Editor’s Note: Terry Carter and his wife and writing partner, Lara Dunston, have written half a dozen travel guides to Dubai and the UAE and have made it their home base since 1998. We asked Terry to write about top local / off-the-beaten-path travel tips for Dubai. You can also check out their recent post about “Top Things to Do in Dubai“.

Dubai Tip #1: Dip your toes into the Arabian Sea

Dubai Tip #8 — Expat Volleyball

We’d like to say that it’s invigorating, but we’d be so wrong. The truth is that most of the year the water is as warm as a baby’s bath, but remember, it’s the Arabian Sea! You can surf, kite surf or just take advantage of the photo op with the Burj Al Arab as a backdrop. While it’s calm most of the time, there are strong currents – and you don’t want to be drifting off towards Iran with the US warships and pesky pirates around. If you do float to Iran, remember to call it the Persian Gulf not the Arabian Gulf. Just so you know.

Dubai Tip #2: Catch a local bus

Most visitors to Dubai never catch the local buses, probably due to the fact that you can actually melt into a sizzling puddle on the sidewalk waiting for one. But it’s a great way to mix it with Dubai’s expat workers – not the ones on the executive packages. You’ll see the neighbourhoods where they live and get a feel for the different expat communities. It’s also a great way to find those authentic workers cafés. Just look for the crowds around a hole-in-the-wall and get off. There is a double-decker hop-on-hop-off bus that does the main routes, but that’s cheating.

Dubai Tip #3: Let’s do brunch

When a Dubai resident says ‘let’s do lunch’, it’s not an empty threat. If you’re in Dubai on a Friday or a Saturday, brunch with the expats is a must. Take excellent people-watching opportunities, add good value food, mix liberally with free drinks, and presto, you’re living the Dubai equivalent of ‘the good life’. Week time lunch specials are also brilliant value. Check the Time Out magazine or website for the current dining bargains.

Dubai Tip #4: Shop yourself silly at a mall

Contrary to what you might read elsewhere, Dubai’s cultural activities don’t exclusively consist of shopping, shopping and more shopping (see our previous blog on Dubai), but the mall certainly is a focal point of local activity. Dubai doesn’t have a ‘town square’ or the ritual of the afternoon stroll around its manicured paths – this activity takes place at Dubai’s malls. Why? It’s too ****** hot to do it elsewhere! Whether it’s to meet friends for coffee, to check out the latest designer fashions (local and international), catch a movie, or just escape the heat, you have to hit the mall at least once. Just don’t call it ‘mall culture’…

Dubai Tip #5: Check out the local supermarkets

Dubai Tip #5 — Eat local

Sure they’re not as exotic as the souqs, but local branches of supermarkets (such as Carrefour) reveal a lot about how people live in Dubai. You’ll see old local women, often sporting the traditional burka (face mask), doing a monthly shop with a trolley laden with huge bags of flour, rice, cooking oil, and dozens of tissue boxes!

There are fresh nuts, olives, pickled vegetables, and other goodies (caviar anyone?) in barrels at the deli counter, but you can also pick up fascinating souvenirs here as well – chocolate covered-dates, orange water, rose syrup – all with endearing packaging that hasn’t changed since that old local woman was pulling water from a well.

Dubai Tip #6: Succumb to the spa

Dubai is fast becoming a world-class spa destination. Just about every five-star hotel has at least one spa and the treatment lists are just as extensive as any in Thailand. Given Dubai’s reputation as a luxury travel destination and emphasis on relaxing, it’s no wonder that the spa scene has become so competitive. Cleopatra’s Spa started the ball rolling many years ago and in many ways is still the queen (sorry!) of Dubai’s spas. And one of the most reasonably priced.

Dubai Tip #7: Picnic at Creekside Park

As soon as the weather cools off a little, Dubai’s residents hit the beach or a park. Creekside Park is a favourite because it has great children’s facilities as well as abundant shade and afternoon Creek breezes. The smell of BBQ (everything from Thai chicken satay to Middle Eastern lamb kebabs) and sheesha (aromatic water pipe) fills the air as does the playful sounds of children speaking a dozen or so different languages. Before you head to the park, drop in to the nearby Wafi Mall to Wafi Gourmet for your picnic supplies – juicy olives from the barrel, white cheeses, dips of hummus and muttabal, kebbe, and fabulous fresh bread.

Dubai Tip #8: Be a good sport

Dubai’s winter sporting calendar attracts everyone from Tiger Woods to Roger Federer (a part-time Dubai resident), and while this provides a great opportunity to see your favourite sporting superstars up close there are plenty of other sports to watch – or join in. Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan expats play cricket at any time of the day, anytime of the year, and anywhere where there’s room to swing a bat. Emiratis flock to see their favourite football (soccer) teams play at the stadiums and the sport of rifle throwing (yes, that’s what we said) attracts supportive extended families. Even if you’re here at the height of summer that’s no excuse: Monday night is Freestyle Night at Ski Dubai, complete with DJ spinning tunes.

Dubai Tip #9: Drink in the views

A Dubai ritual for residents entertaining friends, the ‘drinks with a view’ generally means selecting one of three options. There are the awe-inspiring city views: busy Bar 44 at Grosvenor House with its awesome champagne menu, or Vu’s Bar at the Emirates Towers Hotel where window-side tables are coveted. There is the Burj Al Arab view from either hip 360˚ at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel or safari-style Bahri Bar at Mina A’Salam. And finally, there’s the simple Arabian Gulf Sea view from funky Sho Cho (where you can also hear the waves crashing on the sand below) or lofty Skyview Bar at the Burj Al Arab. Cheers!

Dubai Tip #10: The midnight snack

The post-shopping, post-work shift, or post-imbibing ritual is to head to the neon-lit Satwa neighbourhood for a late-night nibble or a full-blown meal. There are several choices around Al Dhiyafa Rd, but the two main attractions are the basic Pakistani curries and sweet lassi (yoghurt-based) drinks at Ravi’s, or shwarma (juicy, fragrant lamb or chicken rolled up in a pita bread) washed down with fresh juice at Al Mallah. Enjoy!

