Lima: City of Kings

Founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1535, as La Ciudad de los Reyes, or ‘The City of Kings’, Peru’s capital Lima, is an enchanting city which is guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who visits there.

Top 10 Haunted Places in Britain

Did you know that half of all adults believe that ghosts might exist? It’s no wonder then that so many people come to Britain and visit one of the thousands of sites here that are said to be haunted… are you one of these people?

Here are Britain’s top 10 most haunted sites (visit them if you dare):

STRUTH - Wedding's in the can

STRUTH !

IN his continuing search for the more weird, whacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says a couple in Spokane in America's Washington State are paying for their wedding and a 3-day honeymoon with 400,000 discarded aluminium beer and soft drink cans.

Calling themselves just Pete and Andrea, they've collected over 35,000 cans themselves in their first month – and had relatives, friends, workmates, and as a result of local Media coverage, complete strangers give them a further 75,000 that they've sold to a scrap dealer.

"It leaves us 290,000 cans and seven months to reach our goal of 400,000 cans to pay for our July 31 wedding," Andrea said.

To further cut costs they've got family and friends making floral decorations, taking the wedding pictures… even helping with the wedding breakfast and the bridal cake.

And in keeping with the atmosphere of it all, the outdoor wedding, the reception, the morning-after breakfast and a 3-day "honeymoon" will all be held in a somewhat off-beat replica Bavarian castle in neighbouring Idaho State that's called The Idaho Castle.

"It's a vacation home and we're getting it for four days for what you'd normally pay most reception halls for just four hours, so that's another saving," said Andrea, who says they hope to keep the cost of the wedding, reception, honeymoon and everything else associated with it to under US$4000.

"With 400,000 cans worth roughly US$3800 at current rates, we should just come in budget," she says,

"And we've even got friends gonna make the home-brew beer for the reception," she says enthusiastically, which we think could well make for another story for another day…

(Our pictures show Pete and Andrea with the results of a night's work on the streets of Spokane collecting discarded cans, and The Idaho Castle vacation home that will be the venue of their outdoor wedding, the reception, morning-after breakfast and a 3-night honeymoon.)

DOING IT IN STYLE – YOU GOTTA BE DREAMING

david ellis

ITS only January and we're already planning on exiting 2010 in style.

Mates remind us, however, that we're mere scribblers, and suggest we're dreaming.

They're right.  

But our dreams are sea-dreams because we're taking ourselves aboard the world's most highly-rated boutique motor-cruiser – SeaDream I – that come October will journey 6,100 leisurely kilometres (3,300 nautical miles) from one side of the Atlantic to the other.

Yet bizarrely the tab for those handful of fellow holidaymakers joining us, will start from just US$2803pp – including government and port taxes – and is a steal at our current high rate against the US$.

And we'll be indulged in 5-star luxury by more crew than passengers (95 crew for probably no more than around 85 or 90 guests,) we'll dine on the finest gourmet fare, take drinks from the bars any time we want and not have to sign chits or worry about a bar bill when we get off, enjoy bottomless glasses of wines at lunch and dinner (and again not have to sign or worry about how much they'll cost,) join our fellow passengers for nightly pre-dinner cocktail gatherings with Champagne and caviar, and not have to concern ourselves with putting aside for those annoying tips.

More amazingly it's not for just a week, but a whole 12-nights as we swan our way from Malaga in Spain to Madeira in Portugal, and across the Atlantic to San Juan in the Caribbean.

If you, too, think we've lost the plot, let us explain. When summer comes to an end in the glitzy Mediterranean, the twin mega-motor-cruisers SeaDream I and SeaDream II chase the yellow ball across the Atlantic for six months in the balmy Caribbean.

And because these "Crossings" don't have the associated costs of daily ports of call, they're priced as much as a half below the norm.

We've done a couple before, and which is why we've put our hand up again for this year*.

SeaDream I and II each have just 56 staterooms, but last year our "Crossing"  was "full" with only 82-guests – including ten Aussies – because some staterooms were occupied by single holidaymakers.

Days started with breakfasts on deck under shade covers, and we quickly found we couldn't get more than a couple of steps from the lavish buffet of fruits, cheeses, yoghurts, juices and cereals, without a waiter whipping our plate from us and delivering it to our table. Saved us all that effort.

