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Brewing at High Altitude

The village of Monstein above Davos – most famous as the host city of the annual World Economic Forum – is home to the highest brewery in Europe. The tour of BierVision Monstein begins in a vintage bus, where you’ll learn about Davos and its spectacular landscape, before moving on to the historic village and finally the brewery.

From a small homebrew operation started by four mates back in 2001, this is now a fully fledged, full-scale operation. During this leg of the tour you’ll taste the beer at all stages of the process and hear about the challenges facing the brewers way up here in the clouds. The tour ends with a glass of either pale Huusbier or dark Wätterguoge, and a plate of award-winning beer cheese made by co-founder Andreas Aergerter.

Barefoot Pilgrimage

Test your Christian faith with the ultimate three-day pilgrimage to the island sanctuary of St Patrick.

Located on a small lake in Ireland’s County Donegal, Lough Derg has been attracting worshippers for more than 1000 years. Immerse yourself in this time-honoured tradition of Celtic spirituality, but be prepared to get tired, hungry and cold. When you arrive on the island bid farewell to your shoes in exchange for a frugal existence and prayer.

For the next three days you will walk barefoot, fast and engage in ritual worship, including silent prayer and kneeling on hallowed beds. Participate in an all-night, 24-hour vigil and fast for the duration of your stay, with the exception of one daily meal of dry toast and black tea or coffee.

Some find the pilgrimage an energising and enlightening experience. Others would concur with its other name – Saint Patrick’s Purgatory.

Après-ski at the legendary MooserWirt

Want to get a taste of the pub rumoured to sell more beer per square metre than any other in Austria? Then best head to St Anton’s Mooserwirt, just one of the legendary après-ski haunts on the run from Glazig to St Anton. At 3pm, the shutters are closed and the club begins – alternatively you can try and find a place on the packed sun terrace.

Before you hit Mooserwirt, though, you might want to have a sneaky stein and schnitzel further up the mountain at the Krazy Kanguruh. Next door at Taps is a little quieter if you want to ease into the afternoon. The other slightly more sedate (but hardly quiet) option is Griabli, with live rock, soul and blues from about 3.30pm each day.

Fly a fighter jet

Join the Red Army for a day at the Pilsen air base and test your nerve in the cockpit of a Czech Aero L-39 Albatros with MiGFlug. This is not a simulated flight for wimpy air-force wannabes and you better have a stomach of steel. You take the controls as an instructor leads you through terrifying dogfight manoeuvres, including rolls, dives, loops and extremely low passes just a few metres from the ground.

Salute! It’s Carnival, Italian style

If you fancy yourself as some kind of international man/ma’am of mystery, this could be your dream celebration. Venice’s famous Carnival, like Carnival all around the world, involves an orgy of decadence before the self-denial of Lent. At least, that’s what Carnival is meant to celebrate, even if its origins have been long forgotten by many. Of course, Venice’s 12-day extravaganza is renowned for its masks that not only add an extra dash of colour to proceedings, but also encourage behaviour that may not come quite so naturally should the perpetrator be more easily identified.

Naturally, there are parades and drinking and dancing and debauchery, but also look out for other entertaining options: jousting tournaments, walking theatre performers leading tours of the city and its secrets, and games of calcio storico, an ancient sport that resembles football but also involves competitors knocking two shades of shit from one another.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of an artisan, get out the glue gun and BeDazzler, whip up a mask and enter it in the competition at Gran Teatro di Piazza San Marco. The overall winner receives a holiday in Venice and VIP tickets to Carnival events.

Mediterranean Island Flab Fight

The Spanish island of Mallorca derives its name from the Latin word maiorica, meaning the larger one. What better motivation is there for shedding those extra kilos at the Ashram?

The island may be famous as a destination for the rich and beautiful, but there’s more to experience here than lazing by the sea.

Tackle nature’s very own stairmaster climbing 900-metre mountains each day and be rewarded with stunning views of the Mediterranean Sea, not to mention a bootilicious butt.

The week-long programs are aimed at fat-busting and muscle building and include daily 5.30am wake-up calls, kayaking, circuit training, pilates and yoga, topped off with a nutrient-rich vegetarian menu. Become ‘the smaller one’ you’ve always wanted to be.

Simmer in hot springs

Hold onto your bathing suits because United Airlines have made it easier than ever before to fly from New York to Nuuk, Greenland if you’re in dire need of a hot spring soak.

They’ve just launched direct flights (the first time a US-based airline has ever done that), and there are thousands of hot springs across Greenland, but none quite like Uunartoq which can be easily accessed from Nuuk. Located in South Greenland, Uunartoq Island is completely uninhabited, making it the perfect spot to reconnect with nature.

