Destinations

Does Cyprus know where to draw the line?

~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

Independent on Sunday travel section

The recent election of a president on an election ticket could herald a new era of tourism for the island, says Sarah Barrell

Since travel restrictions were eased in 2003, it has been possible to travel across the Green Line that slices Cyprus in two. A hop across this notorious border now involves no more than a stamp on a piece of paper, an act unimaginable for an entire generation of Cypriots who have lived in this divided society since 1974, when Turkey invaded the north in response to a Greek-backed military coup.

Yet, while crossing is easy, onward travel still has its practical problems. Will this all become easier following the election of Demetris Christofias as the President of Greek Cyprus on a ticket of ending the division?

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/does-cyprus-know-where-to-draw-the-line-833840.html

Behave yourself! This is New York’s the Land of No

~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

They’re a bossy bunch on New York’s Fire Island. But despite the list of don’ts, Sarah Barrell warms to the place.

To my knowledge, Spike Milligan never visited Fire Island, a sandy outpost of New York. But, with apologies to the late wit, this bastardised version of his nonsense rhyme sums the place up nicely.

Anyone who has travelled beyond the homogeneity of the European Union will know that welcome signs often signal bizarre warnings, not warm greetings. They indicate the law of the land before visitors have a chance to transgress. “Welcome to Indonesia … please do not import tricycles” was one of my favourites. But I’ve yet to find anywhere that beats Fire Island for sheer volume of these welcome warnings.

Independent on Sunday travel section: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/behave-yourself-this-is-new-yorks-the-land-of-no-766630.html

Luxury Breaks: Now you can buy a piece of the American Dream

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A new trend in holiday-home ownership harks back to the days of the Great Camps, says Sarah Barrell

The Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Carnegies may have had the funds to propel 19th-century America through its post-Civil War economic boom, but for these Gilded-Age elite families, holidays were about the modest pleasures in life.

In summer during the 1800s, the most prominent East Coast families would gather up their sturdier kitchen wear, linen and packhorses and set out on camping retreats in the Adirondack Mountains, in deepest upstate New York. In reality these rustic jollies were more akin to a modern-day five-star safari, with elaborately designed log cabins that became known as the Great Camps.

Independent on Sunday Travel section: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/luxury-breaks-now-you-can-buy-a-piece-of-the-american-dream-396245.html

Rich pickings in the orchard of Europe

~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

It’s close to the Costa Blanca, but it remains a deeply Spanish little city, says Sarah Barrell.

Murcia is only a short drive from the Costa Blanca, yet feels far removed from the tourist crowds.

This compact, quietly confident Spanish city, surrounded by mountains, welcomes its few visitors with an elegant pedestrian centre, 18th-century architecture and superb restaurants serving food straight from the surrounding huerta de Europa (orchard of Europe).

The Telegraph Travel section: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/spain/735418/Rich-pickings-in-the-orchard-of-Europe.html

San Diego: Some like it really cool

~ Sarah Barrell ~ Leave a comment

San Diego may be less than two hours’ drive from Los Angeles but it couldn’t be further removed in spirit. West Coasters like to call the city “LA without the attitude” but this is to miss, entirely, San Diego’s unique qualities. Nothing like its northern neighbour in layout, size, attitude or atmosphere, if San Diego had to be compared to any of its coastal compatriots it would perhaps be San Francisco.

The Independent on Sunday

The hottest holiday for mums-to-be…

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…Babymooning

Palm Springs is one of those great American anomalies: an improbable desert settlement wedged between the folds of inhospitable mountains. It’s as if someone came out here with a mind to build another Las Vegas, took a hot soak in the area’s eponymous thermal waters and thought, “Bugger it, who needs neon?”

The place is a testament to nothing, a celebration of still, somewhere to come to be far from anywhere. Between the 1930s and 1960s this desert town in back-country California became home to Hollywood on holiday, with stars such as Elvis, Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr taking part-time residence. But somehow Palm Springs remained determinedly low rise, defiantly low-key – an anti-Vegas. Even its little airport, beneath the incongruously snow-capped peaks of the San Jacinto Mountains, looks like a small luxury resort with barely a signpost to hail its entrance.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/the-hottest-holiday-for-mumstobe–a-babymoon-471251.html