Author: Roger Wheeler

Mention the name Le Mans to most people and all they can tell you that it is the place where they have a 24 hours road race every year, they are not even sure where it is. We were driving from Dieppe down to the south west of France and decided that we should break our journey and take a look at Mans (they tend not to use Le when referring to their city).

Just two + hours drive down the extremely boring but efficient A28 from Rouen, a mere 22.50€ on tolls, we were pleasantly surprised to find a very attractive city with Roman walls.

There is a large medieval quarter, which is known as the Plantagenet City plus a major shopping centre and a host of fascinating sites and architecture. There is a lot more to Le Mans than a motor race. It must be said though that the 24 hours race is probably the one thing that puts the city on the map. The race has been the major event here since 1923. The circuit, just to the south, is in use more often than the one weekend in June, from May through to October there are races for motorcycles, superbikes classic cars, even karting.

During these months forget about driving due south, we thought that we could simply head straight out only to find the road closed because of an event on ‘Le Circuit’. The police were very helpful and directed us to another way to the A28, which we actually hadn’t wanted, but took their advice.

There is quite a good choice of hotels; we stayed at Le Charleston, a nice small hotel near the train station but about a 15 minute walk from the major sites. They charged us 90€ per night (£80), the rooms were small, to put it mildly, but extremely clean and comfortable with the smallest bathroom/shower I have ever seen, but it worked.

Breakfast was 8.50€ and quite good. They have an underground car park, essential as it would be impossible to park in the street, for which they charge 7€ per day, quite reasonable we thought.

People have been living here since 5,000BC, there is a prehistoric standing stone, a menhir , St. Julien’s stone, which is thought to have been considered a symbol of fertility because of its phallic shape, that’s one big phallus to you and me. The Romans went all over France and Le Mans is no exception, it is encircled by a very well preserved Roman wall, they invaded in 57BC and stayed for about 200 years.

The most impressive part of the town is without doubt the old town or Plantagenet City, covering an area of 22 acres with a hundred beautifully preserved and recently restored half timbered houses. It was in Le Mans in 1128 that Geoffrey V Count of Anjou married Matilda daughter of our King Henry 1 and started the Plantagenet dynasty, the rest is history!

There is, of course, a large cathedral, St. Julien, it is one of the largest in France and if cathedrals are your thing then it’s quite impressive. There are several quite interesting museums; in a town with all this history that’s hardly surprising.

Throughout July and August they mount a fantastic free sound and light show (son et lumiere) which they call ‘La Nuit des Chimères, they light all the major buildings and present a series of tableaux, virtually site specific performances, should be worth seeing.

Today it is naturally a very modern city with a very efficient tram network and as many big stores that you could ever need. There are of course many very good restaurants, staying near the train station we found Le Bellifontaine and had one of the best meals we have had in a long time, for 64€ (£57) we had three great courses, two beers and a bottle of good wine. Le Mans does boast two gay clubs, it has a large university so no surprise there, but as they didn’t seem to open until about midnight we gave them a miss.

The tourist office was about as helpful as they could be and they speak perfect English. Le Mans is certainly worth a day or two; you will be very pleasantly surprised but beware of the frequent motor events in that you really need to plan your visit and book ahead, as when one of them is on you can’t get a bed anywhere.

www.lemanstourisme.com

www.nuitdeschimeres.com

www.lecharlestonhotel.com

www.lemans.org

For many years the Greek Islands have been regarded as the expensive holiday choice, not any more. The Greeks with their well known financial problems have woken up to the fact that if they want tourists (and they certainly do) they had to adjust their prices and they have.

Not having any real idea of what the Cyclades Islands had on offer, we flew to Mykonos and then took the fast ferry to Paros. Mykonos is great with its many tourists, cruise ships, boutique hotels and wonderful beaches, but Paros is a completely different place. Only an hour or so by Sea Jet and you’re in another world; a truly white shiny island full of ancient history, beaches to die for, fantastic food, really lovely welcoming people, plenty of very reasonably priced hotels and of course the weather.