Three converging warm streams keep its crystal-clear geothermal pool brimming with steamy water – even when the winter temperature drops below freezing. The stone-dammed pool is a plunge-perfect 37°C year round, thanks to the heat created by friction in layers of the Earth’s crust. Take a boat from the nearby islands of Qaqortoq or Nanortalik and sink into Uunartoq Hot Springs’ warm embrace against a backdrop of dramatic mountains and floating icebergs.

Right Royal Party

Orange wigs, congested canals, live music everywhere and lots of beer. Queen’s Day is most definitely the Netherlands’ most exuberant festival. It’s celebrated nationwide, but if you’re around during Queen’s Day, make sure you head to Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands and host to the country’s wildest parties.

Although many Dutch residents couldn’t care less about the monarchy, they wouldn’t miss this national holiday for the world. Every year on 30 April more than 700,000 people converge on the capital for 24 hours of fun and frivolity. While the queen and her royal entourage engage in traditional folkish activity in some idyllic village somewhere in the provinces, the real hardcore partying is done in Amsterdam, queen or no queen.

“Do you know what is going on?” a baffled Japanese tourist asks me on the train to Amsterdam, via the airport. Judging by his suitcase he’s just arrived and apparently hasn’t got a clue what he’s stumbled upon. The train is jam-packed with people dressed in ridiculous orange outfits, the Dutch national colour. Orange wigs, big plastic crowns and flags complete the madness. So either the Dutch national soccer team has won the European final, which grips the country with similar revelry, or something else is going on. Yes, something else is most definitely going on. It’s Queen’s Day – the day the Dutch celebrate the birthday of Queen Beatrix. Well, actually her late mother’s birthday, as Queen Beatrix’s birthday is in January and temperatures below zero would seriously spoil the outdoor fun.

My attempt to explain the chaos is drowned out by a group of loudly singing young men. Some have bloodshot eyes – Queen’s Night on 29 April has become a big event in the past decade, especially in The Hague, and, although drinking on the train is forbidden on this day, the pungent smell of alcohol is everywhere. And it’s only 11 o’clock in the morning.

Once we arrive outside Amsterdam central station thirst takes over. “Wanna beer?” my companion asks. I’m sure it’s five o’clock somewhere in the world so I cave. I must admit that, despite the early hour, the cold fluid is magnificently refreshing. As the orange-coloured mass slowly moves straight onto the Damrak, we decide to turn right into the Jordaan area, arguably the most picturesque part of the city. Grab a random postcard and you’ll see the picture-perfect canals lined with stately mansions, Amsterdam’s pride and a striking backdrop for the colourful festivities.

By midday the streets are filled with people dancing to ear-splitting music pumping from large ghetto blasters carefully balanced on window panes. Holland isn’t known for its great climate and April can be chilly, but today the sun is blazing and everyone is peeling off layers of clothing and slopping on sunscreen. Overlooking the water you truly grasp the scale of the festivities. The canals are congested with dozens of boats trying to pass the narrow bridges, but no one seems to care as they cheerfully dance and sing along to the music. We’re probably safer on shore – the wobbly boats are so jammed with people it’s a miracle they still float.

Our first stop is cosy Café Thijssen, an Amsterdam institution located on the corner of Lindengracht and Brouwersgracht. You won’t find many tourists in this part of town and, although it’s crowded, it’s pleasant enough to linger for an hour or so. On a small stage just in front of the cafe, a klezmer band is playing traditional Jewish tunes. It’s impossible to stand still listening to these rousing melodies.

Queen’s Day is the only day of the year when people can get rid of unwanted stuff on the streets. Everything from clothing to old records, rickety furniture to trinkets is sold at bargain prices. “How much for the boots?” I ask a girl with pink hair. “For five euro they’re yours,” she replies. I gratefully swap my heels for the comfortable-looking boots. Heels are no match for Amsterdam’s cobbled streets.

“Beer for only one euro,” a boy no older than 10 yells from behind his home bar, installed on front of his porch. I wonder if it’s legal, but order two anyway. With great effort he carefully pours our beers, leaving more froth than liquid, but the sight is so endearing we instantly forgive him.

The setting couldn’t be more captivating: the dining room faces a deep pelagic blue that fades to turquoise streaked with yellow as it approaches the shallows of the long, sandy crescent of Aegialis Beach. It is early June on the island of Amorgos, the southernmost point of the Cyclades, and high season hasn’t yet kicked in. There are few sun-worshippers and even fewer swimmers, but the stunning location of Hotel Aegialis, perched spectacularly over the eponymous village, ensures that it’s full.

Despite the usual international breakfast spread, it is the local fare everyone goes for here: the yoghurt and honey, the Amorgos nut-and-raisin muesli and those honey-smothered sweets for which Greece is so famous. The variety of baked products is startling. From wafer-thin filo delicacies to sesame-sprinkled loaves of bread, the resourceful islanders can produce a lot based on flour and water. Add some oil and the resulting xerotigana (dough sticks) are fried, dipped in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon and sesame seeds. Cracking under my teeth, they fill my mouth with an aromatic mixture of oil and honey. Add yeast and the resulting dough produces loukoumades (Greek donuts). These fried dumplings get the same honey-and-cinnamon treatment but, with their chewy soft centre, taste very different and gradually release the sticky, sweet syrup they’ve absorbed.

