© Frank Löhmer

The annual Carnival of Cultures in Berlin, a four day festival which celebrates the capital city’s rich cultural diversity, is taking place from May 25 to 28.  Did you know that of the 3.4 million people who live in Berlin today, about half a million do not have German citizenship?  Beyond that many more come from a mixed cultural background, which was the impetus of the city to start this event in 1995.  The bulk of the celebration will take place in the vibrant Kreuzberg district, where the street fair allows visitors to sample international cuisine at a food pavilion and browse for crafts while also taking in performances and concerts.  The festival culminates with a parade starting at 12:30 pm from Hermannplatz on May 27 where approximately 4,500 will participate with colorful costumes and floats.  For more information about the parade and a route map, see the official website for the Carnival of Cultures.

We are sitting in a small cafe, in one of Istanbul’s rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods: Tophane. Here you are in the center of a rapidly changing art scene, with local artists creating a cultural bridge between East and West.

As the recent article in the NYTimes noted, the art scene is expanding (perhaps ready to explode). Why is this happening here and how is it affecting the area? We recently met with Nihad Akyol of TRCollector’s Club and art historian Suzan Kalayci to get an insider’s view on this interesting rebirth.

CT: What do you think has generated this new contemporary art movement in Istanbul? Is it collectors, art lovers or just great artists? 

NA: Sotheby’s interest has been very important in this case. Their experts travel to different countries all the time. If they think that an artwork or an artist  is undervalued in his/her own country, they actively try to promote the artist and the local art scene. That’s what’s happened in China in the past ten years and what’s happening in Turkey now. We have some fantastic Turkish artists, already well known, provocative, brilliant artists.

SK : It’s an interesting phenomenon. Big Turkish families are hosting European artists and collectors in Turkey. It has something to do with patronage.  They are also attracting foreign collectors to Turkey. Turkish families are buying early works of young, up and coming  artists, and this is creating competition.

CT: So, collecting has had quite a relevant role in this process.

NA : Definitely. Art is an alternative investment tool. It opens new social networks to galleries, artist and collectors. If you are a new collector, you need to do your research, talk to people, get expert opinions. This just gets more people involved in art. Personally, I am more interested in new collectors… People who are new art lovers, new buyers are more exciting.

C: Is it more difficult to interest people in an up and coming art scene like Istanbul than in New York?

NA : No, I don’t think so. If you live in big cities, like New York, London or Istanbul, you can not be away from art anymore. Also, I think people are interested in discovering something new, and something more affordable. Hence, an increasing interest for new, undiscovered artists and a less obvious location.

Both Turkish artists and Turkish galleries are opening up to the world. They suddenly realized that they can. They realized that playing in the international arena is another story, so they are trying to adapt and prove themselves. Istanbul Modern  opened the road to other museums. The timing of the museum was important. Some galleries are doing great work promoting Turkish art on the international art scene. The Istanbul Art Biennial is also very important.  It is becoming one of the most important biennial fairs in the world; It’s parallel to the developing art scene. Art fairs such as Contemporary Istanbul and Art Beat are also increasing interest.

CT: Our Bohemian Istanbul walk starts from Tophane, going up through Cukurcuma and to Istiklal. What do you think about that location?

NA: Art districts are blooming in Istanbul. Tophane is one of the most important. It is a young area. We also have Taksim, Nisantasi and Akaretler. The last two are offering more expensive alternatives.  Karakoy and the shores of the Golden Horn are developing as well. Studios and galleries are opening in these areas.

CT: What should someone expect to see in Tophane?

NA : Tophane galleries are giving us an idea of new, talented, young Turkish artists. It is important to see how they are dreaming this world. You can witness this, live, stepping in their studios. As you go up to Taksim and visit larger exhibition areas, they give you another view. That of more experienced and internationally respected artists.

SK: Yes, today in Tophane we see young, talented artists being able to live just with their art without having rich parents supporting them.  This also changes the art scene.  In Berlin they say : Poor and Sexy. This expression also fits for Tophane!

CT : What excites you the most in this developing art movement in Turkey?