We landed at the 2,000-year-old capital, Parikia, situated on a bay on the north west side of the island. It’s a small town that time doesn’t seem to have touched. Every turn in the tiny winding alleys brings a new and, naturally, ancient building and fascinating little shops selling all kinds of locally made artefacts and interesting alcoholic beverages.

We were there at the beginning of the short summer season and saw hardly any other tourists; the cafés and restaurants were very quiet, nice for us but sad for local business. We took a trip around the island (it’s just 21km by 16km) and saw some of the luxury resort hotels that were getting ready for the hoped for influx of tourists. We took a look at three in the 5 star luxury category: the Saint Andrea Seaside Resort and The Archipelagos Resort both were quite stunning, well up to international standards and with prices to match. The facilities at both were about the best we’d ever seen: infinity pools, bars, restaurants, vast bedrooms and bathrooms and private terraces. If you can afford £200 per room per night in high season, then there’s no doubt these are the best. The Yria Resort is more secluded, with individual rooms based in the grounds rather than a large hotel, a really beautiful place. Out of the high season (July and August) there will be some great deals.

We stayed at the much more modestly priced Narges Hotel in the lovely little village of Aliki. The Narges is a small, very quiet and tasteful hotel just around the corner from the beach. Aliki is beautiful, on a bay with a sandy beach, a few tavernas serving great food at very reasonable prices, we ate too much.

All the Cyclades Islands have different personalities; the beautiful Paros with green and pleasant with gentle rolling hills, lovely historic villages, sandy beaches and the famous ‘wine dark’ sea. There is the well known old hippy resort of Punda Beach Club that’s been pulling in the cool crowd for decades. It’s Paros’ party central with almost continuous beach parties, non-stop DJs, pool parties and all that that entails.

Paros is not known as a particularly gay destination but it is a blissful island with beautiful beaches and the natives are very friendly. I’d go back without hesitation.

Our hosts suggested that we should hop on the next (slow) ferry and see Ios (pronounced Eos), the next island further south, so we did. Once again it has a completely different vibe from the other islands. Geographically smaller than most of the Cyclades, just 18km by 10km, its original claim to fame is the legend that Homer, author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, was born here around the 12thC BC and was subsequently buried there. Whether that’s true or not seems of little interest to today’s hedonistic young, mainly Australian, tourists.

Ios is a fascinating place with just 1,200 permanent inhabitants. We were met by a lovely lady, Rita, who runs the Avanti Hotel, who drove us up the steep road to the main and only village, Chora. This is a very picture perfect Greek village, full of steps and narrow paths, completely inaccessible for cars. The main path through the village is completely taken over by tourism in terms of restaurants, boutiques, bars and discothèques. Apart from the port and the village of Chora, Ios has only a few small settlements, just a group of spread out houses. In short there’s not a lot to Ios. It’s very hilly and rather barren with hardly any roads, steep cliffs and a few lovely beaches. The main resort, Mylopotas, has a few reasonable hotels and a great beach that attracts a young mixed crowd who enjoy all kinds of water sports and night long parties. Not a destination for same-sex couples, so I suggest you keep going to Santorini.

For more info:
www.parosweb.com/
www.narges.gr/
www.loveiosgreece.com
www.avanti-hotelios.com/

In ancient Greek mythology there was a race of people living on an island somewhere in the Aegean Sea who ate nothing but lotus flowers and lived a wonderful, sybaritic and relaxed life. This is a myth, or is it? I had never been to any of the (nearly) 3,000 islands of which 170 are inhabited, but I think that Mykonos comes pretty close to that ideal lifestyle.

Mykonos became popular with the gay community about 40-years ago as there were very few holiday destinations where we could go and really relax. It fell out of fashion when places like Ibiza and Fort Lauderdale became popular; but today it is back where it belongs, right at the top of the gay holiday hot spots. Just under four hours from Gatwick it’s a really beautiful place with a laid-back lifestyle, and although the Greeks officially have no money they seem to be doing pretty well.

Mykonos Town is a fascinating maze of tiny streets and alleys. They suggest that you wander around and get lost, we did, but it isn’t really that big. The economy depends to a large extent on tourism which is about 60/40 gay/straight.