–Terry Carter

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s complete list of Dubai tours & things to do, from desert sandboarding safaris to Dubai city sightseeing tours.

Ladies, if you ever need your mood lifted, go to Rome.

It’s very difficult for a woman to walk down the street there without being greeted with ‘Ciao, bella’ or ‘Buongiorno, beautiful lady.’ Very good for the ego. And definitely not pick-up lines but just part of the joy of life embraced by Italians. My theory is that all that pasta, wine and sugary cake makes them feel so happy they want to share the joy. Well, bring it on I say.

Trevi Fountain, Rome

Rome: Getting situated

I recently went to Rome for the third time and the geography of the city fell into place for me. If you have the luxury of returning to places, it seems to me that the third visit is key. The first visit, I’m a bit overwhelmed by new sights and sounds and smells. On the second I fill in the blanks, things I’ve heard about since my first visit, places I missed, venturing a bit further afield. But on this third visit to Rome, I suddenly realised where the Colosseum is in relation to the Pantheon, how to walk from the Trevi Fountain to the river without slavishly consulting a map, and braved buses and trams.

We flew cheaply from London and landed at the secondary, smaller airport, Ciampino. I’d always come in via Fiumicino, which has a train straight to the central station, Termini. But Ciampino was just as easy – and cheap – to get in from. A shuttle bus to the Metro A line which goes straight through central Rome (you can also book a private Ciampino airport transfer over on the main Viator site). There are only two Metro lines so it’s pretty easy to negotiate. I just wish I spoke Italian because the carry-ons of a group of teenagers in our carriage made the sternest looking woman burst out laughing – oh for a Babelfish in my ear.

Our hotel was near the Spanish Steps, Hotel San Carlo. Not crazy expensive, basic breakfast included, and so well located (which is important when time is limited). The most alarming, but very Italian thing, was my room number: 74. The hotel has no lift and after climbing as far as the third floor and seeing rooms 30-40, I began to doubt surviving the climb to the 7th floor! Luckily, Italians are a little free and wild with numbering so the 4th floor was rooms 70-80.

Day 1 in Rome: Walking & eating

Day 1 we walked. Up the Spanish Steps, left past the Villa Medici, through the Borghese Gardens, stumbling across great buildings, aesthetic trees, courting couples. Then we headed down into Piazza del Popolo, along Via del Corso, a major shopping street and thoroughfare, crowded with shoppers and wanderers. We were slightly distracted by various shops, but while damaging your credit card, you can still appreciate amazing architecture.

Saturday Shopping in Rome

And those police uniforms! Especially the carabinieri. Do they get these guys from Central Casting? Be still my beating heart. I had a job interview the day after I returned to London and when they asked me my weakness I had to stop myself replying “Italian Policemen”. But it is futile trying to get their attention – either they only stir themselves for really major crimes or they actually are window dressing while the real cops are hidden behind the scenes.

Dinner that night was at a great place in the grid of shopping and eating streets near our hotel: L’Enotec Antica on Via della Croce. We chose it because it looked atmospheric and the least touristy. We were right. There were lots of locals, the pasta was fresh, the service fast and efficient, the atmosphere great. After dinner, we wanted a nightcap but couldn’t get a seat at the bar so we went elsewhere: big mistake. In one of the many places with tables on the street, we were surrounded by young drinking English tourists and had a terrible tiramisu, which we didn’t finish according to the ‘empty calories’ theory (calories you don’t enjoy eating are pointless).

Day 2 in Rome: Ah, those Italian men

Day 2 we went for a coffee at Bar Gambero, a little place on Via della Vite and Via della Gambero that I had found a few years earlier. The same lovely waiters were still there, and they gave us free pastries – I flatter myself they remembered me but I suspect it is a first-visit tactic to make you a regular for your stay in Rome. Who cares! They were sugary goodness and the coffee was great.

Then we wandered. The Trevi Fountain is amazing if just for the sheer volume of people crowded around it. You have to wonder if the surrounding buildings are still apartments: imagine waking up to that everyday! Or even more fabulous, going to sleep looking at the fountain at night. It’s best all lit up, so we returned that night on our way home. We both threw in a coin and made a wish, avoiding the many, many guys offering to take our souvenir photo or push red roses into our hands followed by a demand for money. I can’t even imagine how crowded the small square must be in summer, at the height of the tourist season. Hang on tight to your handbag!

We visited the Pantheon. I love this building. Built around AD 120 – amazing. But one of the most interesting things is the way people behave there. It’s a sacred building, a basilica, and there are signs asking for respect and silence but people are wandering around talking loudly, sitting on the floor, yelling to friends. Maybe because it does not have the traditional church structure of aisle and altar and seating, it does not send us that ingrained message to be silent and reverent.

C U L8R AT 4UM

Next we wandered towards the river, via Piazza Navona, a huge square full of restaurants. But we shied away from eating there fearing inflated prices and decreased quality food. Instead we wandered through winding back streets, full of cute shops and found a little bistro, still full of us English speakers but with a nicer, less frantic atmosphere.

Then we headed for the Forum and the Colosseum. From the wrong side. Ah, the joy of travel without a map and a plan. We walked and walked, skirting the outside of the Forum, getting a great view of the ruins below us, but not actually finding the way in! By the time we did (it’s near the Colosseum by the way) we were tired, it was 9 euros each and we felt like we’d seen it by then. So we continued on to circumnavigate the Colosseum. Again, we didn’t go in, not feeling the need to part with the cash when you can sort of see in, and get the sense of the haunted place from the outside. Then we saw my favourite sight for the weekend: a Centurion texting on his mobile phone.

Exhausted we caught the Metro back to our hotel before braving a bus and a tram to get to the Trastavere district for dinner. I had a conversation with the bus guy, him speaking Italian, me English, but we understood enough to find the right bus. Trastavere is full of bars and bistros but long queues on a Saturday night. We were lucky to get a table in a place called Da Othello, highly recommended, lovely staff, great busy atmosphere and terrific antipasto then seafood with the whole fish filleted at the table. And the meal including wine was really cheap.