NA : I really like it when I hear that foreigners are buying Turkish art. I think that buying foreign art is a way of learning about a different culture. Having a painting, or a sculpture from a Turkish artist is a good way of interacting with the culture and the place. We sometimes forget the real role of art. It should be this: to educate and exchange ideas. Also, I like that everything in Istanbul is attractive and young. We have a dynamism which Europe is lacking.

CT: Are you seeing more galleries exclusively focusing on Turkish artists?

NA: Most of the galleries here are representing Turkish art. There are also a few galleries selling foreign art. Gallery owners are mostly Turkish but the presence of foreign galleries is increasing.

At the same time, local museums are bringing classical pieces to Istanbul. Big blockbuster exhibitions like Rembrandt, Picasso, Dali are coming to here for the first time. That’s great for Turkey. Thousands of people are visiting them and getting familiar with international art.

CT:Do you have recommendations for a foreigner interested in Turkish art?

NA: Turkish art is becoming more and more valuable, so it is a good investment. Recently, Sotheby’s sold a Nejad Melih Devrim painting for over £700.000, but fortunately here in Istanbul you can still find great, more affordable art. Choosing the right piece is important. I think it’s fundamental to first choose the gallery. A  good gallery has a good CV.

Our new Bohemian Istanbul  walk in Istanbul focuses on this new artistic movement taking place in Istanbul. During the walk we visit various galleries in Tophane, discussing art and the social aspects of this development, such as gentrification and witness to history. The walk runs every day from Tuesday to Saturday.

Musée Carnavalet 

French Photographer, Eugène Atget’s retrospective of Paris from the years 1898-1927 continues at the Musée Carnavalet as a chamber choir brings illuminates the gardens throughout the evening.

Musée D’Art Moderne

Robert Crumb’s quirky comics continue to be on display at the Musée D’Art Modern, in addition to concert from the students of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris, playing jazz all night.

Le Petit Palais

At the Petit Palais children can view the museum through magical glasses in addition to other activities aiming to bring the museum to their level and to life. While children experience the museum’s hidden magic, parents can enjoy realist Gustave Courbet’s exhibit. Courbet will be the central theme of the night as several presentations revolve around his works from elaborate performances to looking further in depth at his paintings.

Le Grand Palais 

The Grand Palais has a variety of events and exhibits scheduled throughout the evening. Events range from activities for children to the Animal Beauty exhibit which will be open throughout the night with additional elements added.  DJ Joakim Bouaziz will be playing music throughout the night in addition to a  live performance later on in the night.

More information about the night can be found on the Nuit des Musées website: http://nuitdesmusees.culture.fr/, Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/nuitdesmusees, and Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/nuitdesmusees

1. In Venice the streets are not streets. They are little passages, all stone. But the buildings are so tall that you need a helicopter to drive up in the sky to see were you are.

2. When I was in Venice I went on a sailboat/motorboat (it was a sailboat with a motor), which was cool. I liked the feeling of the boat rocking back and forth and my hair blowing in the wind. I also went on a bus boat (called a vaporetto in Italian) two times but I never got to go on a gondola because it was too expensive.

3. You can get sandwiches made in front of your eyes at this little corner shop and then eat on the side of the canal.

4. I also went to the Frari, and I saw a panting with this little boy in it. And when you walk from side to side of the staircase it looks like he is looking at you the whole time. Also, there were a lot of tombs. The creepiest tomb was the one for Canova that only had his heart inside! Why only his heart? Because so many churches wanted to bury him that they split him up, and the Frari got the heart.

Editor’s note: Cleo accompanied me (Paul) on a recent business trip to Venice and took a number of our walks, providing hands-on feedback about our Family Program there. The sandwich shop she mentions resides in Campo S. Barnaba, on the west side. In the Frari, the painting she mentions is the Madonna with Saints and Members of the Pesaro Family by Titian.

China requires most foreigners, including U.S., Canadian, British, and Australians, to obtain a visa in advance of travel to the country. The visa costs $140, lasts one year, and is relatively painless to obtain. Technically, you have to visit your local consulate in person, in order to get one. However, when I discovered I needed one I was in Los Angeles two days before my flight from San Francisco to Beijing. Living in Philadelphia, my consulate is in New York. There was no way I could skip across the country in 48 hours and get it done.

