eating/cooking is a big part of your travel experience, then this group is for you!
davidkather from CA Colorado Springs is great size city so close to the mountains. They have an amazing inter-city trail system excellent for commuting to work Read More
Want to get travel advice from people interested in Food and Restaurants? Join the group and share your knowledge.
 - click on the photos to learn more about members' travels
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fruit de mer in Paris - yum!
Go to Shanghai for the pigeon on a stick!
lunch in Cayambe, Ecuador
Lake Bafa, Turkey: Pick your fish at this roadside joint
Ham and cheese "sandwich" from Cafe Majestic, Porto
A personal grill at a traditional parilla. Dig in.
Making tortillas, Guesillos Guiliguiste, near Leon, Nicaragua, Central America. ©Ellen Barone.
Bizcochos, Cayambe, Ecuador
The Pink Tea Cup Restaurant
Chefs preparing Peking Duck
Food in Madrid, Restaurante La Bola
Guitarist at Restaurante Casa Vieja in San German, Puerto Rico
The Branson Belle Showboat
Stopping in at the Cafe Tortoni.
Turkish breakfast in the courtyard of Nilya Pension, Selcuk
Whisky Bartender, Ňran Mór, Glasgow
The Old Mill, Lower Slaughter, Cotswolds, England
Boring Jambon and cheese Sandwich
Fried shrimp, fried crab, fried everything! A trip to New Orleans will clog your arteries but it'll taste so good regardless!
Castle of Spiez with boatstation
Nothin' better than dark chocolate!
Cuy (guinea pig), Cayambe, EC
Breakfast of Champions at Chef Mickeys in Disney World
Les Jardins de saint Benoit :Restaurant
WIldlife area attractions
My 1st-ever deep-fried key lime pie
Montvale Hotel - Spokane's Premier Boutique Hotel - Connie Motz photo
Montvale Hotel - Catacombs Pub - Connie Motz
Lansdowne restaurant chefs discuss dinner in the garden
The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
Waterfront restaurants in Cologne
BBQ Chicken at the Quechee Balloon Festival
Cutting cheese at Sugarbush Farms
The cheese sample table at Sugarbush Farms
The cheeses of Sugarbush Farms
The staff at the Coffee and Tea House in Woodstock
Outside the Coffee and Tea House in Woodstock
Nighttime at the Swiss Belhotel Golden Sand Resor
A couple of friends and I trying out the caramel vodka at The Pipe.
| DESTINATION REVIEWS |
After a long time, we visited to Ft. Lauderdale with my two other friends. Before to leave out city, firstly, we searched beach side More |
Nightlife | Parks | Attraction | Bridge | Cheap Hotels | Destination Colorado Springs is great size city so close to the mountains. They have an amazing inter-city trail system excellent for commuting to work or spending the day for pleasure. They... More |
San Francisco city is the most visited cities in the world. There are populations of almost 800,000, but is the center of a metropolitan area of millions. After four month I got... More |
Museums | Parks | Cheap Hotels | Entertainment | Island Key West is famous city to make vacations with entertainment. The city is situated in Florida Keys in USA. The island is recognized to make and also world’s attractive city. It is... More |
Daytona Beach is a good city in United States and state of Florida. This city is most popular for its destination, nightlife, sightseeing and one of the most attraction cities for... More |
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A real American drinking den should be dark, slightly seedy and full of local characters. Nowhere does the dive bar better than San Francisco Long before San Francisco was overrun with hippies, then by dot-commers, then by failed dot-commers who became hippies, the city was a rough-and-tumble wild west town, more Deadwood than Deadhead. Now the city is teeming with health food stores, boutiques and obscure shops that sell lovely little things, and it's hard to spot these Gold Rush roots, but they do live on: in the Bay Area's many dive bars. What is a dive bar? I'd say it's any place where gin and tonic is considered a "fancy drink", where "dank" is the interior design of choice, and where beer-battered lamprey drizzled with truffle oil is a thing of science fiction. It's why Homer loves Moe's, why Norm loves Cheers - a place of tall tales, of low expectations, a piece of undiluted, rarely seen Americana. As a former Bay Area resident and lover of dives, this is my ultimate tour of the best bars - long-term favourites as well as a couple of new recommendations. I started at Clooney's in the Mission (1401 Valencia Street, 001 415 826 4988). Why? Because Clooney's opens at 6am. Legend has it that when the building next to Clooney's burnt down, the fire department were unable to remove the denizens from their stools. At the crack of dawn on a Tuesday morning, there was a little more energy on show. Five different televisions displayed five different programmes, each provoking a commentary from those either ending or beginning their drinking day. The scene in this neon-clad concrete box is not exactly convivial - more suspicious and badly lit - but as an easy-going neighbourhood bar it's an excellent place for a cheap beer and