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The world's best street food: sigh, where's the Berlin dner? {Gadling}
Aug 15th 2008 6:08PM The best shawarma I've ever had was in Oman, at the Nizwa hotel. Omani cooking uses a lot of gentle spicing like cardamom and coriander; the shawarma had just the right blend of crispiness and fat , and was served on a bed of delightfully tart hummous (I imagine the secret ingredient there was lemon juice).
The doner I had in Istanbul was on the whole rather disappointing. Fish sandwiches (balik ekmek) are better for meals and just as cheap, while you can get cheese borek, sesame bread (simit) or roast chestnuts on the street, or gozleme (pancakes) with a number of stuffings, or just icing sugar (yummy).
Best cities for a pub crawl? {Gadling}
Apr 20th 2008 5:20PM No, I think the best cities for a pub crawl are defined by the availability of excellent beer. I don't want to get hogwhimperingly drunk (though strangely enough, that does sometimes occur), but I do want to experience great tastes. So I would suggest;
- York, England. Many fine real ale pubs with a map often included in the 'Ouse Boozer' local beer magazine.
- Augsburg, Germany. Taste the local rauchbier (smoked beer) and visit the many breweries.
- Regensburg, Germany. Four (might be five) breweries with pubs attached and some very fine biergartens.
- Antwerp, Belgium. A pub crawl excellent not in quantity but in quality - north to south, De Waagstuk, Oud Arsenaal, and Kulminator.
- Prague, Czech Republic. Still possible to get very fine beers here, including Pilsner Urquell from the tap - much better than the bottle - even though the bigger breweries have mainly been taken over by international firms.
- Norwich, England. I live there and I'm very biased.. The Fat Cat is the only pub in the country to have won the coveted CAMRA Pub of the Year award twice. And my local, the King's Head, has just beaten it for Norwich Pub of the Year. Add to these another 20 or so pubs serving real ale and nearly 30 breweries in the county of Norfolk, it's an ale paradise.
Andrea Kirkby
http://www.podtours.co.uk
In a Jam with the Jellies {Gadling}
Mar 7th 2008 3:51PM If you see jellies, sometimes it's worth looking for another beach.
On Formentera a couple of years ago, one beach had an infestation of jellyfish, while another nearby beach which pointed in the opposite direction - and therefore had the wind blowing offshore instead of onshore - was completely free of the nasty creatures.
Andrea Kirkby
Podtours
http://www.podtours.co.uk
Love from London: Why pubs still close at 11pm {Gadling}
Mar 3rd 2008 3:45PM One of my local pubs tends to close more or less on time when the manager is there - but opens late when the owner is on the bar, and the room is full of his friends. You'll find that's often the case in country pubs, and some of the smaller suburban pubs, but very rarely in central London pubs - and never in the big chains like Wetherspoons.
Tell us your most horrible travel moment, and win a copy of Chuck Thompson's "Smile When Yoy're Lying" {Gadling}
Jan 4th 2008 3:39PM I think it must be that moment, waiting for takeoff on a Tarom flight to Bucharest, when I decided to pull down the blind on the window - and the whole of the window fell out.
Maybe.
Actually, when I think about it, my worst EVER travel moment came about thirty seconds later when I complained to a member of staff. And they offered me an upgrade to first class.
I don't really care whether I die in coach or in first. I'd just really, really like to reach my destination alive.
(Obviously, something was eventually done about the window. Before we took off. Thank God.)
Japanese Aquarium Toilet {Gadling}
Dec 25th 2007 12:31PM This isn't a completely new idea - in John Harington's 'Metamorphosis of Zjax', an Elizabethan book which explains the concept of a water closet for perhaps the first time, little fish are shown swimming in the cistern to demonstrate how clean the water is.
Gadling's Grand Giveaway Day 1: A handful of books! {Gadling}
Dec 17th 2007 3:47PM timbuktu would be great - maybe "next year in timbuktu" rather than "next year in Jerusalem"!
Across Northern Europe: Why Bother Going to Berlin? {Gadling}
Sep 2nd 2007 8:36AM I can understand just what you're saying. Sometimes we go to a museum to see something we know we *ought* to see, like the Mona Lisa or Botticelli's Spring, and it's not really that impressive - too much build up, we feel we know it already.
I like to play little games that make the experience more fun. Like, go quickly round a room and just wait for that ONE painting or sculpture that says something to you. Even if it's a really really bad piece of art, it doesn't matter. Then find out everything you can about it.
Play 'spot the El Greco' (or whatever). Don't let yourself look at the labels, just see if you can tell which paintings in a room are El Grecos (or Titians, or Kandinskys..) This is a nice one to play in collections of art like the Escorial or Toledo cathedral, where there's a lot of work of about the same date by different painters.
Play 'Kleptomaniac'. If you had the opportunity to take one artefact home with you, which one would you want to *live* with?
Play 'pointing'. Look at the hands in the pictures. Where are they pointing? Why? Are the people in the picture trying to tell us something?
Some pictures actually invite us to play games. There's a lovely still life of fish in the Rockox Huis in Antwerp. Lots to investigate, texture, gleaming scales, you can almost smell the fish. But underneath the table, in the dark, is a black cat - practically all you can see is his eyes. It's like a computer game where the artist included an 'easter egg' for us to share as a joke with him.
These ideas may sound silly but the point is that if you play these little games, you are engaging with the art works in an active way. And even looking at bad art is instructive, because if you look at ten bad paintings and then suddenly you see something like (from the Escorial) El Greco's Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion, it really does take your breath away.
How does your passport photo look? {Gadling}
Sep 2nd 2007 8:05AM Passport photos are SUPPOSED to look terrible. Isn't that the point? :-)
The Best 8 Beverages in the World {Gadling}
Aug 5th 2007 8:51AM I'd add
- horchata de chufas from Valencia, Spain. Tiger nuts, sugar, water make a thoroughly refreshing drink. Further south I've also found horchata de almendras, made with almonds.
- chai masala. The warm notes of spice and the cooler taste of tea and milk make this a lovely drink. Very very different from Typhoo or PG Tips!
- *fresh* pineapple juice. Only one place to have this - the Juice Centre at the entrance to the souk on the Muttrah Corniche, Muscat, Oman. You will not believe it doesn't have cream in it!
As for peaberry coffee, I've been an addict for 20 years since I discovered it. Agree with you wholeheartedly on that!
