Getting the flavour of…
A spring trek in Andalusia
Even a “lazy” walker wouldn’t be daunted by the uninspiringly named GR 141, says Stephen Venables in the Financial Times. This “very attractive” new six-stage waymarked trail runs through the glorious mountains of Spain’s Andalusia region. A “grand circuit” that begins and ends in “elegant and historic” Ronda, the route winds gently “through meadows and forests”; rocky summits are your backdrop, “not compulsory goals”. In spring, when the hills are festooned with flowers, it’s “pure sylvan delight”. Each evening there’s a new restaurant, a tapas plate or two and a comfy b&b. Highlights along the route include a “spectacular” limestone gorge carved by the churning Río Guadiaro. For a map, visit www.gransendademalaga.es. Hotels and b&bs along the route are easy to find by searching online.
Polar bears in Manitoba Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge must be “the best wildlife base” outside Africa, says Justine Gosling in The Sunday Times. It’s located in Canada’s Hudson Bay, an area more than five times the size of Britain, where a tenth of the world’s wild polar bears live. In summer, temperatures reach a balmy 5°C and guided trips can be taken in all-terrain buggies to a “landscape of golden colour”, where black bears roam and grey wolf cubs roll around “like playful balls of fluff”. The guides have even perfected the call of a female moose, in order to draw “towering” males from the forest. Polar bear sightings are the big draw, but you never know what you’ll see – “the only guarantee is that it won’t be human”. Churchill Wild (www.churchillwild.com) has four- and five-day safaris from £5,995pp, including internal flights from Winnipeg.
The rebirth of Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg is a “Cinderella city”, says Jonathan Bastable in Condé Nast Traveller. Long “eclipsed by its ugly sister Moscow”, it has survived 20th century incarnations as Petrograd and Leningrad, “wartime devastation and postwar neglect”. Now, that period long over, it gives off “the clean, cool vibe” of a Scandi town, which is perhaps “what Peter the Great had in mind” when he built it “and modestly named it after himself”. Climb up to St Isaac’s cathedral tower for a proper view of the cityscape: the “gleaming stiletto spire of the Admiralty”, the rotunda of the Mariinsky Theatre, and the Winter Palace, “painted the colour of sea ice”. Everywhere you look, golden domes gleam “like costly trinkets” spilled from a jewel box. From here, “you see the city for what it is: one enormous work of art”. Steppes Travel (www.steppestravel.com) has four nights at Hotel Astoria, from £1,965pp, including flights and guide.