Getting the flavour of…
France’s latest national park
Those “desperately seeking undiscovered France” (and they are “legion”) need look no further than the country’s 11th national park, inaugurated only last month – the Parc national de forêts en Champagne et Bourgogne, says Anthony Peregrine in The Daily Telegraph. Covering 600,000 acres, it includes “vast” stretches of ancient forest, 450 miles of waterways and 1,250 miles of hiking paths. The cultural treasures in its vicinity are also wondrous – among them the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais (with its “astounding” collection of Celtic treasures), the elegant abbey of Fontenay, the beautiful fortified town of Langres, and the “almost over-charming” village of Flavigny-surOzerain, where the film Chocolat was shot. Stay at the Château de Courban, a hotel in a 19th century mansion with a Michelinstarred restaurant and spa.
An unspoilt island close to Athens
Connected to the Greek mainland by a bridge just an hour’s drive north of Athens, Evia is the country’s second-largest island. It draws plenty of holidaymakers from the capital, but not that many from overseas, and large stretches of it are quite unspoilt, says Sara Wheeler in The Times: this is “a Greece recognisable from the pages of the
Iliad”, its mountainous hinterland “crosshatched” with juniper and olive groves.
From Karystos, you can hike along a beautiful coastal path to Marmari. Beyond that lies Ochi, home to one of the island’s many “dragon houses”, stone structures built long before Homer. It is also worth taking a water taxi over to the Petali Islands, where Maria Callas, Picasso and “sundry royals” built “palatial” villas. The islands’ air is scented with lemon thyme, and pink judas trees spread down to their shores, where the beaches are beautiful yet often deserted.
In the lab with Tutankhamun
Housing 100,000 artefacts, Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum is due to open next year. In the meantime – for a price – you can take a “startling”, behind the scenes tour of the 17 laboratories where conservation experts are working on its ancient treasures, says James Stewart in The Sunday Times. Among them are finds from the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, including his fantastic jewellery, his sandals (covered in starbursts of beads like orange flowers), and even his loincloth. Liberated from their display cases, these objects and countless others seem like the personal possessions they once were – the sense of “intimacy” is striking. The museum itself will be vast, with two galleries the size of football pitches devoted to Tut.
Steppes Travel (steppestravel.com) has a three-night trip including private tours from £1,675pp.