Some destinations attract visitors for their museums; others, for their beaches or mountains, for the energy they give off or, simply, because they are fashionable. In the case of Tangier, the journey is inevitably related to the inspiration and yearnings for the past which it harbours like some muse of the arts. Myriad artists and scholars have passed through that city, located on the northern tip of Morocco, and have become spellbound by its charms.

The Light and Colour of Tangier

The first artist to be captivated by Tangier was the French painter, Eugène Delacroix. In 1832 he journeyed there as part of a diplomatic mission and ended up being seduced by its light and colour, as masterfully portrayed in such paintings as Jewish Wedding in Morocco.

The Spanish painter, Mariano Fortuny, who was familiar with Delacroix’s production, also went to Tangier in search of that magic, which infused a host of sketches and notes for his Orientalist works.

Henri Matisse reached Tangier in 1912. There, not only did he encounter “the landscapes of Morocco just as Delacroix had depicted them in his paintings”, as he himself stated, but he also discovered a new palette of colours for his own works. He took up lodgings in room 35 of the extant Grand Hotel Villa de France, where he painted such works as Window at Tangier.

Paul Bowles, Tangier and the Beat Generation

Tangier became a veritable beacon for writers, particularly in the 1950s and part of the 1960s. And, no wonder, as from 1923 to 1956 the city was a demilitarised zone under joint administration by various countries. This measure was implemented on account of its strategic position in the Strait of Gibraltar and the ensuing international disputes over its control. Known as the Tangier International Zone, it became a place of passage for many people – diplomats, adventurers, artists, spies and others. Functioning as “everyone’s city” or, if you will, “no man’s city”, it enjoyed an unusual status as a place of freedom and tolerance which would be difficult to find elsewhere.

One of the best known regulars in the city was the writer and composer, Paul Bowles, who arrived in Tangier in 1947 and was completely swept off his feet by its charms. It was there that he wrote his first novel, The Sheltering Sky, so masterfully ported to the cinema by the director, Bernardo Bertolucci. Then ensued the arrival of other creative figures, including Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Francis Bacon. And, he was also instrumental in spawning the Beat Generation – William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, who succumbed to the allure of a place where they could give free rein to their imagination and – there’s no denying it – their vices, too.

Tangier Today

What remains of all that past now? While a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and the city is in the throes of a process of renewal, the spots which resonate of those artists are still standing.

A visit to the Grand Socco provides a suitable introduction to the city. Its pleasant ambience and colourfulness are guaranteed, as is your likelihood of (literally) getting lost in its streets. You will eventually end up willy-nilly in the Petit Socco, a square in the heart of the Medina, packed with cafés and restaurants. Another square, the Place de France, is also a must-see, as it is the site of the Grand Café de Paris, with a history of its own. This is where our protagonists spent countless hours chatting and observing the passers-by.

The Fondation Lorin, housed in a synagogue, boasts a fine collection of photographs, documents and posters that give you a good idea of what Tangier was like in the first half of the 20th century. Then there is the Tangier American Legation Museum, a visit not to be missed by enthusiasts of Paul Bowles as it features a section dedicated to the writer which displays photos, portraits and Moroccan musical scores which he recorded himself.

The Villa Muniria – now reconditioned as the Hotel El-Muniria (1, Rue Magellan) – was the favourite lodgings of the Beat Generation. Tennessee Williams and the Rolling Stones themselves were counted among the guests that stayed there. It was there, too, in room number 9, that William Burroughs wrote his seminal work, Naked Lunch.

Another landmark of literary Tangier is the Librairie des Colonnes (54, Boulevard Pasteur). It was a meeting place for writers and artists, while nowadays it continues to host cultural activities.

Like the writers and artists of yesteryear, allow yourself to succumb to the charms of this inspiring city and plan your trip with Vueling!

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Images by Dieter Weinelt, Andrzej Wójtowicz

Parks, gardens, palaces and museums; the Danube fitted out with an urban beach; street food in stalls and riverside bars; gastrobars, bistronomics and signature restaurants which have superseded and even deleted from their menu the well-worn schnitzel (or Viennese escalope). Vienna’s cuisine is enough to make you do cartwheels like their giant Ferris Wheel. It’s not a case of being greedy but because the offerings are so extensive and inviting – even in haute cuisine – that you need a few days to taste and enjoy the rich variety in style.