eavesdropping. After Clooney's, a spot of breakfast was in order. The Silver Crest (340 Bayshore Boulevard, +415 826 0753) appears to have dropped into the Bayshore area from the kind of mid-western town that's invaded by unconvincing aliens in 1950s B-movies. It's a diner with eggs and potatoes in the front and a sliver of a bar in the back. The elderly Greek patron behind the bar will give you a shot of ouzo if it's your first time in the place, and there's a mighty collection of vintage pinball machines, and table jukeboxes that seem to feature just two tracks: one named "Greek" and one named "Happy Birthday". In an attempt to work off my fabulous Silver Crest breakfast I visited a sports-themed bar in the Sunset district, recommended by a friend who uses the nearby public golf course. The Tee-Off (3129 Clement St, +415 752 5439) has no apparent dedication to the sport, though every other pursuit is represented by the mass of sporting detritus and there's even a ping-pong table in the backyard. It did have an elderly Chinese lady drinking at the end of the bar who swore vehemently at the bar's chef (the decent-looking menu includes ostrich and kangaroo) for no apparent reason. The barfly next to her responded with a line Humphrey Bogart would have been proud of: "Watch your language, I got a picture of my wife in my wallet." San Francisco's famed Tonga Room features indoor rain showers in its tiki-themed splendour. The dive bar equivalent is Trad'r Sam (6150 Geary Boulevard, +415 221 0773) - no one knows what happened to the "e" - which features enough bamboo to choke a panda and, as an impressive touch, a pinball machine themed around Johnny Mnemonic - a terrible pre-Matrix Keanu Reeves film that hardly deserves to be eulogised in an arcade game). The Li Po Cocktail Lounge in Chinatown (916 Grant Avenue, +415 982 0072) is almost too decadent to qualify as a dive, featuring golden lions, beautiful Chinese murals and enormous paper lanterns, but it still definitely has the appropriate edge of desperation. I moved over to nearby North Beach, former home of the beats and visited The Saloon (1232 Grant Avenue, +415 989 7666), one of the city's oldest bars: it survived the earthquake and fire of 1906, which is also possibly when the toilets were last cleaned. Some kind of celebration was in progress as a large gathering of the area's beat types rallied around a lady in a wheelchair. I asked if it was a birthday party. "Quite the reverse," a patron told me. He revealed that it was in fact the last hurrah of "Rebel", former long-time bartender (rumoured to be the oldest in San Francisco), who was having a last tipple at her favourite establishment before heading to the great dive bar in the sky. I joined the locals for a drink in her honour. With the sombre tone now established, I ventured into the Tenderloin district. Most travel guides have a simple message concerning this area of the city: avoid. But though it's home to many of the city's homeless and dispirited, it also possess some of the its premiere dive establishments. Aunt Charlie's (133 Turk St, +415 441 2922, auntcharlieslounge.com) purports to be a transvestite bar. Not much evidence of that, but there were plenty of men slavering over the baseball on the TV. If you like your dive bars dark, this is the place for you. The entire joint seems to be lit by the pink neon sign that says Aunt Charlie's. I tried sneakily to take a picture of it and my camera flash went off. "Who the hell is taking pictures in here?" asked Robert, the dapper and ancient barman. "You must be a cop," a barfly levelled at me. I trowelled on my most affected English accent in an attempt to appease, then quickly made my excuses and left. I headed to the Ha-Ra Club (875 Geary St, +415 673 3148), one of San Francisco's most notorious dives. Everyone has a story about the Ha-Ra's legendary bartender Carl, who is part WC Fields and part Victor Meldrew. He doesn't like young hipsters cluttering up his joint. In fact, Carl doesn't really like anybody. "I've got good news and bad news," he told me as I arrived. "Good news, I'm still here. Bad news, I've only got Bud, Miller and ... Larry?" I was still wondering what sort of brew Larry could be when I realised that he'd stopped talking to me and was haranguing someone on the phone. Everything is in place at the Ha-Ra. A bar, a television, a pool table. No DJs, no gourmet food, no espresso machine and no merchandise. Just a room, booze, and a slight air of despair. As I left, Carl yelled, "Have a good weekend!" at me. I was several blocks away before I realised it was Tuesday. Coming full circle, I returned to the Mission for my final, and favourite dive, The Attic (3336 24th St, +415 643 3376). Dark and simple, The Attic has a thin strip of a bar, and a murky room beyond. It loses points for featuring DJs, but recoups some by not having a television (or even a phone). It's friendly, occasionally rowdy, totally unaffected and an excellent place to collapse in a corner and consider the world, which, after 18 hours of dive bars, seemed the sensible thing to do.


