The city’s versatility enables you to embark on the most varied scavenger hunts. If you’ve already been there and have tried out the rooms with twenty guests in one of the hundreds of Bed and Breakfasts, or you’ve burnt out your Oyster Card visiting London’s various cultural and culinary offerings at affordable prices, now is the time to discover a trendier, more upscale London.

Why not start with breakfast? While it is said to be the most important meal of the day, we could add that it is also the best. Sharing your breakfast cereal with your B&B companions might be great, but one day you’re going to get tired of always being left with the last dregs of milk in the brick. Here’s a tip for navigators: London is not only in the top flight of afternoon teas – it fares very well with all meals up to that hour of the day. It stands to reason – who would turn up their nose at the best sashimi or the choicest Scottish salmon? In addition to some desserts as formidable as Big Ben. At the Cookbook Café - InterContinental London Park Lane buffet, you should invest more time than money, as they offer endless combinations, each more delicious than the next! It’s very central, just behind Green Park, should you need to nod off after so much indulging in flavours.

Later you’ll want to work it off, so a bit of exercise would be in order. In London you need to apply some elbow grease – as your bags are going to get heavy – and become involved in the noble art of trying on clothes. The perfect block bounded by New Bond Street, Old Bond Street and Piccadilly Street will enable you to feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.There is no spot in the world with a higher concentration of irresistible shop windows! Apart from the top designer brands such as Gucci, Prada, DKNY and Vitorio & Luccino, you can find stores like Abercombrie, which is in Burlington Gardens – a veritable fortress with a spectacular facade on Regent Street – or, if your eyes have become bloodshot from so many labels, the commercial TopShop in Oxford Circus, a ready-to-wear brand far removed from haute couture and much more affordable, famous for being the stellar spot for such models as Kate Moss. It was the first consumer brand with its own parade at the London Fashion Week.

And, after your spree, a pause to refuel would come in handy. A quick tea and a snack at The Wolseley? Spacious, stately and with a palatial ambience, this establishment in Piccadilly is a safe bet for enjoying the classical side of London.

Time to change district. Impeccable streets, formidable facades and luxury finishes – London has some of the most prohibitive districts in Europe. Among these, Kensington which, apart from featuring houses capable of curing hiccups, boasts some stunning (visitable) Roof Gardens on the top of the Derry and Toms building. Then there is the district of Chelsea, a favourite among the royal family. Aside from the opulence exuded by both districts, they also have some small locales where you can steep yourself in stage performances. Jazz comes to the fore mainly at night and music lovers are advised to head for Piano Kensington on the Kensington High Street, as well as to the 606 Club, a long-standing jazz bar in Chelsea.

A review of London’s most exquisite districts would not be complete without mention of the Portobello Road area and its air of a romantic comedy stage. Once considered a “dump” in late-19th-century London, the local potters’ workshops gradually gave way to cafés and shops selling antiques, until the area acquired its present-day character. It is famous for hosting the Notting Hill Carnival, and the locals regard the area as a lively, colourful mini Rio de Janeiro.

After strolling along Portobello Road, the next thing is to wet your whistle at one of the cocktail bars in the area. A good choice would be the Portobello Star, which offers as many types of gin as there are red phone boxes in London. Before midnight, with a nice cool cocktail in your hand, you could then check out the Royal Albert Hall programme.

Next up, if you want to continue carousing – and later end up breakfasting again at Cookbook Café’s buffet – you would need to drop in on one of London’s eternal fashion spots, Annabel’s (Mayfair). Be sure to wear your best apparel – you never know, Lady Gaga might have had the same idea that night. However, you need to first pay their annual membership fee. Behind the walls of this locale lie the most intimate conversations of bohemian London from the 60s, and of the royals, too. And, that carries a price of its own. If that doesn’t work out, you could always try your luck with the demanding bouncers at The Beauchamp, a club vying for the competitive top spot of night time sophistication.

For accommodation, nothing more sophisticated than the Hilton London Bankside. Recently opened, this hotel is a franchise of the legendary hotel chain. Housed in a building with a futuristic, post-industrial air, this marvel will make you feel as if you’re taking part in the action from the film, Her. Located in the heart of Bankside and a stone’s throw from the Tate Modern, one of the most prestigious art galleries in the world, the hotel features a beautiful penthouse with a private terrace, a 100m² leisure area and spectacular views of London. It also boasts a new restaurant, the OXBO Bankside, under the direction of the executive chef, Paul Bates, in addition to The Distillery. This is a destination bar, where you will want to be seen, and it offers over 50 brands of gin, as well as its own beer label. Their buffet breakfasts are memorable – long live buffets! You will be stunned by the interior design, the work of Dexter Moren Associates and Twenty2Degrees, particularly the extraordinary lighting, which adapts to the different times of day!

