ON THE ROAD
Sarah Parish on Glasto, Rome & Turkish delight
What is your favourite onthe-road moment?
I recently spent a week at the
D Maris Bay in Turkey (rooms from £285pn, dmarisbay.com). I was supposed to be going with my husband [actor James Murray] but due to his filming commitments, he was unable to join me. There was a moment during my first day when I suddenly realised I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted! It’s simply the most luxurious place I’ve ever been, with five private beaches, amazing restaurants and incredibly spacious suites.
‘The Berbère Palace is a notoriously naughty hotel and I feared being arrested most nights’
And your favourite city?
Barcelona is a great city. My husband and I visited for a long weekend for my 50th birthday in 2018 and we ended up going to see Guns N’ Roses perform. We were staying in the same hotel as them and I saw the bass player, Duff McKagan, in the bar one night and tried to talk to him but was swatted away by his minder. The moment shall be forever remembered as
‘dissed by Duff’.
When have you been most frightened when travelling?
A year ago I went to Jamaica with a friend and we got mugged just walking down to the beach in broad daylight. That was pretty scary.
What is the best souvenir you have
come home with?
I went to the Cayman Islands 21 years ago and came home with an Open Water PADI qualification. That’s got to be the best souvenir to return home with! It’s a game-changer.
What has been your most lifechanging moment while travelling?
I travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam back in 2009 and worked in a couple of orphanages out there. It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most life-changing experience. To be surrounded every day by so much love, laughter and positivity from children who had next to nothing really put our lives into perspective.
What has been the worst meal you’ve had abroad?
I was living in Rome while filming Medici for Netflix and the studio there served some pretty awful lunches – crazy, really, considering how good Italian food is. We set up a WhatsApp group between the actors called ‘show my lunch’ just to post pictures of the worst offerings.
Where’s the strangest place you’ve spent the night?
On top of Glastonbury Tor. I went through a hippy stage in my late teens and spent a lot of time in Glastonbury. One night on the Tor I met a hippy called Ken who said he’d come all the way from Glasgow to Glastonbury on a ley line. Looking back now, though, I think he probably just got the train.
Have you ever come close to being arrested while travelling?
While filming Atlantis for the BBC we spent quite a lot of time in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. There is a famous hotel there called the Berbère Palace that all the different film crews stay in. It’s a notoriously naughty hotel and there were many nights there where I feared we all might get arrested. When you get up for breakfast at 6am and the crew are just leaving the bar, you know it’s going to be a long day…
Where are you going next?
I’m supposed to be shooting a film in Portugal so fingers crossed we don’t go back into too many more lockdowns.
Sarah can currently be seen in the BBC2 drama Industry, out now on iPlayer