Luckily, there are other absentminded procrastinators out there, and a lively business of last-minute Chinese visas processors has sprouted up. I used China Visa Service Center, a Houston-based outfit with offices in San Francisco and New York. The process was relatively simple. I had to submit an official visa application from the Chinese government (available on the China Visit Service Center website) along with my passport and two passport photos by Fedex, along with a processing fee.

The Chinese consulate tacked on an extra $30 for same-day processing. China Visa Service Center added a $109 fee plus $10.41 for paying by credit card online. Since I was passing through San Francisco for a day on my way to China, I elected to pick it up in their offices on Post Street in Japantown, saving myself a $68 express delivery charge. All told, it cost me $289.41, including the $140 cost of the visa itself.

I sent my package to San Francisco on Monday at 3 pm PST and picked up the visa on Wednesday at 9 am. Obviously, in the future we’ll practice better planning. But, like many things in China this was pretty efficient and easy to do. It was also relatively painless, especially with having to explain to my wife why I was home ten days early with an unused ticket to China in my pocket.

More information is also available on the Chinese Embassy website.

Tradition has it, that since the theft of the holy fire of the Zeus by Prometheus, a sacred flame is lit by the sun’s rays in Olympia and kept burning throughout the Olympic Games. The tradition continues today.

The High Priestess, Ino Menegaki explains the the ritual of the Lighting as: “It starts with the procession of the priestesses from the Altar of Hera, in front of the goddess’s temple. Dressed in archaic-style clothing, priestesses surround the Altar while the High-priestess, invoking god Apollo, lights the torch, using a concave mirror. According to the Myth of Promytheus, the fire is the symbol of life, rationalism and freedom as well as inventiveness and so had been the ageless flame that used to burn on the Altar of Prytaneion in Ancient Olympia.Then, the High Priestess relays the flame in a small ceramic pot and heads to the Stadium with all priestesses in procession. They pass by the Olive Tree, where they stand for a moment and “Amphithalis Pais”, the young boy (whose both parents are alive) cuts off an olive branch, as a symbol of peace and a meaningful winner’s prize. When the procession arrives at the Stadium, the High Priestess lights the torch of the first runner and the torch relay begins. The Olympic flame travels to many places and becomes the connecting bond among people, sending the message of hope.”

The Olympic flame is first carried by swimming world champion Spyros Gianniotis and it will travel across Greece for 8 days. The Flame will finally arrive to Athens, pass through the Acropolis Museum, Zappeion and will be delivered to the British organizers followed by the ceremonies in the Panathenaic Stadium at 7:00pm on May 17.

Kirsten Alana from Aviator and Camera, and  Andrea from Destination Europe joined us on a couple of  food walks in Rome. Check out their reports in the posts Eating my way through Rome and Living Like a Roman. These are some pretty mouth watering pictures, so prepare a snack!

We were delighted to see our name included in the list of Best Graduation Presents for friends in Corporette’s recent post. We like how they describe us as experience-centric..spot on!

The folks from The World is Calling discovered the beauty of Ostia Antica and shared their impressions on this fantastic archaeological site. It’s always refreshing when bloggers and travelers discover us.

Travel authorities Peter Greenberg and Pauline Frommer spoke highly of our innovative travel program on their websites. Honored, is the word that comes to mind!

And while keeping in line with our unique, and innovative tours, Tre from Atlas Obscura included our Hidden London walk as part of the must do things while visiting the city.

Have you read about Context somewhere that is not included in this list? Let us know, we’d love to add it to this list!

And here is why: The occasional unrest is very localized; it takes place within a few blocks from the parliament building at Syntagma Square in Athens. Even during the most difficult days of protests, only those who chose to be near the parliament building during the demonstrations were affected. Any danger could easily be avoided just by staying away from the government buildings.

