What do cities like Cannes, Berlin,Venice, San Sebastián or Locarno have in common? Well, they all host long-standing film festivals and, for a number of days and at different spots in town, all feature both screenings and parallel events as a tribute to the seventh art. Visiting these cities during a festival reveals a different side to them. Instead of the conventional tourist escapade, it involves experiencing the city from a cultural viewpoint like any of its residents. To the above-mentioned cities we should add Rotterdam, famous for having one of the largest maritime harbours in the world. It is also an industrial centre and a capital of football, with three teams in the Dutch top-flight Eredivisie – Feyenoord, Sparta and Excelsior. Over and above that, however, Rotterdam is privileged to host a highly potent film festival which turns the city into one of the leading world cinema hubs for a period of twelve days.

This time around, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (its official name) will take place from 25 January to 5 February 2017, and the programme is dedicated to art house films, both European and international, and the leading figures of independent cinema. This year is dedicated to a retrospective of Jan Němec, one of the paramount filmmakers in Czech cinema, who died a few months ago. A tribute to his figure will involve screening his best known films, as well as a posthumous film, The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street. The official festival lineup will feature the latest movies by Jim Jarmusch, Paterson and Gimme Danger, in addition to the long-awaited film, Jackie, by Pablo Larraín, starring Natalie Portman.

The focal point of the festival will be De Doelen, a venue with an eventful history in downtown Rotterdam. Its location gives you plenty of time to stroll around and discover the city between screenings. De Doelen was built in 1966 and is both a convention centre and the primary venue of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. The other cinemas providing screenings are also in the city centre, in such charming theatres as Oude Luxor and the Pathé Schouwburgplein. They are relatively near some museums which are well worth visiting, including the Maritime Museum, devoted to the importance of maritime culture and various aspects of sailing. Apart from the exhibition space, it features a canal in the surrounding area offering all types of parallel activities. The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum is Rotterdam’s stellar art museum with an amazing collection, a dream come true for any painting enthusiast. Its exhibits include works by Salvador Dalí, Tintoretto, Hubert van Eyck, Willem Heda and Pieter Bruegel, among others, but it doesn’t stop there – the museum also covers other art disciplines (industrial design, installations, graffiti) and itinerant exhibitions that are refreshed each month. By the way – the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum is just a stone’s throw away from Museumpark, one of the city’s lungs and most beautiful parks.

Apart from the aforementioned films and cycles, the International Film Festival Rotterdam also hosts a number of out-of-the-ordinary special screenings. One of the most prominent is a whole, day-long session dedicated to children. This year it falls on Sunday 29 January and features a selection of films which the little ones can enjoy in the company of their parents. Other events worth mentioning include two short marathons to be hosted on 4 February. Lasting six hours each, they will be held in the Kino Rotterdam, a cinema where you can also have dinner or a drink, if you wish. Check out the rest of the festival events here.

Be sure to discover Rotterdam through the prism of its cinema festival – book your Vueling here.

Text by Xavi Sánchez for Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

With the major holiday period in the year now behind us, we have to make do with what meagre morsels the calendar offers in the form of long weekends. As a destination, La Palma offers myriad possibilities but, if time is at a premium, you have to narrow your sights. To help you get your priorities right, we have drawn up a set of activities and experiences worth looking into on the “Beautiful Island”, as it is known. So, listen up!

Off to the Beach

La Palma boasts spectacular beaches of black sand – some of them awarded a blue flag – and countless natural pools. And, best of all, they are known for being uncrowded. The feeling of being alone on one of these beaches is invaluable. Tempting, isn’t it? Nogales, Los Cancajos, Bajamar, Echentive, Charco Azul and La Fajana are just some of them.

Venturing Along the Trails

The island features 708 kilometres of trails leading to unique enclaves of extraordinary beauty. And, luckily enough, there are routes for everyone, from cross-country pros to sporadic ramblers.

Enjoy the Night Sky

La Palma also has one of the best astrophysical observatories in the world. The fact it was built here comes as no surprise, as you will see for yourself when you come to the island and gaze up into the night sky. To view the wonderful starry sky, get away from built-up areas and look up. The rest of the experience is your own affair!

