Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2021 i National Geographic Traveller (UK)

Nora Wallaya You don’t need to look hard to uncover the indelible signatures of this archipelago’s 7,000-year human history, whether you’re hiking through flower-filled valleys in Gozo, gazing over Valletta’s fortified port, or joining a candlelit village procession. MALTA P.48 Adrian Phillips I went to the French Pyrenees for a taste of the pastoral life — walking with huskies, lunching with shepherds and contemplating hidden waterfalls. And I found, too, that in this region the past is ever-present. FRANCE P.88 Sarah Barrell Sailing into forever horizons; sleeping under a canopy of constellations; meeting sea nomads, free divers and shipbuilders — all part of life on an Indonesian expedition cruise: memories to sustain anyone through lockdown and beyond. INDONESIA P.100 Richard James Taylor Until Columbus revealed the truth, Portugal’s dramatic southwest…

1 AUGUST If you’ve always associated Antwerp with diamonds, then now’s the time to catch up. Instead of coming for the rocks, most visitors these days are here for the fashion, the design and the hipster lifestyle spilling around every block. Nowhere do these converge better than in August, which opened in summer 2019 (though, sadly, not in August). A stunning, slick conversion of a grand old military hospital and convent by Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen, this is a masterclass in creating a modern grande dame. Just 44 rooms are spread over five buildings, updating monastic simplicity (clotted cream-hued drapes and throws, woven wooden chairs) for the 21st century (slick black light fixtures and slim marble tabletops). Beyond the bedrooms, the Bamford toiletries in the bathrooms also make an…

THE BAR CONVENT The oldest running convent in the country, it contains the ornate Hidden Chapel. Decorated in gold and white, it’s home to the hand of martyred St Margaret Clitherow and several escape routes in case of invasion. bar-convent.org.uk TREASURER’S HOUSE An overlooked stately home tucked right behind York Minster, it houses the furnished collection of noted Victorian industrialist Frank Green. What’s more, it’s said to be one of the city’s most haunted properties. nationaltrust.org.uk GATEHOUSE COFFEE A great pitstop if you’re walking the two-mile City Walls. Inside, the gatehouse transports customers back to the 17th century with wooden benches and oak beams. gatehousecoffee.com…

Malta is often described as a microcosm of the Mediterranean, and the reputation is welldeserved: the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino have no shortage of sunny beaches, honey-bricked villages and rugged countryside. But this claim is perhaps most notable in regards to its culture. The archipelago’s location, right in the middle of the Med, between Sicily and North Africa, means its language, food, architecture and traditions have been shaped by myriad occupations throughout the centuries. This is a place where British-era postboxes are dwarfed by Italianate baroque townhouses, and where a reimagined French bouillabaisse is served ahead of fig- and datestuffed Arabic pastries. Some seven thousand years of history are writ large across these islands: whether it’s Valletta’s Grand Harbour, battleground of the 1565 Great Siege of Malta; or…

MORNING Make for the historic fishing village of Marsaxlokk in Malta’s south and marvel at the colourful luzzijiet — traditional fishing boats vibrantly painted with the Eye of Horus. Crunch into fresh pastizzi (filled savoury pastries) from one of the nearby cafes as you watch the fishermen varnish their boats and mend their nets before heading out to sea. Every Sunday, the village hosts a busy fish market — it’s one of Malta’s biggest and liveliest, where restaurateurs handpick the season’s best catch; typically lampuki (common dolphinfish), tuna and swordfish. As you leave, look out for Fort San Lucian on a nearby cliff. The early 17th-century fortress and watchtower was built following an Ottoman attack that a local woman had supposedly foreseen. AFTERNOON Pack a picnic and head west. The…

Home to a pristine coastline and an abundance of flora and fauna, Tobago’s intact ecosystem has recently been categorised as a biosphere reserve by the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere programme. Within this area is the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve, the world’s oldest tropical rainforest. Learn about the area’s top hike, then go online for an interview with Newton George, a birdwatching, wildlife and natural history expert who’s passionate about Tobago. Gilpin Trace Trail If you only have time for one trek, make it the Gilpin Trace, the oldest and most popular path through the Main Ridge Forest Reserve. Starting from the Roxborough-Parlatuvier road and ending around two miles north of Roxborough, the flat, easy trail takes two hours and is flanked by jungle bursting with wildlife. Birdwatchers should…