Where To Eat:

Steirereck

It is not the most Michelin-starred restaurant in Vienna but it does rank among the top ten in the world, and deservedly so. Its formidable siting, in one of the city’s loveliest parks, matches its flashy gourmet cuisine in which the feast takes precedence over minimalist restriction. Tables are decked out in their finery, while a trolley with goodies does the rounds for aperitifs or cocktails, with others for bread, cheeses and even aromatic herbs, picking their way among the impeccable dishes crafted by Heinz Reitbauer, who digs into tradition and experiments with various tasting menus.

Mraz & Sohn

After choosing between the short or long menus, gourmet dishes with some discreet flourishes are trotted out in succession. Creative bites with marked contrasts emerge from a minute kitchen married well to the dining room, each of them managed by one of the two Mraz brothers. Be sure to go on the cellar tour if you’re interested in learning the true story behind this family business.

Tian

You don’t need to be a vegetarian to venture into Paul Ivic’s cuisine – although, if you are, you’ll enjoy it even more. Few chefs of his calibre have done so much to raise the status of eminently wholesome cuisine. Based on an exhaustive selection of the best local produce, judicious combinations, exciting plating ups and wonderful desserts, Tian is a venue to remember, as is the more informal version of their bistro, which serves the most unusual apfelstrudel (apple strudel) in town.

O Boufés

This is chef Konstantin Filippou’s bistronomic – he also has his own door-to-door culinary facility. In this bistro, wine plays a crucial role in pairing dishes, which pose few risks and are served up in generous helpings. You will have a hearty meal and even better drinks.

Where To Have…

A Pizza. For those who need to switch between full-course meals and fast, affordable snacks, your best bet is Pizza Mari’, where you can either have a pizza on the premises or take one home. A decent array of Italian specialities in a huge eatery. Best to book in advance.

An Ice-cream. Whether the idea is to overturn or to reinforce Vienna’s reputation as being a “cold” city, the fact is it boasts countless ice-cream parlours. Be sure to head for Schelato, where they resort to sheer Italian art in order to serve up amazing flavours which are constantly being renewed. The cosy premises also invite one to tarry.

A Sacher. Treat yourself to the best sacher, either single or in portions, at Demel, where the bakery is on view and should definitely be visited before sitting down at one of the tables. The display cabinet in the entrance is highly tempting so, if you can afford it, be sure to taste their mille feuille and other classic cakes.

A Drink. One of the most interesting bars in town is located on the top floor of the 25 Hours Hotel, in the heart of the museum district. You will certainly take to the Bar Lounge Dachboden for its ambience, cocktails, terrace with views and decorative features from bygone times.

Where To Sleep

Hotel Kärntnerhof

In the heart of the city’s 1st District, a stone’s throw from St Stephen’s Cathedral, stands this hotel with its loft suites, Art Nouveau decor, a small roof terrace and excellent service. Make a point of visiting it, even if just to have a drink, as it is really charming. Snugly set in a cul-de-sac, it is a stylish, culturally priceless oasis.

The Ring

Located in a main thoroughfare where most of the tram lines run and with a host of pavement cafés, The Ring is a casual version of a Grand Hotel. Be sure to drop in on their sauna with views of the city’s skyline. Enjoy their a la carte breakfast and bear in mind you can also have a drink in the wee hours in their bar.

Text and photos by Belén Parra of Gastronomistas.com

From sea to mountains, Almeria´s cuisine keeps the essence of every little town in the Apujarras, Sierra de los Filabres, Tabernas or Velez. Antique recipes still remains in these little towns. These popular recipes are cooked with the best ingredients collected from their lands and their rich coasts.
Its cuisine is very rich and comprises from amigas, fried potatoes, garlic soup, all kinds of seafood, operettas and paellas, grilled vegetables or the countless tapas route in the capital.

