Latest news with #CaminodeSantiago
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
How should I spend a 14-hour layover in Qatar?
My husband and I have a 14-hour transit in Doha Hamad Airport. Is it worthwhile doing a Doha city tour or better to camp out at an airport lounge? T. Choong, Hawthorn, Vic You've got plenty of time and provided you arrive at a reasonable hour, you could take one of the transit tours offered by Qatar Airways. The three-hour City Tour takes in the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara Cultural Village which includes the Katara Mosque and the Golden Mosque and colourful Souq Waqif, the city's bazaar with its Carpet Souk and Gold Souk, and don't miss the Falcon Souq and Falcon Hospital, one of the largest in the Middle East. The cost starts from QAR115 ($50) a person and Australian passport holders do not require a visa to enter Qatar. Another option is a Doha city tour offered by Discover Qatar, and this could be a personalised tour but even their longest tour, the Transit Exclusive, takes only five hours. With your remaining time, your best bet is to relax in one of the airport lounges. If your booking does not allow access to the business or first class lounges, other options are the Al Maha Lounge and the Oryx Lounge. In October, I am meeting up with an American friend to walk some of the Camino de Santiago. We will then travel along the Portuguese coast towards Seville by public transport where we will separate and fly home. Can you suggest how to deal with luggage during our walk and any other ideas for an itinerary over three weeks? E. Brew, Upwey, Vic Pilbeo specialise in transporting luggage for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The company also offers the same service on other pilgrimage trails leading to Santiago de Compostela including the Portuguese Camino in case your legs and heart decide to carry you further. Be sure to include the cruise along the Douro River from Porto. A stay for a couple of nights in Pinhao, a riverside town with postcard views of the terraced vineyards and easy access to some of the most prestigious wine estates, would enhance the journey. From there you could take the train to the coastal city of Coimbra. Set on a hilltop, Coimbra is endowed with a treasury of baroque and Portuguese gothic buildings that date from the Middle Ages when it was the country's capital. Don't miss the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra, and visit the coastal city of Aveiro, a small delight with pastel-coloured buildings casting a mirror image across its canals. Continue south to Obidos, a fortified town with narrow, cobbled laneways spiralling down from its hilltop castle, followed by Lisbon. Stay at least three nights, but a longer visit will allow you to visit nearby towns such as Evora and Sintra, once the summer retreat of the Portuguese royal family, sprinkled with pretty villas, castles and palaces. A train from Lisbon to Seville will take about seven hours. My husband and I plan to visit Italy for my 70th birthday and I want to spend three months somewhere to immerse myself in the language, but I don't want the place to be too touristy. As family and friends will visit, it needs to be close to tourist areas. Any suggestions? T. Campbell, Melbourne, Vic
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
How should I spend a 14-hour layover in Qatar?
My husband and I have a 14-hour transit in Doha Hamad Airport. Is it worthwhile doing a Doha city tour or better to camp out at an airport lounge? T. Choong, Hawthorn, Vic You've got plenty of time and provided you arrive at a reasonable hour, you could take one of the transit tours offered by Qatar Airways. The three-hour City Tour takes in the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara Cultural Village which includes the Katara Mosque and the Golden Mosque and colourful Souq Waqif, the city's bazaar with its Carpet Souk and Gold Souk, and don't miss the Falcon Souq and Falcon Hospital, one of the largest in the Middle East. The cost starts from QAR115 ($50) a person and Australian passport holders do not require a visa to enter Qatar. Another option is a Doha city tour offered by Discover Qatar, and this could be a personalised tour but even their longest tour, the Transit Exclusive, takes five hours. With your remaining time, your best bet is to relax in one of the airport lounges. If your booking does not allow access to the business or first class lounges, other options are the Al Maha Lounge and the Oryx Lounge. In October, I am meeting up with an American friend to walk some of the Camino de Santiago. We will then travel along the Portuguese coast towards Seville by public transport where we will separate and fly home. Can you suggest how to deal with luggage during our walk and any other ideas for an itinerary over three weeks? E. Brew, Upwey, Vic Pilbeo specialise in transporting luggage for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The company also offers the same service on other pilgrimage trails leading to Santiago de Compostela including the Portuguese Camino in case your legs and heart decide to carry you further. Be sure to include the cruise along the Douro River from Porto. A stay for a couple of nights in Pinhao, a riverside town with postcard views of the terraced vineyards and easy access to some of the most prestigious wine estates, would enhance the journey. From there you could take the train to the coastal city of Coimbra. Set on a hilltop, Coimbra is endowed with a treasury of baroque and Portuguese gothic buildings that date from the Middle Ages when it was the country's capital. Don't miss the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra, and visit the coastal city of Aveiro, a small delight with pastel-coloured buildings casting a mirror image across its canals. Continue south to Obidos, a fortified town with narrow, cobbled laneways spiralling down from its hilltop castle, followed by Lisbon. Stay at least three nights, but a longer visit will allow you to visit nearby towns such as Evora and Sintra, once the summer retreat of the Portuguese royal family, sprinkled with pretty villas, castles and palaces. A train from Lisbon to Seville will take about seven hours. My husband and I plan to visit Italy for my 70th birthday and I want to spend three months somewhere to immerse myself in the language, but I don't want the place to be too touristy. As family and friends will visit, it needs to be close to tourist areas. Any suggestions? T. Campbell, Melbourne, Vic
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Your questions: How should I spend a 14-hour layover in Qatar?