Banaue BEST FOR: CULTURAL IMMERSION Banaue is famed for its rice terraces, many of which are a legacy of the Ifugao people and date back 2,000 years. Hikers weave between them from village to village, where cups of homemade rice wine await. Book a multi-day trek from the little hamlet of Bangaan to the Mayoyao district, before ending in Batad. Don’t miss: Cooling off in one of the many pools around Chappah Falls. Palawan BEST FOR: WILDLIFE-WATCHING This island lures travellers with the promise of primordial adventures. Kick off at the secret underground river of Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. This vast network of chambers and caverns is overlooked by karst formations and smoothed by waterfalls. Elsewhere, Tubbataha Reefs National Park…

IN NUMBERS £42 million The approximate price of a 10-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS) 20 years The period of continuous human presence on the ISS, marked on 2 November 2020 7 The number of tourists that have already travelled to space Stars in their eyes Tom Cruise, NASA and SpaceX are set to shoot a film in space. Russian agency Roscosmos is backing a similar project TAKE THREE: SKY-HIGH TRIPS Virgin Galactic is working to deliver short up-and-down trips to the edge of space — although it’s yet to announce a date for the first flight. Passengers will experience minutes of weightlessness like true astronauts. virgingalactic.com Spanish start-up EOS-X Space plans to offer trips to the edge of space by 2023, taking passengers 25 miles up in…

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Welcome to our 10th-anniversary issue! Somehow, despite all the challenges of recent months, we’ve managed to reach a decade in circulation — in no small part, down to you. Whether you’ve been with us since the very beginning or joined us along the way: thank you. The journey ahead may well continue to be bumpy, but we’re hoping to guide you through this patch of turbulence. And with that in mind, this issue we reveal our Best of the World list. We’ve collaborated with the 15 other global editions of National Geographic Traveller to bring you the places we think should be on your radar in 2021 and beyond. Each of the 35 destinations has a story to tell for the year ahead. From the exploration of ‘Africa’s last Eden’…

Like its landscape and climate, the food of Burma [also known as Myanmar] is hugely varied. With more than 100 different ethnic groups, there’s a wealth of regional specialities often based on what’s grown and seasonal in the area. This is perhaps best reflected in noodles, which are sometimes served in soup, sometimes dry, sometimes with sauce. You could probably write a compendium entirely based on noodle dishes if you toured the country The areas away from the coast tend to utilise more meat and poultry, whereas those that can access the Irrawaddy River are blessed with freshwater fish and shellfish. The coastline is extensive and produces incredible seafood. A unifying factor throughout the regions, though, is dried shrimp — ngapi (fermented and salted fish or shrimp paste) is to…

Why go England’s largest island has been a ‘staycation’ destination since the 1800s, with Queen Victoria herself owning a holiday home here, in the shape of palatial Osborne House. She was on to something: just a 45-minute ferry journey across the Solent from the Hampshire coast, the island is an ideal place to spend a long weekend, with fossil hunting and woodland walks, beaches, gentle countryside and vintage theme parks. There’s also plenty for thrill-seekers, with hiking trails, including a 68-mile coastal path, and a host of spots for surfing, paddleboarding and windsurfing. visitisleofwight.co.uk What to do Families will love the UK’s oldest theme park, Blackgang Chine, near Ventnor. Opened in the 1840s, it’s moved on a bit since its first attraction, a fin whale skeleton (still on display); it…

During my student days, more than three decades ago, I learned about a woman and infant buried together at a place called Vedbaek, a suburb of Copenhagen. In the years since, I’ve thought about them often. Their grave was one of 17 excavated by archaeologists in the mid-1970s. Most contained a single individual, but there were two ‘doubles’ — containing a woman and an infant — and one ‘triple’ with two adults and a one-year-old laid between them. One grave was empty. The cemetery had been made during the Mesolithic — the Middle Stone Age — between 6,000-7,000 years ago. The people lived by hunting, drawn to a ribbon of territory between land and sea. They were in the habit of laying down their dead with hunting trophies — animal…