Gurullos and Nijar fish

Gurullos is a tough handmade dough from Muslim heritage made with durum wheat flour, water and salt.In the seaside towns of Almeria, the Gurullos are usually cooked with octopus and cuttlefish.
Let´s taste the best typical dishes from Almeria, made with high quality ingredients in Restaurante La Ola, located in the Isleta del Moro (Little Muslim Island), inside the Cabo de Gata National Park.

There you will enjoy magnificent views of the Mediterranean Sea while waiter serves you fresh fish, sailor casserols, red prawns and paella. Every single ingredient is really fresh, no doubt about it! Because in Restaurante La Ola they have their own fishing boat and the go fishing every day.

Zarzuela in Roquetas de Mar

Roquetas is a very picturesque place that retains the truly essence of the sailor towns and its tradictional fish auction. The supply of fruits and vegetables and also seafood guarantees the quality of its cuisine. To make a good Zarzuela we need to mix fish and seafood like crayfishes, prawns, mussels, clams, lobsters, squids and rockfishes.
Come to any of the port side restaurants, like Restaurante Nido or El Chiringuito de Paco and taste the best fish and zarzuelas.

Sailor stews and red prawns from Garrucha

Garrucha is a sailor village where you can find a hugh variety of good quality fresh fish and seafood. Here, recipes are quite simple but anything else is needed when primary ingredients can bring you to heaven. Red prawn from Garrucha is bigger and has a dipper red color than usual prawn and it is one of the best Mediterranean seafood.
You can find these simple dishes in El Almejero, located in Explanada del Puerto of Garrucha. Ideal to eat the best red mullet and grilled prawns with amazing sea views.

Garden products and fish from El Ejido

Greenhouses vegetables from el Ejido are exported every year to almost the wide world. There is nothing better than taste the Mediterranean healthy recipes in El Ejido, made with the best garden vegetables and excellent seafood.
The best place to enjoy it is La Costa (Avenida Bulevar de El Ejido, 48), an excellent restaurant with one Michelin star where its chef Jose Álvarez provides it with a sofisticated atmosphere.

Almond cake or oil cake from Velez

In Velez, 35 kilometers away from the capital, some varieties of dry fruits like grapes, olives and almonds are grown. This is the reason why its cuisine uses these products in particular.The most typical dessert from Velez is the oil cake, a recipe known for 50 years!

In Almeria

Patatas a lo pobre (poor style potatoes) at El Quinto Toro

Although at first view it seems a simple dish, it is not so easy to get a good dish of poor style potatoes. The recipe is simple with sliced potatoes, onion, oil, white wine and salt and you can eat a very good one at El Quinto Toro, Juan Leal 6 of Almeria.

Migas and some other tapas at Casa Puga

Find a place in La Puga (Jovellanos 7 )and choose from a wide variety of tapas: fried fish, meats, cheese, smoked fish, scrambled garlic, prawns and snails. Maybe La Puga is a little bit more expensive than other establishments in the same area but it is one of the most recognized good tapas place in the city. And don´t forget to ask for somemigas(crumbs)!

The Ajoblanco at La Encina

The garlic soup is a very common snack in Almeria. A thick cream with almonds, garlic, olive oil and vinegar, served with toast spread or as an accompanient to some dishes. Almeria is a land of excellent almonds, so it is used in many recipes.
If you are walking around the city center, taste it at La Encina (Marin, 6), and taste also theis cold raf tomatoe soup, hake pie or marinated sardines.

Makes you want to go, right? Do it! Check out our prices here!

A sign up in the entrance to Rock And Sole Plaice proclaims there is nothing more British than a good helping of fish and chips doused in salt and sprinkled with vinegar. Indeed, along with afternoon tea, the Union Jack, Beckham and Victoria and the Gallagher brothers’ diatribes, this dish is one of the grand institutions of British society. Having staged a comeback in the islands after decades of decline, this simple but exquisite and foolproof combination of batter-fried codfish and a good helping of chips is drawing ever more adepts. Here, then, are London’s 10 best chippies, which will turn you into a die-hard supporter of the cause.

