Getting the flavour of…
Dahl’s seaside idyll
Roald Dahl loved Tenby, says Liz Bird in The Times. The writer was born in Wales, and spent his Easter holidays in the beautiful Pembrokeshire resort between 1920 and 1936. He and his family stayed in a “higgledy-piggledy” house beside the harbour called The Cabin. Some 80 years on, the first-floor apartment is still a holiday home, now let out to the public. It has décor like that of a “country cottage”, and everything you need for the beach – including the young Dahl’s favourite holiday pastime, winkle picking. Climb nearby Castle Hill, to visit the Dahl exhibition at the Tenby Museum. Walk ten minutes from the house to get to his favourite stretch of sand, and take a boat over to monastic Caldey Island, as he often did; apparently, he was fascinated by the monks’ vow of silence. Four nights at The Cabin start from £399 (01437-765765, www.coastalcottages.co.uk).
A summer cruise in Finland
To savour the “bewitching” scenery of Finland’s lake district in perfect tranquillity, hop aboard a boat, says Colin Nicholson in The Independent. A wooden tug built in 1914, the MS Puijo can take 150 people, but rarely carries even half that number on its day-long journeys across Lake Saimaa (Europe’s fourth-largest lake) from the little town of Savonlinna to the city of Kuopio. The former is known for its spectacular 15thcentury castle, Olavinlinna, which hosts an opera festival each July; the latter has a revolving restaurant tower from which you can watch as the sun “scarcely dips below the horizon” on summer nights. In between is a maze of islands (about 14,000) – making for ever-changing views of sprawling forests, dramatic rock formations and villages of wooden houses, all painted red and white. Sailings cost from t95 one-way, or t150 return (+358 44 766 2460, www.mspuijo.fi).
West Africa’s capital of cool
With its white-sand beaches, sultry nights and “briny” air, Accra is “quintessentially West African”. But Ghana’s capital stands out thanks to its “underappreciated” midcentury architecture and its trendy nightlife and art scene, says Alexander Lobrano in The New York Times. The latter owe much to young Ghanaians drawn back from New York and London by the city’s “relaxed way of life”. Their epicentre is the Stanbic Heights district, which is a bit like Miami’s South Beach, with more charm. Its highlights include La Maison – a “mixed-discipline” art gallery similar to Milan’s Corso Como; the Japanese restaurant Santoku; and, soon, the much-anticipated Carbon nightclub, opening later this year. The Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City (+233 242 436 000, www. kempinski.com) has doubles from $330 b&b.