Adventures For the Picking

La Palma stands out for the broad array of open-air activities on offer. You can tour along cycle or quad routes, spend the day in a multi-adventure park, visit an organic banana plantation, venture down a volcanic tube, go on long canoe excursions, dive in crystal-clear waters, do hang-gliding or go on a pleasure boat ride. These are just a few options to bear in mind when you plan your next getaway to the Beautiful Island.

Indulge Your Appetite on La Palma Dishes

We recommend the following menu: for starters, chicharrones. As a first course, garbanzas. Main course, carne de cabra con papas arrugadas. And, for dessert, a bienmesabe. We won’t tell you what they’re made of so as not to spoil the mystery! To drink, a good, white albillo wine, a red or rosé, or the unique, grand Malvasia – make sure it’s from La Palma. Bon appetit!

Historical Heritage

Churches with Baroque altarpieces and Flemish art, the likes of Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, in Tijarafe and Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, in Santa Cruz de La Palma. Mansions known ascasonas,with stunning patios and wooden balconies, stone country houses, some with cisterns, especially in the north of the island. La Palma’s architectural heritage is bountiful, featuring well preserved buildings redolent with history which will leave you speechless.

Get going and discover the island for yourself – check out our flights here.

Text and images by Turismo de La Palma

By Laia Zieger from Gastronomistas

If you've visited to Brussels, you're sure to have noticed that chocolate is a serious matter here. It is one of the city's emblems that has also earned it world fame in the dessert sector. But, with so many choices, where should you go to try the best chocolate in Brussels? Around the Place du Grand Sablon and its surrounding areas is where there is the greatest concentration of really high-standard chocolate shops. They are all rivals in the exclusivity and quality of their raw materials, in speciality and creativity. One of the most visible signs of chocolate power in Brussels is that the establishments that make this confectionery close late at night and open every day of the year. There's no rest for the sweet-toothed.

• Patrick Roger (Place du Grand Sablon, 43). Ultra-luxurious, this shop is a real gallery of art dedicated to chocolate. The chocolate artist and flavour sculptor - as Roger introduces himself - expresses all of his mastery in impressive and enormous cocoa figures that are displayed at the premises and are only for aesthetic purposes. But let's not forget what's important: they are distinguished by delicious and very fine chocolates, that seem simple but hide extraordinary complexity: they combine up to 14 different products to obtain a unique flavour.
A special mention for the little plain chocolate squares with lime and basil ganache. Speechless.

•Wittamer(Place du Grand Sablon, 6, 12, 13). Four generations of the same family have devoted themselves to making delicious traditional chocolates and cakes, but also to innovating and adapting to new trends. They make their almost 100 different chocolates (some with seasonal ingredients or inspired by current events) with cocoa ‘grands crus’. El Pavé de Bruxelles (plain chocolate filled with Brazilian-style praline and caramel), registered as the firm's own recipe, is their most famous chocolate. But the most daring idea, without a doubt, is their bar covered in fried grasshoppers sprinkled with gold...

•Maison Pierre Marcolini. (Rue des Minimes, 1). Rather than a chocolate shop, it is a cocoa jeweller's shop. The hundreds of different chocolates they make are on display behind glass. To make his products, the Master Marcolini brings the most delicious raw materials from the five continents.
There are also limited editions for celebrating special events and current affairs.

•Neuhaus.(Rue Lebeau 79). The history of this brand is very curious. Jean Neuhaus settles in Brussels in 1857 and, with his brother, opens a chemist on the prestigious Galerie de la Reine. To disguise the taste of the medicines, he decides to cover them with a layer of chocolate. It's not known for sure how, but one day he substitutes the drugs with fresh cream and so creates the first filled chocolate, which he calls praline, and which is one century old this year. It is an immediate success and this recipe spreads as a chocolate classic in cake shops all over the world.