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Article from Travel news, travel guides and reviews | guardian.co.uk
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The laidback vibe at a health retreat in south India will persuade even the most cynical of guests to join in with naked massage and art yoga The art yoga class is held in Swaswara's gallery, opposite the banyan tree. It starts at 2.15pm and the process is simple. First you take off your shoes and sit down amid a spread of brushes, oil paints and crayons. Then you relax and meditate. At a point specified by your teacher, you stop, capture the first image that comes into your mind and paint it. In my case, that turned out to be a polar bear looking for a hug. Looking back, I'm not sure that my painting really represented the bear in my mind. The paws were quite good, I have to say, and I'm proud of the canary yellow and pink background but, ultimately, my bear just looked scared. This was disappointing, but I still stuck the picture on the wall of my cottage. That's not something I normally do, but then I don't draw much either, nor do I meditate, in fact, or dance for 30 minutes non-stop, or swim before breakfast, or breathe deeply and calmly without being prompted. All of these things I learned to do at Swaswara, a resort of 24 self-contained villas across 26 acres, on the Karnataka coast - a state often overlooked in favour of Goa, to the north, and Kerala, to the south. Surrounded by woodland and arable fields, it overlooks Om beach, named for its resemblance to the Hindi symbol, the mythical sound from which the universe was created. Pass over the beach's bays and through a stretch of farmland and you reach Gokarna, a town swarming with sacred cattle and famed for its temples (it also attracts a small stream of year-round backpacker traffic). The spiritual elements of the beach play into the ethos of the resort itself. Now entering its fourth year of business, it takes bookings of a minimum of five nights and encourages all visitors to engage fully with a programme of yoga and Ayurvedic treatments designed to help uncover your "own rhythm", which, in Kannada, the local language, translates handily as Swaswara. Such mission statements might bring out the cynic in some, and I would normally include myself in this number. For example, when having the process of art yoga explained to me, I became convinced that a mental image would not, as was suggested by my teacher Kirit, appear spontaneously at all but that, instead, I would manufacture one, and probably something rude at that. The potential consequences of having to daub such an image in crayon worried me hugely, but, fortunately, it didn't come to pass. Once that barrier had been overcome, I became a keen practitioner of other offerings on the menu. Alongside the emphasis on personal balance, there is a focus on sustainability. It's common nowadays for hotels to at least nod towards helping to save the planet, but not only is the message at Swaswara more strongly expressed, it's more necessary. The supply of electricity and water is never guaranteed on the subcontinent, but recent years drought among other factors has seen it become more unreliable still. Each of the cottages is a mixture of indoor and outdoor space - the bedroom behind glass, the shower under the stars, beside it an advice card on how to save water (lather up with the water off). There's no television, and only low-energy lighting. A reservoir at the back of the plot holds the resort's water, while all solid waste is recycled, partly to fertilise the vegetable gardens. The food - largely south Indian, with the odd Mediterranean dish thrown in - also aspires to a mantra of sustainability and is sourced locally. Every single meal I ate was incredibly fresh, flavoursome and, I noted gratefully, served in substantial portions: tuna stuffed in a snake gourd ring with pickled cocum fruit, prawns sautéed in capsicum and onion with sweet tomato paste, side dishes of cumin potatoes, mushrooms in pea sauce ... and a pudding to follow. Although it's a comfortable, stylish hotel, the luxury elements are played down, which I thought a clever ploy, since it made me feel more of a true voyager to the centre of my self. By the same token, most bling-sporting holidaymakers are unlikely to head to a place that offers stretches instead of cocktails (there is no alcohol available on site) and is a three-hour drive from the nearest airport. Not many Brits visit Swaswara, due, management believe, to our unfamiliarity with Ayurveda (the 4,000-year-old form of Indian medicine which is offered here) and our general reluctance to get naked - the latter generally being essential to the application of the former. As with the yoga, the aim is to develop a full week-long programme of Ayurvedic treatment that will take in a series of medicinal massages (hence the nudity) and an adapted diet (you can keep your clothes on for this bit). I was encouraged to eat more sweet foods, including sugar and pasta, and to make sure that natural urges such as flatulence and sleeping should "neither be withheld or provoked". I did my best to follow these instructions. As for the massage, I can tell you that I spent a happy hour naked in the company of two men buffing my muscles in perfect unison. The only disconcerting aspect of this treatment was the medicinal oil they used. Apparently concocted from a variety of secret ingredients to fit my physical requirements, it smelt so strongly of the same spices that make the food so great that I thought I was destined for the grill. Even if you are a wellbeing cynic, Swaswara's location, with its beautifully quiet beaches, is attractive enough, but I was thoroughly inclined to embrace its ethos during my stay. I was also inclined to quit my job and take up full-time polar bear painting. But, sadly, that desire has now passed. ? A week at Swaswara with Transindus (020-8566 3739, transindus.co.uk) starts at £1,280pp, including return flights with Jet Airways from Heathrow to Goa, via Mumbai, transfers, accommodation with all meals and morning yoga sessions.