Seduced already? I’m sure you are. Be bold and prepare your getaway now. Check out our flights here.

Text by Yeray S. Iborra for ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Images by Michael D. Beckwith, Cristina Bejarano, Klovovi

Christmas means decoration, gifts, ornaments, rituals, celebrations and much more. But, it is also a season when we probably have some extra leisure time. If you use it this year to visit A Coruña, you can get involved in a number of activities scheduled up to the moment the Three Wise Men arrive. Here, then, are our Christmas tips, and an introduction to two restaurants with Michelin stars not far from the city.

Atlantic Christmas

The María Pita Christmas Village opens to the public in early December and offers children’s activities, magic, games, music and gifts. Toddlers and infants will have a whale of a time here with the plethora of activities tailored to their needs. Children, the main focus of Christmas cheer, will be treated to a new edition of Nadaliño, a show featuring games and educational activities hosted in Palexco.

The A Coruña Science Museums have also scheduled a special programme for the season which entails learning while having fun. As ever, the festivities come to a close with the Grand Cavalcade of the Kings (Three Wise Men), a parade through the city’s streets, full of surprises, on the magical night of 5 January.

But, not everything has been devised for children. We adults can also enjoy these festivities. So, if you’re coming to A Coruña, be aware that there are numerous concerts on offer, as well as the premiere of several musicals and an Afro-American Gospel Music Festival.

Lastly, in the afternoon of the 31st, the customary San Silvestre Coruñesa race starts in the Plaza de María Pita and finishes at the Obelisco, for those who want to see the old year out in good shape and shed some of the calories acquired during the long holiday week.

Gastro-Visit

While you’re here, we recommend a getaway to two restaurants in the area with a Michelin star:

As Garzas
O Porto de Barizo, Barizo, 15113 Malpica de Bergantiños, A Coruña
Chef: Fernando Agrasar

Located in the heart of the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death), opposite the Sisargas islands, the restaurant is housed in the hotel of the same name, a building with large windows that seem to lean out over the cliff edge. The dining-room is a relaxing, modern space with a formidable fireplace and just eleven tables set around it. The cuisine at As Garzas bears a sea flavour – that of the Atlantic in pristine state. Their chef, Fernando Agrasar, asserts that the cuisine is not avant-garde but creative. Sans impositions or any pointless elaborateness.

Key to the menu is the Galician fish and seafood, crafted into veritable pleasure bites. While liable to seasonal variation, grouper and  sea bass always take pride of place. The rices, too, especially their lobster rice. Apart from an impressive seasonal menu, As Garzas also offers a carefully curated menu for “those reluctant to make a choice”. There are 12 to 14 dishes in all (bearing in mind that two of them are desserts), which vary in terms of the season and market, with innovation as the restaurant’s hallmark.

Retiro da Costiña
Av. de Santiago, 12. 15840 Santa Comba, A Coruña
Chef: Manuel Costiña

Set in a stately manor halfway between Santiago de Compostela and the Costa da Morte, each area in the Retiro is meticulously designed for enjoying each occasion. For appetizers, a wine cellar with a star-studded ceiling, while lunch and dinner are hosted in a spacious, stone-walled dining-room. And, for after-dinner, an elegant salon with a fireplace.

Retiro offers market cuisine with the most appetising dishes in season. No kidding – Galicia rules! So, it requires no effort to find such marvels as razor clams from Fisterra, grouper from Aguiño, hake from O Celeiro or oysters from O Freixo. Aside from the delicious menu, Manuel offers two tasting menus, one of which is carefully paired by the sommelier. And, there’s more – the wine cellar! In addition to a striking wine list, they have another featuring liqueurs, each with over 800 items. Enological gems such as 40- or 50-year-old Macallan whisky.

There you have it – what’s in store for you if you visit A Coruña over Christmas. Check out our flights here.