Life away from Syntagma Square continues as normal. Only a few blocks down, in nearby Monastiraki or Plaka, where you’ll find many of the antiquities, restaurants, shops and coffee houses, you will see Greeks pursuing their daily tasks and visitors exploring the city’s attractions. It’s always wise to check local experts (try our Facebook and twitterfeed) or your hotel concierge about the latest strike news. Unfortunately, most of the strikes are announced in Greek and at the last minute, so you’ll need a local contact to help get around them. Athens is not a dangerous place, let alone the rest of Greece, where absolutely nothing happens on the days of these well-televised demonstrations. The news tend to report only the occasional violent incidents around a very limited area of the capital, failing to note that the rest of the city and the country on those particular days – and even that area during all other days of the year – is a most peaceful place with a long and exciting history.                                                                                       

If you do visit Greece this year, there are a few things you can do to minimize any turbulence and maximize your enjoyment. Take extra euros. The crisis is making for a favorable exchange rate, which will make your trip more economical across the board, but occasionally ATMs may run out of bills over the weekend. Just be prepared with extra cash on hand. Also, be sure to double-check opening hours of the sites with your hotel or by phone. Guidebooks and websites are frequently out-of-date, and low-tourism numbers may mean early closings. The good news is there will be shorter lines, less-crowded sites and business owners with more time to be great hosts to the guests they do have. Take advantage and plan to visit Greece now. The financial crisis has—paradoxically— made right now the best time to go.

The new train station in Rome

We’ve asked architect and Rome docent Liz Brewster to tell us more about the new, sleek looking station of Tiburtina that recently reopened to travelers in the East of the Italian Capital. After much controversy, and a large fire that delayed the opening, the new Stazione Tiburtina is finally here.

A sleek new glass-skinned steel bridge has recently emerged above the tangle of raised concrete  viaducts that make up Rome’s busy east tangential highway. The Tiburtina station now arches over the 20+ train tracks that line up below, visually announcing its presence from afar. Gone is the low, placid
block of the old Tiburtina train station which sat politely alongside the tracks for decades.  As the  Italian rail system upgrades to high velocity trains, a series of major city train stations throughout Italy are undergoing major renovation.

The Tiburtina station has grown to become one of Rome’s principle public transportation interchange points, housing a B line metro stop beneath it and a major national and international bus terminal adjacent to it. If the controversial and expensive high velocity rail lines that are planned to connect the European countries are completed, the Tiburtina station could be the entry gate into Rome for passengers coming from outside of Italy like France and Spain.
I couldn’t wait to see the metamorphosis take place. Along with all the other residents of north and east Rome, it’s been several years of agonizing detour road traffic around the construction site and slaloming barriers in the station itself when I took the train. I’d crane my neck to watch the progress every time I dared to take the Tangenziale, which has become an enormous hemostat, squeezing cars down to a traffic standstill for kilometers.

Tiburtina station interior

I decided it was most appropriate to arrive by train for my first visit. Getting off the train, I rode up one of the new escalators that starts right on the arrival platform and penetrates directly into the underbelly of the the bridge station that looms above and across the tracks. It felt a little like being beamed up into a large, hovering spacecraft.
Once inside, the 10,000 square meter concourse was truly spectacular. Floor to ceiling glass walls allow visitors to see the horizon of the city line and watch the flow of the train activity below. By night the concourse is illuminated by rows of sparkling ceiling lights, creating a fishbowl display of people
moving through the bridge’s innards. In the several-story tall space, 8 suspended halls float about mid- height on either side of the concourse, piercing through the glass walls and forming protrusions or “interferences” on the building exterior.. Each suspended hall’s perimeters are soft and curved, defined by a solid plane bent over itself like a ribbon to form the ceiling, wall and floor. Matte green colored, it vaguely looks like a colossal stick of peppermint chewing gum has been folded over to form a space in its concavity. Floor to ceiling glass walls fill in the open end walls. The overall effect of walking through this space amplified the sense of fluid movement and transition.

The new station, commissioned by the Italian National Rail and designed by architect Paolo Desideri and partners of the roman studio ABDR, is being completed more or less on schedule; the station was inaugurated precociously in November 2011. The commercial spaces in the concourse were still empty when I visited and both interior and exterior finish work on the building was still being completed. The station’s new bridgehead entrances on either side of the tracks are dramatic multistory spaces, but the surrounding external public spaces are far from completion. On the east side, the concrete viaducts of the Tangential road, (which are planned to be removed) come within meters of the 4 story glass facade.

On the west side, a service road skirts a barren hillside as the parking lot and park areas have not yet been activated. Worried residents of the surrounding neighborhoods have organized regular protests to bring attention to lack of momentum the city of Rome seems to be taking to move ahead with the part of the plans that they are to complete. Locals are afraid the city of Rome will cut the budget and not follow through with the ambitious urban renewal for the external public spaces around the station, which include interconnected green parks, public piazzas, bike and pedestrian paths and parking as well as the removal of entire sections of the tangenziale viaducts and an eventual deviation of automobile transit. The Tiburtina station’s bridge form makes the building a natural connector between the two neighborhoods that flank the railroad, bringing new centrality to areas that have been separated since the railroad lines were originally put in.

If the entire Tiburtina project is completed as it was originally planned, the whole area, station and
surrounds, will be worthy of it’s role as an international gateway into Rome. Stay tuned!

Since a recent visit to Madrid I have been fascinated by the development of Spanish food, and in particular the tapas phenomenon. Coming from a traditional Italian background, I find the idea of drinking and eating standing up a bit foreign, but I am about to learn more.

Context Travel-Spanish food seems to still be under the positive influence of Ferran Adria’s fame. But when did Spanish food begin to change?

Vicky Hayward: I think today’s creativity is rooted in a couple of changes further back. Around 1910 Spanish chefs’ hearts were won back by their own regional cuisines after two centuries of menus dominated by French cuisine. The excitement of that rediscovery was still alive when the Basque chefs launched their nueva cocina, reinterpretiing nouvelle cuisine, in the 1970s. That is really when today’s changes began- experimental avant garde cookery has been riding a wave ever since.

CT: So, what are the staples of the cocina madrilena?

VH: There is a saying that the sound of chickpeas falling into a pot is one typical of Madrid, so I’d pick its chickpea pot-au-feu, called cocido madrileno, as the most emblematic dish. More surprising, but also longstanding staples, are the city’s marvellous fish and seafood, and its offal dishes, like pig’s ears.

In a country so solidly planted on family values, how does the tradition of tapas come about? 

Well, the story of tapas is a southern one, Pablo Amate, an Andalusian food writer, has scratched behind legends. His findings are that wine shops turned to making an extra peseta by offering a little food with wine, sold at the counter, jokily calling it a tapa- meaning that it would tapar, or cover, your hunger till you could eat properly. Then tapas came north with the Andalusians as they emigrated in search of work.

So the name tapa does not come from food being used as a cover for a glass of wine?

There are so many appealing legends, but none are documented. What is true is that inns could only legally offer lodging, not food, till well into the modern period, so cities like Madrid, full of hungry visitors doing business, were full of tavernas. Later these and bars provided fertile soil for tapas to take root.

Are changes in cuisine reflected in tapas?

Yes, but I think Tapas reinvent themselves all the time as a reflection of social change too. So pintxos took off in the 1970s as part of the new Basque cooking, but that itself reflected chef’s desire to do bold new things in the spirit of the new democracy. Right now chef’s bite-sizeconceptual tapas are a reflection of them responding creatively to the economic crisis.

Anything new on the horizon?

One can see just the first tentative tapas emerging from Spain’s Latine American and Asian cooks- for the time being it’s just here and there, but I think that could be fantastically exciting.

After this talk I am even more fascinated by the history of Spanish food. I may not get to some authentic tapas right away, but I just got a great list of books on the subject from Vicky, and this bookstore seems to have a few. I order another flat white and start reading.

About Vicky Hayward: Vicky Hayward has been living in Madrid for over twenty years. She grew up in England, where she trained and worked as a cook before studying history at Cambridge University. Her interest in social and cultural history shaped her work as a book editor at Weidenfeld & Nicolson and later at Booth-Clibborn Editions, the London-based publisher of cutting edge visual books. For two years she lived in Vanuatu as it came to independence, working there as a translator, interpreter and editor. As a features writer in London she covered popular culture, social issues, food, the arts and women’s issues. She first got to know Spain as a child on family holidays and in 1990 her writing about Spanish food brought her to Madrid. Features for the international press since then have covered food and culture, in particular flamenco, which led on to collaborations in other media. Her travel writing began in the 1980s; it includes pocket guides to the Costa Blanca (1991), Madrid (1994), and Valencia (2006), and writing for Michelin Green Guides (2011). In recent years her interests in food and history have come together. She contributed articles to the Oxford Companion to Food on areas of Spanish food culture and for five years she has been working on her translation of a classic eighteenth-century Spanish cookbook. She leads culinary walks for Context Travel in Madrid.