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Article from Travel news, travel guides and reviews | guardian.co.uk
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Rural Iran has startlingly beautiful landscapes that are largely unexplored by outsiders I was tired. Exhausted. Ready to flop. I'd arrived in Zarabad, a sweet secluded village north of Tehran, with sleep rather than sightseeing on my mind. But in Iran, a land of soft light, poetic description and elegaic landscapes, the offer of a dusk stroll is hard to resist. "Zarabad means 'built by the Gods,'" said Cyrus, our guide's uncle, as we meandered through winding streets into countryside flecked with walnut trees, streams, cherry orchards and rice fields; its bucolic serenity juxtaposed with a reminder of more brutal times, a cemetery filled with the graves of young men killed in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. It wasn't the day's first taste of bloody history. We'd earlier driven through the Alamut valley, former home of the Hashshashin, who in the Middle Ages ritually plotted the deaths of their enemies ? the origin of the word assassin and the genesis of the dark art. We'd broken our journey to hike in searing heat into the hills that protectively swaddled the ruins of the sect's castle. Small wonder that by that evening, I wasn't just tired, I was hungry. Food came first, dished up in our Zarabad guesthouse by Afsar Hayati, a motherly widow. It was my first meal in rural Iran and it was magnificent: ghormeh sabzi, a green herb stew, mixing sorrel, parsley, spinach and rice, with barberries, grilled chicken and kidney beans, flatbread and sheep's butter, all washed down with tea. It left me satiated, drowsy and sleeping like the dead. I was travelling with Wild Frontiers, one of the few tour operators to regularly venture into rural Iran as well as its cities. Our group would travel south from Tehran ? bar this detour north ? in a rough circle covering some 3,000km. It's a trip where memorable sights emerge early and exit late. So next morning I crept out to watch the sun rise over the Alborz mountains. Our hostess was already awake. Yesterday, she'd doused us all with esfand, herbal incense said to purify and ward off bad spirits, now she offered spoonfuls of homemade sour cherry jam. It was the aperitif for a breakfast of flatbread, boiled eggs, tea and preserves ? the perfect re-fuel after we'd trooped down to the public bath, past the onion-domed mosque to freshen up for our continuing journey. Now travelling south, we skirted the harsh, inhospitable Dasht-e Kavir desert that covers much of central and southeast Iran. It's no Sahara ? more grey wasteland with occasional licks of white salt ? but like the vast north African sands, it swirls with magical myths and is said to be rife with demons. My favourite is the evil-sounding ghul, a monster with a penchant for ambushing unsuspecting travellers and feeding on their flesh. Today he appeared to be full. We sped through unscathed to Kashan, an oasis town on the desert's edge. There we took a stroll in the Fin gardens, built in the 16th century as a summer retreat for the charismatic despot, Shah Abbas. They teemed with cypress and fruit trees, pools and pretty fountains ? and teenage girls on a school outing. A sea of black, figure-hugging tunics, headscarves, flashing eyes and high spirits, they danced around us. "Where are you from?" they asked. " Do you like our country? Welcome to Iran". We all hugged, posed for photographs, and parted, enchanted and faintly euphoric at the encounter ? international diplomatic tension belonged to another world. It's such moments ? the rule, rather than the exception ? that make travel to the Islamic republic such a delight. Well, that and the snacks. On the bus, we drank tea from a gigantic flask, a ritual that's also an excuse to graze on Iranian confectionary: sohan, a brittle caramel, gaz, a chewy nougat, faludeh, transparent spaghetti made from starch and rose water, and pashmak, cotton candy resembling horsehair. Three hundred kilometres and several hundred calories south of Kashan, in Yazd, we restocked at the famous Haj Khalifeh shop ? an Iranian Selfridges for sweets and biscuits ? where our order was packaged in a dainty, ribbon-tied box by a solemn assistant. This ancient desert town, a maze of sun-baked buildings and ancient wind towers, is home to Iran's largest community of Zoroastrians ? followers of a faith dating back to the sixth century. On a dusty trek up to the Towers of Silence we learnt how, traditionally a priest would lay out the bodies of the dead on the open-air towers, to be picked clean by vultures ? a ritual similar to that of the Tibetan sky burial. "The practice stopped 50 years ago," said Mehrdad. "The vultures kept dropping bones in populated areas." Now the remains are buried in cement-lined graves to prevent what they see as contamination of the earth. Later, outside the Friday mosque with its high tiled entrance and twin minarets, we stumbled upon a film crew recording a religious drama for Iranian television. I told the young director, Arash, that back in London I'd watched Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi's animated film about growing up under the revolution. "We can't watch it," he said flatly, "it's banned here." Then his face lit up as he reeled off his favourite