A romantic notion conjured up the Reid family in 1881, the Madeira Botanical Garden boasts a privileged location on the south side of a valley. At an altitude of between 200 and 350 metres (660–1,155 ft), conditions are perfect to support a spectacular array of exuberant vegetation. Nourished by nutrient-rich soils, the gardens are lush, vibrant and breathtakingly beautiful – just as the founders had dreamed. Revel in the fragrances of sprouting herbs, sub-tropical fruits and slender pine trees or discover semi-arid succulents and the dragon tree with its cylindrical trunk. A pattern of harmonious shapes and contrasting colours uses the vivid hues of Funchal Bay as a backdrop to create a tapestry-like floral carpet. Exotic plants from all continents combine to produce a glorious celebration of colour, from lilies, birds of paradise, magnolias and azaleas to bromeliads, cacti and hibiscuses.
For a truly romantic voyage through the gardens and beyond, take the Botanical Garden’s cable car up to the historic village of Monte with its beautiful church, gardens and wicker sledges. Savour expansive vistas of stunning tropical splendour, romantic Oriental tea-gardens and secluded love-seats tucked amongst the palms. Gaze out across the Atlantic Ocean as you cosy up in silent wonderment to the gentle sounds of seabirds and lapping waves. Monte’s fairytale aura once captivated Europe’s high society; today it is synonymous with miracles and centuries-old romantic legends. Since 1850, couples have observed the tradition of sliding at high speed on two-seater toboggans along Monte’s narrow, winding streets down to Funchal. Steered by two men dressed in traditional white cotton clothing and straw hats, the sledges glide on wooden runners. Poles are used for propulsion and rubber-soled boots as brakes, so lock hands and close your eyes for this romantic leap of faith.
The Madeira Botanical Gardens are lush, vibrant and breathtakingly beautiful.
SPAIN
TIME DIFFERENCE GMT +1
TELEPHONE CODE +34
CURRENCY Euro
LANGUAGE Spanish
POPULATION 40.4 million
SIZE OF COUNTRY 504,782 sq km (196,865 sq miles)
CAPITAL Madrid
WHEN TO GO Spain is generally divided into a temperate north and a hot, dry south, with April to October the most popular time to visit. In the height of summer (July to August) temperatures soar to scorching highs inland. Coastal regions remain pleasant year-round but are prone to wet weather in winter.
TOURIST INFORMATION Spanish Tourist Office Tel: 020 7317 2010 Fax : 020 73172 048 Email: [email protected] www.tourspain.co.uk
Spain has at least a dozen personalities, from the desert-style plains of Almeria and silver-sand beaches of Formentera to the curvaceous hills of Catalonia and the deep ravines, stalagmites and caverns of the Balearics. Vast highland plateaus are segmented by spiny mountains while narrow, low-lying coastal plains run like ribbons throughout the south-west. Dramatic cliffs are home to hook-clawed raptors while bears, lynx, and wolves roam mountain woods and streams. Vines, olives, figs and orange groves flourish in the fertile soil of the foothills while beautiful domed Moorish palaces sit in resplendent gardens amidst mosaics, frescoes and archways.
004 SANTANDER
CONTACTS Santander International Music Festival Tel: +34 942 210 508 / 942 314 853 Fax: +34 942 314 767 www.festivalsantander.com
August in Santander is set to a romantic musical score as breathtaking, rapturous symphonies and stirring concertos fill the city with wisps of harmonic joy. Moving orchestral drama evokes the passion of heart-rending tragedy while soulful sonatas and concerto ritornelli whirl through Santander like a melodic virtuosic cyclone. From sweet piano refrains and dancing violins to cello solos and full orchestral might, the city plays host to umpteen renditions and repertoires from every classical genre. Delight in moody modernisti movements and the delicate Romantic era’s lyrical touch during Northern Spain’s month-long celebration of music that culminates in a rousing performance by the National Orchestra of Spain.
Named for the Latin Sancti Emeterii, Santander is characterised by fine historic buildings on handsome, Roman-built streets lined with trees and shrubs. At the heart of the city, the garden-filled Paseo de Pereda boulevard splits the old quarter from Santander’s sandy, coastal strip. One of the city’s earliest constructions, a 13th-century cathedral, sits atop catacombs, underground sculpture and sombre, vaulted chambers close to the grand bourgeois mansion houses overlooking the Bay of Biscay. Here, the Palacio de Festivales (Festival Palace), built by Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, is the venue of the prestigious Santander International Festival, one of Spain’s oldest musical celebrations. Though smaller performances can be enjoyed in the intimate setting of over 40 historic cloisters and gardens across the city, it is the Festival Palace that embodies the spirit of the occasion from a full-on symphonic extravaganza that sets the tone of the many dozens of operatic and choral concerts that follow. Inaugurated in 1991 with Handel’s oratorio, Joshua, a stirring piece from the height of his late creative period, the Festival Palace is in its element with big-stage productions mixing historic, ecclesiastic and aristocratic elements with a flavour of the mountains and the sea. The venue’s haunting acoustics blend with a stunning stage set – a large window that frames the Bay of Biscay provides the backdrop. To the sound of rapturous applause, the scenery takes on a romantic fervour at the climax of the festival when showered with thousands of single-stem roses from the stalls.
Cuban dancer Lorna Feijoo, of the Boston Ballet, performs during a rehearsal of Les Sylphydes for the Santander International Festival.
005 MADRID
CONTACT Madrid Tourist Office Tel: +34 915 881 636 Email: [email protected] www.esmadrid.com
Madrid’s sultry salsa scene revels in sensual seduction, in which simmering physical chemistry and overtly sexual rhythms collide in a full-on sensory assault. Meaning ‘sauce’ in Spanish, the salsa is anything but sweet in style. Yet a fiery chilli has soft flesh and the salsa is no stranger to tender sentiment, albeit wrapped in raw, heartfelt desire. With bodies pressed tightly together in rhythmic unison, Madrid’s spellbinding musical love potion adds an extra frisson to the dance-floor. ‘I’m drowning and I can’t live without you’ resonates the ultimate salsa love cry of Mi Todo (My All): an intimate cocktail of intoxicating lyrics and irrepressible, sweat-drenched beats.
In recent years salsa musicians from such places as Havana, Panama, Colombia and Argentina have made their home in the Spanish capital, joining forces with Spanish musicians to create various hybrid forms of salsa fused with African and Middle Eastern sounds. In Madrid, this melting pot of vibrant musical influences is easy to discover, from Cuban folk and Puerto Rican peasant dances to the tribal drumming of the Western Sahara. Visitors keen to experience Madrid’s sassiest dance form will need to wait until at least midnight when restaurants begin clearing the last dinner plates and city’s salsatecos begin to fill. Entering a salsa bar can be like joining a theatrical production where the dance floor is the stage and the salseros the actors. To the 1-2-3-touch, 5-6-7-touch of a pulsating, syncopated beat a moving sea of dancers revels in physical, musical and philosophical synch. Through shifting moods and tempos, couples sustain an intense level of inter-body communication as tendrils of salsa passion