Desert safari saver
SHAVE half off a five-night all-inclusive stay in the UAE. Savings of up to £740pp are up for grabs at the Cove Rotana next month, bringing the price down to £659. There’s a desert safari, ocean fishing trip or 18 holes at a nearby golf course to choose from if you get bored relaxing on the beautiful beach in Ras Al Khaimah. See tropicalsky.co.uk or call 01342 886 941. AUSTIN is one of America’s coolest cities with a claim to be the Live Music Capital of the World. Scores of venues offer everything from counter-culture alt-country to indie and classic rock. Read all about Texas’s hip capital . AUSTIN SITS on the banks of the Colorado river, in a climate zone that is sunny and warm.
Besides being the state capital, it is a thriving silicon hub with Dell computers based here and mansions in the suburbs reflecting all that success. But do not be fooled by the grandeur and shine – at its heart Austin is a liberal, forwarding-thinking and vibrant city.
Its main artery is Congress Avenue, lined by major offices and big shops, and topped by the massively imposing State Capitol Building.
You can take a free tour around the State Capitol, built in 1882 by stone cutters from Aberdeen, who were the world’s best. AT THE RIVER end of the avenue is Congress Avenue Bridge, where crowds gather each night between April and late September to watch an amazing phenomenon – up to 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats from North America’s largest urban bat colony flying out to hunt. THE BEST WAY of getting your bearings of the downtown area is with one of Austin CVB’s daily walking tours – see austintexas.org. THE LIVE MUSIC scene is what attracts most visitors to Austin. And many of them end up on Sixth Street, where Austin goes all New Orleans with music of every genre pumping out of bars and clubs on both sides of the road.
This is party central and most places have a band and plenty of friendly faces and chances to dance – even if it may be sticky underfoot. LOCALS AND HIPSTERS however tend to prefer nearby Rainey Street’s bars, late-night food trucks and open-air spaces.
Here the Black Heart is a New Orleans brothel-themed whiskey bar, and the Container Bar is just what it says on the tin – built out of shipping containers. It is all open until 2am. BROKEN SPOKE on Lamar Boulevard and the Continental Club on Congress Avenue are considered to be Austin’s top venues.
The Broken Spoke is a classic country dance hall which is now getting hemmed in by residential development. It books mostly local acts who can keep the dance floor moving.
This is the place to learn to line dance, if you do not already know how, as the Spoke offers evening line-dancing lessons for beginners.
The Continental Club still favours rootsy American music from both touring and local acts. Among the latter, look for twangy country from Redd Volkaert, blues from the Blues Specialists, or rock from singersongwriters such as James McMurtry. FREESTYLE MODERN JAZZ fans also have their own place to call home. The Elephant Room, on Congress Avenue, is an intimate brick-walled basement space that has built a big reputation for itself. FREE THINKERS in Austin live by this motto and strive to preserve the existence of small, quirky grass-roots businesses.
You will find a celebration of the ethos on the website keepaustinweird.com, which talks about the movement and lists who and what is sticking with the idea.
Top of the list is the Cathedral of Junk in
south Austin, where artist Vince Hannemann ha has built an eccentric sculpture in his back ga garden. The structure is made of everything fr from old road signs to dolls’ heads, and it is still g growing thanks to donations being sent in from as far away as Japan and Australia. THET HOPE – Help Other People Everywhere – is an another big alternative attraction. This outdoor ga gallery is the only place in Austin where sp spraypainting is legal and has resulted in a mass of artwork and graffiti. A BIG FESTIVAL in spring is South by Southwest, or SXSW, and spreads its net wide to include the la latest and greatest in the music, film and in interactive worlds, and hosts performances by m more than 2,000 bands.
That’s followed by Eeyore’s Birthday in late A April, a family fundraiser that celebrates the W Winnie-the-Pooh character, body paint and