films: Godfather, Scarface, Once Upon a Time in America. "They're all banned, too, but we get them through the black market." A couple of restorative nights in Yazd's plush Laleh hotel and we returned to the countryside. Next stop: Bazm, a hamlet in the foothills of the Zagros mountains. Another night, another culture: our hosts Abbas and Afar were Qashqai, a nomadic tribe that migrates between summer pastures in the Zagros and winters in lowlands near the Persian Gulf. The couple, who aren't fans of the nomadic lifestyle, offered us the run of their guesthouse. Glossy magazines might call its style eclectic. Rooms are lined with ruby red woollen rugs weaved by the Qashqai, its two bathrooms have western loos and showers, while goats and chickens live in a garden pen surrounded by a tangle of grapevines, apple and cherry trees. Beyond the compound, life rolled along unhurriedly: old women led donkeys down dirt roads, a shepherd herded his flock, and some of our gang headed off for hikes in the hills. I chose to play hide-and-seek with our hosts' daughters, Nilufer, nine, and Zahra, six, and then joined them to collect wildflowers in a nearby meadow. That evening we drank malty, non-alcholic beer ? bizarrely it left us feeling quite giddy ? and feasted on Afsar's home cooking: rice with barberries, lamb, noodle soup, fesenjan, a mix of walnuts and pomegranates, along with chicken, carrot salad and fresh, moist flatbread. We reluctantly said our goodbyes the next morning, and scrambled onto the bus with a mission. To track down some Qashqai nomads. Like most of life's best pleasures, it wasn't instant gratification. We eventually spotted two tents in a stunning valley framed by mountain peaks. An extended family of Qashqai lived in the camp, the women distinctive in their colourful headscarves, shirts and skirts over black leggings. Shyly, they welcomed us into their goatskin tent for sweetened tea and almonds. We gave them a box of sweets and sprawled on the woven rugs and cushions around a central fire pit. The Qashqai traditionally spend their days tending to livestock. "It's we women who do the herding, milking of goats, and baking of bread," said Shamsie, a mother of 11 children. "When I was a child there were 100 families in this valley, now there are just two." Many Qashqi have resettled in Shiraz, a buoyant, relaxed city about four hours' drive to the southwest, the birthplace of Hafez, the revered Persian poet. Born in the 14th century, he wrote about love, wine, women and spirituality, giving rise to a form of fortune-telling that is still hugely popular: you ask a question, open a page of his verse at random, and receive guidance through his words. I visited Hafez's tomb in the Musalla gardens at sunset, when all of Shiraz appeared to be milling about among the cypress trees and roses. In the open-air pavilion housing his tomb, I joined the young women who sit clutching books of his poetry. One, seeing me peer over her shoulder, kindly handed me her volume. As custom dictates I took a moment to formulate a silent wish ? a rather sheepish one revolving around the latest love object ? shut my eyes and chose a page. My new friend recited its poem to me in Farsi, softly and with great feeling. "What does it mean?" I asked, eagerly. "It's love, it's good," she replied sweetly, with a feminine empathy that ? more than any pronouncement Hafez made on my affaire de coeur ? stayed with me for days. While my future love life sounded promising, you can't take anything for granted. So next afternoon, in Soormeh, a tiny beauty salon, I got a makeover courtesy of Farah, Mazia, Marzijah, Foruzan, Gooli, Sanaz, and Mina ? a big team even by the standards of 10 Years Younger. To my surprise, all were bareheaded in skinny jeans, T-shirts and revealing tank tops ? except for 22-year-old make-up artist Mina, who sported a bizarre white veil and so much slap she resembled a geisha. "In private, we're free to dress and express ourselves as we like," she said with a shrug, smothering me in foundation and blusher. "There are no restrictions." Persians love picnics as much as they do poetry, and for a final dose of nature before Esfahan ? that elegant, much chronicled city on the banks of the Zayandeh river ? we spent a soporific, sun-filled day at the Margun waterfall, Iran's largest that topples over a fantastic canyon, deep in the forest. At the falls, the locals picnicked in style, unfurling Persian rugs and laying out great pots of homemade stew. Beneath us, four men on a ledge knelt and prayed before tucking in. We ate our own lunch of cucumber, tomatoes, dates, boiled eggs, goat's cheese and watermelon perched on boulders, as shafts of sunlight pierced the forest. "The trees, they are like music," said our guide suddenly. I gazed upward at the groves swaying gently in the wind, and nodded: the simile seemed entirely fitting, and typical of this country, far from short on lyricism. Getting there
BMI (+44 (0)870 6070 555, flybmi.com) flies Heathrow-Tehran from Ł364.50 rtn inc tax. Wild Frontiers' (+44 (0)20-7736 3968, wildfrontiers.co.uk) 16-day Land of the Peacock Throne tour costs Ł2,295pp, including accommodation and all meals, guides and transport, but excluding flights. The next trips depart 8 May and 2 Oct 2010. Wild Frontiers also run 10-day walking tours (departing 22 May and 24 Sept), from Ł1,595, land only.


