Music Jamboree: in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia …

On stage, the old-time band is rollicking along: banjo, guitar, fiddle and double bass prompting the audience to show off their flat-foot dancing. An elderly guy in dungarees, battered felt hat and work boots twirls his partner. A spectator leans towards me: “That’s actually what he wears. It’s not an act,” she says, before diving off to find a partner of her own. It’s the Friday Night Jamboree at Floyd Country Store in Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains – and you can forget about lonesome pines. This joint is jumping.

The store, which dates from around 1910, really is a store: traditional beamed frontage, unfussy wooden interior and exactly the rural, small-town America image I pictured before starting my road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. For seven days a week it serves the town of Floyd (population about 400, just the one stoplight) and Floyd County with everything from pots and pans and work clothes to ice-cream and candy. But old-time, bluegrass, Americana and the Appalachian sound is so pervasive that the store has also become integral to the music scene – and a key stop on the Crooked Road, Virginia’s Music Heritage Trail.

The Jamboree sprang up in the 1980s because the store’s owners at the time were musicians and, rather than being interrupted by inquisitive locals while jamming, they opened the doors and let the snoopers become their audience. Now every Friday night is the Jamboree ($5 entry), every Saturday is Americana afternoon (free), Tuesday Tunes is a songwriters’ get-together (free), and once a month, on a Saturday evening, you can attend the Floyd Radio Show ($12 in advance, $15 on the door), which is also broadcast live online and available as a podcast later.

Although this is moonshine country, the store doesn’t serve alcohol – but that doesn’t stop the Jamboree from being a rattling good night out. The crowd is lively, the welcome warm and no one criticises your moves on the dancefloor. Between acts, co-owner Heather Krantz – who, with husband Dylan Locke, took over the store in 2014 – gets on stage and, with a prize up for grabs, asks who has come the furthest to be here. I miss out to a couple whose “Scotland” narrowly defeats my “Nottingham”.

Stepping outside for a brief banjo breather, I see another aspect of Floyd’s musical cool as bands, buskers and friends play in designated bays along the main street. The night air now has a chill but the lights of the store burn on and a group is singing Paradise by John Prine. It’s not quite the perfect title … but it’s not far off if you love the music of these mountains.

A campervan trip in outback New South Wales, where dirt is red and stars blaz

Heading out of inner-city Sydney in our enormous Apollo Euro camper, the roads narrow, the sweat forms on my brow and I ask myself what on earth I’m doing driving this 7.9-metre-long beast.

 We – two adults and our two small children – are heading for the red dirt; specifically, the remote north-west of New South Wales, which travellers both Australian and foreign opt to pass on in favour of Uluru/Alice Springs or the Kimberley region of Western Australia when seeking an outback “experience”.

We’re reasonably keen campers but when the offer of a van materialises from Apollo campers, the thought of not having to put the tent up each night is quite exciting.

Inside, the Euro camper feels fairly roomy, at least before we unpack our bags. There are two table and chair areas, both of which become a double bed. There’s also a bed above the cabin, which, unsurprisingly, our five-year-old favours. The straps that need to be put up to stop kids (or adults) rolling out make it a bit of a pain when our two-year-old cries in the night, however, and we all switch beds a few times.

We arrive in Dubbo – home of the Western Plains zoo – a good eight hours later thanks to my cautious driving and the constant requirements of small children. I can’t really see anything behind me when I’m driving such a large van and it’s a little unnerving. There’s a reversing camera but, be warned, try to reverse this thing without a guide and you’re asking for trouble. I drive with the camera on when we’re in towns but it doesn’t help a great deal. It’s not designed for forward driving, even if it does reassure me a little.

In Dubbo we stay at the BIG4 campground, where a night on a powered site for a van like ours costs $57 for the family. In the morning the kids fall in love with the play equipment and bouncing pillow – think bouncy castle minus the walls. The setting is convenient, almost within shouting distance of the free-range zoo, even if the piped (and loud) commercial radio in the bathrooms, coupled with the replica suburban streets is, for the purposes of our city escape, not ideal.


At the zoo, the kids have been sold on a drive-through safari in which lions claw at the car. In the end we rent bikes with trailers ($40 for a bike and a “bike-n-tow” on top of the two-day $131.40 family ticket) and make our way through the vast setting, catching the usual big favourites; an energetic tiger, giraffes and elephants standing out for the kids. Biking through the bush makes it a special day. It’s the most kid-friendly thing we have planned so it’s a relief when it gets the thumbs up from our five-year-old.

That afternoon we join a large group of “grey nomads” at the free Terramungamine campsite just outside Dubbo. Here, evidence of the clans that called – and still call – this land home is etched into the outcrops along the river in rocks used for tool sharpening. Dozens of deep grooves from ancient tools are visible.

As the light fades I sit on the riverbank, the kids flop out to some Dora the Explorer on the van’s TV (this is a grown-up’s holiday, too), and what seems like hundreds of sulphur-crested cockatoos, galahs and corellas make their way along the river, jostling for a roosting place high up in the sturdy red gums.

In the morning, black cockatoos soar high above the campsite. We follow the highway north, taking in the faded charm of towns including Gilgandra and Coonamble, the rugged beauty of the Warrumbungles, and the beginning of the great, flat plains of NSW’s north-west.

Pulling in at Walgett, we’re a world away from Sydney and we’re reminded of the diversity – physical, social and economic – of this state. We stock up on supplies at the supermarket, the tyranny of distance evident in the high prices locals must pay for staples.

Walgett is the first town where the toilet “cassette” needs emptying (in an approved dump spot, of course), and it must be said it’s a repulsive job. We’d been mulling an outright toilet ban owing to the unsavoury smell emanating from the little cupboard of yuck, pondering what it would be like in an outback summer. After Walgett we vow not to use the toilet again.

On the road again we note that the long-running drought in this country has eased and heavy rains have turned the land from shades of yellow and ochre – at Brewarrina, you start to get that sense of “outback” so often defined in the popular consciousness by the presence of the red soils – to the luscious greens of fresh grasses. The land is now in bloom with yellow flowers. With a dead straight road shimmering ahead, a deep blue sky and flashes of iron-rich earth, it’s a beautiful scene.

We stop to admire a flock of emus and the kids strain their necks – while it’s fun for them to sit at a table while we travel, the windows of the camper are too high and a bit small for little ones to get a good view. They unbuckle to check out the gangly birds at the side of the road.

Brewarrina, with a population just over a thousand, is not a typical holiday destination. It’s clear there are problems of crime, disadvantage, drug abuse and broken families (that’s what has brought me here before for work as a film-maker). But in remote Indigenous communities people face the same struggles. It’s something visitors to the outback must contend with and, hopefully, learn from. The people of Brewarrina and other places, after all, are guardians of a remarkable cultural heritage which enriches the whole nation. So what if there are a few dumped cars around.