Then back to our local enoteca for a nightcap and for my travelling companion to break the heart of a barman who became completely smitten. We ended up returning there the following night for our final meal and he blushed and charmed his way into our memories forever. Ah, those Italian men.

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What is surprising about Istanbul is not the exotic atmosphere, it’s the cosmopolitan sensation of a city on par with New York or Paris. Sure, the call to prayer echoing from neighborhood mosques is nothing to scoff at — particularly when accompanied by an evening sunset. And sure, many aspects of Turkish culture and history abound.

Yet from the first steps onto the concourse of Atatürk International Airport to a stroll in the well-heeled Taksim neighborhood, Istanbul feels thoroughly sophisticated. Travelers the world over come to Istanbul, and in the most popular areas your as likely to hear English, Russian, German or Spanish as you are Turkish. Modern trams, subways, ferries and taxis move you about town. While Turkey in general remains a good bargain for Western visitors, Istanbul’s reputation as a cheap destination fades in proportion to its upscale development.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district

Things to Do in Istanbul: Sightseeing in Sultanhamet

Istanbul’s Sultanhamet (old city) district is a favorite target of backpackers. Hostels, cafes, nargile (water pipes for smoking flavored tobacco) bars and carpet shops line the quaint streets. The Four Seasons Hotel overlooks the neighborhood from a massive building, formerly a Turkish prison (really). Many of the city’s well-known tourist attractions are within walking distance. I stayed at the Orient Youth Hostel, more than adequate though nothing too special. The rooftop view from the bar/café is notable. The Chillout Hostel, Sultan Hostel and Metropolis Hostel were also recommended to me second-hand.

A short walk from Sultanhamet, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is more commonly known as the Blue Mosque, stemming from the avalanche of blue tiles lining the interior. It closes to tourists at various prayer times throughout the day, but its impressive interior is more than worth a wait. Entrance is free of charge, and visitors must remove their shoes before entering the sacred place.

Just across the way from the Blue Mosque, adjoined by a small park, is Hagia Sophia, another of Istanbul’s biggest attractions. Once a church, then a mosque and now a museum, the building is noted as one of the most substantial examples of Byzantine architecture and dates from the mid-6th century under the reign of Emperor Justinian. The various mosaics adorning the interior of the building are second to none.

Down the street is Topkapi Palace, the residence of Ottoman sultans for more than 400 years, also now a museum. The Harem section of the palace is only accessible by guided tour, and the grounds include four main courtyards and a series of seriously mystifying and tangled trees. Quite debatable is the authenticity of some of the museum’s collection – the original staff used by Moses to part the Red Sea comes to mind – but interesting nonetheless. If forced to choose between the visiting the museum of Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace, I, for one,prefer the palace.

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar

Quite centrally located is the labyrinthine Grand Bazaar, perhaps the must-see of must-sees on any visit to Istanbul.Take pleasure loosing yourself in the twists and turns of the covered marketplace, which after a few minutes of immersion begins to feel like a world of its own. Spices, carpets, clothing, jewelry and pretty much anything one might want is available in a delightfully disorderly environment in more than4,000 shops.

Gold traders make deals amongst all the commotion in a manner resembling a Wall Street trading floor. The Bazaar is closed on Mondays, but throughout the rest of the week it is a flurry of activity. Aphrodisiac teas and candies endorsed by various Ottoman Sultans are rumored to have powerful effect, though I cannot personally endorse any such items. (And yes, you can always book a day tour of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace & Grand Bazaar over on the main Viator website.)

Things to Do in Istanbul: Taksim

The Taksim district is quite literally the epicenter of modern Istanbul, with shopping, hotels and restaurants. İstiklal Caddesi is a pedestrian only street dead-ending at Taksim Square and running to the Beyoğlu neighborhood on the other end. Small alleys branching off this street are home to popular bars and nightclubs, the twist and turns of these offshoots can be confusing, but are worth exploring for activity after-dark. On New Year’s Eve Taksim Square is the place to be with an impressive fireworks display. Major bus lines and Istanbul’s limited subway system also converge in this area, making it accessible to much of the rest of the city.

Upscale shopping is the rule in this part of town, and the bargains of the Grand Bazaar are nowhere to be found. Istanbul’s wealth and style is in full bloom on sidewalks filled with young and old sporting the latest international fashions.

Things to Do in Istanbul: Nightlife in Beyoğlu

Beyoğlu, on the opposite end of İstiklal Caddesi, is a major destination for nightlife, and there is entertainment to suit all tastes. There are upscale but seriously seedy “gentleman’s clubs,” fine dining and thumping dance clubs. It is perhaps best to check with the locals as to what is the trendiest venue at any given time or any particular night. Babylon and Kemanci are among the best known clubs. Many of the city’s historic pubs are in this neighborhood, as is the Istanbul Modern, an art museum with permanent and rotating collections, housed in a former warehouse. The area does have a reputation for pickpockets and swindlers, so keep purses and wallets close.

Things to Do in Istanbul: Eating & Drinking

When it comes to eating and drinking in Istanbul there are many options, but there are several must-haves for any visitor. The first is döner kebab, and you will have no problem finding the local-favorite cheap and plentiful on nearly any street. Döner strongly resembles the Greek gyro, and consists of meat sliced of a rotating spit and served in pita bread.

Turkish tea is also a must-try, and blends well with smoke from bubbling nargile. Turkish raki (strongly resembling Italian sambuca or Greek ouzo) is an anise-flavored liquor. When mixed with water the concoction takes a milky look with a slightly bitter taste.

Efes Pilsen is the most prevalent of Turkish beers (sort of a Turkish Budweiser) and though not particularly original in flavor one is hard-pressed to find many other native brews available. Turkish coffee – thick and syrupy — is literally coffee-grounds directly dissolved in water and leaves a paste in the bottom of the cup upon consumption. Whether prepping for a late night of partying or along day of sight-seeing it is effective in energizing even the weariest traveler, but there should be no need for caffeine to create excitement over Istanbul.