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Article from Travel news, travel guides and reviews | guardian.co.uk
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From plastic pandas in Barcelona to artist-spotting in Prague, we bring you the latest instalment of insider tips from blog network Spotted by Locals Barcelona: Fantastik ? Plastico fantasticoBy Sonja Pöhlmann This is a typical example of a shop where you find yourself buying things you don't need at all. But you often encounter something so colourful, exotic and cute, it's hard to resist the temptation. Inflatable plastic pandas and elephants from Japan, miniature tools for all occasions from Korea, kitchen accessories from the former GDR, Chinese thermos flasks, posters of sexy hair-styling ideas from India ... Fantastik has collected more than 300 weird and surprising products from more than 20 countries. A nice alternative to bringing home flamenco dolls and souvenir bulls. ? Details about this spot: Fantastik, Carrer Joaquim Costa, 62, El Raval, +34 93 301 3068. Open Mon-Thu 11am-2pm and 4pm-9pm, Fri/Sat 11am-9pm Berlin: TrashArt Museum ? Redesigning, not recyclingBy Natalia Irina Roman The TrashArt Museum is a yard full of small garages, each with a yellow door. Behind them are a wide range of materials, saved from being thrown away ? including fabric, metal and wood ? that the museum makes available to turn into sculptures. Founded in 2008, the project is run by the Kunst-Stoffe association, which focuses on sustainability, waste avoidance and cultural development and runs workshops and an artist-in-residence programme. The museum itself is the initiative of Adler FC, a Munich artist who used to be in residence at the association. Doro, a friend of the Kunst-Stoffe, explains: "We are upcycling, redesigning, not recycling." Some of the sculptural works thus give a different meaning to everyday objects. The museum is open on Wednesdays and Fridays, but don't hesitate to call them if other days suit you better. The people at Kunst-Stoffe are very friendly and open to forming new collaborations. ? Details about this spot: TrashArt Museum, Free, Berliner Str 17, +49 (0)30 34 08 9840. Open Wed 2pm-8pm, Fri 11am-6pm By Tomá? Jungwirth Kampa is a beautiful area in downtown Prague, near Újezd, consisting mainly of a large park which has great views of the river and the rest of the city. People go there to hang out, smoke a water-pipe or throw a frisbee. But it's also a cultural place. There is a local museum and many outdoor exhibitions take place here ? most recently there was a display of phone booths. Kampa used to be the site of a water-mill and the atmosphere is refreshing and truly charming. In the summer it's a great place to have a beer and a chat on the benches outside the cafe or just lounge around on the grass. Many interesting or famous people spend their evenings in Mlýnská kavárna ? sculptor David ?erný, the author of Entropa and Miska republika and other original works of art is there virtually every day, usually surrounded by women! ? Details about this spot: Mlýnská kavárna, Park Kampa, Prague +42 (0)60 844 4490. Open 12pm-12am daily Rotterdam: Kiem Foei ? Multiculti SnackingBy By Anne-Marie Ros and Renia Sastrowidjojo As I'm from the former Dutch colony, Surinam, I still crave its cuisine. It's hard, however, to define what "Surinam cuisine" is exactly. Nasi and bami goreng (fried rice and noodles) come from Indonesia, roti comes from India, and there's even a Jewish dish known as pom. A nice place to experience the cooking and to challenge your taste buds is Kiem Foei restaurant at the West-Kruiskade, near central station. West-Kruiskade is known as "China Town" but the Surinamese tokos (or shops) dominate the street. The area doesn't look that hip but nobody cares as it's all about the food here, which is partly Surinamese and partly Antillean. You can choose to eat in or "to go". Mingle with the crowd and snack on buns filled with vegetables, meat or shrimps. Whatever you choose, get ready for some interesting flavours. And Kiem Foei is a good choice if you're on a tight budget. ? Details about this spot: Kiem Foei, West-Kruiskade 29, Rotterdam +31 10 413 9983. Open 12pm-11pm daily Zurich: Für dich ? For you and for meBy Sabine Schweizer Für dich cafe bar ? meaning "for you" ? has already become a favourite haunt in its neighbourhood despite launching a year ago. Several regulars have gone as far as to tattoo an anchor on themselves in homage to the anchor hidden in the cafe's logo, which also happens to be the symbol for Aussersihl, the Zurich district where the bar