Mass tourism is a long way off. But just outside of town the new Beds on the Barwon has the edge on competitors should the numbers of visitors seeking cabins and a lovely campsite pick up. It’s $30 for a powered site ($20 unpowered) on the river, and there’s only one other couple camping here when we pull in. As the golden light of the sunset makes its way through the gums and another chorus of outback birdsong fills the air, we gather wood for a campfire, confident this is the most peaceful place in the world.


Two-year-old Rosa throws a huge tantrum before bed, momentarily breaking the serenity. With two kids, the van is now a rubbish tip. There are quite a few cupboards but books colouring pencils and socks are strewn across the floor – so it’s a bit like home. The grown-ups are fraying at the edges but it’s easy to get some space by taking a breather outside. In wet weather I’m not sure this would be doable.

At night our son, Frankie, and I play with a smartphone app to make sense of the staggering numbers of stars above. Out here you see more than constellations; with the milky way tearing across the heavens, huge patches of both cloudy light and dark are visible: we make out the emu known to holders of Indigenous sky-knowledge.

Over breakfast a feral goat makes its way along the opposite side of the river, followed by a kayaker. He says the goat has been showing him the way for the past two kilometres. He’s paddling from Goondiwindi in Queensland to Wentworth, where the Darling river meets the Murray, a distance, he reckons, of 2,000km. I pledge to do something similar, one day, but before that take a hard-earned doze by the river as the kids have their afternoon nap, spying an eagle, a kite (I think), pelicans and what look to be budgerigars.

At dusk it’s time to visit the Brewarrina fish traps. Created by the Ngemba people millennia ago, they are a solid reminder the area was an important cultural centre long before the arrival of Europeans. Neglect and downright destruction mean it’s hard to make out what is what alongside the modern weir and the clever fish “ladder” that has been built to let fish return upstream. But the river’s looking healthy and there are scores of reeds giving the place a nice feel. We chat to some friendly drinkers on the bank who try to help us make sense of it.

After a morning catching up with friends, we head for Gundabooka national park, via Bourke. We know we’ll have enough food, water and, hopefully, battery power for Dora the Explorer, but we get a rude awakening in Bre. The car won’t start. Two elders help us give the beast a push start, thank you very much. Our friends seem worried the city people don’t know what they’re doing. They’re probably right, but by the time we get to Bourke the battery appears to have been re-energised. We check out the port, a few old buildings, note the number of brand names and companies with “Back o’ Bourke” in the title, and get on our way. It’s worth a stop (in the outback, everywhere is worth a stop), but there’s not much to keep us in what has become a tight itinerary.

About 50km south of Bourke we put the pedal to the metal; despite the fear of battery trouble it’s time to veer off the highway and take on more than 20km of dirt track to one of the campsites at Mount Gundabooka. If we thought camping in Brewarrina was peaceful, this is ridiculous. I walk away from the fire at night, as far as I dare in the dark silence. It’s so quiet that the ringing in my ears is almost overwhelming. An owl is calling from what could be several kilometres away. The stars, again, are astounding.

In the morning we walk to the top of Little Mountain through the mulga scrub, a view of Mount Gundabooka and the surrounding flats the reward. I note with some relief there is Telstra coverage should the van not start. It does, and we head for one of the two Ngemba rock art sites in the park. It’s another long red-dirt track to get here, followed by a 15-minute walk into a rocky valley. There’s still water in the creek; large tadpoles are crowding each other out in the remaining waterholes. The art blows us all away; simple figures of people, emus and other patterns drawn in a different time.

Before the epic push back to Sydney, we pause in the historical mining town of Cobar to make the kids some dinner. After numerous stops to admire our country’s rich Indigenous heritage and long, long history, here’s a tourist attraction at the other end of the scale. We peer deep into the earth of the huge open-cut goldmine, a strange but intriguing sight.

It’s all been a whirlwind; in just under a week we’ve seen a great deal and the changes in our surroundings have been immense, all within a single corner of this admittedly large state. We look down as a huge (but tiny) truck meanders up to the exit, laden with ore from which gold bullion will be produced.

Then there’s another beautiful golden sunset across the flat plains, still stretching as far as the eye can see.

Forbidden City Beijing, China (Palace Museum)

Lying at the city center and called Gu Gong in Chinese, it was the imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor Chengzu  in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Ancient Chinese Astronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in the center of heaven and the Heavenly Emperor lived in the Purple Palace. The Palace for the emperor on earth was so called the Purple City. It was forbidden to enter without special permission of the empeor. Hence its name 'The Purple Forbidden City', usually 'The Forbidden City'.

Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a 52-meter-wide moat and a 10-meter-high wall are more than 8,700 rooms. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen). The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the east and west gates is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside.

It is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family.

Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions world-wide.

Construction of the palace complex began in 1407, the 5th year of the Yongle reign of the third emperor (Emperor Chengzu, Zhu Di) of the Ming dynasty. It was completed fourteen years later in 1420, and then the capital city was moved from Nanjing to Beijing the next year. It was said that a million workers including one hundred thousand artisans were driven into the  long-term hard labor. Stone needed was quarried from Fangshan District. It was said a well was dug every fifty meters along the road in order to pour water onto the road in winter to slide huge stones on ice into the city. Huge amounts of timber and other materials were freighted from faraway provinces.

Ancient Chinese people displayed their very considerable skills in building it. Take the grand red city wall for example. It has an 8.6 meters wide base reducing to 6.66 meters wide at the top. The angular shape of the wall totally frustrates attempts to climb it. The bricks were made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement is made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These incredible materials make the wall extraordinarily strong.

Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in it. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process. However, there is one exception. Wenyuange, the royal library, has a black roof. The reason is that it was believed black represented water then and could extinguish fire.

Nowadays, it is open to tourists from home and abroad. Splendid painted decoration on these royal architectural wonders, the grand and deluxe halls, with their surprisingly magnificent treasures will certainly satisfy 'modern civilians'.

Dancing with the past in Sweden

You would think we’d never been on a train before. My children and I are standing on platform two of the small station in Mellerud, Sweden, taking pictures of each other, and of my Aunt Gerd and Uncle Cees, who are seeing us off. When the train to Gothenburg arrives, we board and theatrically wave goodbye through the windows. Can you blame us for our excitement? We’re going to Liseberg, Scandinavia’s largest amusement park. My mother used to go there when she was little, and I used to go there when I was young. My kids have been hearing about it for years.

 I was born and raised in America, but my mother was raised on a farm outside Mellerud. When I was growing up in San Francisco she would take me and my sister to Sweden in the summer to show us how she grew up. So I’ve now taken my children from San Francisco to Sweden so they can see how I passed my childhood summers. We’ve just spent a week with my cousins and their families, sleeping in lakeside cabins. We’ve gone swimming and canoeing and have picked blueberries and chanterelle mushrooms because this is what my mother did during her childhood summers and, consequently, what I did in mine.