MORNING Panoramas abound in hilly Valletta, and its old city walls offer the ideal vantage point. Start with sunrise at the City Gate. As the light falls upon a swathe of church cupolas, absorb views from Msida in the west to Sliema in the north. Look out, too, to Manoel Island, site of a ruined 17th-century lazzaretto (plague hospital). Next, head to St John’s Co-Cathedral to see the final resting place of Jean Parisot de la Valette, the Order of St John’s most illustrious Grand Master, who laid the city’s first stone in 1566. The church is modest on the outside, but the interior is a different story: the floor is made up of 376 tombs decorated with inlaid marble, and Caravaggio’s masterpiece, The Beheading of St John the Baptist,…

GGANTIJA TEMPLES A majestic sight on a Gozo hilltop, these limestone megaliths are among the planet’s most ancient freestanding prehistoric structures, older than both Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza. The stones are believed to form a temple where fertility rituals were practised by an ancient cult and local lore says they were laid by a giantess. THE HYPOGEUM OF HAL SAFLIENI This underground necropolis in Paola is where 7,000 people were laid to rest; their remains, and the network of chambers they were entombed in, were discovered following a construction accident in 1902. One of the site’s best-known figurines, The Sleeping Lady, is now on display at Valletta’s Museum of Archaeology. Tickets to the Hypogeum are extremely limited, so book well ahead. TARXIEN TEMPLES A huddle of megaliths forming…

In the Jalal-Abad Region of southwestern Kyrgyzstan, Karimkol works the furrows of his farm. He’s a master farmer who knows the land and what he produces like the back of his hand. At his nursery, he grows apple, apricot, cherry and plum trees, as well as numerous other seedlings, before selling them on to other farmers. It’s no small undertaking, but when asked why he grows so many different types of plants, he replied simply, “Because it brings me joy!” In recent years, Karimkol has received support from the Aga Khan Foundation to expand his nursery and help other local farmers in this remote, mountainous region. wilton-photography.com @wiltonphoto…

When Norwegian poet Henrik Ibsen coined the term ‘friluftsliv’ — loosely translatable as ‘outdoor living’ — in his 1859 epic On the Heights, he presumably didn’t know just how relevant his concept would be in 2020. But friluftsliv (pronounced ‘free-loofts-liv’) has turned out to be something of a pandemic saviour, bringing us the soul-nourishing, mind-cleansing benefits of nature and solitude that Ibsen waxed lyrical about over 150 years ago. The Nordics have always embraced friluftsliv in their lives and travels and they’re all the better for it. In 2020, Scandinavia excelled itself in the World Happiness Report, with five of its cities (Helsinki, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Bergen, Oslo and Stockholm) found to be among the 10 happiest. The conclusion? Clean air, exercise and time spent in nature matter. Perhaps it’s easy…

1 LAGUNA ROSADA Start on the north coast, a little over an hour’s drive from Mérida, at this shocking-pink natural lagoon. The cause of the salt lake’s bright colour is a type of algae that creates a rosy tint — both to the water and those who eat it, namely the large, resident flock of wild flamingos here. Don’t forget your camera; as well as the lake itself, the banks are scattered with spectacular archaeological ruins. 2 EL CASTILLO Stop of at a vendor in the city of Mérida for eggs and deepfried tostadas before driving on to the ruins of El Castillo, in the centre of the Chichén Itzá archaeological site. A Mesoamerican step-pyramid, rising to a height of almost 80., it’s the best-known structure at the site. Time…

While York has ushered in smart new bars, global cuisine and boutique hotels over the past decade, it’s hard to deny the city’s appeal still lies in the allure of its past. From its time as the Roman city of Eboracum to the Viking settlement of Jorvik, more than 2,000 years of stories linger within York’s medieval streets. YORK MINSTER is the ideal starting point: completed in 1472, the gothic icon is the largest medieval cathedral in Northern Europe. Don’t miss the 600-year-old Great East Window — it’s the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country and dazzles with its rich colours and graceful curves. Fuel up at nearby BREW & BROWNIE for co. ee and treats made with local Yorkshire produce. yorkminster.org brewandbrownie.uk Take in views of…