Every day a large cruise liner docks in the bay (spoiling the view) and offloads up to 3,000 tourists who flood the town and spend money at the hundreds of little shops selling all the usual souvenirs. There are plenty of highly priced designer shops including a brand new Louis Vuitton store who are there to help if you feel the need for a new handbag at 1am.

There are half a dozen or so gay bars, some very noisy – Jackie ‘O is one, to the quieter Lola’s and the Piano Bar which attracts a mixed fashionable crowd and offers a great range of cocktails. The rumour that this island is expensive is another myth; it’s no dearer than anywhere else. A beer costs 4.50€, about £3.60, and a cocktail 8€, no dearer than at home, but meals in most restaurants are really reasonable, around 20€-25€ for a decent meal with wine.

Be warned, if, like me you have an aversion to cigarette smoke you’ll find that the EU regulations are ignored and smoking is allowed in many of the bars and restaurants, which was the only problem we found on this lovely island. By the way they don’t pay taxes either, but that’s another story. On the plus side there is hardly any crime or drugs.

There is a huge range of accommodation from self-catering apartments to upmarket hotels. We stayed initially at the Town Suites, a very quiet building with four very lovely fully equipped apartments, right in the heart of the town. We had our own private balcony, large sun terrace, TV and an excellent kitchen. The flat was provided by the Mykonos Accommodation Centre which is owned and run by Belgian ex-pat John van Lerberghe. John has been on the island for 30 years, living the dream and he knows just about all there is to know about gay Mykonos.

There are no major international hotel chains on most of the Greek islands; the hotels are invariably family run and all the better for that. Our next stay was at the Leto Hotel on the sea front, which was the first large hotel on Mykonos, built in 1955 and whilst in need of a slight re-vamp was absolutely great. It has all the facilities you would expect from a four star hotel, with a dining area and bar by the palm fringed pool. The rooms were large and airy with balconies, and the staff were very friendly with everyone speaking good English. The food all over the island was excellent with fish dominating, but we had some terrific pork and veal. Dinner at the Leto came close to being marvellous.

The famous Paradise and Super Paradise beaches whilst still very popular are now quite commercialised with buses running frequently from the town to both. Super Paradise is in a truly stunning setting and they have just built a new club/bar with pool overlooking the beach, which is very popular with the boys. The newest ‘in’ place is Elia Beach, which is a large sandy bay with sun beds, umbrellas and bars with the gay nudist section at the far end just around the low headland. There are a couple of hotels on the beach. One of the loveliest I have ever seen was the Arte & Mare Elia Suites, a knockout small boutique hotel in a fantastic setting. Sadly we weren’t staying, but the low season price of 90€ per night was almost a giveaway, and they offer free transport into town (20 minute drive) so you don’t have to miss any of the atmosphere. This hotel is running a series of six gay beach parties throughout August and September.

The gay hotel on Mykonos is, without doubt, the Elysium, which is a very modern five star gay resort hotel perched high above the town with great views. It’s run by Vassilis, who, when it comes to gay Mykonos, is your man.

Mykonos was and is once more a real party island. With the six beach parties on Elia Beach, the Elysium Hotel hosts the S-Clash Pool Party on September 1, which runs all night. By far the biggest gay event is the Xlsior Festival with an impressive programme running from August 22-26. Now in its fourth year it goes from strength to strength and last year attracted thousands of gay visitors over the five days.

Mykonos is now one of the most affordable holiday destinations in Europe and it’s a fantastic time to visit the Greek islands. It’s getting cheaper day-by-day to visit Greece as travel firms scramble to fill hotels and planes, so there are some amazing bargains around. Go Greece, Go Gay, Go Mykonos!