On the train ride from Mellerud to Gothenburg, I tell my kids about how my mother’s father, Birger, would sometimes send my mother and Gerd to stay with relatives. The girls were too young to read station signs, so Birger would instruct them to count the stops on their fingers, and get off at the seventh station. My kids want to do this, too, but I don’t know how many stops there are to Gothenburg, and my oldest, who is nine, can read.

My pulse quickens as we near the entrance to Liseberg, which is framed by tall castle-like towers. It’s almost 8pm and the park is filled with Swedish families with pushchairs who have spent the day there, and teenagers and adults who are just arriving. A few women are holding Toblerone bars the length of their legs, and many men carry enormous stuffed animals – some versions of the park’s mascot, a rabbit with two buck teeth and a polka-dot bow tie. These are prizes they’ve won or purchases they’ve made. I see a blond man pushing a stroller and taking a bite of pink candy floss from a bag that’s been passed on to him from his now-screaming child. The sun hasn’t set yet and won’t until near midnight.

We decide to ride the Liseberg Wheel first, and as we follow arrows to the enormous Ferris wheel we pass well-manicured areas of green grass with manmade streams. “This is so nice!” the kids say, and I agree. In contrast, the American amusement parks we’re used to provide zero shade and as much asphalt as possible. But there is civility here as we wait in line for the Ferris wheel and civility as we’re directed to our cab and proceed to spin slowly up to the top and look down on Gothenburg, with its white buildings and red roofs.

We pass on the frightening-looking AtmosFear – billed as the tallest free-fall attraction in Europe. Every six minutes the collective screams of everyone on the ride pierce the tranquil evening. We play a game in which both my kids aim a water gun at a target to make their cars propel forward across the track. Regardless of the fact that there’s one clear winner, they’re both given black and red buttons that say Jag vann (“I won”), with the Liseberg logo at the bottom. I help them pin the buttons to their T-shirts and then take them to a corner of the park that others might ignore or pass over without giving much attention. “This is where it happened,” I tell them. “This is where my cousin vomited after we rode the rollercoaster four times in a row 31 years ago.” “Really?” my son says. “Here?” My daughter takes a photograph.

I buy them ice-cream cones and we sit at a picnic table near a covered but open-air dance floor. A Swedish band plays a John Fogerty song, “Rockin’ All Over the World”, and the circular floor is packed. Old couples dance, young couples dance, parents twirl young children, and people I’m not sure were couples before stepping on to the dance floor sway in very close proximity. My son, who cannot resist moving when he hears music, is bouncing up and down on the picnic bench.

I tell my children the story of how Aunt Gerd met her husband on the Liseberg dance floor in 1960. My mother and Gerd were in their sundresses listening to the band. Cees was a young Dutch soldier visiting Gothenburg on his leave. He and his friend were walking around Liseberg when they heard Glenn Miller’s music being played. Cees loved Glenn Miller, and they made their way to the floor. The men had to buy tickets for each dance (three dances for one krona). He and Gerd danced for three songs. Then he bought more tickets. They’ve been married for 54 years.

My children now have remnants of their ice cream in their hair and on their shirts. We look at the dancers before us and try to pick out which of them might fall in love tonight. A young man in red trousers steals a kiss from a woman in a sundress and she kisses him back. “Look, Mama,” my kids say to me. “The man in the red trousers has the same button we do!” He does. He’s wearing one of the buttons that tell the world – or at least the dance floor – that he’s won at Liseberg.

For more information, go to liseberg.com. British Airways flies from Heathrow to Gothenburg from £86 return

Vendela Vida’s new novel is The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty (Atlantic Books, £14.99). To order a copy for £11.99, including UK p&p, go to bookshop.theguardian.com

Great Wall of China to establish graffiti area for tourists

Tourists often leave their mark on destinations they visit. But in the case of the Great Wall of China, the problem is more literal; graffiti in the form of names scratched into the stone are damaging the ancient monument.

At the more popular sections of the wall, the problem has become so bad that authorities are trying a new approach to preventing it. On Sunday, Chinese news outlets reported that a specific graffiti area will be established at the Mutianyu section of the wall where visitors will be free to leave their mark in the hope of containing the scribbling, which, according to reports, is more likely to be in foreign languages (mostly English) than it is Chinese.

The graffiti section will be set up at one of the fighting towers that has become a common place for tourists to scrawl on the walls. Authorities have also aired the idea of setting up an electronic touch-screen graffiti wall in the future. Electronic walls have proved popular in China in the past and last year three were set up at another popular tourist attraction, Yellow Crane Tower Park in Wuhan, to tackle the same problem.

Still, it is not just ancient sites in China that struggle with graffiti. Last May, the parents of a Chinese teenager were forced to apologise after photos were posted online of their son's name scratched into the wall of a 3,500 year old temple in Egypt.

Share your Lyon tips with GuardianWitness or #GuardianLyon

The bank of the Rhône, Lyon, France Photograph: Alamy

This week Guardian Travel is producing an alternative guide to the French city of Lyon, and we need your help to do it.

We would like you to tell us about the best bars and cafes, the most interesting things to do and the insider tips you’ve picked up by travelling or even living and working in the city. Maybe you know someone who is there right now? If so, we’d love to hear from them.

You can share your tips and photographs with us using GuardianWitness by clicking on the blue “Contribute” buttons. We’ll also be looking for Twitter replies and the most interesting Instagram pictures you’ve taken or found – with the hashtag #GuardianLyon. The best will be published next week.

Is it Lyon’s breed of antique markets that turns you on to the city? You might just know a little bit about its culinary secrets and reckon we might be missing out. Whichever it is, let us know by midday on Friday 21 August – and don’t forget the hashtag.

What is the best way to travel in Europe this summer?

European seaside destinations will soon be accessible by high-speed rail. Photograph: Trevor Ray Hart

Q. We are planning to go to Italy with our parents and children (aged eight and 10) this summer. What’s the best way to get there?

A. When kids are very young and patience is not their strongest virtue, getting to a holiday destination as quickly as humanly possible usually seems like the best option.

Once your offspring are over about six, however, a whole new world of travel possibilities opens up to you. Car, train and ferry journeys can be the stuff childhood memories are made of, and give families plenty of flexibility for stopping off at interesting places en route.

Time is the big factor of course, and if you only have a week’s break then flying is always going to seem like a better choice.

If you do have enough time though, ferry or train make an exciting change from air travel – and its corresponding hassle. Ferry (ferrycheap.com) is still the better way to go if you’re taking your car – taking a car by train to Europe is still possible by motorail, but complicated and relatively expensive.

