Joan of Arc is one of those unforgettable historical figures with a passionate biography. Her life has spawned a myriad of books and films that attempt to uncover the secrets of that mysterious personage. Born into times of upheaval, against the backdrop of the Thirty Years’ War, she went from being a humble, illiterate countrywoman to leading an army of five thousand men, all prompted by her “visions”. It was God himself that talked to her and told her she had a mission to accomplish – to lead the French army and drive out the English in order to achieve the coronation of Charles VII of France. Quite a feat! This might seem outlandish to us now but, in the early 15th century, the role and power of religion were undisputed. Not for nothing were kings thus proclaimed “by the grace of God”. What’s more, the recipient of these visions was a brave and tenacious woman with powerful convictions.

Orleans, the City that Saw Her Triumph

One of the key moments in her life took place in Orleans, for which she was thenceforth known as the Maid of Orleans. On 8 May 1429 she accomplished one of her most extraordinary feats by liberating the city from the English, which marked the beginning of the reconquest of the occupied territories. To commemorate her victory, the Joan of Arc Festival is held in Orleans at this time  every year at which her momentous feat is re-enacted through mock battles, accompanied by a modern festival event, the Set Electro Festival, with various DJ performances.

During the siege of Orleans, our heroine lived in the house of Jacques Boucher, treasurer to the Duke of Orleans. Rebuilt in 1960, it is currently known as the House of Joan of Arc. The building features a multimedia room, and a research and documentation centre for those wishing to learn more about the Maid of Orleans and her passage through the city.

For the more scholarly researchers, the Joan of Arc Centre houses one of the largest libraries on the subject, enabling visitors to consult a host of period manuscripts and documents.

Rouen – the Tragic End

After her passage through Orleans, Joan of Arc sought to lay down her arms, as she had ceased to have visions, but she was entreated to return to the battlefield and ended up acquiescing. This time things did not go so well. After being defeated in a number of campaigns, in 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians, handed over to the English and taken to Rouen. Here commenced the most arduous episode in her life. After a lengthy inquisitorial procedure, she was accused of heresy and witchcraft and sentenced to be burned at the stake.

During her interrogation, she was incarcerated in the Dungeon or Joan of Arc Tower, part of the castle built by Philippe Auguste in 1204. Still standing, the castle is open to the public.

The Archiepiscopal Palace, an acclaimed specimen of medieval architecture and the setting for part of the legal process was recently converted into the Historial Jeanne d’Arc. Inaugurated in March 2015, it is now the largest area dedicated to the memory of Joan of Arc. Its 1,000m² of floor space is endowed with the latest technologies for narrating and unveiling the history of our heroine and taking us back to the period she lived in.

Joan of Arc was executed on 30 May 1431 in the Place du Vieux Marché, now an essential place of pilgrimage. The Church of Joan of Arc was built in the square in 1979, designed by the architect, Louis Arretche, for a dual purpose – to honour St Joan of Arc and as a civilian memorial to the heroine. The church was built on the very spot where the saint was burned alive, and the exact location of her martyrdom is duly marked.

How to Get There

Both destinations are a train journey of just over an hour away from Paris. The Orleans train runs from the Gare Austerlitz, while the Rouen line starts at the Gare Saint-Lazare.

Live out the story of Joan of Arc – check out our flights to Paris here.

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Photos by fidber, Roger Salz and Edhral

First Discovery – The Pink City

It was in Toulouse I discovered that dusk can be pink, particularly if you watch it from the banks of the river Garonne. The light can be rather fickle, especially when it strikes from a high or low angle on the marble of the grand edifices which bedeck the city’s historic centre. The Place du Capitole, its daytime beauty matched at night by a lighting display, is the point of departure for any route through this city in the new Languedoc-Roussillon Midi-Pyrénées region. This is where the Capitole building stands, now home to the City Hall and National Theatre. Its eight pink marble columns symbolise the power of the eight districts that made up Toulouse in the 18th century. The square also has some hidden treasures, like the paintings under its colonnade where the city’s history is recounted.

