Travel
BRIGHTON Through the keyhole at Hotel Pelirocco
Brighten's hospitable star is shining brightly at the moment With its reSilient reputation as a hip location fer a weekend stopover. SO it's no great surprise that its accomniodatiOn offerings are egually cutting edge. It a beiidoir Wl'iii a difference is high on yOur travel checklist. Hotel Pelirocco offers a funky alternative to the norm.
All the bedrooms are themed around pOp SUDCtllturO and conceptualised by artists. iiiusicians and designers alike. Asian Dub Foundation. Jamie Reid. Hysteric Glamour. Karen Savage and Skint Rec0rds are but a few of the faces putting a name ' to the 19 indiVidually styled bedrooms. Devotees of Muhammad Ali can stay in the knockout Ali's Room. while dirty "' weekenders can get their heads down in Lenny Beige's l ove
Inspired by everyone from Asian Dub Foundation to Skint Records
Palace.
With the launch of its modish 02 Bubble suite. the hotel is all set to embrace an advancmg technological age. An impressive 42in plasma SCreen dominates the bedroom. Techie stalwarts can immerse themselves in pocket PC. XDA. With its informed gtiide to Brighton's hotspots. While the artier Visitor can use messaging handsets to send an unlimited number of photo messages to friends and family alike.
And Pelirocco isn't a hotel that sacrifices style for substance. DeSigned by Shaun Clarkson. the bubble suite layout is inSpired by Curves. circles and bubbles. With the col0urs and motifs deSigned to enhance a cool. airy feeling of calm. The room also features an 8ft circular bed With mirrored ceiling to match. The spa—style ensuite facilities include a giant tiled plunge bath, twm rainforest showerhead and pristine porcelain Sinks. It's no budget buy. but With all that technology at yOur fingertips. it seems sacnlege to leave the bedroom anyway.
If you have a top lip you’d like to share With your fellow List- ers; we'd love to hear about it. Drop an email to travel(a)list.co.uk. (Anna Millar)
I Hotel Pelirocco. I 0 Regency Sol/are. Brighton, BN1 2FG. 01273 327055. {‘7 75 weekdays and £250 weekends.
42in plasma screen
DISTILLERY TOUR BLITHE SPIRIT
There's more to whisky than hangovers
Something’s wrong with my mind. No matter how many people remind me (the taxi driver, the hotel receptionist, my friend Helen) I keep calling distilleries breweries. Maybe it’s because when I walk into a pub, my first thought is of beer. Or maybe it’s because I spent a year living slap bang next to the Fountainbridge brewery in Edinburgh, where the frankly unpleasant waft of fermentation was never far away. The smell of whisky being created is different: sweet, intoxicating and pervaded with warmth. It still makes you feel a bit sick, though.
The Glenfiddich distillery is in Dufftown, a small Speyside town near Elgin that seems entirely devoted to the production of whisky and the sale of whisky-related paraphernalia. Forget all the PR nonsense about it being the water of life - in this part of the Highlands, whisky is the water of livelihood.
The distilling process itself is a complicated and fascinating one. The tour takes in the seemingly bottomless barrels of bubbling wort (mashed malted barley with water) and huge stills from which a trickle of liquid emerges, kept under lock and key behind glass cases. Scotch whisky has to be aged for at least three years in oak casks, and it is these casks that provide much of the flavour. New casks are hardly ever used - instead, old bourbon or sherry casks add their own subtle flavours to the resulting whisky, which may be mixed with grain whisky to make a blend or sold as an unadulterated single malt. The results vary substantially in flavour and scent and by the end of an extended tasting section we’re all confidently opining ‘mmm . . . peaty . . . hints of apple’. And I have, at last, managed to stop calling distilleries breweries - hooray! (James Smart)
FESTY FEVER
Humana Festival of New American Plays
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of new American theatre don't miss the Humana Fest. Check out the premieres of full-length works by artists such as Paula Vogel. Anne Bogart and Charles Mee — and be Sure to leave ample room for the bite-sized dramas showcased in the festival's ten-minute playfest.
I Louisville, Kentucky. USA. 2 March— 73 April 2003. Log on to www.actorstheatre.org/humana.htm for more information.
1 16 THE LIST 13—27 Feb 2003
Excess Ragga e
Festivals, flig ts and f?2‘!.’99§__’§f€§_-.__
I RYANAIR REVELRY continues and the deals just keep getting better. Bargain flights from Glasgow Prestwick to London (£6.99) are the perfect excuse to head down south for a spot of retail therapy. It you fancy something a bit more continental. the Galleries Lafayette is waiting f0r you (and y0ur credit card) to make a welcome appearance. And who wouldn't. at £9 a pop for flights to Paris? Look out. too. f0r Ryanair's new flight destinations. including Oslo (i228) and Frankfurt Hahn (£21). Book now on www.ryanair.com.
I WHETHER IT’S THE turquoise waters of the Caribbean or stylish city break destinations, the Rough Guides 2003 have got it covered. The new Rough Guide to Tanzania includes a full-colour section introducing the country’s highlights, as well as a user-
friendly guide to the culture. history, politics and music of this beautiful getaway destination. I CYCLE CASTRO'S Cuba and feel the excitement of the Caribbean's largest island on this spectaCUlar 340km cycle from sizzling Havana to Cuba's World Heritage town of Trinidad (31 Jan-9 Feb 2004). Better still. do it for charity COurtesy of Sense. Contact 020 7272 7774 for more information.
I FABULOUS February fares come rolling in thanks to those ever-kindly STA folks. Whether you fancy watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers kick ass in Berlin, dancing the night away at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, heading to Amsterdam’s Vondelpark for some inline skating at Amsterdam's Friday Night Skate, getting your boas at the ready for Barcelona’s Carnival or rejuvenating at a spa in Prague, STA’s got the means. Prices including return flights and two nights accommodation start from 269. Check out www.statravel.co.uk or call 0870 160 6070.
GUIDE BOOK ROBERT HENSON The Rough Guide to Weather (Rough Guides $310.99) 0...
As a nation. we are pretty much obsessed wrth the weather. It dominates our conversations from the bus stop to the boardroom. Which makes The Rough Guide to Weather 8 surprismgly fascmating read. with photos grabbed spectacularly by mind-boggling technology from the stratosphere and the thermosphere.
The reader is gently nudged through ‘the seiencr: bit' towards this wondrous and ever changing phenomenon. Ice stOrms. tornadoes and hurricanes. among other freak happenings. are explained in an acceSSible and amusrng way. There are numerous climate charts featuring far flung locations from Acapulco to Zan2ibar. as well as tips on how to read forecasts and the correct way to construct yOur own weather station.
Failing all of this. yOu could Simply wet yOUr finger and hold it in the breeze. because in the words of Bob Dylan: ‘You don't need a weather man to know which way the wrnd blows.‘ (Joanna Mawdsley)