Donostia-San Sebastián is a city in constant change. Perhaps its effervescence can partly be accounted for by the prevailing impetuous climate changes and, above all, by the ceaseless wind there. Coinciding with the forthcoming change of season, we recommend you visit this charming coastal city to delight in the chromatic variations of its bay – La Concha – or the crashing waves at Chillida’s Peine del Viento.

San Sebastián is currently abuzz with creative activity, now more heated than usual. The fact is that this city in Guipúzcoa will be Europe’s culture capital for the whole year, a title it shares with the city of Wrocław in Poland. Throughout 2016 there will be concerts, stage plays, talks, book presentations and a long list of miscellaneous cultural activities.

The Year’s Major Cultural Event

This is Donostia 2016, an event that does not set out to dazzle with great names on the international scene, or exorbitant investments in infrastructure. Instead, it is pioneering a new model based on experimentation, learning and developing close-knit audiences, with a view to the legacy all this will leave behind in the city as of 2017. That accounts for the programme being grounded in local tradition, albeit with an international projection.

The fact is that Donostia is no newcomer to organising events. Let’s not forget that for years the city has been hosting such long-standing festivals as Zinemaldi, the Musical Fortnight and Jazzaldi.

Activities of all kinds will be held throughout the year in various areas of the city. Like those billed to be staged in Cristina Enea Park. This beautiful park is the city’s largest and is located hard by the Estación del Norte. August will see the independent music festival, Glad is the Day, a tribute to Gladys, a local heroine among social movements. The Dabadaba and Le Bukowski clubs, in collaboration with San Sebastián 2016 and Tabakalera, will be hosting this project with the aim of putting the Egia district onto the map of the city’s summer cultural festivals. The daytime event is admission-free and will feature eight performances at two venues – Anari, Los Tiki Phantoms, Chiquita y Chatarra and The Saurs at the main venue; and AWWZ, Telmo Trenor, Kino Internacional and Javi P3Z at the electronic venue.

Donostia Goes Hipster

Modernity and culture go hand in hand in the Egia quarter. We embark on a tour of the area through some of its most emblematic spots.

Tabakalera

Unveiled last September after 10 years of renovation. Tabakalera, a new, spectacular centre of international contemporary culture is housed in a former tobacco factory covering an area of 37,000 square metres. It consists of two exhibition halls, a cinema, an art media library, creation labs, a hotel for resident artists, micro-theatre shows, concerts, two cafés, a restaurant and a roof terrace with superb views of the city.

The Egia Quarter

The renewal of two venues, namely the Victoria Eugenia Theatre and the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturenea, belonging to the Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa’s provincial administration), has helped shift the city’s hub to the other side of the Urumea. No wonder that this area is known as the Donostiarra Brooklyn, as it has become the city’s centre of modernity and culture.

Dabadaba

Currently one of San Sebastián’s most active venues. Concerts, festivals, exhibitions, DJ sets, flea markets and screenings are hosted in Dabadaba, a multi-purpose centre. Apart from musical and cultural events, on weekday mornings it also offers breakfast, shakes and natural fruit juices. This venue is up with the latest trends, such as a revival of interest in beer – a varied and growing selection of commercial and craft beers are featured on its menu.

Le Bukowski

Le Bukowski is another major night-time meeting point in the Egia quarter. It might lack the sophistication of the Victoria Eugenia Theatre, or the modernity of Rafael Moneo’s Kursaal Auditorium. But, what does that matter if what you want is to listen to good rock or dance music? This is the yardstick club in Donostia, both for live and DJ music. It has been active for three decades and not for nothing is it as fresh as the day it first opened.

Gazteszena

A space in the Egia quarter which has been operating as a multi-purpose venue since 1998. This year it will be hosting the Mojo Workin festival on 18 and 19 March, an event dedicated to rhythm and blues and soul which will be featuring international artists and DJs.

Donostia is always on duty for the traveller. Come and visit its trendiest quarter in a particularly exciting year. Check out our flights here.

Text by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Donostia 2016, Dabadaba

At certain times in the 20th century, Prague took on a leading role as one of the major design production centres in Europe. During the Art Nouveau period, it was among the leaders, together with Vienna, Brussels and Barcelona. Now, the Prague design scene is again emerging on an international level. We went there to take a look at what’s been happening of late.

On our arrival in the capital of the Czech Republic, we decided that the best way of discovering the trends in Czech design over the last few years was to visit The Museum of Decorative Arts, a beacon for enthusiasts of the arts and applied design. However, we found that the museum was closed for renovations and will only re-open to the public in 2017. Instead of feeling disappointed, we took the setback as a more stimulating challenge and set about unearthing less well-known places associated with the past and present of Czech design. Just opposite the Museum stands the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, whose students are destined to influence the future course of design, architecture, fashion, jewellery, graphic arts and the fine arts. Apart from presenting the work of its students and graduates, some of the Academy exhibitions are contextualised in terms of references from the past and present.

From Cubism to the Influence of the Brussels School

There are still many sites from that period on display. The Czech Republic – or Czechoslovakia, as it was then known – was a hub of multi-cultural design during the two World Wars. Even prior to World War I, the Czech Cubist movement played a vital role and creators such as Josef Gočár, Pavel Janák and Vlastislav Hofman designed unique works of architecture, furniture and ceramics. The furniture which Jindřich Halabala began to design for the United Arts and Crafts Manufacturing Plant between the wars influenced several generations. For further details of the key players in the design field during the interwar period, there is a publication entitled “Czech 100 Design Icons”. But, we also recommend having a look at the stores Modernista and Kubista, where you will find a wide variety of replicas from that period.

Czech design also came to the fore in the 1950s and 1960s, making itself felt on the international scene, particularly at the Brussels World Fair of 1958, while eight years later its consolidation earned widespread recognition in the film, Czechoslovak New Wave.It was not, however, until democracy was restored in 1989 that the following resurgence of Czech design occurred.

New Age of Splendour – Studios and Shops

Events unfolded apace after the return of democracy to the country. Thus, in the nineties, design flourished in the Czech Republic. A host of stores, designers and architectural and design studios emerged, notably Olgoj Chorchoj, Studio Najbrt and Maxim Velčovský, which continue to play a decisive role. At the same time, the design world continues to be augmented by young, upcoming talent provided by the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, which organises the Great Design Prizes competition each year.

On the contrary, fashion designers have been late in catching the wave. While in the nineties and the early years of this century they were practically nowhere to be seen, nowadays there are some stores of note. These are Timur et Grupo, Sister Conspiracy, Hana Havelková, Klára Nademlýnská, Denisa Nová and Liběna Rochová, to name but a few.

Design Markets

The 17th international Designblok exhibition, with “Freedom” as the theme, will take place in October this year. The event is aimed at both the professional sector and the public at large and will be given over to design from a broad perspective, ranging from fashion to furniture design, to jewellery, home accessories, product design, lighting, etc. Also to be featured there are installations of a character halfway between design and the plastic arts.

While Designblok holds its presentations in upmarket establishments, the Dyzajn market focuses on the sale of original creations. Here, the leitmotif is the open-air format. But, if you’d like to see it, you’ll have to wait until next year, as it is held on the first two days of August. This year’s location was Střelecký Ostrov. Lastly, the next DesignSUPERMARKET is scheduled for this December and will be hosted in Kafka’s House. These three events provide an opportunity to see the exhibitions and also to make design purchases.

Prague design is waiting to be discovered. Check out our flights here.

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Images by Wendy, Kubista, Academia de las Artes, Arquitectura y Diseño de Praga, Museo de Artes Decorativas de Praga

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and its largest city, with a population of almost two million inhabitants, including its metropolitan area. Not bad for a northern city with long, harsh winters. However, the high population density is actually the result of brilliant economic planning. Copenhagen has managed to become the main trade hub between continental Europe and the whole of Scandinavia. Its healthy economy has led to such sectors as the leisure market expanding inordinately in the last few years. This has in turn prompted an upsurge in the number of restaurants, discos, bars and countless beer houses. We are going to recommend the ones we consider most inviting, but we will also be focusing on Carlsberg, the mother of all beers in Denmark. The label is a veritable institution for the Danes. And, we urge you to visit the Carlsberg brewery, one of the oldest in the world.

Possibly the Best Beer in the World

Before venturing into the vaporous world of Danish beer houses, let’s take a stroll through the crown jewel of that hops culture. I am referring to the Carlsberg Brewery, located in Copenhagen’s Vesterbro district, just 2 km from the Central Station. Buses no. 8A and 26 have stops very near the entrance gate. There is also a free shuttle bus which leaves every hour (from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) from Vesterbrogade, 6.

The Carlsberg Brewery is sited in one of Copenhagen’s most vibrant districts. On arrival, the first thing that drew our attention was the iconic Elephant Gate – Elephant is one of the label’s most popular varieties – in addition to numerous architectural monuments, including contemporary ones like the Bohr Tower. This year sees the completion of a whole new quarter adjoining the brewery and a new train station named Carlsberg has been unveiled, further facilitating travel to and from the city centre.

Housed in the factory complex is the Carlsberg Museum. It is made up of several historic buildings containing rooms replete with art objects. Some of them were originally the private showroom of Carl Jacobsen, founder of the famous brewery. However, nowadays most of the collection is housed in Glyptoteket, in downtown Copenhagen. If you dine in the restaurant, you will be escorted by 19th-century paintings by Krøyer and empresses in marble. We were awed by the mosaics on the ceiling and the marble columns.

In the summer months, admission is free on Fridays. The brewery is turned into a bar with a patio where you can enjoy a cold beer or eat a barbecued meal with a funk, jazz or groove DJ session in the background.

The Best Beer Houses in Copenhagen

Denmark’s most famous beers are Carlsberg and Tuborg, but these two pilseners are not your only options when touring the city, as its beer houses offer a seemingly endless variety. Here, then, is a list of our three favourites.

1) Mikkeller & Friends

One of the most popular beer houses in Vesterbro. They have also just opened another venue three times as large in Nørrebro, and offer up to 40 different types of barrel beer. The interior is divided into compartments which are opened as and when the premises fill up. At Mikkeller & Friends you can also buy beer to take away – they have a list of 350 types of bottled beer from all over the world.