My husband and I have a 14-hour transit in Doha Hamad Airport. Is it worthwhile doing a Doha city tour or better to camp out at an airport lounge? T. Choong, Hawthorn, Vic You've got plenty of time and provided you arrive at a reasonable hour, you could take one of the transit tours offered by Qatar Airways. The three-hour City Tour takes in the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara Cultural Village which includes the Katara Mosque and the Golden Mosque and colourful Souq Waqif, the city's bazaar with its Carpet Souk and Gold Souk, and don't miss the Falcon Souq and Falcon Hospital, one of the largest in the Middle East. The cost starts from QAR115 ($50) a person and Australian passport holders do not require a visa to enter Qatar. Another option is a Doha city tour offered by Discover Qatar, and this could be a personalised tour but even their longest tour, the Transit Exclusive, takes five hours. With your remaining time, your best bet is to relax in one of the airport lounges. If your booking does not allow access to the business or first class lounges, other options are the Al Maha Lounge and the Oryx Lounge. In October, I am meeting up with an American friend to walk some of the Camino de Santiago. We will then travel along the Portuguese coast towards Seville by public transport where we will separate and fly home. Can you suggest how to deal with luggage during our walk and any other ideas for an itinerary over three weeks? E. Brew, Upwey, Vic Pilbeo specialise in transporting luggage for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The company also offers the same service on other pilgrimage trails leading to Santiago de Compostela including the Portuguese Camino in case your legs and heart decide to carry you further. Be sure to include the cruise along the Douro River from Porto. A stay for a couple of nights in Pinhao, a riverside town with postcard views of the terraced vineyards and easy access to some of the most prestigious wine estates, would enhance the journey. From there you could take the train to the coastal city of Coimbra. Set on a hilltop, Coimbra is endowed with a treasury of baroque and Portuguese gothic buildings that date from the Middle Ages when it was the country's capital. Don't miss the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra, and visit the coastal city of Aveiro, a small delight with pastel-coloured buildings casting a mirror image across its canals. Continue south to Obidos, a fortified town with narrow, cobbled laneways spiralling down from its hilltop castle, followed by Lisbon. Stay at least three nights, but a longer visit will allow you to visit nearby towns such as Evora and Sintra, once the summer retreat of the Portuguese royal family, sprinkled with pretty villas, castles and palaces. A train from Lisbon to Seville will take about seven hours. My husband and I plan to visit Italy for my 70th birthday and I want to spend three months somewhere to immerse myself in the language, but I don't want the place to be too touristy. As family and friends will visit, it needs to be close to tourist areas. Any suggestions? T. Campbell, Melbourne, Vic
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
Your questions: How should I spend a 14-hour layover in Qatar?
My husband and I have a 14-hour transit in Doha Hamad Airport. Is it worthwhile doing a Doha city tour or better to camp out at an airport lounge? T. Choong, Hawthorn, Vic You've got plenty of time and provided you arrive at a reasonable hour, you could take one of the transit tours offered by Qatar Airways. The three-hour City Tour takes in the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara Cultural Village which includes the Katara Mosque and the Golden Mosque and colourful Souq Waqif, the city's bazaar with its Carpet Souk and Gold Souk, and don't miss the Falcon Souq and Falcon Hospital, one of the largest in the Middle East. The cost starts from QAR115 ($50) a person and Australian passport holders do not require a visa to enter Qatar. Another option is a Doha city tour offered by Discover Qatar, and this could be a personalised tour but even their longest tour, the Transit Exclusive, takes five hours. With your remaining time, your best bet is to relax in one of the airport lounges. If your booking does not allow access to the business or first class lounges, other options are the Al Maha Lounge and the Oryx Lounge. In October, I am meeting up with an American friend to walk some of the Camino de Santiago. We will then travel along the Portuguese coast towards Seville by public transport where we will separate and fly home. Can you suggest how to deal with luggage during our walk and any other ideas for an itinerary over three weeks? E. Brew, Upwey, Vic Pilbeo specialise in transporting luggage for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The company also offers the same service on other pilgrimage trails leading to Santiago de Compostela including the Portuguese Camino in case your legs and heart decide to carry you further. Be sure to include the cruise along the Douro River from Porto. A stay for a couple of nights in Pinhao, a riverside town with postcard views of the terraced vineyards and easy access to some of the most prestigious wine estates, would enhance the journey. From there you could take the train to the coastal city of Coimbra. Set on a hilltop, Coimbra is endowed with a treasury of baroque and Portuguese gothic buildings that date from the