For more information, view:

http://mykonos-accommodation.com
www.letohotel.com
www.eliasuites.com
www.elysiumhotel.com

The Dutch love their Royal Family possibly more than we love our own. Every year since 1948 they have celebrated their Queen’s official birthday on April 30 (or April 29 if it falls on a Sunday) with parties all over the country. It was always known as Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day) and Amsterdam always went slightly crazy, with parties on every canal and in every street. This year Queen Beatrix announced that she was going to abdicate in favour of her extremely handsome 46-year-old son Willem-Alexander. This was the signal for the biggest party they have ever staged and although we go to Amsterdam every year this was something we were not going to miss!

This endearing if slightly crazed Dutch national holiday marks the birthday of Beatrix’s mother, Juliana, and Beatrix chose to celebrate her birthday on the same date. From next year it will be known as King’s Day which will be celebrated on April 27, although next year that falls on a Sunday so it will be celebrated on April 26. It is the only day in the year when the Dutch are allowed to sell whatever they like, wherever they like, which essentially means the country becomes one giant street market. That one of world’s greatest mercantile nations should choose to celebrate its monarch’s birthday by staging a national car boot sale is, somehow, pleasing.

We watched most of it on television; the abdication ceremony itself was very moving, a mother handing over to her son. Then it was the swearing in of the new King, and although they don’t crown anyone, they do have a rather nice crown, which is not worn, and so it isn’t a coronation although to all intents and purposes that’s what it is. It took place in a church but there was no religious ceremony. In the Netherlands, monarchs are not crowned but invested as heads of state.

Most of the European crowned heads were there, dressed for the occasion. We sent Charles alongside Camilla, who looked fabulous, almost queenly.

The new King and his stunning Argentinean wife, Maxima, looked every bit the part. The entire country has fallen in love with her, she is regal glamour personified. They have three very young children, all girls, who headed all the formal processions: very touching.

The Royal Family in the Netherlands are related to just about every other monarch in Europe. Through his seven times great-grandfather Jan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange, King Willem-Alexander is a cousin of Margrethe II of Denmark, Albert II of the Belgians, the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg, Harald V of Norway, Juan-Carlos of Spain, Albert II of Monaco, and our own Queen Elizabeth II making him 889th in line to the British throne, meaning Charles and William don’t have to worry.

And so after all the formal stuff came the party, and wow what a party. They say about a million people were in the city that day wearing orange as it’s the national colour and the Royal Family’s name is Orange-Nassau. Literally every street had a market and a band and, of course, a bar. We had never experienced anything like it with thousands of people simply enjoying themselves. There were quite a few happy drunks but no problems, no unpleasantness, no republican riots, no fights.

Most people were wearing orange crowns, hats, all sorts of fancy dress or had their faces painted, orange of course. It was just lots of orange joy. There was a huge, mainly free, open air concert on the Museumplein, with approximately 70,000 people watching the show directed and hosted by Andre Rieu, the world famous Dutch violinist.

There are plenty of museums and art galleries, and this year was the re-opening of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum after a ten-year renovation. It’s the star in the city’s crown but just a glance at the huge queues made us think about visiting in a few years time.

The gay scene is as busy as always. Nowadays we favour the Barderij on Zeedijk, a typical Dutch gay bar with a very mixed, friendly crowd. Opposite is the De Engel Van Amsterdam which attracts a slightly older clientele, but the venues are very close and the evening crowds tend to merge. Don’t rely on the internet for up to date information on gay venues, simply go into one of the VVV tourist offices where they all speak English and are always very helpful. The main VVV office is opposite central station

Eating in Amsterdam isn’t a problem as there are hundreds of good restaurants. In the centre of the city there is a strong emphasis on oriental cuisine, but for traditional Dutch and excellent international food in an old fashioned setting De Haven van Texel is very hard to beat. It is right behind the Barderij on Sint Olofsteeg and it shares the same views as the two oldest canals in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam never fails to charm and excite. Don’t forget to book early for the first King’s Day on April 26, 2014. It will be a ball!

For more information, CLICK HERE:   

Gibraltar is a fascinating place, but not many people have been there. Amazingly, some people think that it’s an island off the coast of Spain rather than a peninsular at the far southern part. Several UK airlines fly there making it a convenient airport to head into the fleshpots of the Costa del Sol. Indeed many people arrive at the airport, turn right and walk straight into Spain without glancing over their shoulder. They are missing an interesting and intriguing place.