FEAST OF ST PAUL’S SHIPWRECK, VALLETTA Honouring the arrival of Christianity in Malta, the winter feast sees the islands’ streets festooned in bright garlands and showered with paper confetti, as devotees follow a trail led by the clergy. 10 February. HOLY WEEK Widely considered the most exciting time to experience Malta’s culture, Holy Week sees towns and villages throughout the islands celebrate time-honoured traditions in the days leading up Good Friday. FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION, GOZO Sleepy Gozo gets woken up each August as marching bands and revelling locals parade through candle-lit streets, with festivities reaching a crescendo in Victoria on the final day. Celebrations take place for around a week either side of 15 August. KARNIVAL TA’MALTA The Maltese spend the week preceding Ash Wednesday parading floats through the…

Goiat is a bear — a big bear, weighing 250kg at least — and he’s close by. He’s also hungry. The day after tomorrow, news will break that he’s attacked and killed two sheep on the forested ridge to our right. He’s probably lifting his snout in our direction at this very moment, sniffing the air with a nose seven times more sensitive than a bloodhound’s. Yes, he’ll be aware of us. But we know none of this. We’re just walking a mountain path in southwest France on our way to meet a shepherd. The pitted track writhes up Montagne d’Areng from the tiny village of Jézeau, and it’s not hard to imagine bears among the pine trees of this lonely woodland in the Pyrenees. “This is a very pure…

In any other city, repeatedly seeing a skull and crossbones flag flying might be a little intimidating. But in Hamburg, it’s a symbol of the good fight. The city’s St Pauli football club unites a social movement under the rather piratey emblem, which seems to finds its way onto every banner, T-shirt and window sticker in town. The club, notorious for its vociferous fans, social activism, ban on right-wing nationalists, and punk spirit, encapsulates Hamburg’s feisty side. The club’s spirit can be considered an embodiment of the Reeperbahn, the notorious dockside strip of red lights, happily unsophisticated bars and live music venues that has half its visitors clutching a beer and the other half at their pearls. This is where the Beatles honed their craft, playing marathon sets night after…

1 PATAGONIA NANO PUFF JACKET The new Nano Pu£ jacket — warm, windproof and water-resistant — is Fair Trade Certified, made from 100% recycled polyester and produced using reduced emissions. It’s super lightweight, compressible and stays warm even when wet. RRP: £180. patagonia.com 2 KÅNKEN ART SAVE THE ARCTIC FOX BACKPACK This limited-edition range of kit from Swedish brand Fjållråven Kånken, whose name translates as ‘Arctic fox’, supports the plight of this snow-white canine. It’s been on the brink of extinction in Sweden for the past century, threatened by climate change and hunting activities. RRP: £90. fjallraven.com 3 THE BEESWAX WRAP CO. NATIONAL TRUST WAX WRAPS With patterns inspired by nature, the food wraps (choose vegan or beeswax) celebrate the flowers that depend upon bees, our planet’s most important pollinator.…

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GET IN TOUCH inbox@natgeotraveller.co.uk Have a query about subscriptions? Get in touch at natgeotraveller@subscriptionhelpline.co.uk or call 01293 312166 WIN Made from recycled nylon canvas, this sustainable backpack is built for life outdoors. It comes with side and front stretch pockets for easy access, internal key attachment, an integrated raincover and an adjustable backsytem for optimal comfort. It’s also compatible with hydraulics reservoirs. ospreyeurope.com STAR LETTER Tales from Wales I thoroughly enjoyed Julia Buckley’s enchanting article on Wales’ Coastal Way in the Sept/Oct 2020 issue recently. It brought back so many happy memories of childhood holidays on the Welsh coast, particularly in the village of Aberdovey — now known as Aberdyfi— where our holiday cottage (we always stayed in the same one) was, on what must be the steepest road in…