is located. It's a great bar because it's located right next to Bäckeranlage and because for once in Zurich, you get a feeling of spaciousness. The four founders completed the renovation in six months and they made some spontaneous decisions along the way ? such as leaving one wall bare after the tiles were removed and sticking gold foil to another. The result is an open, spacious, simple venue with large windows ? it was a shop in its previous incarnation ? which nevertheless radiates warmth due to a preponderance of wood, as well as the red children's corner with its huge blackboard which turns into a comfortable lounge area at night. This is definitely a place to linger, chat and feel at home and a few times a month there are bands playing as well (unplugged). ? Details about this spot: Für dich, Stauffacherstrasse 141, Zurich +41 43 317 9160. Open Tues-Thurs 9am-12am, Fri-Sat 9am-2am, Sun 10am-8pm


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Article from Travel news, travel guides and reviews | guardian.co.uk
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Roger Protz, editor of the latest Camra Good Beer Guide, recommends town centre pubs with a country feel Forty pubs a week are closing in Britain, victims of the recession, the smoking ban, a 19% increase in beer duty in the past 18 months and cheap beer in supermarkets. But against this gloomy background, there's a remarkable resurgence of real ale. More than 70 new small craft breweries have bucked the economic downturn and opened in the past year. The new edition of the Good Beer Guide proves that pubs that concentrate on real ale and offer a good selection of beer can still pull in drinkers and thrive. Here's a few of my favourites. DerbyThe Royal Standard This is a rescued pub, closed in 2006 when the council wanted to knock it down to make way for offices and housing. But the locals protested and Trevor Harris of the local Derby Brewing Co bought the site and renovated it. It's open plan with sandblasted walls, large windows, seats outside in a covered courtyard and steps up to a balcony with ample seating and almost sylvan views over the River Derwent. Trevor's son Paul runs the pub and offers a good range of food and beers from his father: Triple Hop, Business as Usual, Dashingly Dark and Double Mash, plus a good range of imported beers, mainly from Belgium and Germany. ? 1 Derwent Street. +44 (0)1332 366283. derbybrewing.co.uk/brewery_tap.htm DurhamThe Dun Cow This ancient ale house dates from the 16th century and draws its inspiration from the folk tale concerning monks from Lindisfarne who in 995AD were searching for a resting place for the body of St Cuthbert. They encountered a milkmaid looking for her lost cow and she directed them to the hamlet of Dun Holm, now Durham. The inn is named after the animal and the story is told on the wall of a corridor that links the small snug bar at the front and large lounge at the rear. In spite of the encroaching castle and cathedral, the Dun Cow retains a rural and intimate atmosphere: drinking here is like stepping back in time. The beers on offer include Black Sheep Best Bitter, Cameron's Castle Eden Ale and Jennings Cumberland Ale, good northern brews. ? 37 Old Elvet. + 44 (0)191 386 9219 St AlbansThe Farmer's Boy Delightful cottage pub once surrounded by hedges before London Road had pavements. The small area by the bar opens out to a side room with ample seating. There's more seating on a paved outdoor area. At the rear of the pub is the Alehouse Brewery, which brews for the Farmer's Boy and another local pub, the Mermaid in Hatfield Road. The food is cooked on the premises and the chips get rave reviews. Beers include Alehouse Clipper IPA and Farmers Joy plus Fuller's London Pride and Taylor's Landlord. An excellent refreshment point before visiting St Albans Abbey and Roman Verulamium. ? 134 London Road, St Albans. +44 (0)1727 860535. farmersboy.net LancasterThe Sun A town centre pub with a country feel, with exposed brick work, wood panels, beams, a 300-year-old oak door, open fireplaces and a well ? the latter suggests brewing may have taken place here centuries ago. Food and accommodation are recommended while the beer range is superb. The Sun is the main outlet for the local Lancaster Brewery and offers the full range of Amber, Blonde, Black and Red along with Thwaite's Wainwright from Blackburn and four regular guest beers. There's also a good selection of Belgian beers and malt whiskies. There's an outside heated area for nicotineys. ? 