Gibraltar has been a British Overseas Territory since 1713 and for most of that time the Spanish have wanted it back. They can make visiting The Rock a problem, when they feel like it, particularly if you take your car, though most of the time you can just walk across the border without so much as a glance from the Spanish border guards.

We decided to spend some time in Gibraltar on our way back to Gatwick and were very pleasantly surprised.

Spanish car rental companies have offices virtually on the border, so it’s simple to either pick-up or return your car and stroll the few metres back into the UK.

The Rock itself is quite spectacular at 426m high and its commanding position over the Strait gives it control over all maritime access to the Mediterranean. Up to 1984 the British naval dockyard provided over 60% of all Gibraltar’s economy but today that is down to just 7%. Now it is internet gaming, banking and tourism that provides the wealth of this unusual and absorbing place.

The centre of the town is almost completely pedestrianised; the main square, Casemates, is very attractive and is the main hub, surrounded with shops and restaurants. Main Street is stuffed with cheap jewellery, perfumery and cigarette shops, aimed squarely at the many cruise ship passengers that can flood the central section for a few hours a day; but you can easily get away from the tourist tat and wander through the historic old town where you’ll be almost alone.

Gibraltar is full of history, the Rock itself honeycombed with tunnels and caves, the most spectacular being St Michael’s Cave, which can be turned into a concert hall seating hundreds. Winston Churchill was convinced that there would be an invasion of Gibraltar during World War 2 and so a massive network of tunnels was built, which are now open to the public and well worth a visit. You have to go on one of the organised Rock tours, it’s the only way you get to the top to see the Strait of Gibraltar, the Rif mountains in Morocco and the famous, Barbary Apes who whilst have quite a lot of Kodak appeal will steal anything and can be quite aggressive.

This is a very small place, where you feel like you are in England, but not quite. The currency is almost the same, the Gibraltar pound, and is equal to sterling with the Queen’s image on it. Most of the big UK stores are there, but prices are considerably lower than the UK thanks to the special tax arrangements the Government of Gibraltar has with the UK. On that note booze is extremely cheap with gin and scotch at around £4 a bottle, but duty free limits apply when either going into Spain or returning to the UK: 1 litre of spirits and 200 cigarettes maximum.

There are quite a few reasonable hotels, though I cannot recommend The Rock Hotel or The Elliott Hotel as they don’t appear to welcome same-sex couples. I don’t know why and as Gibraltar is a member of the EU,  it is illegal. Both hotels claimed to be full which wasn’t true but I wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight. We did, however, find the most amazing welcome at the Caleta Hotel which is on the eastern side of the Rock. This is a first class, 4 star, 168 room hotel, with outstanding staff. The rooms have sea or Rock views and offer excellent value for money. They host weddings but have yet to perform a civil partnership, the manager was hoping for one soon. We felt really welcome although the place was full. We had a fantastic self-catering room with bedroom, lounge, bathroom, full kitchen and balcony with great views along the coast of Andalusia. The restaurant is excellent, almost fine dining at a reasonable price, plus access to the city centre is dead simple; the buses are free for the four minute journey.

The whole territory is undergoing extensive redevelopment, with huge new apartment buildings, leisure centres and marinas on reclaimed land. There’s a lot more to Gibraltar than meets the eye not to mention the obvious secret military installations that are there despite official denials. The Rock is home to 28,000 although about 7,000 cross from Spain every day for work. Spain is constantly trying to re-claim the Rock, even closing the border from 1969 to 1982 which meant that the Rock was isolated. It was a difficult time for the residents and many flew out to the UK. The Spanish Government even stopped their Queen Sofia attending our Queen’s Jubilee Party.

Speaking to Gibraltarians today it quickly becomes clear that there is no way that Gibraltar will ever revert to Spain, they are very proud to be Gibraltarian and intend on staying that way.