Text by Turismo de A Coruña

Images by Turismo de A Coruña, Retiro, As Garzas

Modernism emerged in the late-19th and early-20th century, marking a break in style with the past, in line with the prevailing cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial mindset of the moment.

In 1883, the city needed to expand, leading to the construction of its famous Ensanche district,which spans the present-day streets of Juana de Vega,Picavia,Feijoo, Plaza de Lugo and Plaza de Pontevedra.

With the wealth they had acquired from foreign trade, the local bourgeoisie commissioned luxury residences in this new area, modelled on those of Vienna, Paris, Prague, Budapest and Berlin, in an outward show of their prosperity and cultural pursuits. This enabled them to distinguish themselves from the old Corunnan aristocracy, who still lived in the Ciudad Alta and Ciudad Vieja districts in dilapidated mansions with dark rooms, lacking proper ventilation or glazed window balconies, with their backs to the sea and to modernity.

Strictly speaking, Modernism came to the city in 1906 with the arrival of the Cuban architect, Ricardo Boán y Callejas, and the Corunnan architect ,Antonio López Hernández, who brought the new trends in building design from Austria, Switzerland and Germany. They also brought journals, catalogues and photos from those countries featuring designs by the Austrian, Otto Wagner, and the Belgian, Victor Horta.

One of the most striking features of these houses are the female faces adorning some of the buildings that are still standing. They were mostly inspired by the countenance of an English lady, Elizabeth Siddal, the wife of the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She was immortalised in the guise of her languid, enigmatic beauty and her long tresses following her death from an overdose of laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol.

Modernism in A Coruña was influenced by the ornamental style of the English architect, Owen Jones (1808-1874). Local artists decorated the facades and doorways with irises, horse-chestnut leaves, water plants, roses and camellias in multi-coloured garlands which seem to reach out to the passer-by and lavish pleasure on the senses.

Galleries are awash with the Mackintosh Rose motif of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, as well as twirling, sap-bearing plant stems. The transparent glass surfaces spread out among them like dragonfly wings. However, Japanese influences also come to the fore in the form of embossed irises, reeds and butterflies on lilies, star-shaped holly leaves and lotus flowers framing windows and lifts, by way of a country-like, ecological architecture. Enjoy a Modernist route through the city – download the guide here.

Modernist Top 5 in A Coruña

1. Casa Rey (1911)

The work of Julio Galán, his architecture distils the essence of the glass city. The rippling cornice, the Mudéjar inspired glazed ceramics and the wrought iron balconies made in the Wonenburger foundry make it a veritable dolls house for the ladies of those times that adorned its balconies with their head-dresses of gardenias and palm leaves. Chocolate was one of the exotic wares shipped from the Indies and other colonies to the port of A Coruña, and chocolateries dating from that period are still open to the public on the streets of Riego de Agua, Plaza de Lugo and Estrecha de San Andrés. Hence the origin of the popular Corunnan demonym ofcascarilleiros(huskers),an allusion to the cocoa husks which filled the streets with their aroma. Plaza de María Pita, 12.

2. Casa Molina (1915)

Designed by Rafael González Villar. The building was the home of Don Raimundo Molina, a representative of Royal Dutch Lloyd and consul of the Netherlands. He was also the father of the well-known mayor, Don Alfonso Molina. Influenced by the Italian Modernism of Turin, the garlands and draped ribbons of the building form a theatrical final curtain to the Old City. C/ Santiago, 2.

3. Kiosko Alfonso (1912)

Also designed by Rafael González Villar, this is a magnificent example of early-20th-century recreational architecture. With its rectangular floor plan, it operated as a café, music hall and cinema, the central screen of which divided the auditorium into two rooms. In the first room, the audience saw the positive film, while a negative of the film could be viewed at a lower fee from the other. Converted into an exhibition hall in 1982, the original Modernist decoration is still intact, including dragons which surround and immerse the audience in a world of mystery and fantasy. Jardines de Méndez Núñez.

4. Compostela, 8 (1910)

Also the work of Julio Galán Carbajal. The foyer, with access at no. 8 Calle Compostela, is the most striking entrance hall in the city. Walls, ceilings and the archway leading into the lift turn the space into an original stuccowork greenhouse, brimming with intertwined water plants, lotuses, lilies and irises. The lions at the entrance, the eagle and the caryatids on the cornice form a symbolic defence of the house’s residents, reminiscent of ancient Persian palaces.

