LEISURE 41
9 April 2022 THE WEEKTravel
With beautiful beaches, spectacular
mountain and desert landscapes, and
fine classical ruins, Algeria is one of
the most “alluring” of Mediterranean
destinations – and the fact it sees very
few foreign visitors only adds to its
charm, says Rob Crossan in The Daily
Telegraph. The country’s FLN
government relies on oil and gas for
export income, and has little interest
in promoting tourism. There have also
been “lingering security concerns” since
the civil war of the 1990s, but the
FCO has long advised that most of
the country is safe to visit. And unless
you’re very unlucky, you will find heart-
warming hospitality wherever you go.
The capital, Algiers, is “enthralling”,
with cuisine to “rival Beirut”, history that “outstrips Valletta”,
and sunshine “the equal of Málaga”. And all this just two hours
and 40 minutes from Heathrow. Algiers was founded as a
Carthaginian trading post in the fourth century BC, and the
Romans, Berbers, Arabs, Ottomans, Moors and French have “left
their mark”. Its kasbah is a maze of
alleyways fragrant with the scents of
“incense, baguettes and diesel fumes”,
whose “high, flaking walls” bear
murals of “fallen Leftist heroes”.
Elsewhere, there are French colonial-
era boulevards, botanical gardens,
“Notre-Dame imitation churches”
and a Beaux-Arts museum with works
by Gauguin, Renoir and Monet.
A brief tour of the country might
also include the charming seaside towns
of Tipasa and Annaba, and the remains
of Roman cities such as Timgad and
Djémila, where the museum houses
“gargantuan” mosaics featuring
“affectionate” images of birds, lion
hunting and horse racing. Finally, there
are the endless dunes of the Sahara, which are best approached
via the oasis town of Taghit, with its ancient, mud-walled ksar
(castle) and “highly stylised” neolithic rock paintings. Lupine
Travel (lupinetravel.co.uk) has a seven-day group tour for £845,
including guide and meals, excluding flights and visa costs.This week’s dream: an intriguing city break on the Med
Getting the flavour of...
All-inclusive resort & casino
Spend 7 nights by the beach
at the Royalton Bavaro, an
Autograph Collection hotel in
the Dominican Republic. From
£1,429pp (including London
flights). 020-3451 2585, tui.
co.uk. Depart 31 August.
A week in Cape Verde
The Budha Beach Hotel is a
seafront hotel with a chilled-
out atmosphere; seven nights
cost from £983pp b&b
(including Birmingham flights).
020-8175 1145, loveholidays.
com. Depart 11 June.Adults-only getaway
Five nights at the AluaSoul
Mallorca Resort, with dreamy
sea views and away from the
bustle, cost from £837pp b&b
(including Manchester flights).
0344-493 0125, britishairways.
com. Depart 26 October.Four-night boat hire
Sail down the Llangollen
Canal where the awe-inspiring
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct spans
the Dee Valley, from £765.
01252-796400, waterways
holidays.com. Depart 24 May,
from Whixall.Buenos Aires shines again
Twenty years ago, Buenos Aires was a city
in decline, plagued by corruption and
hyperinflation. But since then, its fortunes
have changed radically, says Matthew Bell
in The Times – indeed, there’s never been a
better time to go. This vast metropolis on
the Río de la Plata is cheap, “vibrant” and
“well set up for tourism”. Stay in Palermo
Hollywood, a leafy central district where
the “chic” Home Hotel makes a good base.
Indispensable for first-time visitors are trips
to a milonga (tango house) and to a steak
restaurant such as the “stylish” Don Julio.
But the city’s “B-side” is inexhaustible and
includes a particularly rich food scene –
“a salt- and sugar-infused maximalisation
of its Spanish, Italian, French and Jewish
forefathers”. Matthew Bell’s sister Vanessa
Bell offers tours of the city’s shopping, food
and art scenes (cremedelacremeba.com).A passion play in Bavaria
Set in glorious alpine scenery in southern
Bavaria, Oberammergau is famed for its
Passion Play, which is performed by the
village’s residents once a decade. Delayed two
years by the pandemic, this year’s production
has “a particular poignancy”, says Andrew
Eames in the FT, as the tradition began in the
plague year of 1633, as part of local efforts
to ward off sickness and death. Performed
five times a week from May to September,the play is now a five-hour “spectacular”
with a s45m budget, and a cast of 2,000
people from the local community along with
a donkey, two horses, two camels, sheep,
goats and a “cageful” of doves. If you go,
make a holiday of it, so that you can visit
Ludwig II’s nearby palace of Linderhof and
the baroque monastery of Ettal, too. Visit
passionsspiele-oberammergau.de for all-
inclusive tour packages.The strangest town in Greece
A sleepy Greek island ten miles off the coast
of Turkey, Leros has no spectacular beaches
and receives few tourist visitors. But it has
towns that resemble film sets, says Heidi
Fuller-Love in The Sunday Telegraph –
including the traditional old seaside resort
of Agia Marina, and Lakki, “one of the best
examples of rationalist-fascist architecture
outside of Italy”, which was built by
Mussolini as his Aegean headquarters. Far
removed from Il Duce’s gaze, its architects
deviated freely from the approved style,
and incorporated elements of the local
vernacular and “lots of art deco flourishes”.
Depopulation has left its “wide tree-shaded
corsos” eerily quiet, and many buildings
are abandoned, but it remains elegant and
atmospheric, with a striking clock tower,
a cinema shaped like a bullet, and a school
with a monumental portico that brings
Byzantine churches to mind.Sextantio Abruzzo, Italy
The website Ecobnb is a good
place for “affordable escapes”
with green credentials in Italy –
and among its most characterful
listings is this albergo diffuso in
Abruzzo, says Liz Boulter in The
Guardian. Perched at an altitude of
1,250m in the Gran Sasso National
Park, the hotel is spread across
several medieval buildings in the
fortified village of Santo Stefano di
Sessanio. Its interiors are timeless,
with wooden beds and “gorgeous”
handwoven covers in the rooms,
and hand crafted crockery in the
restaurant, which serves local,
seasonal food. And there are no
end of activities on offer, from
massages and cookery lessons to
wolf tracking and truffle hunting.
Doubles from s80 b&b;
ecobnb.com.Hotel of the week
Last-minute offers from top travel companies
Covid-19: please check government websites for testing and quarantine requirements, and the rules surrounding children (gov.uk).The charming seaside town of Tipasa