And then we'd be presented with menus for "the mains" that could include scrambled eggs topped with truffle oil, corn beef hash, lamb cutlets, hash browns, Traditional English Breakfast of bacon, eggs, chops, tomatoes…

Following this we'd venture to the golf simulator to take-on St Andrews one morning, Pebble Beach another, Princeville a third. And by noon be adjourning for boastful drinks at the outdoor Top of the Yacht bar….

Then on-deck lunches of maybe Alaskan crab claws, soups, salads, seafoods or steaks, pastas, vegetarian selections, decadent desserts and pastries…

After which we'd retreat to an afternoon lecture, a kip in our stateroom, or take a good book poolside, raising a languid hand on arrival to have a waiter appear almost instantly by our deckchair with our favourite drink. And to mist us with a moisturiser spray – before asking if they could also polish our sunglasses while at it.

Then a shower and change before nightly cocktails… and dinner in the Main Salon (and occasionally on deck too) with such delights as Grand Marnier Soufflé, whole roast prime rib-eye, roast duck with orange, honey and oyster sauce, rack of lamb, vanilla crème brulee with pistachios, Baileys cheese cake…

And there was no call for ties and jackets at dinner: slacks and collared shirts sufficed.

And finally nightcaps at the Piano Bar, before collapsing to our queen bed in preparation to do it all again next day.

If this sounds your kind of holiday – particularly at the price that's for 12-nights and includes 5-star dining and service, wines with lunch and dinner, drinks from the open bars, and gratuities – come and join me.

See your travel agent, or visit www.seadream.com 

(* Veteran travel writer David Ellis was invited by SeaDream Yacht Club to escort a group of fellow writers on SeaDream I's October 2008 and 2009 Atlantic Crossings.)

 PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] SEADREAM I steams into the Caribbean at the end of a 6100km journey across the Atlantic

[] CHEF Surprised this group of Aussies on last year's Atlantic Crossing with Aussie Party Pies and Aussie Wine under an Aussie flag

[] ON deck dining for two on SeaDream I's Atlantic Crossing

[] THE Big and the Small: SeaDream at just 4300 tonnes is dwarfed by the 91,000 tonne Jewel of the Seas

Struth - Swiss no bar to business

Struth - would you believe!
With David Ellis

In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says the Swiss are not generally renowned as being amongst the world’s greatest toss-pots.

So it came as something of a surprise on a recent overseas trip to find that the longest, fully-staffed airline lounge bar world-wide is in a lounge of Swiss airlines in Zurich… it’s 40-metres long, has 30 stools at the bar, eighteen lounge chairs, and general seating for another hundred or so.

And it’s directly above another Swiss Business Class lounge with almost as many seats for those happy to serve themselves to complimentary food and drinks.

Maybe we’ll have to reconsider our understanding of Swiss drinking habits.

STRUTH - 200 year old wine under the hammer

STRUTH !

IN his continuing search for the more weird, whacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says someone with an expensive taste in Cognac has paid a Paris restaurant the equivalent of AU$55,000 for a bottle of the stuff made in 1788 – the year the First Fleet landed in Sydney, Bonnie Prince Charlie died and twelve months before the French Revolution.

The restaurant, La Tour D'Argent, which first opened its doors in 1582 and has been rebuilt and renovated numerous times since, decided to clear out some of its cellar to make way for new stock, and put 18,000 bottles of wines and spirits up for auction.

It included the 1788 Cognac, but diners can be assured they'll still have plenty to choose from: the restaurant's got more than 420,000 bottles from around the world in its cellars, and diners need plenty of time to peruse its Wine List because its 400 pages long.

FOOTNOTE: The $55,000 bottle was bought by an investor and the restaurant gave the money to charity; another bottle from the same vintage fetched only AU$30,000 – because its label and seal were in poorer condition than the more expensive bottle.

STRUTH - Dip into your favourite tipple

STRUTH !

IN his continuing search for the more weird, whacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says the French take their winemaking seriously, and the annual release of the famous Beaujolais Nouveau at midnight on the third Thursday of every November – while a fun event across the nation – is  still considered a very serious matter amongst connoisseurs.