Second Discovery – Home to Carlos Gardel and the Inquisition

In Toulouse I learned that Carlos Gardel was born in France, despite the Uruguayans claiming the king of tango as a fellow countryman, as I did that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, had stayed at the Hotel Le Grand Balcon, like all the pilots in the Compagnie Générale Aéropostale. Toulouse is also the birthplace of institutions, as antagonistic as they are important, like the Inquisition – founded to combat the Cathars – the Jeux Floraux, and the Gay Science, dating from the 14th century.

Third Discovery – A Vast Heritage

Toulouse is the site of the largest Romanesque church in the West, the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, also one of the major stopovers on the Road to Santiago on its passage through France. Close by stands the Convent of the Jacobins, a magnificent example of monastic construction and, further along the Garonne, we come across the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Daurade, consecrated to the Black Madonna, draped in mantles made by great dressmakers.

Fourth Discovery – Pablo Picasso

It was in this city that I realised how passionate Toulousians are about Pablo Picasso. Les Abattoirs Museum, regarded as one of the leading cultural centres in Toulouse, features as an exhibit The Remains of the Minotaur in a Harlequin Costume, the work of the universal artist from Málaga.

Fifth Discovery – Aeroscopia

Toulouse is France’s aerospace capital  – the Airbus factory is located at Blagnac – particularly after the inauguration of the Aeroscopia Museum which, covering an area of 7,000 square metres, houses such legendary aeroplanes as the Concorde and the Super Guppy, the forerunner of the celebrated Beluga.

Sixth Discovery – Its Markets

In Toulouse I discovered that markets have a life of their own in France and that, apart from being venues for shopping, their restaurants attract a host of customers. The Victor Hugo Food Market, the Marché Cristal – where fruit and vegetables are sold in the open air – and the Marché des Carmes are some of the best known ones.

Seventh Discovery – N5 Wine Bar

Here, as in the rest of the country, the wine bar concept is very much in vogue. A fine example of this is the N5 Wine Bar, where you order wine by the glass (choosing both the type and the amount) and your order gets chalked up on a card which keeps track of your consumption. Be sure to try their tapas, such as the culatello di Brozzi, foie gras or Bronat cheeses.

Eighth Discovery – Toulouse Nightlife

Lastly, Toulouse is the French city with the most pronounced Spanish influence. You can tell as soon as you arrive when you start chatting to locals or when you give yourself over to the Toulousian night. In France’s fourth largest city, the people go out onto the street, regardless of the cold, and live it up for as long as they can hold out. Toulouse nightlife draws droves of locals and foreigners, many of them students, who gather at the nightspots on the Rue des Filatiers and the Carmes, Trinité, Wilson and Victor Hugo squares.

Toulouse is the perfect destination for a weekend getaway. Check out your Vueling here.

Text by Tusdestinos.net
Photos by Toulouse Tourism

¡Kalinka, Kalinka, Kalinka moyá! Can't get Tetri´s song out of your head? Easy..., the same thing happens to us as well. We have just landed in Moscow and we are going to eat a lot! Going out in Moscow and try some restaurants can be an amazing and enriching experience where you will discover both the delicious flavors of Russian cuisine and customs of the Russians, which may seem a little peculiar.

The dishes of Russian cuisine are usually quite caloric, due to the harsh winters where greater caloric intake is needed. The Russians give much importance to the ritual of food and like to make life around the stove.

A typical meal starts with a Russian zakuski (appetizers) that can be salads, and small plates of pickled fish like pod Seliódka shuboi (herring coat) or a pirogi (dumplings) meat with vegetables, and always accompanied by a good shots of vodka.

As is typical starter soups, both hot and cold in winter and summer. Russian soups are very strong and more than a starter for us are almost a full meal, since all carry vegetables, meat, chicken, fish ... The most popular are the borsch, made of beets, cabbage, potato and meat; and solianka, made of meat or fish, with an acidic due to the lemmon they put on it. Another soup is shi made ​​of cabbage and Uja, made of fish.

