Lovers of good food will be especially impressed with Lisbon. Here, tradition and the avant-garde coexist in mutual harmony and quality. At times, they even fuse to create the coolest, most delectable foodie experiences. Take note of these five venues well worth visiting, and deserving more than just a bite.

An Unforgettable Brunch at Chafariz del Rei

An unassuming alleway to those who don’t suspect what lies in this quaint 13th-century building, breathing the luxury of bygone times, behind its imposing, locked door. Visitors have to ring the bell and wait. And, as they hear the key turning in the lock, the mystery deepens. Inside lie stately rooms with unusual, meticulous interior design. You have come to Chafariz del Rei, a place which is surprising and captivating from start to finish. It is ideal for enjoying a brunch (18 euros per head), comprising tea or coffee, natural fruit juices, homemade buns, bread, homemade jams, eggs any style, fruit salads, a cheeseboard, sausage and dessert. The best place to enjoy this food is of course on the terrace, bathed in sunlight, with the murmur of a fountain and a relaxing view. A divine moment you will never forget. But, you have to book in advance.

A Traditional Bill of Fare at the Cova Funda Intendente

The cantinas, an old Lisbon favourite, are still going strong. These genuine, popular eateries, replete with surly waiters, parties who talk (too) loud and paper place mats, where the menu is cobbled up by the family’s grandmother and two diners can wolf down food like there was no tomorrow for under 30 euros. With wine, coffee and dessert included. Take, for instance, the Cova Funda Intendente. Their speciality is – naturally – codfish, cooked to a thousand different recipes. Special mention goes to this fish done à brás (a sort of hashed codfish with egg, garlic, courgette, olives, onion and potatoes). The dish is as tasty as it is addictive. It is impossible to stop eating it, even when you’re about to burst. But, don’t even think of ordering one dish per person, as here the helpings are gargantuan. One helping is for two or more diners. As a first course, they make a superb bread soup (a vegetable broth with egg and sliced bread).

Original, Inimitable Pastéis de Belém

As soon as you set foot in the airport, your mouth will water by simply catching a glimpse of the pastéis de Belém, the country’s best known confectionery. And, you come across it all over Lisbon. But, in this case, I make no excuses for being a purist – the originals are inimitable. To try them, you have to go to Belém and wait patiently in the queue that forms on a daily basis in front of the Casa Pastéis de Belém and goes around the block. Here, where they make about 10,000 tarts a day, the confectionery was first invented. It’s worth waiting for. A mere bite into one of these custard tarts, eaten freshly baked and dusted with castor sugar and cinnamon, is simply divine.

A Cool Market for the Modern

Something has changed. Something is simmering here. Something is happening in Lisbon and the ferment smacks of a commitment to tradition, but with a modern touch. Tried and tested favourites always endure, but they adapt to an audience eager for new culinary experiences. This is what strikes you at the Mercado da Ribeira, now converted into a cool market boasting the best street food stalls in the city. Here you can feast on anything – local sausage or cheeses, internationally-inspired delicacies (pizza, prawn-and-beef hamburgers), traditional dishes (seafood grill, croquettes, rices…), preserves, cocktails, pastries, ice-creams, etc. The prices do, however, soar in comparison to the street stalls in the city centre, but a visit to this gastronomic market, which draws hundreds of people sharing tables each weekend, comes highly recommended. Mercado da Ribeira: Avenida 24 de Julho 50, 1200-109, Lisboa.

Charming Restaurant, Lisboan Fare

Typically Lisboan cuisine which gives a nod to the present, served in a priceless, modern establishment full of charm – the former premises of the Real Fábrica da Seda. What’s on the menu? Pastéis de bacalhau (cod fritters), duck with rice and octopus feijoada, a seafood stew with beans. The average price is 30 euros per head.

Come on! I’m sure your mouth was watering as you read this post. Check out our flights to Lisbon and feast on their culinary delights.

