Visiting Ibiza out of season offers a number of pleasant advantages, making it the ideal destination for a getaway where you can recharge your batteries in a highly attractive – and peaceful – location. You might be taken aback by the idea of it being peaceful, as Ibiza is internationally renowned for being studded with celebrities sailing off its coastline in fabulous yachts, crowded beaches for strutting your stuff and endless revelling in its world famous discos. But there is indeed another side to the island and it’s well worth discovering.

In that “other Ibiza” you can experience the island’s beaches and scenery in all their splendour, and soak up the unique magic emanating from some of its corners. One such surprise awaiting those who visit Ibiza this spring is its culinary offerings. Imagine savouring the island’s typical flavours in some of its prime restaurants at a very special price? It’s yours for the taking from 20 April to 28 May, when the island is due to proffer its gastronomic face to delight visitors (and locals, too, needless to say). Dubbed #IbizaSabor2017, this fair brings together 51 illustrious restaurants which for a few days will be offering haute cuisine at affordable prices, with house menus for 25 euros (wine and drinks apart).

Showcasing Ibizan Cuisine

One of the highlights of this initiative is the presence of Ibizan cuisine on the menus drawn up by the participating restaurants. So, you can taste popular fish dishes such as bullit de peix, or sofrit payés, featuring assorted meats combined with potato, vegetables and the two most popular cured meats on the island –sobrasada and butifarra. Other offerings include cuinat, a typical Holy Week dish seasoned with a herb characteristic of the place and time, borrida de ratjada, with ray fish as the centrepiece, pescado en salmorra (pickled fish), ensalada de crostes, a salad based on bread crusts and dried fish, and the ever juicy and tasty arroz de matanzas (a meat paella rice). Desserts are there, too, especially two island classics – flaó, an Ibizan cheesecake, and greixonera, a kind of steam pudding, which the sweet-toothed will adore.

The restaurants that have signed up for this fair are scattered about the island’s major towns – Ibiza, Santa Eulària, Sant Josep, Sant Antoni and Sant Jona, making this event the perfect excuse for including local cuisine on your itinerary across Ibiza. Of the venues that have joined the #IbizaSabor2017 initiative, you can enjoy haute cuisine at La Gaia, in the Ibiza Gran Hotel, the Aguas de Ibiza Hotel restaurant, Unic, Can Domo and Es Terral. You will be amazed by the long-standing experience in hospitality at Ca Na Ribes, an establishment that goes back ninety years, and Ca N’Alfredo, which can boast seventy-five. Savour the seafood at Sa Caleta or Sa Nansa and discover the charm of locales such as Ses Roques and La Veranda by Atzaró. The long list of eateries also features Ca N’Anneta, Café Montesol and Ibosim where tapas take pride of place (5 euros per tapa, with a glass of wine or beer included). Check out the full list of restaurants in the #IbizaSabor2017 initiative here.

Fire up, book your Vueling to Ibiza and taste the island’s most flavourful fare.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Cascais is a Portuguese municipality some 25 kilometres west of Lisbon. It is now a tourist resort with a host of facilities – extensive beaches and secluded coves, a rugged terrain suited to all kinds of sports, culinary offerings based on quality products and endless leisure options. It also has an exciting history, reminding us that this spot in Portugal was once the refuge of royal families and the nobility and a nest of spies during the Second World War.

Today Cascais is a quiet town dotted with small urban beaches and sheltered from the rough Atlantic by a beautiful bay and a formidable fortress. It is well worth taking a relaxing stroll along the beach known as either La Ribeira or Los Pescadores and discovering its beautiful buildings, notably the Palaces of Condes da Guarda and Seixas.

The ocean is one of Cascais' great assets as it supplies the town with its culinary foundations – fish and seafood, prepared in a special way here. Among the most popular dishes in the region are fresh sea bass and white seabream and the delicious Cascais sole, accompanied by fine garnish. They can be ordered in any of the highly varied array of restaurants in the town, from the simplest, economical eateries to the more refined establishments, where culinary innovation is very much in evidence.