For more information view:
www.gibraltar.com
www.gibraltar.gi
www.caletahotel.com

Over the past ten years we have visited most of the cities in southern Spain: Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, Cadiz and Seville and have invariably loved them all; the climate, the food, the people and the atmosphere. We thought that we had seen all that there was until we discovered Jerez, which at just an hour from Seville and Gibraltar is one of the nicest Spanish cities that we’ve ever visited.

Although it has 208,000 inhabitants it has the feel of a small intimate place, full of lovely little squares, beautiful architecture and stuffed with bars and restaurants. It’s all very walkable as the centre is mainly pedestrianised. Of course to the Brits its biggest claim to fame is the fact that it’s the home of your mother’s favourite drink – sherry. Wine in this part of the world is basically sherry wine; it’s what they serve everywhere and at one time it was more popular than Rioja.

Jerez, or Jerez de la Frontera to give it its full name, has all the usual attractions of a major Spanish city: a magnificent cathedral, museums, a Moorish castle (the Alcazar), dozens of beautiful churches and they are all very close to each other making the old city centre very easy to walk round.

There are 16 bodegas, where they make and store the wine, that are open to the public. We only went to two, Sandeman, which was a great experience as was the sherry and Tio Pepe which was a little like Disneyland with drinks.

This is wine growing, cattle ranch and horse rearing country with the world famous Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art at its heart. The school is internationally recognised as the world’s leading school for horsemanship and makes for one

of the highlights of a visit to the city. They put on an amazing show four days a week in an arena that seats 1,500 and it’s always full. The dancing stallions and displays of carriage driving are simply spectacular. Of course it’s designed for tourists and the riders are mainly professionals but nonetheless it demonstrates what all the fuss is about and it’s the pure bred Spanish Carthusian horses that are the stars of the show. We had a very charming guide, Xavier, who confessed to a secret – he didn’t like horses but he loved his job!

Although the city was founded before the Romans it’s a very young place with the streets and squares thronged with people out enjoying themselves in the evening. There must be hundreds of tapas bars, all serving great little snacks and, of course, a glass of Fino or Amontillado. We visited one of the many late bars tucked away on one of the plazas; it was full of small fountains, fascinating art and little courtyards, like nothing we had ever seen before.

We chose to stay in the Hotel Jerez, a little way out of the centre at Avenida Alcalde Álavaro Domecq, 35, Jerez. www.hace.es/HotelJerezSpa. The buses were on strike but the taxis were very cheap, just 4€ (about £3) to take us right into the city centre. The Hotel Jerez is a large 1960s building with big bedrooms and most have balconies overlooking a huge pool. It seems to cater for the business community but with an enormous bar and very good restaurant we didn’t mind the men in suits. We ate on the hotel’s terrace restaurant, almost on our own, with terrific food and a wine list that was basically sherry and so that’s what we had. I had never thought of ordering a bottle of Fino sherry with dinner, but we were assured it was the right thing to do and they were right.

We were lucky enough to be given a full guide of the city by Pedro, the chief of the local tourist office. We always use the tourist information centres wherever we are but didn’t expect this service, what a guy he was too. He was a walking encyclopaedia of the city, its history and its many attractions. There was no way we were going to miss anything.

Jerez is the birthplace and home of flamenco and Pedro insisted that we see the very best. He took us to an out of the way bar and at around midnight (things don’t happen very early in Spain) we were treated to a demonstration of the genuine article. It was amazing, just three singers/dancers and two guitars made a sound that would fill the Albert Hall. It was explained that flamenco is a gypsy tradition and this troupe were gypsies whose art had been handed down through many generations. Flamenco may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re in Jerez, it’s something you have to see.

Jerez is a real find, we thought that we knew all the main sites of Andalusia, we couldn’t have been more wrong. Whilst the major cities all have a lot to offer, Jerez stands out above them all as a small, compact and simply stunning place, we can’t wait to go back.

You can fly to Jerez from London Heathrow via Madrid with Iberia or British Airways. Alternatively fly from London Gatwick to Seville followed by a 60 minute trains journey or from London Gatwick to Gibraltar followed by a 90 minutes

For more information:

Tourist Information Office: Click here:

Hotel Jerez, Click here: