Europe | GlobalSalsa: travel writer Belinda Jackson

Jul

Hotel Review: Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino, Greece, Dream by Luxury Escapes magazine

The dream assignment: go to Greece, stay at the new Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino, on the Peloponnese coast. Reader, I acquiesced.

The hotel is about 3.5 hours’ drive south of Athens – hello, hire car/wrong side of the road/wrong side of the car dramas! But I’d seen the photos of this luxury hotel, and I knew I could survive Athens’ traffic jams to get there.

It was worth it. The location, its history and its mythology pervade all aspects of the first Mandarin Oriental hotel in Greece, from its spa to the ultra-Hellenic breakfasts, even the hotel’s architecture. Despite being a global group, it’s as Greek as yiayia’s meatballs.

I wrote about the new hotel’s opening for Luxury Escapes magazine, take a look.

For more great travel inspo, head to https://luxuryescapes.com/inspiration/

Jun

Strauss has Vienna in a spin, again; 200 years of the waltz in Vienna Austria: Australian Financial Review

Erotic, rebellious, scandalous. A dance to induce ecstasy, an exuberant resistance to state oppression. Yes, it’s that saucy dance with the devil, the waltz.

A staple in today’s reality TV dance competitions, the waltz was a simple peasant dance until the cosmopolitan Viennese gave it an urbane makeover in the early 1800s. Women fainted, welded-together couples scandalised – the ‘wicked’ waltz of Vienna’s 1800s was a fast and furious dance.

This year, Vienna celebrates 200 years since the birth of its ‘Waltz King’, Johann Strauss II, best known for Vienna’s unofficial anthem, The Blue Danube.

I spent a few weeks exploring Vienna, the grandest little European city, which is once again in Strauss’ grip, and wrote about it for the Australian Financial Review newspaper. To read my story in the Australian Financial Review, visit https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/travel/how-the-dance-of-the-devil-s-violinist-came-to-define-this-city-20250417-p5lsny or see AFR Austria, Strauss

For a quick recap: Strauss was born and died in Vienna, and this year the city celebrates his bicentenary. Even if you weren’t a mad classical music fan, his life story is so full of drama (fought with his jealous dad, jealous brother burnt his original manuscripts, wives with seven children of dubious parentage, rewrite of his history by Nazi Party etc) and the digital exhibitions so good, you’ll be hooked on waltz as a political statement against authoritarianism. There are several new galleries and exhibitions in Vienna, including the interactive New Dimension exhibition, I also visited the nearly new House of Strauss, took in a dinner & rather cheesy, but fun show at the Prater. There are 65 productions and 3 exhibitions at 71 different locations throughout the city in 2025. https://www.johannstrauss2025.at/en/

For more Strauss events, visit-
Johann Strauss Museum – New Dimensions: The shiny new permanent city centre exhibition, which opened last November, is a fascinating multimedia deep dive into Strauss’s private life and loves. He once wrote 150 love letters to Olga, who he dumped after his mother disapproved. He had three wives, Jetty, Lily and Adele, and no children. Brothers Josef and Eduard were involved in the business but in a tragic twist Eduard burnt hundreds of Strauss manuscripts. Don GPS-enabled audio headphones and compose your own waltz with technology https://www.johannstraussmuseum.at

The House of Strauss – a museum and also a concert space, where the Strauss family used to perform. The museum tour is narrated by Thomas Strauss, the great-great-great-grandson of Johann Strauss II; https://www.houseofstrauss.at

Johann Strauss Exhibition: This vibrant exhibition which opened in December at the Theatermuseum Vienna showcases the glamour of the Strauss era. Original objects from performances are on display and include the score from Die Fledermaus. Until June 23. theatermuseum.at

Wien Museum: Reopened in 2023, it has a chronological tour of the city including Strauss connections, free. wienmuseum.at

Feb

Best things to do in Thessaloniki, Greece: Sydney Morning Herald

I have left a little piece of my heart in lovely Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, close to the border of Bulgaria.

Greek Orthodox Church at Thessaloniki train station. Credit Belinda Jackson

Mind you, I took away a couple of kilos thanks to its excellent dining scene, so it’s a fair trade, yes?