So they were probably mortified to hear what the folk at a resort in Japan did last month with their beloved 2009 vintage of this great wine: they poured a container load into a Jaccuzi and, sacre bleu, heated it up… so guests could go for a swim in it.

The Hakone Kowakien Yunessun in Central Japan is one of the country's more unusual spa resorts, and as well as bathing in the waters of its hot springs, also offers such weird options as taking frolics in that warm Beaujolais Nouveau, and hot green tea, sake and coffee.

And thankfully, during last month's antics management kept enough of the Beaujolais Nouveau aside for guests to partake of in a normal fashion – from  a glass.

EL CONVENTO’S SOME HOTEL – BAR NUN

david ellis

In this first of a two-part feature, David Ellis discovers a boutique hotel in Puerto Rico with a history as rich as any tale Hollywood could conceive out of the Caribbean; and next week he continues its remarkable journey from convent to flophouse to an extraordinary boutique hotel...) 

ITS anyone's guess what the good ladies who founded the Carmelite Convent in San Juan in Puerto Rico a-near 360 years ago, would make of their old one-time digs today.

Gone are the tiny celibate cells in which they spent long and solitary days in prayer or meditation, gone are the thin straw palliasses on which they fitfully sought sleep through steamy Caribbean nights, and gone are mealtimes of  porridge or gruel or root vegetable stews in keeping with their vows of poverty.

In their place are spacious rooms with 21st century luxuries amid centuries-old antiques and heirlooms, queen-size beds in which guests indulge in the deepest of the Land of Nod, and from the kitchens now come breakfasts of Eggs Benedict, banana and walnut pancakes topped with maple syrup, mountainous Yogurt Parfaits topped with crunchy almonds, walnuts and fresh sweet strawberries…

And for lunch Empanadillas (turnovers with Spanish sausage, cheese, meat or lobster,) Gambas al Ajillo (sautéed shrimp in garlic sauce,) Veal Cutlets Viennese style, Pechuga de Pollo al Ajillo (chicken breast with garlic and white wine sauce served with uniquely prepared local plantain bananas…)

Or amongst a score of dinner options, the Caribbean's highly popular Puerto Rico Mofongo: fried green plantains seasoned with garlic, olive oil and pork crackling, all mashed and filled with chicken, steak or shrimp. Or for more simple pleasures, multitude tapas or a half-pound (226gm) Classic Burger with the lot.

And in what was once a private room of the Mother Superior, nightly pre-dinner wine and cheese tastings for guests fortunate enough to stay here, with reds and whites splashed with gusto into voluminous crystal glasses … for an hour or so, for free, with great slabs of cheeses and dried fruits to go with it.

The old Carmelite Convent, as we quickly learned on a recent visit, has undergone somewhat of a transformation from its religious heyday: it's now one of the world's finest small hotels, with a history as captivating as any tale out of the Caribbean.

San Juan itself was established by the Spanish in 1521 as a stop-over between homeland and America. They built a garrison against their French, Dutch and English enemies, and with constant wars with all this lot, the number of widows on the island was considerable.

So one, Dona Ana de Lansos y Menendez de Valdez asked the King of Spain to build a convent for widows and single ladies wishing to serve the church.

When he agreed, and with her own personal wealth, Dona Ana donated her home opposite the San Juan Cathedral as a site for the Convent.

Spanish soldiers were assigned to build it, and strongly enough to withstand assaults by local Indians, Spain's European enemies, hurricanes, and the tropical heat: its sun-baked clay-brick walls were made a metre thick.

In 1651 Dona Ana, her sister Antonia and four protégés were the first to enter the Convent, with Dona Ana as Mother Superior; the Convent served its role well for 252 years until in 1903 it was decided that maintenance was now too costly, and with only nine nuns and two novices in residence, it was closed.

The building lay empty for a decade and was eventually sold for a mere US$151 by the Carmelite Order to the local Catholic Diocese, which rented it out as a retail store, then a dance hall, and for 40 years as a flophouse for the homeless.

Worse, in 1953 it became a storage yard for garbage trucks until it was decided to demolish it to make way for a public parking station.          

Enter Robert Frederic Woolworth – heir to the Woolworth fortune – who was so aghast at the prospect of the historic old Convent's fate, that he bought it from the church for $250,000, engaged a team of architects and builders and turned it into a boutique hotel he would call The El Convento.