In Cascais harbour you can catch sight of luxury yachts, leisure craft and competition boats, as the town and, by extension, the Coast of Estoril, is a worldwide hub of sailing competitions. Apart from this sport, the waters in this part of the Atlantic attract thousands of surfers (particularly to the beaches of Guincho and Carcavelos), windsurfers, paddle surfers and sports fishing enthusiasts, which is increasingly gaining more devotees. The town harbour is also very lively at nightfall as it is full of restaurants, bars and café terraces, ideal for dining or having a drink.

Home of Kings, Land of Spies
In the late 19th century, this region was a pioneer of tourism in Portugal. Indeed, in 1870, the Portuguese royal family chose the Cascais citadel for their summer residence on account of its excellent location. It was also the destination of the nobility and European families of noble lineage, among them Spain’s monarch in exile, who lived in Villa Giralda for many years.

Apart from being a town that breathes tradition, owing to its geographical situation, during World War II Cascais attracted countless spies, including Ian Fleming (best known for having created the celebrated fiction spy, James Bond) and the Serb Dušan Popov, a hardened womaniser whom Fleming is said to have based his 007 character on. The agents who lived in Cascais followed similar routines. They loved lodging at the elegant Hotel Palácio, having tea and delicious Portuguese pastries at the Pastelaria Garrett and burning the midnight oil in the famous Casino Estoril which witnessed more than one row between the secret agents that gathered there.

On the outskirts of Cascais is the natural vantage point of Boca do Inferno (Hell’s Mouth) and, twenty kilometres further north, Cabo da Roca (Cape Rock), the westernmost tip of continental Europe. This privileged spot, “where the land ends and the sea begins”, as the poet Luís de Camões would have it, affords stunning views of the sunset, reminding onlookers that Cascais is the perfect choice for a relaxing getaway.

Book your Vueling to Lisbon and head for Cascais, where you are sure to succumb to its charm.

Text by Tus Destinos

When planning a trip to Sicily, what springs to mind is the island’s astounding heritage – the result of its eventful past – as well as the chance to see an active volcano like Mt Etna, taste its delicious, varied cuisine, have a bathe in its magnificent waters or simply let yourself be carried away by its decadent magic. And, why deny it, devotees of The Godfather who want to discover the cradle of the Sicilian Mafia have things cut out for them here. Who would have though that the largest island in the Mediterranean, coveted and invaded over the centuries by Greeks, Germanic tribes, Saracens, Normans, Spaniards and, finally, Italians would end up becoming a destination for tourists in search of experiences and souvenirs.

The capital, Palermo, is a must-visit city for any tourists worth their salt. What a delight it is to wander along the city’s labyrinthine streets and behold the sheer number and variety of monuments, a melange of the Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Renaissance and Baroque. It is a pleasure for art lovers and sightseers alike.

Mummies in the Catacombs of the Capuchins

However, those who hanker for something over and above myriad monuments in Palermo, or who simply wish to add a touch of mystery and morbid fascination to their stay in the city – and are prepared for the odd nightmare – should not hesitate to jot down on their wish list a visit to the Catacombs of the Capuchins. Situated in the Piazza Cappuccini, on the outskirts of Palermo, it offers what is certain to be one of the most unusual shows on the island as it houses the mummies of numerous Palermitani. We aren’t aware of whether they rest in peace, what with so many tourists milling about the rooms, but they do manage to stir up fear and inspiration for the odd horror movie.

The story goes that, from the 17th to the late-19th century, the friars in this community used to mummify and thus preserve for posterity the bodies of numerous Palermitani – specifically, those who requested and were able to afford it. To achieve this they resorted to a rather rudimentary technique which involved eliminating all moisture from the corpses inside a cave with a very dry atmosphere and then bathing them in vinegar, after which the bodies were left to dry in the sun, to complete the process of mummification. Quite shocking, isn’t it?