A mish-mash of architecture, one minute it is Greek, then next, Balkan, a third moment and its Ottoman past is showing. And then, its artistic, modern face smiles at me.

I wrote about Thessaloniki for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers’ Traveller section – to help you explore its food scene (the city gave the world Greece’s best-known street snack – the souvlaki skewers, the pita-gyro and even bougatsa. And it was the birthplace of frappe only the Greeks could make instant coffee taste so good).

I took a train from Athens to Thessaloniki – about five hours – with a little stop for lunch in the lovely university city of Larissa. And from there, I headed up into Bulgaria, to Sofia. For disclosure, I was a guest of Eurail, which supplies European rail passes that are simple to use. Check them out at eurail.com

And to read the article in the SMH/The Age, visit
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/nine-must-do-highlights-of-thessaloniki-greece-20250113-p5l3sc.html

Jan

Italy’s Amalfi Coast, 2025’s top travel trends & inflight skincare

Dream of days wandering Italy’s Amalfi Coast? Me to! In our first episode of The World Awaits podcast for 2025, we’re taking you there with Australian-Italian author Maria Pasquale.

Maria’s new book, Mangia: How to eat your way through Italy, explores the food histories and dishes across regional Italy, including Campania, which includes the Amalfi Coast, and is famed for its fragrant lemons and San Marzano tomatoes.

So let’s go explore some of the villages and beaches, Maria’s favourite eating experiences, and the best times to visit. maria-pasquale.com

We also chat about the top travel trends for 2025 from coolcations (think; cold-weather holidays) to radical sabbaticals exploreworldwide.com.au/travel-trends-2025, and we share some great tips from Etihad’s cabin crew about inflight skincare.

This episode is sponsored by Explore Worldwide, which offers small group adventures with local tour leaders. We dare you not to be tempted by these incredible tours.

Click here for Adventure Travel inspiration from our friends at Explore Worldwide. Don’t Just Travel, Explore.

You can follow my podcast, The World Awaits, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you find good ear candy. I always love to know where you’re travelling next – drop me a line at hello [at] theworldawaits.au

Dec

Travels in mainland Greece with ABC Radio

Whenever anyone talks of holidaying in Greece, the islands tend to get all the glory. But what about the mainland?

Athens has everything to offer as a global city and holiday destination, but to my mind, the real story is Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki. The home of souvlaki, bougatsa and the frappe, Thessaloniki has done the impossible and makes instant coffee taste good! It’s the birthplace of Kamal Ataturk, and has been corralled into empires from the Hellenic to Ottoman, so expect great history, fantastic food and a waterfront location designed for post-prandial perambulation.

I joined Philip Clark on ABC Radio‘s national evening program, Nightlife, to tell of the wonders of mainland Greece. You can listen to our chat here, and tune in to ABC Radio every Monday night for his Monday Night Travel segment, which goes out to the world from 10pm.

To listen to the interview, visit this link: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/nightlife/nightlife-travel—greece/104675428

On this trip, I drove from Athens airport south to the Peloponnese peninsula, to stay at the new Mandarin Oriental Costa Navarino – I’ll post a review here shortly. Then I drove back up to Athens (Athens traffic – ayeeeee!) and from there, joined Eurail, the European rail pass company, using their tickets to travel from Athens north to Thessaloniki, then crossed the border into Bulgaria, on to the capital, Sofia and then to its second city, Plovdiv. I have stories coming up in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, which I’ll post here as they’re published. To learn more about Eurail, visit eurail.com

Sep

Southern Spain by train for fino & flamenco – Seville, Jerez & Cadiz

It’s standing room only at the bar, glasses of the golden, dry sherry called fino and plates of tissue-thin jamon at our elbows.

Low stools are huddled closer to the small stage for those who like to book ahead, but the rest of us stand; it’s a loud, friendly scene while the flamenco musicians warm up. Then Maria bursts through the crowd to demand our absolute attention.

And she gets it.

The cantaor (singer’s) voice cuts into my heart, even though I’ll understand his words only much, much later, his voice is wrought with melancholia. As the late flamenco documenter Pierre Lefrance wrote, flamenco singing sees “deep grief … simultaneously expressed and controlled”.

Maria, on the other hand, is defiant and proud, a fury that lets her crash her shoes onto the timber floor, in time with the rapid hand clapping from the musicians.

I undertook a six-day tour, travelling Spain by train between Seville, Jerez and Cadiz to explore flamenco and sherry, both which claim their origins are here in southern Andalucia. A solo traveller, I found myself standing at bars to snack, to listen to flamenco, to shoot morning coffee and sip evening Oloroso, a dark, sweet sherry that is just one of the iconic sherries form this region.

Travelling with British slow travel experts Inntravel, they booked the hotels and train tickets, and issued me with a series of suggested walking tours, leaving me to guide myself through these three wonderful cities. My hotels were Las Casas de la Juderia, Seville, Casa Grande in Jerez and the 18th century Hotel Argantonio in Cadiz.

You can read my cover story about fino and flamenco in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers.

See https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/this-southern-spain-train-odyssey-is-ruled-by-two-f-words-20240822-p5k4cs.html

Spain by train

Tour
Inntravel’s self-guided six-night Fino & Flamenco tour travels between Seville, Jerez and Cadiz by train. Includes pre-booked train tickets, six nights’ bed and breakfast and suggested walking tours. The trip starts any day of the week from Seville. From $1300 (excludes flights). See inntravel.co.uk

Qualified sherry educator Annie B runs tapas and tabanco tours through Jerez and Cadiz (anniebspain.com)

The writer travelled as a guest of Inntravel.

Dec

Rail review: Travelling by train on the London-Paris Eurostar, Business Premier class

Eurostar train from London to Paris.

THE ROUTE London Pancras International – Paris Gare du Nord
Departs 10.26 Arrives 13.50
Coach 16, Seat 65, Train no 9018

BOARDING Eurostar advises arriving an hour before departure, and ticket gates close 15 minutes before departure. I pass through the ticket check, with security and a helpful UK passport check, and then a French passport check, with much complaining from the Brits around me. I can attest that the French check is completely humourless – my old joke that if you look like your passport photo, then you need a holiday – drops flat. I get naught but a Gallic shrug (and probably earned it, too).

Once inside, my Premier Business ticket affords entry to the lounge beneath the arches, where coffee, croissants and a little breakfast buffet of fruit and muffins is on offer. Newspapers are everywhere, it really feels like old-school train travel here in the vaults of the Victorian Gothic St Pancras railway station, which was built in 1868.

The maelstrom begins when boarding commences, as lines – regardless of your class – snake around the arches and up the stairs to the platform. Entire families, including generations of women, are dressed as Minnie Mouse. Of course! This is the fast track to Disneyland Paris , and we’re travelling right at the beginning of the Easter holidays. The group aims to transport 30 million passengers a year by 2030 – it feels like they’re all here today.

THE SEAT & LUGGAGE LIMITS Coach 16 is at the very top of the train, and I’m seated in a single, forward-facing seat. I spy a USB and electricity outlet, and the tray pulls down to reveal a little mirror to check my blood-red lipstick (on trend in this Paris-bound train). The clientele is brandishing a lot of Gucci, there’s Diptyque soap in the bathrooms, and a magazine rack.

Smugly, I have carry-on luggage only, but should I wish, I could carry three pieces of luggage up to 85cm long, and a piece of hand luggage – there’s no weight limit; if you can carry it, you can bring it. In the Standard and Standard Premier classes, that’s two pieces of luggage and a hand bag. Unlike airlines, there are no limits on liquids, if you didn’t want to visit the bar coaches 8 & 9 on the train, you can actually BYO beer or a bottle of wine to drink on the journey – though there’s no need in the generous, free-pouring Business Premier class.

FOOD & DRINKS On taking my seat, the bilingual staff offer a little bag of cranberry and nut mix, an antibacterial towel and a QR code for the lunch menu by. At 10.35am, the bar is open, would I like a glass of champagne? No skimping here on sparkling wine, I’m offered a glass of Piper-Heidsieck and water in a Eurostar-branded glass.