But if you are car-free, then travelling by rail is a great way to start your holiday. It only takes a day to go from London to Milan by Eurostar and TGV and costs from £61 one way – but book as early as possible to get the cheapest fares.

For multi-generational groups such as yours, going by train is likely to work especially well. Children can roam when they get restless, and the group can swap seats to keep things interesting and share entertainment duties.

If you want to stop at multiple places on the way, consider an Interrail pass (interrail.eu) – children under 11 travel for free.*

*Always consult a financial adviser before taking advice. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Sainsbury’s Bank.

Sainsbury’s Bank provides a range of services, including banking products, car insurance, home insurance, life insurance, pet insurance, travel insurance, travel money and savings.

We combine the shopping experience and banking by offering customers great products at fair prices, while consistently rewarding them with extra Nectar card points for choosing Sainsbury’s for their finance and shopping needs. Nectar points can be used towards travel, treats, family days out and shopping.

Visit Holland’s most charming and underrated city, take a break on the Cornish coast or explore Spain’s Picos de Europa

Take me there: Utrecht

Why go?

On 4 July the eyes of the world will focus on the Dutch city of Utrecht as it hosts the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. For a cycle-mad nation this is cause for celebration, but it’s also a chance to show off one of their most charming and underrated cities. With its handsome medieval centre, gabled merchants’ houses, café-lined canals and cosmopolitan student population, Utrecht offers a laid-back and compact alternative to Amsterdam.

What to do

This is Holland, so a cycle tour is virtually obligatory. There are dozens of rental places in town, but if you’ve been inspired by the Tour de France you can cycle the first or second stages on a vintage racer with Vintage Bike Tours (vintagebiketours.nl). They also offer gentle city tours on classic Dutch bikes. Alternatively, get a duck’s-eye view of the city by renting a kayak (kanoverhuurutrecht.nl). Utrecht’s canals are surprisingly peaceful and the chances of getting mown down by a motor-cruiser are pleasantly slim. Design aficionados should check out the Rietveld Schröder House, the modernist house built by Gerrit Rietveld, a luminary of the De Stijl movement in the 1920s. The excellent Centraal Museum has his furniture on display and can organise guided tours of the house (centraalmuseum.nl).

Where to eat

Blauw is the best place in Utrecht for Indonesian food. Order the “rijsttafel” (literally, rice table) for a tasting menu of a dozen or so small dishes for €30 per head (restaurantblauw.nl).

Where to stay

All rooms in the 18th century canal-side house The Mary K were designed by local artists and the welcome is warm (from €120, marykhotel.com).

Insider tip

The Dutch love a coffee-shop and Hayo van Dijk of Vintage Bike Tours says his favourite is Blackbird Coffee & Vintage (Oudegracht 222 , blackbirdcoffee.nl): “The couple who run the place are lovely, the coffee is great and their [juice] bar is awesome. Alongside the coffee they also sell vintage bikes. It’s a nice, tranquil place which you could easily pass, but should definitely visit.”

Give me a break

Summer’s hottest address: Chapel House, Penzance.

Home A quirky bolthole on the Cornish coast Cornwall has no shortage of gorgeous boltholes, but there’s always room for one more. Chapel House has just opened in Penzance in the building that used to house the quirky Penzance Arts Club. There are six airy rooms with sea views. With the option of kitchen suppers on weekend evenings and foraging excursions it looks set to become summer’s hottest address. B&B from £150 (chapelhousepz.co.uk).

On a high: cycling in Spain’s Picos de Europa National Park.

Away Active holidays in Spain Pura Aventura is inviting adventurous families to Spain’s Picos de Europa National Park this summer to enjoy a week’s activity holiday, with canoeing, canyoning, swimming, hiking and cycling. Combining guided excursions with independent activities, the trip departs on 23 July. From £750pp, including a week’s B&B in small, family-run hotels, car hire and guided trips. Flights extra (pura-aventura.com).

An insider's cultural guide to Nottingham: Cinematic, collaborative and creative

The pre-recorded voice of the Nottingham tram informs passengers of approaching stops in an authentic Notts accent. The invisible tour guide was chosen in a competition to decide who should be the voice of the tram.
Everyone’s tuning into …
With their continuous jamz, KEMET.FM is Nottingham’s first official urban music radio station. So if they’re not tuned in already, they should be now.
Best current venue?
Cramped, sweaty and showcasing the roughest shared toilet in the world, JT Soar is an old potato warehouse that has been converted into a music and arts venue. Some of the best nights are promoted by the folks from The Music Exchange, the finest independent record store in the city. The venue is also home to a brilliant recording studio, currently building sleeping bunks for bands!
Who’s top of the playlist?
Music video for Tied up in Nottz by Sleaford Mods.
Loud, raucous, poetic and blunt Sleaford Mods are a definable sound of Nottingham. Vocalist Jason Williamson moved to the city in 1996 and warmed to it straight away. “It was the close proximity of things that I found endearing,” says Williamson, “I’m a small towner so I connected to that aspect of Nottingham straight away.”
The city is rooted in their post-punk, kitchen sink sound too. Williamson remarks that in Nottingham, “ruined reminders of the Old Empire’s megalomania stand everywhere, in old bridges and homes through to the hard faced terrace houses that litter the city.”
Elsewhere Scor-zay-zee has just released his latest album to critical acclaim – after 20 years of hard work as a rapper and actor (Shane Meadows used him in Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee in 2009 and he continues to appear in shorts and features, including the brilliant Gary The Rapper, by Mark Devenport).
It’s worth noting too that there would be no Scorz without places like Nottingham’s Community Recording Studio (CRS) in St Ann’s, which has been going for over 20 years. Run by Trevor Rose and Nick Stez, CRS has nurtured singers, rappers, dancers and producers and notable luminaries include Nina Smith, Mistajam, Harliegh Blu, Out Da Vile, Ms Tempz, Illmanna, Kick Spencer and Scorz, of course.
Dominic West visits the CRS to promote the film Guillemot, which was shot by and stars young people from an estate in St Ann’s, Nottingham.
Best local artist?
Nottingham has a great literary heritage to pick from (from Byron and DH Lawrence to Alan Sillitoe), but great, popular authors still live and work here …
Niki Valentine writes blood chilling psychological horror like the novel Haunted, which takes a lovely married couple out to the Scottish wilds and shakes things up nastily. Or Alison Moore, a member of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio, who was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for her unsettling novel The Lighthouse.
The best cultural Instagram?
Rather than a single Instagram account, you should follow the #nottinghamrocks hashtag which is probably the best celebration of the city’s cultural diversity.
But to find out what is happening, where, when and why … then Left Lion has all the culture fit to print, monthly.