When filing through the catacombs, you get the feeling you are not alone, but accompanied by a bizarre retinue, some of whose members are lying down and others hanging vertically against the walls, dressed in all their finery and meticulously arranged by gender and social class. The headiest and severest moment on the tour is when you see the mummy of the little girl, Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1920 at the age of two and who seems to be more asleep than dead. It is almost impossible not to feel cold shivers when setting eyes on her.

The strangest thing about this story is that the reason for this practice is not known, while there is no other place on the island where corpses are preserved in this manner.

Pluck up the courage to visit this unusual spot, suitable only for dare-devils and lovers of the bizarre. Book your Vueling here.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Juan Antonio F. Segal

Rabat is a little known destination and one not much frequented by tourists heading to Morocco. This is precisely one of its major attractions – the chance to enjoy its monuments and spots full of atmosphere, minus the stress associated with other cities like Marrakech, Casablanca or Fez.

The city lies on the mouth of the river Bou Regreg, on the Atlantic seaboard, and is a curious blend of the old and new. The old medina and the city walls contrast with the new city, home to the country’s administrative facilities. It is not overly big, so you can see it all in a couple of days. Following is a selection we have made of the essential sights to see when visiting Rabat.

The Hassan Tower – Splendour Cut Short

The Hassan Tower is one of Rabat’s major landmarks, the unfinished fruit of the city’s greatest age of splendour. In the 12th century, Sultan Yaqoub al-Mansour decided to build the largest mosque in the West, to which end he commissioned the same architect who had designed the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, and La Giralda of Seville. Unfortunately, the sultan died before the mosque had been completed, and construction work came to a halt. The most striking architectural feature is the minaret with its geometric designs. It was scheduled to be 86 metres high, but only 44 metres were eventually completed. The rest of the complex comprises the columns built to support 21 naves.

Alongside this ancient mosque stands the Mausoleum of Muhammad V, where the remains of the Alawite monarchs, Muhammad V and Hassan II, were laid to rest. Built between 1961 and 1971, it is a commendable example of contemporary Moroccan architecture. The project was assigned to the Vietnamese, Vo Toan, who successfully captured the essence of the country’s architectural and decorative tradition.

In Search of Origins – the Chellah Necropolis

The Chellah is a fortified precinct located some 2 kilometres from Rabat. Its interior houses, among other things, remains of the Roman city – after the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, they were the first to settle the area. Preserved in this early urban nucleus are the remains of the forum and temple of Jupiter. There are also vestiges of the early Islamic era. In the 15th century the precinct was reconverted by the Arabs into a necropolis, and features remains of tombs and a mosque.

The Kasbah of the Udayas – Rabat’s Magical Corner

Rabat is well worth visiting, if only for a tour of this walled quarter, made up of labyrinthine streets full of houses painted blue and white. The Kasbah was built in the 17th century by the Udayas on a cliff sited on the south bank of the river mouth to defend the coastline from a possible Spanish invasion. This is evident in its fortress-like character, with numerous battlements and lookouts, which now make excellent viewpoints for sightseers. In addition to wandering through the streets, soaking up the atmosphere in all its corners, you should take the chance to visit the Museum of the Udayas, located in the Andalusian Gardens, which boasts one of the finest jewellery collections in Morocco.

City of Gardens

Rabat is also known as the “city of gardens”, so make sure you stroll leisurely through and relax in one of them. Most noteworthy are the Nouzzah Hassan Gardens, located opposite the city walls, designed by the French general, Lyautey; the Jardins d'Essais Botanical Gardens, with exotic fruit, ornamental and Mediterranean trees, and Rabat Zoo, for those who fancy seeing animals, apart from plants.

Shopping in the Souq

The word souq, associated with tranquility, might sound like science fiction to the traveller in Morocco, but this is true of the bazaar in Rabat. With hardly any hustling by street vendors, you can tour the Souq in search of food, spices, craftwork, garments, carpets and a host of other goods.

You’ve noted everything you can see in Rabat, right? Take out a Vueling and enjoy a visit to this city.

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Images by Jacopo Romei, SnippyHolloW, Fr Maxim Massalitin, Mustapha Ennaimi, Julia Chapple, Shawn Allen