By 10.50, good, savoury smells are wafting through the carriage, and my tray table is loaded with glassware and silverware, a salad of such grilled root vegetables as celeriac, a crusty roll, and a pat of butter from The Estate Dairy in Somerset. Desert, a layered caramel slice, is also on the first tray. This could easily comprise the entire meal, but Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc, best known for his Oxfordshire landmark, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, isn’t finished with me yet.

When it arrives, piping hot and fragrant, the mains is a generous slab of buttery fish served with cauliflower in a rich, quintessentially French sauce. No more champagne, we drink rosé with our fish. I am served a 187ml bottle of 2021 Tourelle de Tholomies syrah rosé from Pays D’Oc and a bottle of spring water from Harrogate, “the original British spa town”, which has been bottling water since 1571.

If I was travelling in economy, I could grab a breakfast croissant with coffee and a juice for UK6/E7.70, or a lunch offer of a soft drink, a bag of crisps and a baguette for UK8/E10.20.

THE JOURNEY Advertisements flash on the communal screen overhead, while hyper-green English fields flash past the windows, but otherwise, the focus is mercifully on letting guests travel in peace. Most people are plugged into their own devices, reading newspapers or the magazines on offer, or simply watching the scenery, which disappears for about 25 minutes while we’re in the 50.45 km Chunnel, the sea tunnel that delves beneath the English Channel. I’m on dessert when we emerge to kilometers of razor wire, the train flashing past stations too fast to read their signs – the overhead screen tells me we are travelling at 214km/hr, “en tranquillité” and the train reaches top speeds of 300km/hr.

SUSTAINABILITY It’s no surprise trains’ carbon emissions are significantly lower that of airplanes – Eurostar states that its trains emit more than 90% less CO2 than flights. It calculates its CO2 output at 10g per passenger per kilometer, and is working to cut its carbon footprint by a further 25% by 2020. Independent calculations state my journey emitted 2.4kg of CO2, compared with 66kg if I’d flown.

BOOKING My ticket was booked before I left Australia with Rail Europe. Later, if you use the Eurostar app, you can use mobile tickets to pass through the ticket gates, get travel updates and discounts to top attractions in the city of your destination.

AND ANOTHER THING If you had time, you could get your photo taken (for free!) at Harry Potter’s Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station, which is joined to St Pancras. Otherwise, take a wander around to discover St Pancras’ surprising history in the many plaques and statues dotted around the station – well worth it. And if you wanted to stay close by the night before, you could splurge on Marriott’s gorgeous St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, which was actually part of the historic railway station. If it’s out of your price range, you can still drop in for coffee, a drink or a fabulous afternoon tea, and take a sneak peak at its stairwell, which featured in the Harry Potter films.

TO BOOK Fares cost from A$97.30, to book, visit Rail Europe
https://www.raileurope.com/en/trains/eurostar m

Disclaimer: I travelled from London to Paris as a guest of Rail Europe.

Jul

The World Awaits podcast goes to Spain and Nauru

It’s been a big couple of weeks in GlobalSalsa World – Turkiye, Australia’s Northern Territory and I’ve also also refreshed my podcast, with a fresh new name and a little nipping and tucking at the format. It’s now The World Awaits podcast, and you can listen to the latest edition here .

This week, fellow travel writer Kirstie Bedford and I take you to Spain and Nauru – at opposite ends of the tourism spectrum. I interviewed one of Australia’s best known travel writers, Ben Groundwater, who is a Spain aficionado and total foodie. Ben invited me on his Flights of Fancy podcast, with Nine Media, a few times – sadly now defunct (but still live if you’d like to take a listen), so I asked him to return the favour.

After embedding himself in San Sebastian in the Basque country, for a year, Ben is a great one to chat about how overlooked Spain is outside the major hotspots such as Barcelona. You know I”m a lover of this country as well, especially after my train adventure in Andalucia last year, which started in (very touristy) Seville, but pushed on through to Jerez, Cadiz and then I ended up in Spain’s most beautiful pueblo blanco, Vejer de la Frontera. If the chat makes you hungry, you can join Ben on one of his foodie tours to San Sebastian with World Expeditions, next year.