–Benjamin Cunningham

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours and things to do in Istanbul and tours in Turkey. Also check out other Viator blog posts about Istanbul: Hammams in Istanbul, Ode to Istanbul and Istanbul Rules.

What to do in Milan? Start with an espresso.

Drama. Passion. Coffee. Coffee, coffee, café.

You guessed it, the land of the Boot. Italy. That’s where I am now, where the waving pointed finger is the only way to make a conversation work. Where you can never say “yes” just once (”si, si, si” in staccato machine-gun succession). And where you and that pointing finger can really say “no” together (”No, no e no!”).

It’s also where the espresso is king. Espresso is the only kind of coffee here. Well, I guess if you’re soft you can have some milk in the morning in the form of a macchiato or cappuccino. But when you ask for a simple “coffee” (and it’s only 80 cents usually) you don’t get 300ml of black burnt sludge that came from a filter machine. No, no, e no! You get espresso. Welcome to Italy.

Onward to Milan

One way to reach Milan — at least for us old-school, no-air fools — is by land and the art of international hitchhiking. Another way is by train. The train from the north, coming down through Switzerland (or Schweiz, or Susse, or Svizzera or whatever they are calling themselves this week) will leave you at Chiasso, if you are as lucky as I turned out to be. Although they all speak fluent Italian and on a Saturday night it seems like even the train platform is a teenage nightclub all set to explode with passion and unrestrained energia, you eventually may discover that you are still in Switzerland. A short walk down the hill will also reveal the border between the Teutonic north and the Mediterranean south.

Upon approaching the line of jurisdiction at 2am, a pleasant torrent of words issued from the one of the four border police. My new standard phrase, “Non capisco Italiano” (I don’t understand Italian), quickly resulted in the smiling English reissue of “Welcome to Italy.”

And I’ve never felt so welcome before. It’s like stepping back a notch to a beautiful era where buildings have ornate augmentations and wrought iron balconies, where pizza shops sell pizza made by real Italians, where sports cars suddenly make sense because they are driven at appropriately sporty speeds.

Just an hour’s train ride into the Italian motherland, Milan is not the screaming scary bustling metropolis you might expect from the catwalk-hopping, handbag-carrying, espresso-assailing image of the city presented via movies, dubbed television and wildly gesticulating radio. Once you adjust to the constant states of exception, then the public transport is exceptional (really, why should it be a problem if the last train is now so late it has now become the next train?).

The streets are not as busy as you would expect for nearly two million people, the people not as rude as in cities where they push you aside to go on their way. Nor are the people too friendly as to scare you with shallowness. It’s all part of a life that sees your espresso downed at the bar, leaving you ready to go out and talk, to pause in the parks, to take in the sun and stroll in the piazza amid the street sellers, locals and fashionistas. Tourists are in short supply here, too, making the Italian-only language barrier a refreshing reality rather than an impossible obstruction.

Things to Do in Milan

Gentlemen of Milan, playing bocce

Where to begin? Milan is a little unlike other cities, having no “cool areas” overstuffed with hip customers where one lifestyle size fits all. The city varies across its breadth, yet does so in an even way that leaves it to you to find what you want. Like searching for four-leaf clovers in a field of fresh grass, at first supermarkets, food and even an internet café are all invisible among the shoe shops, espresso bars and marine-clothing fashion outlets.

But then with a small adjustment of your eagle-eyed attitude, they become yours to find as they slowly emerge from the complex social fabric that makes up the metropolis.

Life isn’t always in the fast lane – the street life extends itself to the bocce tournaments among the more senior members of the city, the curious sound of old men smacking their balls together and the excitement as the calipers come out to determine the winner. Couples sit nearby on park benches necking, somehow refreshing in the spring afternoon light, while elsewhere in the many parts of the parks children show a reassuring independence as they play and repeatedly manage to avoid near collisions upon swings.

It’s an interesting mix of many-tongued immigrants, of colourful Italians and their jaunty small dogs that strut along as if they are the true owners of the city streets. Some sections of park being dedicated to only the bouncing hounds, like a street newspaper where the news is written in invisible ink on every blade of grass, fence post and tree. With a feeling like Paris, but with less grey and warmer air, there is something to be said for visiting Milan in the spring – the very aliveness in the air either drawing you in or letting you sit back and feel it all drift by.

Perhaps a touristic detour is what you need to feel complete?

Then start from Cadorna by the Castello Sforzesco (castle), milling by the moat then on to wander past the largest ice cream in the world — the gothically ornate Milan Cathedral, towering stories high above the thronging piazza and looking as if to melt in the warm sunlight, dripping with detail and stone hewn delights. Pause a moment and take a rite of spring dawning from the European winter with a bag of fresh roasted chestnuts. Marvel at the English buskers playing Oasis covers with a verve that says, “we could never draw a crowd like this in England.”

Now stop by one of the many roadside bars and sip an aperetivo in the golden sunset light and snack upon the olives, cheeses and breads upon the bar as the day draws to its meandering end. Rejoice as Europe shows a rare demonstration of Nature’s fury as a storm tumbles south from the mountains to empty its wares of thunder and lightning upon the wide streets and rooftops of the city.

A passion that you can take on, or just move with. Regardless of what anyone may tell you, Milan is like an espresso for the soul.

–Robert Curgenven

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Italy tours and things to do in Milan, from Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ at Il Cenacolo to a Lake Como day trip.

Sydney is a truly magnificent city, blessed with friendly people, great restaurants and one of the most spectacular natural settings of any city in the world. But there’s one area that Sydney is well below par, and it’s even led the proud locals to admit – shock, horror – that they’re being beaten by rival city Melbourne.

Sydney is a terrible place for a drink.

Sydney: Sure it’s pretty, but can you find a bloody drink anywhere?

Until now your choices for an after-work tipple or a lazy Sunday afternoon session have been the pub (big, noisy, packed beer barns) and the club (big, noisy, packed beer barns… with poker machines).

All that is soon to change with the introduction of legislation aimed at reducing the licence fee for small venues. Current fees (around $15,000) are set to plummet to as little as $500 for small-capacity licensed premises. The bill, introduced to Parliament by Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore, states that Sydney should boast “a night economy that is diverse and in line with other cities - Australian cities like Melbourne and Perth, and European, American and Asian cities, such as Paris, Florence, San Francisco and Shanghai.”

Supporters of the change are excitedly predicting a rebirth of Sydney nightlife. No longer will those wanting a quiet drink with friends be forced to run the raucous gauntlet of George Street on a Saturday night. Smaller European-style bars and wine bars (so successful in Melbourne since similar licensing deregulation in the mid-1980s) will soon grace the back lanes and third-storeys of CBD buildings.

Not everyone is welcoming the change. Predictably, the Australian Hotels Association is opposing the liberalisation of licensing laws, with the Association’s president stating, “We (people from Sydney) don’t want to sit in a hole and drink chardonnay and read a book.” It seems, though, that as with cultured cities the world over, some Sydneysiders want to do just that.

As usual in a bar fight in Australia, the last word goes to a Labor Party identity. This time it was former Prime Minister and withering orator Paul Keating, who weighed in on the issue late last year: “The pub culture in Sydney is stultifyingly bad. It’s raucous and it’s noisy in the Klondike-like saloons. All that’s missing is Lola Montez. The idea that you have to go into these swills to get a drink, and not in some more beguiling place, is a shame.”

Bring it on!

–John Ryan

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours and things to do in Sydney, including Sydney food, bar & nightlife tours. Also read John’s previous post about finding a decent place to drink in Melbourne.

When I first visited New York City’s Lower East Side a decade ago, there was a gigantic graffitoed painting of recently murdered Mexican diva, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, on the side wall of a building on the corner of East Houston Street. It separated the neighbourhood from its more genteel neighbour, the East Village.

Lower East Side street art

Now it’s a billboard for a lending institution.

NYC’s Lower East Side: Remembrances of things past

When visiting New York, I always stay on the Lower East Side with my Australian friend, whom I shall refer to by the name of Dee to protect the innocent. Dee lives a short walk from Chinatown on the Lower East Sire. And as I arrive in the late afternoon I usually arrange to meet Dee after her work in an uptown office megaplex at Lotus, where I can snuggle my chai (yes, dear reader, forgive me, for I am a chai-snuggler) and read for as long as it takes Dee to brave the perils of peak-hour subway.

I walk down Clinton to Lotus and enter: shock horror, an empty Lotus awaits, all darkened and reddened, the arrival of party-going hordes. The chais are gone, the tuna-salad bagels are gone, the piles of the Village Voice are gone. Lotus is now just another hipster bar, one of dozens that continue to pop up in the neighbourhood: the Lower East Side is now a beacon of Manhattan nightlife.

Later, as we eat nearby in the din at the bustlingly gorgeous Schiller’s Liquor Bar, Dee is unmoved and unsurprised. “You know, Alex, if you could see the changes that have happened to the Lower East Side since we moved in eight years ago. When we moved here, it was all Dominican.” The story is a familiar one: this neighbourhood hosted each successive wave of immigrants until the real estate boom flushed out the last corners of cheapish rent on Manhattan island. Thankfully, diversity’s fabric hasn’t been totally unthreaded. The nearby projects still remain, meaning the neighbourhood hasn’t last all of its diversity.

Sunday morning, D Train

The following day, at Soy, a Japanesey hole-in-the-wall on Suffolk between Rivington and Delancey, I meet Nicky, an artist at the Clemente Solo Velez Cultural Centre. Named after a distinguished Puerto Rican poet, it’s a former public school and an architectural landmark distinguished by early 20th-century exuberance. It houses two small theatres and a couple of dozen artist’s studios and is a stalwart of the old Lower East Side. For as long as I’ve visited the neighbourhood, its ground level has been clad in graffitoed scaffolding.

“I’ve had a studio there 16 years,” Nicky says. “At the beginning it didn’t even have locks on the doors. It was a squat, you know - this was a pretty rough neighbourbood. We had to fight the city to keep it, then we had to fight those who wanted it to be just for the Puerto Ricans. I can’t begin to tell you the troubles we’ve had keeping that building. But my rent is ridiculously cheap.” There comes a certain age in one’s life when you can’t have a conversation without talking about the price of real estate.

A scruffy, insouciant, rock ‘n’ roll guide to the Lower East Side

This is a fast-changing world, but that doesn’t mean every travel article about the Lower East Side should be a eulogy of things past. Sure there are Manhattan neighbourhoods with more and better museums, fancier restaurants, better-heeled locals and more camera-genic locales. Yet you’d be hard-pressed to find a Manhattan neighbourhood more rock’n’roll than this one.

So here follows my scruffy, insouciant, rock ‘n’ roll guide to the Lower East Side.

• Best Guitar Store. Hipsters love vintage guitars, which means that the neighbourhood boasts some wonderful purveyors of the ax. My favourite: Rivington Guitars. Thanks, Howie for giving me a demo of that 12-string Rickenbacker on that vintage Vox amp, even though you’d just driven 20 hours that weekend to pick up some axes in Ohio, and even though I had to tell you some pathetic lies about how I was “thinking about how to push my music in new directions” to get you to do it. I wish I was you.
• Best Street Art. Hipsters love graffiti, which they call ‘street art’. Check this out.
• Best Bookstore. McNally Robinson, on Prince Street. Technically in Little Italy, this place makes literature hip, and that, friends, is no easy feat.
• Best Restaurant. I am a sucker for two things: hipster women and restaurants with strange symbols in their names. I don’t know if MS Word is even going to let me type this, so let me try: ‘inoteca. Damn, how do I get that apostrophe to face the other way? Long story short: snacky Italian bar-type meals, New York bustle, Italian wine list as long as (but far more interesting than) Dante’s Paradiso. Cheese list factor: stinky (that’s good).
• Best Cinema. Two Boots, corner Avenue A and E 3rd St. Grab a slice of pepperoni pizza in the adjoining pizzeria if puckish. Also technically East Village, but within easy walking distance.
• Best Museum. You have two hours to see a museum in the Lower East Side. Which will it be – New Museum or Tenement Museum? The brand-new New Museum on the Bowery was closed on the day I went to visit, but it seemed real nice, even if New York magazine said it was “over-hyped”. Visiting the Tenement Museum (108 Orchard Street, between Delancey and Broome) is like stumbling onto the set of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York – as well as being an invaluable reading aid to anyone with a passing interest in a certain kind of New York novel, i.e. anything written by Henry Roth or Michael Chabon.
• Best Knish. I’ve only ever had one knish in my life, and it was at Yonah Schimmel’s Knishery (“Hand Made Baked Knishes”) at 137 E Houston St. That’s a travel writer’s job: to pretend to be an expert about things he knows nothing about. But it was delicious. And it seemed very authentic.
• Best Magazine to Read About New York When In New York. On the one hand, there’s the New Yorker, magazine of choice for picking up hipster librarians on the Subway. (Here’s how you do it: read said magazine on the Subway, wearing something hip and distinctive. Go home. Look up ‘Missed Connections’ on Craigslist. Wait… Keep waiting…) On the other hand, there’s New York magazine, whose cover in the issue I picked up while there was emblazoned with the headline “Post-Crime,” about the city’s historically low crime figures.
• Safest Neighbourhood in Manhattan. According to the the aforementioned New York magazine article, definitely not the Lower East Side, which boasted in 2007 two murders, seven rapes, 215 robberies, 121 assaults and 114 burglaries. Please bear in mind: I quote these figures not to alarm but to inform. These are historically low figures. You are more likely to have your tongue scalded by a Starbuck’s coffee than to be the victim of crime in the Lower East Side (I just made that up, but it’s probably true). Incidentally, a quick perusal of the figures suggests the safest neighbourhood in Manhattan is probably Chelsea (where hipsters go to die, and where the score is 0, 8, 144, 151, 108).

Finally, here is my “Favourite Cheesy Thing to do in New York.” This has nothing to do with the Lower East Side, but the winner is the Empire State Building, hands down, for the view that really makes you understand why hipster hero Kurt Vonnegut called Manhattan ‘Skyscraper National Park’.

–Alex Landragin

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s New York City tours & things to do in New York. And if you haven’t already entered Viator’s NYC Rock ‘n’ Walking Tour contest, then a hipster you are not.

Visit Japan for the food? That’s an emphatic yes. Japanese cuisine is a great reason to visit – nevermind the country’s castles, temples, gardens, and geisha. Eating in Japan is like a tour of historical attractions in its own right. And with more than a dozen types of specialty restaurants, my plan was to eat my way from one end of my week-long visit to the other.

Japanese food on display (even the plastic samples look tasty)

What I didn’t realize was that my gastronomic tour of Japan would shatter a few long-held perceptions. Namely, that the food is mostly healthy, often unfamiliar, and unequivocally Japanese. I was surprised to learn that many of the country’s specialties are imports, brought in from the West and refined to the point they’ve become distinctly Japanese, which (by the way) is synonymous with perfection.Whether a highly coordinated meal delivered personally by the chef, or a DIY affair cooked at your own table on a piping-hot grill (mind your elbows), eating in Japan is an experience full of variety, with a side order of history. Following are three of my favorite specialties, both foreign and familiar at the same time, that comprise a mini-timeline of the politics and events that have shaped Japanese cuisine.

Japanese Cuisine: History of Tempura

We have the Portuguese to thank for tempura: seafood and vegetables battered and deep-fried to golden perfection. Portuguese missionaries and traders in the 16th century introduced this method of cooking to the Japanese – historians believe the word tempura comes from four days known as “Ember days”, or Quator Tempora, during Lent when no meat was eaten. The Japanese added their own twist to the name by spelling the word with the character for ‘heaven’.

I usually regret eating deep-fried foods, but tempura is different: crisp, light, and not so greasy. The secret is in the batter, a purposefully lumpy concoction of egg, ice water and flour that gives the coating on the food (or ‘cloak’ as the Japanese refer to it) a paper-thin, bubbling texture. They say that tempura aficionados can tell the difference between a novice chef of 5 years and a veteran chef of more than 20. Considering that tempura is all about precision in the mix of the batter, the heat of the oil, and cooking time, it’s not surprising that a chef of 5 years is still considered a novice.

Tempura shops usually serve set meals (teishoku) that include rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickles. In Kyoto, I dined at a tempura restaurant with a menu that had only two options: ‘small’ or ‘large’. When your only choice comes down to size, you know it’s got to be good. And it was. I paid $35 for the large portion, about 12 items, each served to me one at a time by the chef himself, straight from the cooking pot. Tempura is best while it’s hot, so try to get a seat at the counter and show the chef your appreciation by eating the tempura immediately.

Japanese Cuisine: Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is a deep-fried pork cutlet (and obviously an import from abroad — what culture would incorporate both raw fish and deep-fried pork into its cuisine?). Tonkatsu falls into a category of food known as Yoshoku, a Japanese interpretations of Western fare. In the late 1800s, when Japan opened up to the West for trade after a long period of isolation, a centuries-old ban on eating meat was overturned and tonkatsu was born (the same trend has also introduced dishes to the Japanese menu like spaghetti with ketchup sauce, hamburger patties without bread, and omelets filled with rice and ketchup).

Tonkatsu. Who doesn’t love a deep-fried pork cutlet???

The origin of tonkatsu is traced back to the French item, veal cotelette and, like all Yoshoku dishes, was modified over time to suit the Japanese palate; veal was replaced by pork, grated cheese was replaced with batter, and the whole thing was deep-fried, like tempura. It’s usually served as a set meal, with rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles, and a side of shredded cabbage (an accompaniment that goes back to WWII, when skilled cooks were few and far between, and food shortages popularized cheap cabbage).

When you visit a tonkatsu restaurant, there may be several choices of set meals depending on the type of dipping sauce, additional sides like croquettes, and the cut of pork. Order Rosu-katsu for a fatter cut of pork loin, or Hire-katsu for pork tenderloin, which is leaner and a tad healthier. Like tempura, I found tonkatsu to be more delicate and less greasy than deep-fried foods of the West, an attribute I assign to the craft involved with specializing in a single item. I spent about $30 on a Hire-katsu set meal in the Ebisu district of Tokyo.

Japanese Cuisine: Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is as fun to eat as it is to say. It has an elusive history that either links this type of food to an ancient import from China, or places it firmly in the yoshoku category (though it’s unclear what type of Western food this would be related to). The latter posits that okonomiyaki was popularized during WWII, during rice shortages, and was called Issen Yoshoku or one-penny Western food.

The Art of Okonomiyaki

Nowadays okonomiyaki means “cook what you like, the way you like” and has been likened to pizza. Though aside from its round shape there really is no comparison. For starters it’s made of a flour-and-yam-based batter mixed with chopped cabbage and then pan-fried with fillings of meat or seafood. Add toppings like cheese, bonito (fish) flakes, a fried egg, or even kimchee, and finish it off with Japanese Worcestershire sauce and a healthy dose of mayonnaise.

Okonomiyaki is a DIY affair at your own table, with a spatula as cooking implement. I can’t help but think of okonomiyaki as working class food — a blue-collar meal to be eaten while consuming beer or, perhaps, as hangover food. Osaka is often cited as the home of okonomiyaki, but there appears to be a fierce rivalry between Osaka and Hiroshima for the title.

Okonomiyaki is probably the least known of all Japanese fare to those of us in the West, but commonly found throughout most of Japan. It’s become so popular, there are chain restaurants that specialize in this unique item, along with a variety that includes noodles, called Modanyaki. Typically priced at about $9 per order, it’s an affordable option in comparison with other types of food. I suggest trying it at a few different places, especially if you first wind up in a restaurant that cooks it for you, which isn’t such a bad thing. Receiving a bowl full of batter, cabbage, and fillings as a first-timer is a little perplexing.

–Cheryn Flanagan

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours & things to do in Tokyo (including a food tour in Tokyo), Kyoto tours & attractions, Osaka tours & things to do, and travel & tour ideas across Japan.

Editor’s note: We asked Viator’s founder, Rod Cuthbert, to pick some of his favorite travel experiences in 2007; in this edition he makes us all very hungry with a review of his top meals in 2007. Also check out Rod’s Top 5 Travel Destinations for 2008.

Pasta with Lobster Sauce, Venice

I arrived at Venice’s Marco Polo airport late on a low cost carrier flight that made it clear why they’re called low-cost carriers… but forgot all that with a water taxi ride into the very heart of Venice. It’s after 11pm and the town is quiet, but the hotel manager calls a little restaurant around the corner and yes, they will take us if we come now. OK, we’ll unpack later, let’s go. We arrive, there are still a few people eating, and it feels warm and inviting. Red wine appears before we ask for it, as well as bread, and there’s no need for menus because there’s just one dish on offer: pasta with lobster sauce and “it’s bellissimo, you will like it.”

OK, we’ll take it. And our waiter was right, but maybe only half right because really this might be the finest pasta meal either of us have ever had, without exception. Fifteen minute later the meal is over, but we don’t want to move. There’s no rush to unpack, and just looking at our empty bowls is somehow satisfying. I just wish I could remember the name of this place, it’s somewhere near the Palazzo Vitturi Hotel…

Dinner at The Lido Cabaret, Paris

Either my memory is failing me or I’m just giving the Lido a plug, right? How could a meal served to 800 others at the same time as mine possibly be any good? Cabaret food has to be rubber chicken, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what I thought, and I had to keep checking with my fellow diners to ensure I wasn’t hallucinating… but the fact remains that of all the meals I had in Paris that week, the Lido’s three-course banquet stood out. It helps that Michelin-starred Paul Bocuse has consulted on the new menu, and that the Champagne was outstanding, but it was still a pleasant shock to encounter quality food in a “volume” environment.

House of Nanking, San Francisco

There’s a reason why a line forms outside House of Nanking every night of the year, no matter how thick the fog. It’s not the service, which is workmanlike at best; or the ambiance, which is minimalist to say the least; or the fact that most of the guide books list Nanking so that visitors just follow the advice blindly. No, it’s the food.

Everything on the menu is good, and of course it tastes even better if you have been standing outside in the fog and cold for 40 minutes. I’ve been to Hong Kong and China enough times to say with at least some confidence that you’ll go a long way to find better Chinese food than this. Just don’t go on the nights I go, OK? The lines are long enough already…

Breakfast at Bills, Sydney

I’m a great believer in a good breakfast to get your day started right. In Sydney, Australia, breakfast at some restaurants has become as famous as dinner at others, and Bills (in Surry Hills or Darlinghurst) is at the top of the pile. Once you’ve had Bills’ scrambled eggs you will give up making them yourself, unless you buy his cookbook in which case you will probably make them so often you’ll tire of it altogether, which would be an awful pity. Once again, I’m moved to say that words are not the right tools with which to describe Bills’ most famous dish: you need to go there and try it for yourself.

Roast Lamb Sandwich, Jet Blue flight, SFO to NYC

Really, when everyone around you is eating airplane food and you’re tucking into a home made organic lamb sandwich with roast vegetables and chutney… well, you get the great taste plus the satisfaction of knowing that for once, your forward planning worked. Leftovers always taste great, but they taste five times better at 36,000 feet!

–Rod Cuthbert

What was your most memorable meal in 2007? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Sad but true, most days the internet bores me. Too many dull sites, too much spam, too little good writing.

But then sometimes, out of nowhere, the web gives you a one-two knockout punch of happiness. Today is such a day.

The reason? Here’s the long-story-short version. My wife likes to cook as much as possible for our 20-month-old son. And she found a blog dedicated to some very cool food for toddlers, called lunchinabox.

The pictures of homemade bento boxes are little packets of happy-happy food joy to me. Each one makes me feel at peace with the world. Knowing that “Biggie” is home making such carefully crafted lunches for her three-year-old preschooler, well, like I said, it makes me feel at peace with the world, my troubles and problems and deadlines be damned!

The story could end here, but it doesn’t. See, not only are these bento boxes incredibly smart ideas for toddlers, they are also a brilliant idea for TRAVELERS! You heard me, travelers.

The next time I fly, I will follow one of these simple recipes and make myself a DIY in-flight bento box meal. Chicken or fish? No way, give me an English Muffin bento box every time! Or a spinach tamagoyaki bento box. This will revolutionize my in-flight dining experiences.

And my seat-mates are going to be incredibly jealous when they catch a glimpse of my travel bento box. Doubly so if that seat-mate is my 20-month-old son…

–Scott McNeely

The charms of Melbourne are subtle. It’s sophisticated, a little hidden and very different from sunny, brash Sydney. All those jokes about Melbourne having ‘four seasons in one day’ may be true, but the rainy weather lends itself to a stylish layered wardrobe. And the need to find diversions inside has created a rich cultural scene. And let’s not forget all those atmospheric cafes and bars. Here’s a short list of my favourites.

Flinders Station clock, a Melbourne icon

Mario’s on Brunswick St

Mario’s is one of the first places I ever visited in Melbourne; it became a second home for Friday night dinners and lazy conversation-filled evenings. The staff is great with witty banter, although you have to follow their system and sometimes wait for a table. Jerry Seinfeld famously had someone call to book a table for six, with a parking space reserved outside, and the response of the manager – “he can wait like everyone else” - says it all.

My recommendations: Start with a “Baryshnikov” (vodka, coffee, lemon, sugar). The meals are good-value Italian classics, fresh, beautifully presented and delicious. Drop in next door to the Brunswick St Bookstore to browse through a fabulous collection of magazines, novels, art and specialty books.

Breakfast & Swim

If you like to stay fit while traveling, there are some great local pools in Melbourne. I had my stroke corrected at Fitzroy Pool, where you can also drop in for a yoga class, or relax in the spa after your swim before taking coffee and brunch at one of the cafes on Brunswick Street. My personal pick: Babka Bakery Café at number 358, for their freshly baked bread, mouth-watering borscht, blintzes and to-die for lemon tart. If you want to stick to the back streets, head straight from the pool to ICI, at 359 Napier St, for a leisurely brunch of French toast with winter berries and mascarpone, or scrambled tofu with Thai mint.

Live Music in Melbourne

One of the many venues for live music in this city, the Rob Roy Hotel on the corner of Brunswick and Gertrude Streets has atmosphere and great range of music, from Sunday afternoon alternative folk to hardcore Friday rock ‘n’ roll. Others live music options include: The Empress Hotel in North Fitzroy, The Corner Hotel in Richmond, Cherry Bar and the Ding Dong Lounge in the city, and The Esplanade in St Kilda (which comes with a gorgeous view of the bay).

Salubrious Gertrude Street

When I first moved to Melbourne, Gertrude Street was far less salubrious than it is now. My favorite bar there has changed names, although the half-enclosed beer garden remains the same: the old Yelza had a wonderful fountain in the dining room, and flocked red velvet wallpaper, but I will be happy to hear reports on the new ‘Sentido Funf’ in its place. Alia, upstairs on the corner of Smith St, has a young, trendy crowd and is good for dancing.

Gertrude Street also offers a choice of seven art galleries, from small artist-run spaces (try seventh gallery) to commercial and contemporary, the largest of which — 200 Gertrude — has a program of international and local artists. The antique shop next door will test your baggage allowance, with a very enticing range of industrial retro.

If you go all the way down Johnston St you will reach the Collingwood Children’s Farm and ‘slow food farmers market’ on the 4th Saturday of every month. Visit the goats, buy some local produce, and experience a piece of the country in the inner city. There is a rambling path along the river that leads you past cows, horses and gorgeous old buildings. The neighboring Abbotsford Convent was recently refurbished into an arts centre with studios, performance spaces and cafes.

Carlton

Heading across the other side of Brunswick St will take you to Carlton, home of Melbourne University, Lygon Street and a large Italian community. One of the best cake shops in Melbourne is the original Brunetti on Faraday St, which I have been known to visit straight from the airport. The selection of biscuits, sweets and desserts is truly magnificent, with everything from lobster tails to thick, dark hot chocolate.

If you need to rest after all that indulgence, duck into the nearby Cinema Nova for the latest art house and independent releases. The charms of Jimmy Watson can also lure you to while away a few pleasant hours over the very fine wines, before filling up on a traditional Italian meal at Tiamo, which is always bustling with locals and students. Walking through the Exhibition Gardens and back into the city gives you the juxtaposition of old and new architecture, from the opulent domed Royal Exhibition Building (1880) to the concrete modernity of Melbourne Museum, which has permanent exhibitions including famous racehorse Phar Lap, a blue whale, and a set from Neighbours (long-running soap opera).

Melbourne’s CBD (Central Business District)

Once you’re in the city – anywhere from Spring St to Spencer St – there is a cornucopia of bars, cafes and shopping. The best way to discover them is just to wander, lose yourself in the cobbled lanes and stumble across unexpected treasures. The top end of Swanston St (near RMIT) offers cheap and cheerful Tofu Curry at Don-Don to more up market Thai treats upstairs at Cookie, and if you wander down Little Bourke St into Chinatown there is a veritable surfeit of restaurants, from the ritzy Flower Drum to the tiny tucked away family-run Yamato, with fabulous gyoza and green tea ice cream.

Continuing along to the Yarra, the many establishments at Federation Square offer something for every palette, my taste buds are always satisfied by the bibimbup at Chocolate Buddha, accompanied by a sake cocktail and great view of the city. Wander down the stairs directly behind the restaurant for a glimpse of the latest and most cutting edge art and technology at ACMI.

If you find yourself on Flinders Lane, the Journal Café (No. 253) next to the city library is a dark moody establishment with communal tables and great atmosphere. Perfect for sustaining your energy before a walk across the river to visit the National Art Gallery and experi