Budapest Spring Festival 10

The Budapest Spring Festival, one of Europe’s most prestigious cultural celebrations will soon be upon us.  The festival, which runs this year from March 19 to April 5, features opera, jazz and classical concerts, ballet and theatrical performances, as well as a range of gallery and museum events.

One of four major seasonal festivals held in Budapest each year, and certainly the most celebrated; the Spring festival is a highlight on Budapest’s cultural calendar. Over the course of 18 days the streets of Budapest awake from a winter slumber, alive with over 200 performances.

Highlights from 2009 included performances from the Russian National Opera, a flamenco and gypsy fused performance by Maria Serrano and Kaman Balogh and jazz performances by Nigel Kennedy.  2010 will take it up a notch. The festival opens with a Beethoven Evening, where Beethoven’s Piano concerto No. 4 as well as the powerful and renowned Symphony No. 9 will be performed.  This is a rare opportunity to see the final pieces performed by Beethoven in Europe.  Directed by Iván Fischer and including an all-star international repertoire of performers, the Beethoven Evening opens the festival with a flourish.  Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas, directed by András Léner, will also premier.  It is lauded by critics as being Hugo’s best play. Opera enthusiasts will find Strauss, Rossini, and Wagner on the bill throughout the festival.  Lovers of dance of all sorts won’t be disappointed either; both the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía and the Royal Danish Ballet are scheduled to perform.

The very cool 100 members Gypsy Orchestra will be celebrating its 25th anniversary, and Nigel Kennedy will return to perform his popular Bach/Ellington evening that has been praised by jazz and piano audiences alike.

The 29th National Dance House Gathering and Arts and Crafts Fair will surely be an inspired way to pass an afternoon and not to be missed are a slew of wildly creative performances by the likes of the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma and the surreal and magical performances of Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Polla.  This is to say nothing of the range of exhibitions and screenings, which makes the festival popular among younger visitors.  The Kunsthalle will be open nonstop for 3 days with a tribute to Hungarian actor and director Péter Halász; a 24-hour documentary about the actor will be presented for the first time.

White Line Hotel’s Lánchíd 19 is in the middle of it all.  Located within walking distance of many of the venues, it’s the perfect place to have a dinner before an evening of opera, find respite after a long day of exploring the city, or blissfully watch the sun come up after an all-nighter at the Kunsthalle.

Gypsy Orchestra Photos Courtesy of the Budapest Spring Festival website and Arthur Dubuc.  All other images courtesy of Hotel Pro Forma and the Royal Danish Ballet.

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Categories: Budapest, Culture

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter

Inis Meáin Restaurant & Suites, Aran Islands, Ireland joins White Line Hotels

Warning. Seriously good for you.

The Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites.

Whatever your beliefs – your vision of Eden might not switch to the remoteness of the Irish Aran Islands in the Galway Bay– but it should.

A soon as you catch a glimpse of the middle island (the least busy of the three) you become enchanted and realize why the island has long been the secret enclave for playwrights, artists and escapists alike.

Think here of natural barren beauty, lichen weathered limestone outcrops, clear aqua green waters, folklore woven through the resilient islanders…you following us….fresh lobster hoisted from the bay prepared by maverick chef-owner Ruairi de Blacam, who with his co-owner & wife Marie-Thérèse, have crafted a signatory island retreat that is as honest and simple as the beauty of the island itself.

With no TV, this is your chance to find yourself – bikes waiting for a ride, rods at the door looking for fish or that book waiting to be read – be active, be restful, be good to yourself. This is seriously slow living.

With just 4 suites you need to be off the mark early to get a room here – the place is only open from April to September – so get your act together and request a room as early as possible.

Discover it for yourself right here.

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Category: Aran Islands – Ireland

ic! berlin. Collaborating with White Line Hotels

“Elton John has a pair.  Madonna has 6 and the king of Morocco – he has 42!”

ic! berlin. Glasses with Heart.

Meet Ralph Anderl, the man behind Berlin eyewear legends ic! berlin.  There’s no doubt that his firm epitomizes style, confidence and individuality. Their daring runway walk made a big splash at Berlin’s Fashion Week, furthering their reputation as a firm that’s not afraid to take risks. Read the rest of this entry »

Be rational, there is no California road trip.

Are you the brightest of all your friends? Were you the one who came up with the idea to do something about getting away like you’ve all been talking about for months?

Be rational – you’re not going to do the road trip to California together so how about getting involved with Germany? The New Yorker in Cologne, East Hotel in Hamburg or Lux 11 in Berlin are superb for nightlife and not in the horrible resort way, but in the cosmopolitan way that means in the day you feel equally as good and not like you’ve been up all night drinking anti-freeze.

Your group piggy bank with “Barbados” tippexed on it is rather un-weighty? Polarise your plans with Hotel Skeppsholmen, found on one of Stockholm’s many islands, only a 10 minute walk (yes, walk, it’s a beautiful one too) to some of Sweden’s most luxurious bars and clubs and come home again to your own little haven. Or maybe, all your stressful lives just need a little mending. Get to know each other again with a relaxing chilled, insiders choice at Hollmann Beletage in Vienna or Greulich Hotel in Zurich. Perhaps an intimate and highly personalised trip to the Lesic Dimitri Palace in Korcula, Croatia, complete with private yachts and island exploration?

Europe this Easter time is actually doable – Think how easy it would be.

Categories: Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Korcula – Croatia, Stockholm, Vienna, Zurich, EASTER

Le 404 – Paris

Located on a quiet side street in Paris’s 3rd Arrondissement, Le 404 offers guests an authentic taste of Paris’s rich North African culture.  Upon stepping into Le 404 a wave of sounds, the aroma of exotic spices and the harmonious patterns and textures of Moroccan design pull you into another culture.

Conveniently on the same Metro line as White Line’s Hotel des Academies et des Arts, this small restaurant is pure epicurean pleasure.  Restaurateur Hakim Mazouz is an impresario of North African chic in Paris and co-owns the stunningly decorated Andy Wahloo cocktail lounge just a few doors down. Read the rest of this entry »