What’s the big talking point?
The tram! When will it end? They’ve been building new tracks for years and we still don’t know when they’re actually going to open. It’s a shambles.
What Nottingham does better than anyone …
Nottingham has become a city of film. Thanks to left-field outfits like Kino Klubb, Strange Things Are Happening and Kneel BeforeZod, it’s possible that you might stumble into a pub and find a screening of a Radley Metzger art-house porno movie, or indulge in VHS nostalgia with an open air screening of Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.
There’s Shane Meadows of course, but Jeanie Finlay is making waves with feature docs and Steven Sheil directs international horror films out of a small office in the Broadway Cinema. Wellington Films (behind films including London To Brighton and the Duane Hopkins breakthrough, Better Things) are based there, too.
Just down from the Broadway is the legendary Television Workshop where some of the finest modern actors have emerged: Vicky McClure, Joe Dempsie, Samantha Morton, Jack O’Connell, Toby Kebbell and many more. There’s a longer list than we have space for …
Moment in history?

Nottingham is a city filled with great art, fantastic writers and amazing film, so of course it’s football! Nottingham Forest (technically the wrong side of the river) has provided the city with not one, but two of the most important cultural contributions to its identity: both of them are Forest winning the European Cup – in 1979 and 1980. Nottingham is also host to Notts County, the oldest professional club in the world, and inspiration for Italian giants Juventus’ famous zebra stripes.

Graffitti artists Dilk (from England) and Sunk (from Holland) painted this graffiti mural on a car repair garage in the St Ann’s area of the city.

Chris Cooke teaches and presents film and sometimes (once) made things. Melissa Gueneau talks about films in a dodgy accent for a living and spends too much time on Twitter.

10 spectacular rail journeys … that you’ve probably never heard of

Tren de la Libertad, Ecuador

Ecuador’s Train of Freedom travels between Otavalo, Ibarra and Salinas in the northern part of the country. Recently renovated, the line passes through the Chota valley, along narrow mountain ledges, hair-raising bridges and lengthy tunnels and offers a gentle ride through spectacular natural surroundings. The train itself is a heritage piece, consisting of red wooden carriages pulled by a silver diesel engine emblazoned with the Ecuadorian colours along its sides.
• Tourists can book on a day-long tour for $45 (about £30), including stop-offs and guides, trenecuador.com

Jasper to Prince Rupert, Canada

Jasper national park, Canada. Photograph: Fotofeeling/Westend61/Corbis

The VIA Rail train service between Jasper and Prince Rupert treats its passengers to beautiful views of the Jasper national park, the Canadian Rockies and the Pacific Coast. It’s a two-day journey, which includes an overnight stop-off at Prince George. Those in it for the ride can book seats in the touring class carriages, which are added during peak period of mid-June-September. There you can enjoy panoramic views thanks to extra large windows and reclining seats, as well as a full meal service and complimentary wine. That’s not to say the views are any less impressive for those riding in economy.
• One-way economy from £70 single, touring £283, viarail.ca

Spirit of the Outback, Australia

Train crossing sign on the Spirit of the Outback route. Photograph: Nick Rains/Corbis

An epic bi-weekly service that runs along 1,325km of track, the Spirit of the Outback lets you experience Queensland’s baking desert countryside – mountains, plains and coast – from the comfort of an air-conditioned carriage. Launched in 1993, it travels from Brisbane to Longreach, via Rockhampton, also taking in historic outback towns. There’s a dining car and galley car to kick back in during the 24-hour journey.
• One-way economy fares from £78. Departs Brisbane Tue, Sat; departs Longreach Mon, Thurs. queenslandrailtravel.com.au

Nice to Digne les Bains, France

Photograph: Marc Dozier/Corbis

The last route to remain of the four historic Train des Pignes railways in southern France, the Nice to Digne line is a scenic three-hour ride through mountain passes and alongside fast-flowing rivers. Opened in the 1890s, the line is 151km long and includes an impressive number of tunnels – 27 in total – and one that’s 3.5km long. The stations themselves are small, quaint affairs, often decked out with flower boxes and vintage clocks.
• One way £17, trainprovence.com

Belgrade to Bar, Serbia and Montenegro

Photograph: Alamy

Connecting the Serbian capital with the seaport of Bar in Montenegro is a stunning railway line that’s well known to train buffs but barely heard of among regular travellers. The train rolls along 476km of track through the mountains of Montenegro, with about 250 tunnels and more than 400 bridges to keep you entertained along the way. Some of the viaducts you’ll cross are particularly dramatic - the Mala Rijeka Viaduct is almost 200 metres high and half a kilometre in length.
• One way £18, serbianrailways.com

Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Madagascar

Photograph: Alamy

This tropical train ride takes passengers through the lush jungle in the south-east of the island, along a railway built in the late 1920s. It’s not a glamorous journey; the carriages are run down and some of the track is reported to date back to the 1890s, but this snail-rail adventure is the best way to explore this part of Madagascar. And when we say snail rail, we really mean it. The line may only be 160km in length, but it can take anything up to 12 hours to make it to the end.
• Adult single, first class, £6. First-class bookings can be made by emailing Fianarantsoa Cote Est seven days before departure at fce@blueline.mg or by phone on +261 20 75 513 55. You have to reconfirm your ticket at least one day prior to departure.

Yatsushiro to Hayato, Japan

Photograph: Alamy

A rail pass is the best way to travel cheaply around Kyushu, Japan’s third largest island and home to one of world’s largest active volcanoes. Amid the rocky terrain, you’ll find one of the country’s most scenic rides, along the JR Hiatsu line from Yatsushiro to Hayato. The route passes through spectacular, ever-changing scenery, rolling past the glowing Kumagawa River as it snakes through valleys, as well as taking in views of the Kirishima mountain range, where the active volcano Mount Sakurajima smoulders away.
• JR Kyushu rail pass from £81, japan-rail-pass.com

Curitiba to Paranaguá, Brazil

Photograph: Alamy

Built in the 1880s, this winding line meanders through the Serra do Mar mountains along Brazil’s south-eastern coastline. Considering the geography, the railway is an astonishing piece of engineering; though less impressive is the fact half of the men who were employed to build the line died during its construction. The three-hour, 100km-long journey on the Serra Verde Express takes passengers through 14 tunnels and across 30 bridges, including the Carvalho Viaduct, with views of vibrant, green rainforest all the way. As well as being a rare chance to go on a rail adventure in Brazil, the train is also the best way to get yourself to the historic town of Morretes, where you can tuck into a lunch of barreado, a beef stew that’s a speciality in the state of Paraná.
• Adult single £18, service to Paranaguá only runs on Sundays, serraverdeexpress.com.br

