Leila O'Brien

Leila O'Brien Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.

All that glitters is not always gold when it comes to restaurants with multi-million-dollar waterfrontages, but Sydney c...
12/09/2024

All that glitters is not always gold when it comes to restaurants with multi-million-dollar waterfrontages, but Sydney caters sublimely to those in the market for splashing out.

All that glitters is not always gold when it comes to restaurants with multi-million-dollar waterfrontages, but harbourside Sydney, cradled within the crown of New South Wales's breathtaking coastline, caters sublimely to those in the market for splashing out.

Like the ingenious Nabatean civilisation that built Petra many centuries before them, the Zalabieh (the most prominent B...
04/09/2024

Like the ingenious Nabatean civilisation that built Petra many centuries before them, the Zalabieh (the most prominent Bedouin community within the Protected Area today) were drawn to Wadi Rum by the perennial springs that trickle at the base of Jebel Rum – the majestic massif that towers over the valley just opposite Jebel Umm Ishrin. Sprouting with wild mint thickets, the rock walls around the springs are adorned with ancient Thamudic and Greek inscriptions along with several distinctly Nabatean shrines.

Abdallah smiled: a starling, he explained. Their two-part whistle is a familiar sound in the surrounding Hisma plateau.O...
04/09/2024

Abdallah smiled: a starling, he explained. Their two-part whistle is a familiar sound in the surrounding Hisma plateau.
Of the area's hundreds of miles of red-sand desert, the bulk of which stretches beyond the Saudi border, it's Jordan's fortuitous sliver that is by far the best known. It's this stretch, centred on the Unesco-inscribed Wadi Rum Protected Area, that a bewitched Lawrence described as "magically haunted" and "vast and echoing and God-like". In recent decades, this extraterrestrial terrain has served as the backdrop of numerous blockbuster films, including Prometheus (2012), The Martian (2015), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Dune (2021 and 2024).

It traces the stunning, extraterrestrial landscape featured in films like Star Wars and Dune, while helping to preserve ...
04/09/2024

It traces the stunning, extraterrestrial landscape featured in films like Star Wars and Dune, while helping to preserve traditional Bedouin culture.

My Bedouin guide Abdallah led the way up and into the crags of Jebel Umm Ishrin (1,753m), the sheer, eastern wall of Jordan's most spectacular valley: Wadi Rum. Though it's considered one of the world's most breathtaking desert landscapes today, few outsiders had ever heard of Wadi Rum in 1917 when British archaeologist and writer TE Lawrence travelled through, describing this eastern wall as "one massive rampart of redness".

The island's history is plagued by devastating droughts that led to mass emigration as far afield as Venezuela, most rec...
29/08/2024

The island's history is plagued by devastating droughts that led to mass emigration as far afield as Venezuela, most recently in the mid-20th Century, and this route signposts everything water-related from Los Dornajos (aged wooden water tanks) to dams and divine intervention. The Virgen de los Reyes, the island's patron saint, is said to have ended the drought of 1741, and is celebrated every four years during the Bajada de la Virgen, a month-long, island-wide fiesta.

There are several striking beaches – the black-pebble Timijiraque on the east coast, the red-hued Playa del Verodal on t...
29/08/2024

There are several striking beaches – the black-pebble Timijiraque on the east coast, the red-hued Playa del Verodal on the west, and the white-sand Arenas Blancas at the western tip of El Golfo – but the island is better suited for those who want to get active, rather than fly-and-flop.

During my visit, I zigzagged up and down vertigo-inducing volcanic stone paths and trekked through forests of soaring Ca...
29/08/2024

During my visit, I zigzagged up and down vertigo-inducing volcanic stone paths and trekked through forests of soaring Canary pines, fields of fiery red poppies and past plots of pineapples. And I crunched over black lava sprinkled with vivid green succulents then swam in a luminous-blue natural rock pool – all with barely another soul in sight.
El Hierro's aim was always to grow visitor numbers gradually. The forward-thinking island has been committed to a wide-ranging sustainable development plan since 1997, including creating museums and visitor centres (there are seven now) that promote its culture and traditions, focussing on activities with limited environment impact and improving the island's infrastructure while preserving nature (it didn't get its first paved road until 1962 and there's famously only one traffic light).

While protests against mass tourism rage on neighbouring islands, El Hierro – the wildest and most westerly of the Canar...
29/08/2024

While protests against mass tourism rage on neighbouring islands, El Hierro – the wildest and most westerly of the Canary Islands – has quietly chosen to do things very differently.

I had only been hiking for two hours but already I'd passed through a fairy-tale forest of ancient laurels, trunks wrapped in velvety moss and branches dripping with lichen, walked along trails flanked with luxuriant ferns and reached the black ash slopes of a volcanic caldera. Now, before me was yet another scene of jaw-dropping natural beauty: the vast amphitheatre of El Golfo, whose brooding cliffs loomed over a fertile plain and craggy coastline lashed by white-tipped turquoise waves. It was one of the most wild and beautiful places I'd ever seen.

Drive anywhere in Cape Town, and you're bound to pass countless cyclists pumping their legs along the photogenic backdro...
22/08/2024

Drive anywhere in Cape Town, and you're bound to pass countless cyclists pumping their legs along the photogenic backdrop of soaring peaks and a bright blue sea. While the ride across Chapman's Peak Drive may be one of the city's most famous (and for good reason – it's stunning) with a route hugging the coast, mountain biking in the trails above Cape Town's residential suburb of Tokai offers some wonderful off-roading far from cars and crowds, with views of the deep blue sea in the distance.
Foster also recommends the "beautiful trails through fynbos with varying levels" with paths cutting through the Tokai Forest. Another scenic option is the Silvermine Loop, a circumnavigation with spectacular views of land and sea, which begins at the parking lot of Silvermine Dam.

While Foster doesn't usually surf on a board, he does enjoy body surfing. "It's absolutely wonderful," he says. "Going f...
22/08/2024

While Foster doesn't usually surf on a board, he does enjoy body surfing. "It's absolutely wonderful," he says. "Going for a body surf and taking a dip after… the rush of dopamine changes your brain chemistry."
Known for gently rolling swells, Muizenberg Beach is a great place to pick up a board or play in the waves. Surf lessons are frequently offered, and the area is also suitable for kayak-surfing, something Foster says is not nearly as difficult as stand-up surfing. "It's like being in your own little spaceship," he says.
Alternatively, those looking for windsurfing or kitesurfing should head to Blouberg Beach or further up the west coast to Langebaan, a sprawling flat lagoon with consistent wind.

His devotion to the world's oceans won him an Oscar. Now he shares his favourite things to do in Cape Town, from whale s...
22/08/2024

His devotion to the world's oceans won him an Oscar. Now he shares his favourite things to do in Cape Town, from whale spotting in False Bay to freediving in the kelp forests.

Situated at the southern tip of Africa and surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Cape Town's identity is woven with its waters. Once a refuelling station for the Dutch East India Company, its history goes further back – to the Khoekhoe and San Indigenous peoples, nomadic pastoralists and hunter-gatherers who once inhabited the region and lived off the land and sea.

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