Bonnie Gull

Fish and chips is just one of the offerings on the menu at Bonnie Gull, but their version of it is so ineffably delicious they could easily dedicate themselves solely to this dish. Their fish is battered North Sea haddock with a varnish of beer and tempura, giving it a doubly crunchy texture. Their chips, a greasy indulgence, are cooked slowly in beef dripping. To not dip them in their homemade ketchup would be unforgiveable.

Fish Central

A veritable London culinary institution specialising in fish. Opened in 1968, very few things have changed since then at the Fish Central. In their case, this is great news. As its name suggests, their menu offers the best and freshest fish and seafood, from humble sardines to pompous oysters. Their fish and chips, among the best in town, provide an exquisite contrast between the excitingly crunchy chips, and tender codfish which melts in your mouth.

Fish Club

Strict rules about how fish and chips should be made limit the varieties of fish to cod – or, failing that, haddock. Luckily for our palates and stomachs, The FishClub flouts the regulations. This small chippy, with two branches in The City, also makes fish and chips from sardines, gilt-head bream, mackerel, sole and – the great speciality of the house – pollock, among others. Guests can choose between classical-style batter (a mixture of flour, egg and beer), breadcrumbs, grilled, baked or fried. The only item which is set are their chips, which are large, potent and crunchy.

The Golden Hind

A classic among classics, in 2014 the folks at The Golden Hind celebrated their hundredth anniversary as purveyors of fish and chips in London. Peerless masters of the trade, they conceal their scrumptious haddock under a feathery-light batter. This is accompanied, needless to day, by generous helpings of chunky potatoes. Those of you who are not too keen on tubers can swap the chips for colourful, appetising sautéed peas. Golden Hind, 73 Marylebone Lane.

Golden Union Fish Bar

In the heart of Soho, Golden Union has been frying up their wares for over a hundred and fifty years. Such centennial experience translates into generous portions of codfish, perfectly seasoned and coated in a crunchy batter which – thanks to some secret recipe – has a texture similar to puff pastry. Special mention goes to their silky, spongy French fries.

Kerbisher & Malt

A top-drawer chippy, with four restaurants dotted around London – we recommend the one on Shepherd’s Bush Road. Here, the popular British culinary classic comes in many venues and options, notably battered in beer, in accordance with tradition, fried in breadcrumbs or grilled, for those who are seeking a healthier variety. Their superior quality chips are accompanied with mouth-watering mushy peas, pickled onion rings, coleslaw or homemade tartare sauce.

Poppie’s

Behind a somewhat kitsch decor, a re-creation of London’s East End in the 40s and 50s, lies one of the best spots for wolfing down fish and chips. The classic aesthetics also spills over into their cuisine. The folks at Poppie’s don’t try to innovate, but to raise tradition to the nth degree – a hearty slice of codfish delivered fresh from Billingsgate market, and chips of the kind that are crunchy on the outside and spongy on the inside.

Rock And Sole Plaice

This is Idris Elba’s favourite chippy. We support his verdict, not so much for the quality of their fare as for the experience as a whole. Off the beaten track in an alley next to Covent Garden, the Rock and Soile Plaice is scarcely a few square metres of white tiles coated in a fine, greasy layer. Their cute terrace is the best place to eat. A typical venue where you feel like just another Briton stuffing yourself with fried fish.

Sutton And Sons

Danny Sutton, the owner of this fish-and-chips shop, listed in all guides as one of the best in town, also runs a fishmonger’s in the same street. No wonder then that anything they serve up at Sutton and Sons is so fresh it is liable to leap off the plate. Their top-of-the-line fish and chips is much more wholesome when paired with one of their numerous craft beers. For dessert, we recommend Mrs Sutton’s caramel pudding.

Toff’s

Ever since they opened in 1968, experts, connoisseurs and epicures of fish and chips have chosen it on more than one, two or three occasions as the best chippy in both London and the United Kingdom. Juicy, scaly codfish coated with fatless, crunchy batter. While the generous island of fish surrounded by crispy chips does not appear to be based on any special recipe, you will be itching to come back to this chippy on Muswell Hill even before you leave it.

Come and try this classic of British cuisine – book your Vueling to London here.

Text by Oriol Rodríguez for Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Mark Hillary , Marshall Segal, RosieTulips, Ewan Munro, Duncan C