Main courses can be stroganoff meat, shasliki (a typical meat kebabs from Caucasus), golubtsi (cabbage leaves stuffed with meat) or the dish we liked the most: pelmeni (a kind of Russian ravioli filled with meat, potato or vegetable)

Many dishes can be served with smetana, a sour cream sauce flavored particular that we loved. The most popular drink in Russia, in spite of the general though, it's not the vodka but the tea. For dessert, along with tea, you can taste some delicious blini (pancakes) or marlenka cake, something like a strudel.

My-My

At Mu-Mu restaurants they serve typical Russian food. It is a self-service restaurant with tiny portions, so it is ideal to try different dishes. They are very popular among Muscovites and it is well priced.

Jachapuri,10 Bolshoi Gnezdnikovsky per.

It is a nice and central Georgian food restaurant. The food is very good and it is not too expensive. Totally recommended.

Pushkin Cafe, Tverskoy bulvar, 26A

It is considered the best restaurant in Moscow. It is a nice vintage place, very well preserved where can you can taste high level dishes of the Russian cuisine. Good service and medium-high but reasonable price.

A couple of features to consider when venturing out for lunch or dinner in Moscow: dinner can be served until the minute they close the place, but they will not wait until you finish the meal, so if you do not want to have to swallow all in five minutes, we recommend not arrive too late. Russians do not like you to pay them with coins, so if you're planning to spend those last loose rubles at a dinner, do better buying souvenirs in Red Square, or you will receive disapproving look from the waiter.

Приятного аппетита!!

By Nadia Polo

solianka by Шнапс | stroganoff by Pittaya Sroilong | zakuski by Timothy Post | pelmeni by Bernd Hutschenreuther

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

If any product is sought after in the culinary world it is the truffle. Some humble fried eggs can be transformed into a veritable delicacy by simply adding thin sections of this aromatic fungus. One of the most coveted varieties is the white truffle found around the Piedmontese town of Alba. Also known under its scientific name, tuber magnatum pico, it is regarded as the “Mozart of fungi” or “white diamond” ofhaute cuisine.In addition to its exquisite taste, truffles are also noted for being one of the most expensive products on the market. When it comes to prices, they can even unseat another gastronomic gem – saffron. In many instances, the price of truffles can be in the €3,000 to €6,000 price range. The record was set by a Hong Kong buyer who in 2010 paid a whopping €90,000 for a truffle!

The main reason for white truffle fetching such high prices is that it is in short supply and difficult to extract. It is found some ten to fifteen centimetres under the ground, where the humidity and freshness conditions are ideal for its growth. Care has to be taken to avoid damaging or breaking the truffle when extracting it, a task requiring some skill and delicateness. Formerly, pigs were used for this purpose, a function now performed by dogs, which also happen to be less likely to consume their find. The truffle-hunting season is limited to autumn and the procedure usually takes place at night, when the sniffer dogs rely heavily on their sense of smell.

Apart from the leading chefs, the host of white truffle enthusiasts includes such celebrities as Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, Gérard Depardieu, Alain Delon, Penélope Cruz and Oprah Winfrey. One of its outstanding properties is that it does not require cooking, while its scent is highly volatile.

The Great White Truffle Fair

The International Alba White Truffle Fair is held each year in October and November, a grand event which unfolds around this prized natural delicacy but also features tributes to other culinary marvels in the area. The Alba White Truffle Auction is the crowning moment of the fair. Held in the Hall of Masks at Grinzane Castle, is attracts a worldwide following. Incidentally, the auction also involves a good cause, as part of the proceedings are donated to charity.

The fair programme also includes the so-called White Truffle Market where visitors can enjoy themselves by examining, touching and smelling these gastronomic delicacies, all endowed with the relevant quality certifications and displayed amid strict security. Of the many activities hosted is the Alba Truffle Show, which includes debates between prestigious chefs and live cooking sessions at which secrets are revealed regarding ways of getting the most out of the truffle.

However, the limelight is not exclusive to the tuber magnatum pico at this fair, as areas are also dedicated to the region’s gastronomy. The Truffle Market stalls display local produce, notably cheese, sausage, meat, homemade pastries and egg-based pasta. Wines, too, are very much in evidence, including Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Barbera, Favorita, Arneis and Moscato.

Fancy discovering this world of taste and aroma? Check out your flight here.

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Photos by Blue moon in her eyes