Lisbon

 Lisbon

 

 

 

  Why go

Lisbon sparkles at Christmas (check out the massive tree in Praça do Comércio), but is more cool than twee. The scent of chestnuts fills the air, and concerts are held in churches, but festivities feel refreshingly uncommercialised.

 

Best buys

  Great independent shops include A Vida Portuguesa for local products from soap to shoes. Of four stores, the Largo do Intendente branch, in a former tile factory, is the biggest and best. There’s a retro feel to shopping here, with lots of old, family-run shops, such as 1930s-era Conserveira de Lisboa – tinned fish may not sound sexy, but the decorative or hand-wrapped cans here are art forms in themselves.

ski spacialist

A new ski specialist airline has postponed its launch and cancelled all flights before any of its planes have so much as taken off - leaving 5,000 winter holidaymakers in the lurch.

The first flights with Powdair from six UK airports to Sion airport in Switzerland were due to start later this month. However, a statement released by the nascent carrier last week said: “Our key financial backer [has] walked away from the Powdair journey for personal reasons.”

A week after its first statement Powdair has today announced it will be postponing all flights for this winter following talks with potential new investors – all customers are to receive a full refund.

Last week's statement, which was sent to everyone who had booked flights with the company, said that the airline was faced with a stark choice – either postpone the service this season or raise significant additional funds from individual investors by the end of the week. “At this late stage, community ownership is realistically the only way we’ll be able to make Powdair operational this winter,” read the statement.

Since then, the company has been approached by several interested parties and discussions are already underway to secure new funding, however the new business plan will not be complete in time for the airline to launch this winter – a decision made on December 1.

According to Powdair’s head of commercial Zoe Ombler the company received more than 100 emails offering financial help. “We apologise sincerely for the disruption to all of our customers who had travel plans with us this winter. Since [last] Monday we’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of support from investors, businesses and resorts in the UK, Belgium and the Valais," said Ombler.

"We’ve had significant investment offers from more than one professional and experienced aviation industry investment group. However, the due diligence required to finalise this investment will take at least 30 days and we have therefore made the difficult, but what we feel is correct decision, not to launch powdair this winter," continued Ombler.

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The collapse comes just months after Monarch Airlines ceased trading, reeling from difficult market conditions. Air Berlin, too, in October went under, before being in part purchased by Easyjet.

The company was looking to secure at least £3 million this season and £1 million by the end of the week “in order to operate a reduced but efficient flight schedule", however this plan has proved unsuccessful and all customers have been informed of the decision to cancel flights and will receive a full refund from Powdair.

The launch of the winter airline had been heralded as a positive development by skiers and snowboarders, because transfer times from Sion Airport to key Swiss resorts such as Verbier, Nendaz and Crans Montana are much quicker than transfers from Geneva.

According to Powdair more than 5,000 people had booked flights with the airline, and it has already partnered with 15 resorts offering exclusive discounts on accommodation and lift passes.

“Just as the Powdair operation begins to snowball, [this] setback is both unexpected and potentially disastrous for our airline, booked passengers and resort partners,” Powdair’s chief financial officer Sean Pettit said last week.

If current talks prove successful Powdair hopes to relaunch during 2018 as an airline, operating its own aircraft, with plans to launch routes and schedules that also include Chambery and Innsbruck airport, as well as Sion.

london city

The English writer Samuel Johnson famously said,

 "You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." More than two centuries have passed since Johnson's era, but his words still ring true. 

Life in London is nothing short of invigorating, and travelers find that one visit isn't enough to experience everything this two-millennia-old city has to offer.

Here, the antiquated clasps hands with the contemporary. You'll find the historic Tower of London and the avant-garde Tate Modern both considered big must-sees. Shakespeare's sonnets are still being uttered by actors who don modern garb. Londoners most certainly still respect the royals, but they also jam to the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Adele. And while they still praise the power of tea, they now make room for some Starbucks here and there, and pressed juice too. 

A current leader in everything from politics and banking to fashion and music, London's culture compass is always attuned to what's next.

porto

Porto has long been a hot destination for wine lovers — it's the go-to place to find the best of that sweet, tasty port wine. 

But this city by the sea has more to offer than vinho. Porto (or Oporto, as it's sometimes called) is an attractive European mini-metropolis on Portugal's northwestern coast where travelers can get their fill of culture and the outdoors.

 Travelers can visit the city's wealth of museums, admire its varied architecture and, of course, hit the beach.

The city earns its nickname Cidade das Pontes, or "City of Bridges," from the six arches spanning the Rio Douro (Douro River), which runs along Porto's southern edge. 

Views of the Douro River are best enjoyed from the Dom Luís I Bridge, the most iconic of Porto's six structures. From here you can get a sense of Porto's unique charm, from its colorful UNESCO World Heritage historic district to the north to the neighboring town of Vila Nova de Gaia just south, where you'll find the region's infamous wineries. You could spend a long weekend or a week here strolling the city, discovering the contemporary art in the Serralves Foundation complex and appreciating the history behind Porto's old churches like the Sé and Igreja de São Francisco.

 No matter what you choose to see and do in this captivating city, you'll leave with an appreciation of Porto's diverse offerings, some great photos and, hopefully, a bottle or two of its best wine.

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