Colombo to Kandy, Sri Lanka

Connecting Sri Lanka’s capital on the coast with its second largest city, Kandy, in the heart of the island, is a beautifully scenic train up into the tea plantations of Central Province. As the train leaves Colombo, you’ll roll past jungle and rice fields, eventually climbing up into the forests surrounding Kandy, 500 metres above sea level. The 121km journey can be made daily on a range of trains, some with privately run luxury carriages attached.
• Adult single between £3-£8, exporail.lk and rajadhani.lk

Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag, Austria

Photograph: Ernst-Georg Kohout/Alamy

Austria’s Semmering railway is a masterpiece of civil engineering, venturing through tunnels and over viaducts as it travels through the mountains of east Austria. Over 100 bridges punctuate the line, which was built between 1848 and 1854, and was awarded Unesco world heritage status in 1998. The man behind its construction, Carlo di Ghega, was an engineer who was a pioneer of modern railways - the Semmering line is often described as the world’s first true mountain railway. Given the picturesque, wooded countryside it passes through, the Semmering line is a bit like an ambitious Hornby railway set come to life.
• Adult single from £6.50, oebb.at

The best restaurants in Tokyo and Kyoto – chosen by Japan’s top chefs

Dining at the tiny counter at Kappo Sakamoto in the Gion district of Kyoto, I glance up at our chef, Ryuta Sakamoto, who’s quietly preparing our next course. Sake in hand, I decide to break with etiquette and ask if he knows a good place to buy a bento box. He pauses, considering the problems my lack of Japanese might create: “We always pre-order our bento boxes from Hishiiwa. They’re very traditional, but always good”.

Later, I discover that Hishiiwa opened in 1830 to supply food to the teahouses in Gion and that by “good”, he means “seriously good”. The Japanese are so understated in their recommendations. Never let their lack of hyperbole put you off.

A few days later in Tokyo, when I ask the innovative chef Yoshiaki Takazawa  for his favourite restaurant in Japan, he mentions Le Musée in Hokkaido and describes its cooking as modern. I do a bit of online research and discover that, along with Takazawa, Le Musée is at the cutting edge of a new style of Japanese cooking where a traditional, minimal approach is fused with innovative ways of cooking to express each seasonal ingredient. I immediately want to go and eat there.

Japan is a country that rewards gentle perseverance and a willingness to try anything. Over the years, I’ve been introduced to some wonderful Japanese chefs, all of whose restaurants are worth a visit in their own right. So, I decided to ask them to reveal their favourite places to eat, drink or shop.

KYOTO

Yoshihiro Murata

The third generation chef-owner of three Michelin-starred Ryotei Kikunoi was made a Gendai no Meiko (Contemporary Master Crasftman) of Kaiseki cuisine in 2012

Okakita noodle shop

I enjoy having a snack of noodles at about 3pm. Two of my favourite places in Kyoto are Okakita and Yamamoto Menzou. They’re next door to each other and, as they’re both really popular, I always choose the one with the shortest queue. The chef at Okakita was an apprentice at Kikunoi. He makes his own sasame udon, thin delicate noodles very popular in Kyoto. For me, eating udon is all about texture and taste, so I tend to eat my noodles plain to fully appreciate the quality of the broth and the udon.

Yamamoto Menzou serves a different style of noodle. He trained in Shikoku, southern Japan, learning how to make sanuki udon, a local speciality which is much thicker . Traditionally, they’re quite chewy, a bit like al dente pasta. He’s developed a new technique where his udon dough is so soft it has to be made just before it is cooked, otherwise it will fall apart. This ensures that the noodles absorb more flavour from the broth. They take your orders as you queue outside and cook it in front of you once inside.

• Okakita 34 Okazaki Minamigosho-cho, Sakyo Ward, +81 75 771 4831, no English website, open 11am-8pm (last orders), closed Tuesday, £4-£6 • Yamamoto Menzo Address as above, +81 75 751 0677, no English website, open 11am-7.45pm (2.30pm on Wednesday, closed Thursday and every fourth Wednesday, £4-£6

Ryuta Sakamoto

Chef at family-run one Michelin-starred Kappo Sakamoto, who marries traditional and modern Kyoto-style food in his multi-course tasting menus

Small dishes at Chihana, Kyoto

There are so many good places in Kyoto, but my favourite place to hang out and have a drink is the K6 Bar in Nijyo Kiyamachi. It’s small and dark, with a relaxed atmosphere. I usually have a Guinness, but they’re also famous for their cocktails and whisky selection. Shortly after I came back to work in my father’s restaurant, I went to eat at Chihana, an old kappo-style (counter) restaurant in Gion. Master chef Motoh Nagata cheered me up by telling me I could be a good chef, based on his own experience of opening Chihana after returning from the war. He had learnt by watching others and teaching himself to cook. He suggested that I teach myself by eating out at as many good restaurants as possible. His words have always stayed with me, and although he’s since passed away, his son continues his culinary tradition and serves food on his father’s beautiful old dishes.

Another good place is Yonemura – a fusion restaurant. Chef Yonemura is a genius when it comes to combining ingredients from east and west. He also has a great sense of design, both in his restaurant and with his dishes, which look like famous drawings. I find all his food very exciting. His old cookery book is one of my culinary bibles.

• Bar K6 Nijo Kyamachi Higashi-iru, Valls Building 2F (next door to the Ritz Carlton), +81 75 255 5009, ksix.jp, open daily 6pm-3am (from 5pm weekends) • Chihana 584 Minamigawa, Gionmachi, Higashiyama-ku, 81 75 561 2741, kyotochihana.com, open 12pm-2pm and 5pm-10pm (closed Tuesday, public holidays and early January), dinner from £60-£240 plus 10% service • Restaurant Yonemura 481-1 Kiyoi-cho Yasaka Toriimae Sagaru Higashiyama-ku, +81 75 533 6699, r-yonemura.jp, open 12pm-1pm and 5.30pm-9pm (closed Tuesday and late December to early January), set lunch £40-£70, set dinner £86

Ichiro Kubota

Executive chef at the boutique hotel Hoshinoya Kyoto, before which he opened Umu in London and won its first Michelin star

Ippodo Tea Shop

At the Kaboku Tearoom in the Ippodo Tea Shop, the staff show you how to make different types of green tea and serve them with seasonal Japanese confectionary. It’s really interesting to try the gyokuro tea, which is made by pouring cold water on to the tea, and then comparing its flavour with a tea made with hot water.

You might also enjoy Hisago Zushi, which serves classic Kyoto-styled sushi. But if you want to learn about true Kyoto cuisine, then you should visit Hassun, a very authentic Kaiseki restaurant. However, the staff don’t speak English, so you may need the help of a Japanese speaker.

• Ippodo Tea Shop Teramachi-dori Nijo Nakagyo-ku, +81 75 211 3421, ippodo-tea.co.jp, open 9am-7pm (6pm on Sundays and holidays) but tearoom hours 11am-5.30pm • Hisago Zushi Kawaramachi-dori Shijo-agaru, Nakagyo-ku, +81 75 221 5409, hisagozusi.co.jp, open 9.30am-9pm, lunch and dinner from £14, chef’s selection £16 • Hassun 95 Sueyoshi-cho, Gion, Higashiyama-ku, +81 75 561 3984, open noon-1pm and 5.30pm-9pm (closed Sundays, early-January and mid-August)

TOKYO

Shinobu Namae

Chef at two Michelin-starred L’Effervescence, which serves Japanese-influenced French food. He previously worked at the Fat Duck in Bray

Café Bleu, near the Hachiko Crossing, is one of my favourite places to go and relax in Tokyo. It’s modern European in style, but the reason I like it is that it has a really friendly atmosphere, great artisan coffee and some wonderful natural wines, both from Japan and abroad. On my day off, I often have ramen noodles at Usagi, a small shop near Shinsen railway station. It’s run by a young chef, who makes his own broth in a traditional, natural way without any artificial flavourings. It has a very light, smooth flavour, which I prefer. You can really taste the difference.

Somewhere I find really inspiring is Sennin-goya [meaning the Hermit Hut]. However, it’s quite a challenge to find as it’s in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, around two hours from Tokyo. The owners fish, shoot and forage for their produce. Their food is quite homely, but I always discover something new that I’ve never eaten before, such as wild plants or game. It exposes you to new sensations and makes you feel very close to nature.

• Café Bleu Hirai Bldg, 1F 23-9 Maruyama-cho Shibuaya-ku, +81 5428 3472, to-vi.jp/bleu, open weekdays 10am-midnight, weekends 12pm-midnight • Usagi Ramen 8-13 Shinsencho, Shibuya-ku, +81 3464 4111, open 11.30am-3pm and 6pm-11pm (closed Saturday evenings and Sundays), bowl of ramen £4 • Sennin-goya Hokuto Oizumi Nishiide 6924-2, Yamanashi Prefecture, +81 90 8812 9958, oizumi.ne.jp/~sennin, open April-October, Thurs only 11am-3pm. Closed: December to February. Closed: November and March on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; the nearest station is Kai-Oizumi, then take a taxi

Yuji Imaizumi

Head chef at Sushi Sora in Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental, master of Edo-mae style of traditional sushi cuisine

Japanese confectionary at Photograph: Alex Segre/Alamy

Shibata Yoshinobu Shoten is not a restaurant, but a wonderful shop in Tokyo. They sell magewappa, traditional Japanese bentwood containers made in Akita by artisan craftsman Yoshinobu Shibata. He uses local cedar wood and his rice containers and bento boxes are ideal for keeping rice at the perfect temperature. You’ll find all sorts of beautiful containers. Another place that’s really worth visiting is Obana, one of the best unagi (sea eel) restaurants in Tokyo. They cook the eel in different ways, so for starters you should try usaku (grilled sea eel in vinaigrette sauce) before having unajyu grilled sea eel with rice. It’s a really small restaurant with a great atmosphere. You have to queue as they don’t take bookings and then you sit at traditional low tables on tatami mats.

I like Japanese sweets such as sembei and sweet beans with mocha (Japanese rice cakes). Toraya, one of Japan’s most famous sweet shops, is a good place to buy them. They have a branch in Mitsukoshi B1 food court which is in Nihombashi. The sweets change according to the season and festivals, so at the moment, you’ll find them made with chestnut and persimmons.

• Shibata Yoshinobu Shoten, 1-13-10, Kaminari-mon, Taito-ku, +81 3 6231 6477, magewappa.com/asakusa, open 10.30am-7pm (closed Wednesday), bento boxes from £44 • Obana 5-33-1 Minami Senju Arakawa-ku, +81 3801 4670, open Tuesday-Friday 11.30am-1.30pm and 4pm-7.30pm, weekends and holidays 11.30am-7.30pm (closed Mondays, mid-August and late December-early January), lunch and dinner £25 -£66• Toraya B1 Food Court, Mitsukoshi Nihombashi store, 1-4-1, Nihonbashi Muromachi Chuo-ku, +81 3 3274 8527, mitsukoshi.mistore.jp

Yoshiaki Takazawa

Chef-owner of Takazawa, a tiny 10-seat restaurant serving modern Japanese cooking, which still draws on the traditional style of kaiseki and the tea ceremony

A wonderful shop to visit in Tokyo is the basement food hall at Isetan Department Store. They have lots of interesting suppliers, including Ameya Eitaro, a sweet company that dates back to 1857. They sell beautiful, innovative sweets like “sweet lip” candy, which looks like lip gloss but is edible. The first time I saw it, I was immediately inspired to create something similar in my cooking. Food should be fun.
• Isetan 3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, +81 3 3352 1111, isetan.mistore.jp, open daily 10am-8pm

• The trip was provided by Inside Japan Tours (0117 370 9751, insidejapantours.com), which can tailor-make self-guided holidays, and the Japanese National Tourism Organisation (seejapan.co.uk)

Great city walks: Cardiff Bay

Distance 5.1 miles/8.2 km
Typical duration hours
Start and finish Start at Cardiff Central railway station and finish at Penarth railway station
Start postcode CF10 1EP
Step-by-step details and maps ramblers.org.uk/cardiffbay
In a nutshell
Once a small village, Cardiff came into its own during the industrial revolution, when huge amounts of coal were exported and the docks sprang to life. It gained city status in 1905 and is now a vibrant, modern capital – particularly since extensive work began to redevelop the waterfront in recent years.
This linear walk follows the river Taff, crosses the barrage at Cardiff Bay, taking in city landmarks and offering fantastic views across the Bristol channel, before finishing in Penarth.
Why it’s special
The fascinating walking journey around the bay was only made possible in 2007, following a campaign by Ramblers Cymru to have a bridge built linking the barrage to Penarth, and creating a complete coastal route in the city. This stretch is also part of the Wales Coast Path (opened in 2012), an 870-mile track along the entire Welsh coastline.
Cardiff Bay is a freshwater lake, with a host of shops and bars along its waterfront. The impressive barrage structure is more than 1km long and encloses the bay; walk across the barrage, and you can see all the way to Somerset, Flat Holm and Steep Holm islands, and towards the mountains and valleys in the north. The road and path along the barrage is open from 7am to 10pm. Among the landmarks on this route are the Millennium Stadium, home to the Welsh rugby team; the Senedd, the main public building of the national assembly; the Wales Millennium Centre, known for hosting musicals, operas and ballets, and for its unique façade; and the red-brick Pierhead building, dating from 1897. Some locations you may recognise from Dr Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, which have all been filmed in the city. The walk will then take you uphill past the old custom house, a steep climb that is rewarded with views back over the bay and ahead to Penarth. If you need to take a break, there’s a bench in St Augustine’s Church’s grounds, where you can rest your feet while looking out over the bay. From here, it’s mostly downhill to Penarth, an upmarket resort on the north shore of the Severn estuary, and the train station.
Reward yourself
There’s an endless choice of places to eat and drink, both in the bay and on the Esplanade in Penarth. Perhaps stop at the popular ice-cream cafe Cadwaladers along the way, a family affair dating from 1927.
Get there
Cardiff Central station is served by trains nationwide. Return trains from Penarth to Cardiff depart every 20 minutes and take 10 minutes (arrivatrainswales.co.uk). Find the best bus route by visiting cardiffbus.com