63 Church Street, Lancaster. + 44 (0)1524 66006. thesunhotelandbar.co.uk YorkThe Maltings Shaun and Maxine Collinge are legends of the York pub trade and many visitors to the city call in at their riverside pub and never move on. The design is best described as quirky with ancient cigarette advertisements mingling with remedies for chest infections and a plethora of old railway signs ? the station is three minutes away. Food from the Dragon's Pantry at lunchtime is homemade and good value: the chilli is described as "incendiary". There are fine beers to accompany the food, including the local York Brewery's Guzzler along with Black Sheep Best and regular guest beers and ciders: porters and stouts are often available. Beers from mainland Europe are sold on draught and in bottle. ? Tanners Moat, foot of Lendal Bridge. + 44 (0)1904 655387. maltings.co.uk EdinburghThe Starbank Inn There are breathtaking views over the Firth of Forth to Fife ? try saying that after a few pints ? from this charming waterside pub with U-shaped interior, bare-boarded floors, old brewery mirrors and a conservatory for diners. Given the location, it's not surprising that fish features strongly on the menu, available lunchtime and evening, along with a daily vegetarian dish and such pub staples as ploughman's and steak and ale pie. There's occasional live jazz on Sundays, wi-fi access and a tremendous range of beers, mainly from Scottish breweries: you may find Caledonian Deuchars IPA and Harviestoun, and watch out for the classic 80 Shilling Ale from Belhaven of Dunbar. ? 64 Laverockbank Road, off A901. + 44 (0)131 552 4141. starbankinn.co.uk CardiffY Mochyn Du The name means black pig and comes from a Welsh folk song. The pub is a converted Victorian gatehouse on the edge of Sophia Gardens and enjoys a delightful rural location on the edge of the city. It's also just a few minutes' walk to Glamorgan cricket ground, which now enjoys Test status. The pub is surrounded by trees, bushes and flower beds, there's ample outside seating and a new conservatory offers both fine views and a good menu. The main wood-panelled bar has many sporting photos, including a surprising one of Ryan Giggs in a Wales rugby shirt: is he planning a late career change? A splendid range of beers comes from Welsh independent breweries, including a number of small micros. The house beer is supplied by the Vale of Glamorgan Brewery. ? Sophia Close. + 44 (0)29 203 71599 CambridgeThe Cambridge Blue The Blue is a delightful backstreet pub that dates from the 1860s. It was first known as the Dewdrop Inn, a dreadful Victorian pun widely used at the time. The pub was built to serve railway workers who lived in the small terrace houses in the area but now draws a wider clientele. The current name reflects the university boat race ? there was once a wreck of a Cambridge boat in the bar. The Blue has a spacious back garden with a rural feel. There's a large conservatory as well as simple bars with bare boards and masses of breweriana on the walls. It's a haven for beer lovers with 12 ever-changing cask beers plus a vast range of Belgian and American bottled beers. Landlords Terri and Jethro stage regular beer festivals. ? 85 Gwydir Street, off Mill Road. + 44 (0)1223 471680. the-cambridgeblue.co.uk ChesterThe Mill The Mill stands alongside the Shropshire Union Canal and you can watch boats passing from the bar ? the hotel can arrange canal trips and "real ale cruises". Excellent accommodation is available, but there's none of the "will you be eating with us?" pressure: visitors and locals are welcome to use the spacious bar as a pub. And what a pub! There are 15 cask beers on offer, including mild ale and two house beers, Mill Premium and Cornmill, brewed by Coach House and Phoenix breweries. The Mill was originally a corn mill and has been in the hands of the Vickers family for 21 years. It's a splendid base for touring the historic delights of Chester. ? Milton Street. + 44 (0)1244 350035. millhotel.com PenzanceThe Pirate Inn This really is a rural pub in the town, a granite inn converted from a 17th-century farmhouse in the 1950s. There's a large beer garden and shade is provided by many trees and shrubs while buses stop outside the entrance. The lounge has an impressive stone fireplace and raised dining area: the food is recommended. Real West Country cider is drawn from casks in the cellar while the cask beers include two from Cornwall: Sharp's Doom Bar and Skinner's Betty Stogs. ? Alverton Road. + 44 (0)1736 366094. thepirateinnpenzance.co.uk ? The Good Beer Guide 2010 is published by Camra on September 10 at Ł14.99. Roger Protz's website is beer-pages.com


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