You’ll also hear from Lisa Pagotto, founder of Crooked Compass tours. Lisa goes seriously off track in her travels – she’s talking to Kirstie about travelling in the beautiful island of Nauru, best known for its role as the host site of Australia’s detention centre for refugees (please don’t go there, a particularly ugly part of Australia’s foreign policies). I travelled with Crooked Compass on a week-long hike in Palestine a few years ago. How’s that for off-beat travel?

Anyway, tune in, I hope you enjoy the show, and let us know what you think, or where you’d like us to go next on the podcast.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas!

You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever else you get good ear candy.

Jun

Hot air ballooning in Cappadocia, Türkiye

This week, I’ve been in Cappadocia, Türkiye, possibly the world’s best location for hot-air ballooning. Yeah, you’ve seen the brochures, you’ve been bombarded by the instagram shots of women in ballgowns in balloons.

I couldn’t resist: I threw my hat in the ring, and went up on high, too.

My revelation, while coasting through the quiet skies the other morning is – it’s famous for a reason. Because hot air ballooning over Cappadocia’s extraordinary landscape is, truly the most glorious experience.

The central Anatolian landscape is like nowhere else on earth: primordial shards of weathered rock jut from the earth; yes, it’s all very phallic, if you wish to go that route; but that doesn’t make them any less beautiful.

Over a couple of days, with my guide Ece from Intrepid Travel, I crawled through ancient cave systems, craned my neck to see beautifully rich paintings of Christ the Pantocrator in early Christian churches, heard stories of the Hittites, the Persians, the Romans, Seljuq Turks… who all lived, died, conquered or were conquered at some stage here in Cappadocia’s long history.

It was part of Intrepid Travel’s women’s expedition, which visits Istanbul, the Aegean coastline, Konya and Cappadocia, stay tuned for further posts about this super fun adventure.

For more photos from my Turkiye trip, take a squiz at my instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/global_salsa/

The 12-day guided tour costs from $4,025. See https://www.intrepidtravel.com/au/turkey/turkey-womens-expedition-145256

May

There are 248 phones stolen in London every day: mine was one of them

This week, I published a story in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age about my phone being stolen in London. We’ve all had stuff stolen – what made it pertinent was the release of recent figures that show just how many phones are stolen in London every day.

Take a guess? 248 phones. A day. Just in central London.

The story was the top read in the Sydney and Melbourne digital versions, and some readers were lovely and shared their own theft and scammer stories, others, not so. I’ve also had a share of emails telling me “pro trvlrs don’t lose phones” and “experienced travelers have been taking those sorts of precautions for years.” But my point is (apart from picking out your terrible spelling) – these sorts of things happen even to pro/experienced travellers.

If you’ve never, ever lost a single thing while on the road, if you’ve never ever been scammed, if you’ve never inadvertently found yourself in a scary situation, I applaud you. You are truly genius. Or you’ve had someone behind you picking up and collecting you as you rotate the world in your golden bubble.

But if, like the rest of us, you’ve had your wallet nicked, your taxi fare tripled, you’ve been lured into a dodgy shop or found yourself in a very unsavoury environment where you’ve feared for your safety, then know that I’m there with you.

And you know what? We’re not all pro travellers. We’re not all experienced. Somewhere today, some kid is starting out on his first big roadtrip with mates. An older couple is on their first international flight. A woman is taking her first ever solo adventure. A family is testing the waters as the first time travelling with little ones.

I haven’t read the comments – I don’t have an impenetrable hide – but this ain’t my first rodeo. I knew the scam, I knew it was happening. And let me tell you, it happens to the best of us.

If you fancy reading, here’s the story.

Thanks for listening, friends.

https://www.theage.com.au/traveller/reviews-and-advice/my-phone-was-stolen-while-visiting-london-here-s-how-i-coped-20230501-p5d4kj.html

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Spain by train