Budget breaks and trips to the past - What the Saturday papers say
April 23, 2006Today's coverage is a good mix of budget breaks - Benelux, Cornwall, Bulgaria, Spain, France - self-catering holidays and journeys to the past.
Two newspapers send journalists back in time ... to Russia. Andrew Evans in The Times takes the train to Minsk in Belarus. "In just one night we leave capitalist Europe behind and enter the forgotten glories of the USSR, preserved in the odd bubble that is Belarus," he writes. Despite the political protests in March, Evans found the country stable, safe, snowy, beautiful and well worth a visit. A highlight was a visit to Belovezhskaya Pushcha, a national park that is home to European bison. Obtaining a visa is a tedious process, but "worth it to see the ancient oaks and wildlife of a lost Europe".
In The Daily Telegraph, Bernice Davison takes a daytrip to Chernobyl, 20 years after the power plant exploded. She and her group head deep inside the 18-mile exclusion zone around the nuclear reactors to a Mary Celeste world of fading photographs, abandoned houses, apartments and farms.
In The Times Michael Harvey wonders if a holiday with children is ever really a holiday. Happily, thanks to a trip to "Villa Pia, a farmhouse on the Tuscan/Umbrian border tailored for parents with children" he discovers that it can be, and in a related feature (at the bottom of Harvey's article), Jeannette Hyde finds five family villas to rent for the summer.
Low-cost luxury is on the menu at the Baumontia House in Kenya. Nick Maes (The Guardian) discovers a self-catering holiday that comes with a chef from £20 a night.
For fans of short-breaks, John Carter (The Times) finds that France’s West Country is Cornwall all over, and Ray Kershaw (The Independent) goes in search of Paul Cézanne's footsteps in Aix-en-Provence.
Just a couple of months before easyJet starts flying to Marrakesh (from Gatwick from July 4), Nigel Richardson (The Daily Telegraph) discovers that the city "lives up to its reputation as a darkly exotic city of narrow streets and snake-charmers".
The Guardian rounds up some budget breaks in Europe. For example, a canal trip this May from Amsterdam to Brussels on the new easyCruiseTwo costs from €10 a night, surfing lessons at Newquay cost from £25 a half-day and accommodation starts at £18 a night, and a week's cycling through the Alps and half-board in Chamonix, Les Arcs, Morzine-Les Gets and Tignes costs from £399.
The Guardian also has a feature on learning how to sail in the UK for less than £200. Liz Hunt, (The Daily Telegraph) a merchant navy captain's daughter, never realised her father's passion for the sea until she joined the crew of a yacht in a round-the-world race.
This week's movie tie-in is a feature about Sicily, the backdrop for The Big Blue, "a cult classic about free-divers", writes Tim Ecott in The Guardian.
The Independent has a complete guide to The Seychelles by Cathy Packe that covers more than the soft sand, bird and marine life and fashionable resorts of the Indian Ocean archipelago. Packe answers questions such as "when should I go?", "how do I get around each island?" and "is it all very upmarket?"
Finally, ahead of tomorrow's London marathon, Mike Barnard (The Times) recalls his participation in the Chicago marathon and there are eight more ideas by Mike Barnard and Will Hide from Stockholm to Kenya for running men and women who really like to work up a good appetite.
© Cheapflights Ltd Oonagh Shiel