• A little further from the Place du Grand Sablon, we find Zaabär (Chaussée de Charleroi, 125), which defines itself as a chocolate and spice shop. In fact, its name is inspired by the Arabic word bazaar - a market where you can find numerous condiments. The speciality of this firm are chocolate bars flavoured with spices (the plain chocolate ones with cinnamon, Guérande salt or Szechuan pepper are incredible). The point that differentiates Zaabär is that it organises chocolate-making workshops (there are ones for learning to make truffles, cakes…). Ideal for groups and families visiting Brussels, or simply foodies searching for new experiences.

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

Some areas of the Mallorcan coast have been hit by the touristic boom, the one that has sown it merciless with large buildings and beachfront resorts. Luckily, others have been carefully conserved and have protected the environment.

This is the case of the Serra de Tramuntana, one of the most beautiful and emblematic landscapes of Mallorca, located northwest of the island. Of its relief the peaks over 1,000 meters stand out -like the majestic Puig Major, the highest peak of the Balearic Islands with 1447 meters- and the different landscapes that you will discover traveling the road that runs through it and running from Andratx to Pollença going by some of the most beautiful villages of the island as Bañalbufar, Estellencs, Deià, Pollença, Lluc, Fornalutx or Valldemossa.

An excellent area for practice hiking, caving and canyoning with spectacular views through valleys, cliffs and gorges.

Sóller

The town of Sóller offers various attractions: it concentrates a large number of modernist buildings such as the Banc de Sóller or the Can Brunera mansion -that now houses a museum-, the old church of San Bartolomé and a picturesque harbor with two beaches.

In addition, it is said that the ensaimadas from Soller are the best, with the garrovetes del papa, its typical sweet, or the oranges used to prepare juice and ice-creams. You can find these local products and traditional crafts in "Es Mercat" which is held every Saturday.

One of the fun trips you can do from Sóller is to take the Sóller train that connects the town with Palma de Mallorca. A trip to the past in their wooden wagons and with the rattling of a line that opened in 1912 and runs between the beautiful landscapes of the Tramuntana mountains and fields full of almond, olive and carob trees.

Fornalutx

Just above the village of Sóller there is Fornalutx, chosen as one of the "most beautiful in Spain" a couple of times. Their houses are finely restored and perfectly ordered despite the uneven, the flowers on the balconies, the cobbled streets and ancient tradition of painted tiles-present in many of the houses- make it a dream place.

Walkers have here many interesting routes ranging from Sóller to Fornalutx, like the one leading to Mirador de Ses Barques or the Cami de Sa Figuera.

Sa Calobra and other beaches and coves

In the same mountain range of tramuntana there is Sa Calobra, a cove created at the mouth of the River Torrent de Pareis where the sea, forest and cliffs converge in a natural setting of stunning beauty.

The access is complicated because you must go through 800 sinuous curves along 4 kilometers, including the convoluted 360 degrees curve known as the Nus de la Corbata (tie knot).

From Sa Calobra you can reach to the Torrent de Pareis Creek, where they celebrate each year the "Concert in Sa Calobra" every first Sunday of July. The canyon walls exert natural amphitheater, creating a unique and unrivaled sound.

Throughout the area you can find pristine beaches like Cala d'Egos in Andratx, Es Port des Canonge in Banyalbufar, the Cala de Valldemossa or Llucalcari in Deià, and although sometimes you have to walk a few miles down steep rocks or drive on narrow roads with impossible curves, it is worth the effort, to be rewarded at the end with a wonderful beach less frequented by tourists.

The Sanctuary of Lluc

The origin of its name comes from lucus, meaning "sacred forest". Here is the Virgen de Lluc "La Moreneta", patron saint of Mallorca; a small, dark-skinned virgin, that, according to the legend, found a shepherd in the mountains. The virgin was reluctant to leave the place and that is why a small chapel was built and with time, it became this beautiful sanctuary.

There are are some bars and restaurants around the architectural complex.

Picture Sa Calobra by Hugin | picture Sóller by jpm2112 | picture Serra Tramuntana by Carlos Delgado

A place well worth discovering! Check out our flights here.