5. Plaza de Lugo, 13 (1912)

Lastly, this bourgeois residence designed by Antonio López Hernández, linked to the family of the Corunnan actor, Fernando Casado Arambillet (better known as Fernando Rey), features overflowing ornamentation as an outward show of the economic prowess of its residents. It is theatrically adorned with a large garland of roses, leading the eye towards the huge female caryatid dominating the ensemble. The decorative syntax makes this the most beautiful building in A Coruña.

Don’t wait to see these Modernist architectural jewels in A Coruña. Check out our flights here.

Turismo A Coruña

Bari is the cradle of Italy’s finest cuisine. The vera (true) cradle, that is. Any local will tell you so, as will any northerner, well aware of the excellence of the produce bathed by the Adriatic. If you think the food is good everywhere in Italy, wait till you sink your teeth into a dish in this southern enclave.

Street Food – From Focaccia to Sgagliozze

Bari’s old town is the best showcase for street food. Starting with the open-air Mercato del Pesce (Fish Market), where fishermen display their wares every day. Very fresh, clean and raw is how the locals purchase their fish, to eat it right there if necessary. With a Peroni birra in hand, of course. Your gaze will be riveted by the sea urchins, squid and octopus which they have just thrashed on the nearby jetty. The helpings are generous for the price.

Around the Basilica di San Nicola, the thing to do is order a focaccia in the historic Fiore bakery before strolling down the alleyways. Many of the local housewives make and then dry the various types of craft pasta in the open air. It’s a privilege to see them tirelessly kneading the pasta dough and shaping it.

In the so-called strada della pasta (street of pasta) you will come across the Caputo Rino family cooking anything that goes past. The family members are as genuine as the dishes they prepare. You will be entranced by their natural demeanour and will inevitably take a seat at one of their tables, as long as you have booked beforehand. If you want to visit the most amazing spots, allow yourself to be guided by the people at Velo Service, who can drive you from one place to another and save you from getting tired.

At dusk it is the turn of the sgagliozze street stalls to come alive. This fried polenta dish is also an icon of Bari, as are the panzerotti or fried sandwiches stuffed with local cheese and tomato. And, if you fancy hitting the town, then while away the wee hours in the bars and have one of the croissants served only at daybreak in the Piazza Mercantile before hitting the hay. Although, when it comes to good snacks and confectionery, try the ones at Martinucci, where the coffee is also great.

Indulge, too, in the ice-creams at Gentile, alongside the Norman-Swabian castle – they are fleeting but delicious. In season, have a go at the zeppole, based on a traditional Apulia confectionery, or the classic pistachio and Nutella.

And, be sure to stop at the grocer shops in the inner city where you will find local sausage. Go in and have a taste, and then take some with you as a souvenir.

Signature Cuisine From the Local Larder

Bari’s restaurants know how to get the most out of their local produce, without charging anything exorbitant. We can highly recommend Giampaolo for their lavish slew of seafood and fresh fish, as well as their pizzas and homemade desserts.

It’s worth getting out of the city to taste signature cuisine as a counterpoint to the traditional fare. The closest venue is Umami Ristorante, located in a country house near the main road. You will be pleasantly surprised at their wholesome offerings. A plethora of nicely presented local produce.

More remote and undoubtedly the boldest restaurant is Giuseppe Iannotti’s one-star Michelin Krèsios. You will be blown away by their tasting menu, an embellishment of the landscape and the Italian larder in a grand repertoire of sensations, paired with excellent items from their wine cellar. To top off the experience, stay over for the night in one of the rooms surrounded by vineyards.

Furtive Night Cuisine

At Bari’s only clandestine bar you can opt either for their cocktails or for a set of tapas based on snacks and savoury cupcakes. The bar counter is in one building, and the tables in the one next door. So you should check out in advance whether you can also have a bite to eat or have to make do with a drink. The venue is located in a secluded street near the harbour and its name – Speakeasy – is only uttered sotto voce – that is, in hushed tones.

Where to Sleep

Hotel Imago. A boutique hotel with just a few rooms set between the old quarter and the more modern districts. Apart from the optimum level of bustle, it is located in the heart of the shopping district and is very well connected. The rooms are spacious, the furniture functional, breakfast is continental and the wi-fi free-of-charge. 

Now that you know how to eat Bari up, book your Vueling and enjoy it!

Text and photos by Belén Parra for Gastronomistas