NEXT WEEK: Creating a unique hotel with dedication, a "no expense spared" philosophy – and a band of gypsies.

……………………..

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] SAN JUAN'S Hotel El Convento: from historic convent to flophouse to majestic boutique hotel

[] THE hotel's shaded courtyard, a far cry from the vows of poverty of its original inhabitants

===========

CONVENT-CUM-HOTEL DEFIES RENOVATORS BAD HABITS

david ellis

LAST week we looked at something of the history of the extraordinary Hotel El Convento in San Juan, Puerto Rico – how it began life as a Carmelite Convent a-near 360 years ago, declined into a flophouse for the homeless in the 1900s, became a parking lot for garbage trucks, and in 1957 was slotted for demolition to make way for a carpark…

AND a carpark it would doubtless be to this day had it not been for the unbridled enthusiasm of an unlikely benefactor, heir to the Woolworth retailing fortune, Robert Frederic Woolworth who was horrified when he learned of the potential fate of the historic old Convent from head of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, Ricardo Alegria.

Woolworth had personal business interests in San Juan, and when Alegria introduced him to Operation Bootstrap that sought to save the old Convent as part of a plan to develop local tourism – and along the way boost other business opportunities and thus employment – Woolworth dug into his pocket and personally bought the Convent from the Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan for US$250,000.

And he then set about converting the crumbling 300 year old ruins into a boutique hotel like no other, and with a zeal that even the dynamic Alegria and his local business colleagues found hard to match – not just individually, but collectively.

Woolworth engaged firms of architects, structural engineers and interior designers to plan his “dream hotel” that he would call the El Convento – and after adding two floors to the Convent’s original three to create 100 hotel rooms, set about furnishing the place.

But what he had in mind was easier said than done. So he and his interior designer spent weeks in Spain seeking authentic items from its Golden Age… and when they couldn’t find originals, Woolworth commissioned reproductions of chandeliers, wrought-iron fixtures, louvered doors, tapestries, paintings, shields and swords, and had lampshades made from goatskins as they had been centuries before.

And when snookered in his quest for authentic bedspreads and rugs, the tireless Woolworth went to Granada and engaged bands of gypsies to hand-weave these items for him.

In January 1962 his grand Hotel El Convento opened, a throwback to an era when hotels were destinations in themselves, and with the El Convento offering extraordinarily lavish Old World Spanish accommodations in one-time nuns’ cells, fine dining in what was once the Convent’s chapel, and international-standard entertainment including Flamenco dances and big bands in other historic chambers and courtyards.

The rich and famous flocked there including Rita Hayworth, Robert Montgomery, George Hamilton, Lynda Bird Johnson, Ethel Merman, Johnny Desmond and Claudio Arrau… and Pablo Casals who would play his cello in the courtyard.

But running the hotel was neither easy nor profitable, and owing a huge amount in back-taxes to the Puerto Rican government, the Woolworth family in 1971 donated the hotel to the government in lieu of these taxes. Various groups dabbled with management of the hotel over the next eleven years, before it was closed again for a 10 months make-over in 1982.

And in 1986 new renovators were horrified to find wallboard had been nailed over historic arches, concrete render slathered over 300-year old handmade bricks, and red carpet glued over priceless handmade floor tiles. They painstakingly removed it all to get back to the original.

Management of the hotel changed several times more, and in the mid-1990s the Puerto Rico government gave up ownership and sold the ailing property to a group of local business executives who poured more buckets of money into it, and estimated that around US$275,000 had been spent on each guest room.

Conde Nast Traveler magazine now rates it one of the world’s best hotels, and as well as being one of the world’s most unique boutique hotels, it is also Puerto Rico’s official Guest House for visiting heads of state and other state-invited dignitaries.

With San Juan the busiest cruise terminal in the Caribbean, if you’re planning a Caribbean cruise add a few days at the El Convento – it’s an unforgettable experience in yesteryear serenity amid Old San Juan’s myriad narrow streets of designer-label boutiques, historic buildings and sunny outdoor cafés.

For details see travel agents, phone Canada & Alaska Specialist Holidays on 1300 79 49 59 or email sales@canada-alaska.com.au