https://www.scmp.com/rss/267037/feed Lara Brunt is a travel and lifestyle journalist, originally from Australia and now based in Dubai. She regularly teams up with her husband, photographer Glen Pearson. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Someone once told me that summer in the Arabian Gulf is “like standing under a hairdryer and then throwing a bucket of water over yourself” – a pretty accurate description of the suffocating heat and humidity of Muscat, the capital of Oman. Not so in Salalah. The country’s second city is in Dhofar province, about 1,000km southwest of Muscat. From July to September, monsoon clouds from India descend on Dhofar’s coastal fringe, bringing light drizzle and heavy fog. The khareef, as it’s known... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2001732/salalah-taste-traditional-oman-and-delightful?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2001732/salalah-taste-traditional-oman-and-delightful?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Aug 2016 08:00:38 +0000 Approaching a wine region regularly touted as one of the world's most picturesque - along a road recently named the world's best for driving enthusiasts, thanks to its ratio of bends to straights - you suspect you're in for a treat. But nothing prepares me for just how staggeringly beautiful northern Portugal's Douro Valley is. Hugging every curve of the Rio Douro, we sweep along the N222 from Regua to Pinhao, past endless terraced vineyards carved into the steep hillsides. Criss-crossed by... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1880434/hop-through-vineyards-portugals-stunning-douro-valley?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1880434/hop-through-vineyards-portugals-stunning-douro-valley?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Nov 2015 15:35:26 +0000 A small crowd has formed at the top of the lighthouse in Byron Bay, mainland Australia's most easterly point, staring intently at the expanse of blue beyond. "There!" someone shouts, pointing excitedly, as the humpback whale launches itself out of the water and comes crashing down. The crowd coos its appreciation of the mammal's majestic breach while, closer to shore, surfers catch curling waves and people walk, jog, play or just lay on the vast stretch of sand below. The area was known as... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1659330/byron-bay-place-release-your-inner-bohemian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1659330/byron-bay-place-release-your-inner-bohemian?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:54:53 +0000 I had expected Ferraris. Instead, I find Fiats, scooters and three-wheeled Piaggios. After a couple of hairpin turns and a close encounter with a bus, I quickly realise why. Known as "the road of a thousand bends" - or more prosaically as the SS163 - the Amalfi coast road from Sorrento to Salerno is a 40 kilometre-long ribbon of asphalt that separates the Mediterranean Sea from soaring cliffs. It requires nerves of steel - and a tiny car. Commissioned by the Bourbon King Ferdinand II and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1294510/keeping-it-sweet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1294510/keeping-it-sweet?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 It is a classic pub quiz question: what is the capital of Morocco? If the pink-walled city of Marrakesh comes to mind, sadly you're mistaken. While the desert city has been the ancient capital of more than one royal dynasty, the modern-day honour belongs to under-the-radar Rabat. Together with Fez and Meknes, they are the Kingdom of Morocco's four great imperial cities. Befitting their dynastic status, all four are Unesco World Heritage sites. And drawing on Morocco's heady blend of Berber,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1278890/tale-four-cities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1278890/tale-four-cities?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Call it the Downton Abbey effect. Britain's glorious country estates have never been more popular. Indeed, visitor numbers at Highclere Castle, the beautiful Berkshire estate that doubles for Downton, have rocketed from 300 to 1,300 people a day since the period drama first hit television screens. Despite their grand mansions and lavish grounds, many country piles are still very much working estates, providing much-needed employment for rural communities. Ancestral homes don't come cheap,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1221499/kingdom-come?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1221499/kingdom-come?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 HORSEMEN THUNDER PAST in a blur of brilliant white breeches and polished riding boots. With an arching swing, the front runner brings his mallet down hard, and with a crack of wood sends the ball soaring through the goalposts. For those seeking a quintessential English experience, the spectacle of a polo match played out on the verdant fields of Guards Polo Club near Ascot – a favourite with the Royal family – is difficult to beat. Steeped in history, the aristocratic sport is not for the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1048653/pursuit-polo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1048653/pursuit-polo?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 PERCHED ON THE edge of the Arctic, straddling two tectonic plates, Iceland is a hot spot of volcanic activity. And one eruption in 2010 put it firmly on the map. The volcano deep beneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier burst into life, disrupting world air traffic and becoming a household name - though nary a globalista could pronounce it. Far from deterring visitors, Eyjafjallajökull boosted tourism; last year, a record 600,000 people visited a country inhabited by just 320,000 people. Sixty per... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1048656/winter-wonderland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1048656/winter-wonderland?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000