Text and images by Laia Zieger (Gastronomistas)

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

The techno splendour of Berlin in the nineties is unlikely to return. But, this does not prevent the German capital from oozing club culture. We’re guiris – you can see that from a mile away. We smile in the metro simply because we’re downing one of the umpteen exquisite beers you can easily buy in Berlin’s 24-hour stores, or in the metro itself, from the stands that have taken over the underground landings. We’re guiris and, as such, we soak up the city’s nightlife by living out all the dreams and half-truths handed down to us about the historic nineties in Berlin, of basement clubs and all-night parties. Our premise is straightforward – what remains of that club culture splendour in Berlin? We have just forty-eight hours to tune in to the techno beat of today.

It’s Friday, so the adventure begins. Like any decent racing car, the body requires breaking in. And no other European city has more – or better – excuses than Berlin to drink a beer drawn at the counter. Our first stop takes us to Hops & Barley, a tavern with as many types of frothy beverage as the likelihood of rain in that Teutonic country. Dim light, gridded floor and we’re hard put to find a bar stool. The ideal space for stretching exercises.

When one’s throat is sated with pilsen, it’s time to move on, and the metro is our best option. Berlin has a comprehensive network and trains run to 12.30 in the morning on weekdays and round the clock on weekends. Near the Ostkreuz metro station, in an area hemmed in by railway lines and studded with niches formed by twisted iron bars –– a surprise awaits us. In a fenced off work area a bonfire is burning, surrounded by a group of youngsters, a computer and loudspeakers playing techno full blast. Here, the “scouts” listen to catchy “bits”, an image far removed from that of youngsters in Spain, where they gather around a bonfire, guitar and songbook in hand. Open-air parties are a permanent fixture of Berlin – they know a thing or two about them in Rummelsburg.

With this good omen of the city’s techno DNA behind us, we head for a an illustrious nearby squatter’s venue, ://about blank, one of Berlin’s numerous self-managed centres. “Love techno, hate Germany”, it says on the door. The day’s programme is antifascist, for 12 euros. Inside, the dark, crowded cube that is ://about blank offers a heady experience – a tight space and many young Berliners with their eyes closed, swinging their heads about frantically to the music DJ’ed in vinyl. The inner patio is the place to chill out. They recommend we attend a festival called Homophätik, which we will likely check out on subsequent trips.

Berlin does not sit well with the idea of “on a human scale”, as it stretches across a vast territory. This means you have to make the right choices. As for the right days – Chalet is the ideal club for Wednesdays, while Renate is best for Thursdays. But, today is Friday and it’s past four in the morning. We decide to leave the great techno marathon for tomorrow.

Saturday dawns splendidly for a day in May – the sun sends powerful shafts of light into the inner courts created by the residential blocks strewn across Berlin’s terrain. In one of them, some girls are rehearsing a choreography. Next door, a boom box blasts out strains of ambient music.

For lunch – it’s amazing how quick noon sets in when you’ve been up in the wee hours – we are taken by a Sudanese restaurant on Reichenberger street. This is a small eatery with a one-dish menu of the day – for meat-eaters and vegans – at competitive prices. Before plunging into the night again, we spend the afternoon browsing intently through another of any music lover’s crown jewels in Berlin – the record shops.

While finding the stores is something of an achievement, The Record Loft poses a veritable quest. But, using up the few megabytes of your ISP’s European rates brings a reward. On the fourth floor above another of the aforementioned inner patios lies Hard Wax, accessed via a staircase with steps plastered with labels and magazines from all continents. Hard Wax is a small label specialised in electronic music. They also have a vinyl store. The afternoon is also a good time to dip into the bookshops in the Hackescher Markt.  Some have large techno sections, notably Do you read me?, which also boasts a selection of local fanzines. In fact, their bibliography of Berlin’s cultural construction is extensive, ranging from such titles as Future Days, from “early times”, to Krautrock and the Construction of Modern Germany, to works focusing on the nineties like Der Klang, der familie. There are also exclusive titles from Berlin itself, witness Berlin Sampler. From Cabaret to Techno. 1904-2012.

Once your hands are sore from leafing through boxes of vinyls and keying in the titles of upcoming releases, it’s time to head for one of the pre-party clubs. But, more about that in the next chapter.

Text by Yeray S. Iborra | Our thanks to Ángel Molina, Ana Riaza, Carlota Surós and Martí Renau for the first-hand information on the itinerary for this article.

Images by Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS, Michael Mayer