Mons, Belgium, Capital of Culture 2015

The first thing you should do is climb a hill. In the town centre, an ancient hidden alley called ruelle César winds up behind old houses to emerge on a summit where you can look down on the old rooftops of Mons. This picturesque southern Belgian town has a population of just 93,000, but numbers are boosted in term time by students attending Mons university and the music conservatory.
It’s easy to forget that Mons was once a mining town, because it’s now more like Silicon Hill. Internet search giant Google has built a huge data centre outside the town, creating a digital community among the abandoned pits. The locals have responded in their own way by creating mock Google street views of Mons, including one with two people paddling canoes down a Mons street pursued by police officers (launches 24 January at mons2015.eu/en/mons-street-review).
Mons locals are renowned for fighting a green dragon called Doudou. This strange ceremony, known as the Ducasse de Mons, has medieval origins and is held every year on the first Sunday after Pentecost (that’s 31 May this year) on the main square. It involves men dressed in green leaves, a swinging dragon’s tail and a man representing Saint George, who kills Doudou with a single pistol shot.
The most stylish of recent European leaders comes from Mons. Local mayor Elio di Rupo became prime minister of Belgium on 6 December 2011 after the country’s record-breaking 541 days without a government. He transformed grey Belgian politics with his Italian charm, smart red bow tie and fondness for posing in swimming trunks. Now he is back running Mons.

Artist Arne Quinze’s installation, The Passenger. Photograph: arnequinze/Instagram The most impressive new work of modern art is a sprawling wooden structure in rue de Nimy, installed on 6 December by Arne Quinze. Called The Passenger, it hovers above a busy shopping street with blood-red struts brushing against the law courts. The street had to be closed off when the installation partly collapsed on 24 December, but the damaged parts have now been repaired.
It’s hard to pick the strangest Mons event of 2015. There’s an opening ceremony on 24 January involving dancing robots, eight Finnish hot tubs, a re-enactment of the Woodstock festival and 18,000 people dressed in shiny aluminium ponchos (free, more details at mons2015.eu). But the organisers hope to hit another high in February when they reconstruct a traditional London working men’s club inside an old school building named La Maison Folie. The aim of the four-day event (19-22 February) is to spice up Mons with a mix of British eccentricity and cutting-edge culture.
The organisers of Mons 2015 want you to get lost and discover unexpected places, so it is worth exploring the town’s steep cobbled lanes, hidden gardens and secret courtyards. Along the way, you will come across art installations, pop-up bars, street art and a poetry installation on buildings stretching for 10 kilometres called The Phrase.

BAM, the Beaux Arts Mons, will host a Van Gogh exhibition focused on his early drawings and letters to his brother. Photograph: Alamy The biggest event in Mons’ year as cultural capital is the Van Gogh exhibition. It will take place in the newly renovated BAM museum (25 January-17 May, timed ticket €15), but don’t come expecting starry nights or yellow sunflowers. The focus is on the period Van Gogh spent as a preacher among the poor mining communities of the Borinage, just south of Mons, with many of van Gogh’s early drawings, copies of paintings by other artists, and letters written to his brother, Theo.
The weirdest museum in Mons is the Mundaneum. It contains the remains of a vast collection of newspapers, posters, catalogues and curiosities gathered in the early 20th century by the Belgian philanthropist Paul Otlet. For years it lay forgotten in a Brussels underground car park until it was snapped up by Mons, housed in an empty department store and rebranded as the world’s first internet.
The most inspiring art gallery is located in a restored 18th-century building that once belonged to a carriage maker. Yvonne Legrand’s L’Art Recréation gallery at 72 rue de Nimy (no website) displays contemporary glassware on battered tables, ancient cabinets and salvaged wooden posts.

BAM, the Beaux Arts Mons, will host a Van Gogh exhibition focused on his early drawings and letters to his brother. Photograph: Alamy The biggest event in Mons’ year as cultural capital is the Van Gogh exhibition. It will take place in the newly renovated BAM museum (25 January-17 May, timed ticket €15), but don’t come expecting starry nights or yellow sunflowers. The focus is on the period Van Gogh spent as a preacher among the poor mining communities of the Borinage, just south of Mons, with many of van Gogh’s early drawings, copies of paintings by other artists, and letters written to his brother, Theo.
The weirdest museum in Mons is the Mundaneum. It contains the remains of a vast collection of newspapers, posters, catalogues and curiosities gathered in the early 20th century by the Belgian philanthropist Paul Otlet. For years it lay forgotten in a Brussels underground car park until it was snapped up by Mons, housed in an empty department store and rebranded as the world’s first internet.
The most inspiring art gallery is located in a restored 18th-century building that once belonged to a carriage maker. Yvonne Legrand’s L’Art Recréation gallery at 72 rue de Nimy (no website) displays contemporary glassware on battered tables, ancient cabinets and salvaged wooden posts.

One of the more subtle rooms at the Dream hotel. Photograph: PR

Try a local beer in La Cervoise on the Grand’Place. The interior is furnished in traditional Belgian style, with leatherette benches, brass rails and little hooks to hang your coat. The lengthy beer menu lists 170 brews, including hard-to-find local specialities such as Quintine beers from the witches’ town of Ellezelles (which claims to be birthplace of Hercule Poirot, solely on the basis of a fake birth certificate) and lovely spicy, unfiltered La Chouffe on tap.
The independent Plaza Art Cinema is a favourite of Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne. These two brothers make acclaimed indie films set in gritty Belgian industrial towns. Unlike most cinemas in French-speaking Belgium, the Plaza Art screens international films in their original language rather than dubbed into French.
At the Saint Symphorien War Cemetery, 2km east of Mons, German and British soldiers are buried together in a beautiful verdant setting. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stood among the graves on 4 August last year in a moving ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of war.
Don’t expect to be wowed if arriving by train. Top Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design a sublime new station, like the one in nearby Liège, but this costly project won’t be finished until late 2015 at the earliest, so many of the expected two million visitors will have to pick their way around a muddy construction site. It makes you wonder if you have got the wrong Mons, or the wrong year, but this is definitely the right place and the right time to visit.