Middle Ages when it was the country's capital. Don't miss the Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra, and visit the coastal city of Aveiro, a small delight with pastel-coloured buildings casting a mirror image across its canals. Continue south to Obidos, a fortified town with narrow, cobbled laneways spiralling down from its hilltop castle, followed by Lisbon. Stay at least three nights, but a longer visit will allow you to visit nearby towns such as Evora and Sintra, once the summer retreat of the Portuguese royal family, sprinkled with pretty villas, castles and palaces. A train from Lisbon to Seville will take about seven hours. My husband and I plan to visit Italy for my 70th birthday and I want to spend three months somewhere to immerse myself in the language, but I don't want the place to be too touristy. As family and friends will visit, it needs to be close to tourist areas. Any suggestions? T. Campbell, Melbourne, Vic
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Irish Independent
Try these fresh coastal wines with brisk Atlantic influence
Others are particularly fresh with pithy grapefruit notes and a distinctively briny salinity. That salinity will not surprise anyone who has visited north-west Spain's Galicia, where the wine region of Rias Baixas hugs a coastline made up of multiple rias (inlets) and the peninsulas that divide them. If the Atlantic seems to be everywhere you look, that's because it is. Albarino is the queen of grapes in Rias Baixas, making up 95pc of all vine plantings here. Its styles vary considerably, largely depending on which of five sub-regions it was grown in. If I was to blind taste the two styles described above, I would guess that the riper wine might come from one of the warmer inland sub-regions, and that the saline one comes from the Val do Salnes subregion, where many vineyards sit right on or within view of the sea-swept coastline itself. Besides that proximity to the coast keeping temperatures milder than further inland, the salty winds and rain also elevate levels of chloride, potassium, sodium and other salts both in the soils and the plants growing in them, and make their way into the resulting wines to such a degree that you can taste them. Rias Baixas is not the only wine region with an Atlantic influence. If you walk the 'northern way' of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route running along the Basque coastline of 'Green Spain', you will pass vineyards hugging the coastal hills here — that is, if you can see them behind the low-hanging clouds that sweep in off the ocean and slow the ripening of those grapes. With any luck, you'll also taste the resulting txacoli wine in local pintxos (tapas) bars, where its low alcohol, high acidity and very dry style is a perfect palate-cleansing quaffer for sampling myriad food flavours on a pintxos crawl. Follow that coastline up into France or down into Portugal and you will find other Atlantic-influenced wine regions. Western France has Muscadet de Sevre et Maine in the north, where the Loire river meets the Atlantic, and Cotes de Gascogne further south. Portugal has Vinho Verde and Barraida along its western coast, plus various vineyards around Lisbon. All of today's refreshing wine suggestions express that Atlantic influence, including a red from north of Lisbon. Ophalum Albarino 2023, Rias Baixas DO, Spain, 12.5pc, €19.95 ADVERTISEMENT From the co-op run Paco & Lola winery, this charming Val de Salnes Albarino has ample fruit and briny vibrancy, with lychee, white peach and almond milk aromas and fleshy fruit cut by fresh acidity from pithy mid-palate to saline finish. Or for other Val de Salnes examples, O'Brien's mineral Lagar de Costa Albarino is currently on promotion (€17.56), or try Mar de Frades Albarino Atlantico (€22, widely available) in its cool blue bottle, or Lidl's Salnoval Albarino (€11.99). O'Briens Wine; Coing St-Fiacre Chardonnay 'Aurore', St-Fiacre sur Maine, Loire, 12pc, €19.50 Imagine Chablis-style unoaked Chardonnay transported to the westerly end of Loire Valley where the rivers Sevre and Maine meet, grown in schist soils and picked at low yields. The result is this vibrant beauty with lemon drop notes, mineral salinity and fleshy silky texture. Independent retailers, Domaine Tariquet 'Classic', Cotes de Gascogne IGP, France, 10.5pc, €14.95 A delightful low-alcohol blend of local Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Gros Manseng with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Chenin, produced in Gascony between the Atlantic and the Pyrenees, this would be as perfect for a seafood picnic as for an aperitif with fresh oysters. Great value too. Independent retailers including Sweeney's D3, Gaintza Roses 2023, Getariako Txakolina, Basque Country, 11.5pc, €26 A super dry, salty, crunchy and slightly effervescent rosé txakoli made from red Hondarrabi Beltz and white Hondarrabi Zuri grapes in Getaria fishing village near San Sebastian, this is an ideal match for Getaria's delicacy of Cantabrian anchovies, or any well-handled oily fish. Quintessential Wines, Drogheda Adegamae 'Salino' Tinto 2022, Lisbon, Portugal, 13pc, €17 It's not just whites that can benefit from a coastal influence. This red Castelao-Aragonez blend, made on the Atlantic coast north of Lisbon by two of Portugal's finest winemakers, Anselmo Mendes and Diogo Lopes, drinks fresh and bright with balsamic cherry and rose petal notes. Independent retailers including Pinto Wines;