Preparing the filling for Drunk Amorgians, a local specialty.
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Next to the loukoumades is a Cycladian staple. Amorgian pasteli consists mainly of honey, sesame seeds and herbs, boiled together and set over lemon leaves for flavour. Its high calorific value makes it the old-school equivalent of an energy bar. Homer mentions it in the Iliad, where it is consumed by Greek soldiers during the siege of Troy. Herodotus describes it, too, as does Aristophanes. I have a bite and my teeth stick in solidified goo. This must be the only confection where you can taste every individual kilojoule. I think of my waist to be unveiled later on the beach in all its dubious glory and set the rest aside.

Sweets are not part of a regular meal on Amorgos, but are instead usually reserved for special occasions. Pasteli and xerotigana feature heavily in village fetes and saints’ feasts, in family baptisms and marriages. Loukoumades are traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve and every time there is ‘new oil’ from the olive press. This traditionally happens in late November and coincides with the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin, the biggest local festival. Spending the fresh November oil on loukoumades is an act of luxury, a gesture of defiant waste of the precious new harvest and a hopeful celebration of a year of plenty.

The only thing I would never expect to be added to dough is wine. But then I ask what the savoury turnovers I am stuffing myself with are called. “Drunk Amorgians” is the reply. Because, yes, wine is used in their preparation. Their light, crumbly pastry fuses with the tangy cheese-and-egg filling and the discreet scent of mountain herbs to produce a subtle contrast of flavours, the attribute of a unique dish.

Later Irene Yannakopoulos, the owner, manager and chef at Hotel Aegialis, demonstrates to me how she cooks these traditional sweets and pies. She’s wearing kitchen gloves and standing behind shining stainless-steel bowls, presiding over tablecloths as white as the island’s lime-washed houses. She does this each Sunday and Wednesday, teaching visitors to the island how to make some of the simple baked goods that make a visit to this part of the world so memorable.

This must be the only confection where you can taste every individual kilojoule.

“The cuisine of Amorgos,” Irene says, “like that of every other Cycladic island, depends on its own produce. In the closed, subsistence society of old, you lived from your farm’s own yield.”

She points at the breakfast spread and explains the ingredients her home island produces: “Olive oil, wine and wheat to make flour; fruit, mostly pears, raisins and figs, which we air-dry to preserve. Then there are nuts, pulses and a range of garden vegetables and herbs, like thyme and mint, both of which grow wild. Everything you see there has been grown on Amorgos since time immemorial.

“In my youth, everyone had their own goats and sheep for milk, cheese or yoghurt and chickens for eggs. We ate much less meat than we do today.” On the dry, sun-baked Greek islands the boundless Aegean ensured that seafood was always available, so farm animals were more valuable for what they supplied than for their meat.

“And as sugar came later, we used honey from beehives – and still do in our traditional sweets.”

Born and bred on Aegialis, Irene left as a teenager, not by choice but by necessity. “Forty years ago, the only high school on the island was in Chora, the capital, two hours away on foot from home,” she says.

I try to imagine her walking to school, chewing on a pasteli bar for endurance. I look at the winding coastal highway that snakes out of the village below. Aegialis was only connected by road with the capital Chora, 18 kilometres away, in 1989. It was then that electricity also arrived, too late to change the eating habits of the locals. For what Irene has accidentally just given me was a short, concise summary of that famous Mediterranean diet.

Methisena Amorgiana (Drunk Amorgians)

A platter of Drunk Amorgians.
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Makes 25

INGREDIENTS
Dough
1 cup olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp salt

Filling
2 eggs
3 heaped tbsp chopped mint leaves
3 heaped tbsp chopped anise (fennel fronds)
1 onion, finely chopped
¾ cup crumbled feta

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 165ºC. Oil and lightly dust two trays.

To make the dough, combine the oil and wine in a bowl, and fold in the flour and salt. Turn the dough out on to a floured board and knead until it is firm.

For the filling, break the eggs into a bowl and add the mint, anise, onion and feta and combine. You want the filling to be quite solid, so add a little bit more feta if it’s too loose. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Using a spoon, cut the dough into small balls then press them on the kitchen counter to make disks about 10 centimetres in diameter. Put a spoonful of filling on the centre of each one and fold it in half. Use the tines of a fork to seal each parcel.

Place the turnovers on the prepared trays and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden. Serve with a classic Greek salad.

You can also use this dough to make sweet amorgianas. For the filling, use a good dollop of your favourite marmalade or jam. Once they’re baked, dust with icing sugar to serve.

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region: Europe