2) WarPigs

Here you will find a large variety of beers – they have 22 fonts on the bar counter. WarPigs is actually an enormous Texan-style barbecue restaurant with two breweries on the premises. One belongs to the Danish brewer, Mikkeller, and the other to the American brewer, 3 Floyds. The two of them came together here with the aim of creating the best beer in the world. We don’t know if they achieved this, but, what we do know is that they crafted the only Danish-American beer on the planet.

3) Dia’legd

We regard this as our great discovery, hands down! Dia’legd lies in the heart of Vesterbro and is home to beer from the island of Fionia. Dia’legd focuses heavily on the Danish brewer, Refsvindinge. We heard the story from Michael Jensen, Kim Hoffmann-Madsen and Claus Jordan, the three friends who decided to specialise in this spectacular beer. “We offer the whole range of Refsvindinge beer, of which there are over 20 types, from pale ale to bock lager, pilseners, wheat beer… right down to porter,” remarked Claus Jordan, enthusiastically. If you visit Dia’legd, be sure to try the Ale no. 16, which was acclaimed the best Danish beer of 1997.

Why wait to cool down on some of the most refreshing beers in the world? Come and discover them for yourself – check out our flights here.

Text by Los viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Oran is still off the beaten tourist track, which makes it all the more appealing when it comes to planning a trip which avoids scheduled routines and well-worn tourist prototypes. During the French colonial period it was the capital of the Oran Department, and it is currently an important port city and commercial hub and boasts one of the leading universities in North Africa. Sunni Islam is the official State religion, although there are Christian and Jewish minority communities. A visa is required when travelling there.

The Spain Brand in Oran

The capital of western Algeria, Oran occupies a privileged, strategic location in the Mediterranean basin. It is regarded by Spaniards as the most Spanish city in Africa, given the wealth of Spanish vestiges still present right across the region. Indeed, traces of Spain linger in local culture, language and gastronomy. The Oranians eat cocas, a sausage similar to Spanish sobrasada, and claim to have invented the paella, a word derived from the Arabic baiya, consisting of rice and seafood. The city also sports a bullring – now in disuse – which was inaugurated in 1954.

In geographical terms, Oran is the point in Algeria closest to the Iberian peninsula and indeed, on a clear day, the city of Almería can be seen from Oran, or vice versa. Its privileged position has enabled it to build up all manner of land and maritime connections. Its bay opens to the north-east, while the western flank is dominated by the steep Aïdour mountain. The city lies sheltered between the old colonial city and the new developments, which lend it a more modern air. Not to be missed is a stroll down the seafront promenade with its delightful panoramic view of the harbour and the old city. From here you can walk to the interesting Pacha Mosque.

You should not pass over the occasion to visit the famous Santa Cruz Fort. Built atop a mountain adjacent to the city, where it has served as a faithful lookout for over four centuries, this is undoubtedly the masterpiece of Spanish military architecture in the city, and also houses the well-worth-seeing Chapel of the Virgin.

The Place de la Perle (or Plaza de Armas), once the centre of Oran, while the city was under Spanish rule, is another of the prime sightseeing spots. Together with the Spanish Gate, the Casbah, the Porte de Santon, the St Philip Garrison and the Tambour de San José, it is one of the best preserved places from that period, from the 16th to the 18th century. Most striking is this latter monument, due to its important role in the Spanish history of Oran. Radiating from there was a network of underground galleries which ran underneath the old citadel and connected the Qasr el-Bey (Bey Castle) to the Santa Cruz Fort.

Historical District

The old town features an alcazaba (citadel), a fortified urban enclosure built to house the governor’s residence, to defend a specific area and its surroundings and to garrison troops, making up a small military precinct. The cluster of buildings forming this citadel includes an 18th-century mosque.

The district of Sidi El Houari, the patron saint of the city, is the oldest in Oran. There are guided tours of the walls and tunnels dating from the Spanish period, the Spanish Gate, the Madrid Ramp, la Blanca, la Escalera, the Casbah, etc. In this historical district you can also see the old Saint-Louis school, and the Pacha Mosque, built during the 17th century. Before leaving Oran, make sure you visit the marabout or Moorish shrine of the city’s patron saint, Sidi El Houari and make a wish, as tradition dictates.

This district also houses some of the city’s most important museums. The Ahmed Zabana Museum, formerly known as the Demaeght Museum, has archaeological, ethnological and natural history collections from the Maghreb on display, as well as an exhibition area devoted to Oran. In the archaeology section, the Carthaginian and Roman collections take pride of place. The buildings date from 1933, while in 1986 the museum was taken over by the Ministry of Culture and renamed. It comprises seven sections focusing on Oran and its surrounding region – fine art, the Moudjahid, numismatics, pre-history, old Oran, ethnography and natural history. Another prominent museum is the Moudjahid, located in the USTO district, which is dedicated as a memorial to the struggle for independence during the Algerian War.

Discover one of the best kept secrets of the Mediterranean! Check out our prices here.

Text by ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Photos by Algerian Embassy