In this weekly series, we scour the world in search of the most weird and wonderful hotels. From cave hotels to converted prisons, capsule pods to underwater guestrooms, you can expect only the unexpected. This week, Hotel Silken Puerta América in Madrid.
What’s the gimmick? The Hotel Silken Puerta América is a masterpiece of architecture and design. A 5 Star luxury hotel, Hotel Silken ushers guests into innovative spaces, with each of the floors being designed by one of the 19 world-renowned architects and artists who were chosen to work on the hotel (these include including Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel and Zaha Hadid). The 12 guestroom floors were each created in the vision of the unique international architect they represent, giving the rooms individualized design and décor.
Why stay? For a truly different experience each time you stay.Guests choose from photos of available room designs on arrival, all of which have 1 queen-size or 2 twin beds, and flat-screen LCD TVs.
The Wow Factor: The Hotel Silken Puerta América Madrid is an eclectic, daring space that does not sell comfort short. Rooms with luxury in their finest detail entice guests to interact with them, to touch, to see, to breathe and smell. In short, Hotel Silken is a unique space that stands out especially for its quality and wide range of service, not just its futuristic design. Think indoor pools, a Turkish bath and a top-floor bar with incredible views of Madrid.
Prices start from £170 a night. Click here for details.
Part One of our new weekly series from guest blogger, Liz Bethell about going to live in Australia.
Everyday in life we are offered opportunities. Whether we choose to recognise or act upon those opportunities or just ignore them, is up to us as individuals. I believe that when an opportunity presents itself, we must not ignore it – if it is possible to take it, we should. It’s like learning to dance in the rain instead of waiting for the rain to stop. And God forbid those opportunities we could have done end up on the bucket list, and we later think “Why didn’t I try that?”, but it’s suddenly too late.
This happened to me in 2006. We came to Australia on a 4 month extended holiday with the idea of seeing if we liked it and possibly moving out here at a later date. We met some amazing people back then who have stayed quality, genuine friends as the years have gone by. One friend was an American girl, Kristen, over in Australia doing a teaching placement and through her we met a Canadian teacher doing a Teacher Exchange- actually swapping lives with an Australian counterpart for a year- house, job, car- only keeping the same partner and children! When I heard that I thought how awesome it was- what an amazing experience.
I went home to life as I knew it. I asked about the Exchange at work, but as I was then working in the Reception class and the exchange to Australia started mid-year for the British participants, it was felt that there would be too much upheaval for the little ones and would be better when I had an older class. So a few years later, when I had been teaching in Year 3 for a few years, I approached my head teacher and put forward an application through the Commonwealth Scheme to swap and move Down Under for a year.
It wasn’t as straight forward as usual. The tough year with the government meant that they withdrew a lot of funding for the organisation and there was doubt as to whether it would continue running- a shame as this has run now for 100 years. Then finally CYEC Commonwealth Youth Exchange Committee took it over and everything started moving fast in the last few months. My Australian Exchange Teacher, Fiona had her application sent to my school where it was considered by the head and the governing body and likewise mine was being done by the Principal in Australia. Fiona and I spoke a lot on the phone and got to know each other and emailed and set up networks of people to help us both settle in on either side of the world! We researched the area and I couldn’t believe it- if I could have chosen the area I would have loved to go to it would have been Byron Bay- the place where we met Kristen- our American friend and through her, Bob and Chris and other friends. People who now live 15 minutes from where we are living this year. Pretty amazing when you consider that you can’t choose where you want to go- and the size of Australia! I knew it was meant to be. Visas had to be sorted and police checks and housing had to be sorted out. People usually swap the houses they are living in but as my partner, Ralph works offshore in the diving industry I knew he wouldn’t be able to give up his job for the year and so would need to go home for some of the time. So I decided to rent a house for Fee, Eric and her girls, Ellen and Adi. This worked out well as it was near school for them.
Finally the end of December came. I hung back so I could actually meet the Aussies as we had got on so well on the phone. They arrived Christmas Day. We had a big Welcome/Leaving Party on December 28th in Liverpool and then on 29th December my son Jack and I hopped on a plane bound for Sydney, Australia. We would be met by Nicolette and Ross, some more fantastic friends we had made back in 2006 and were going to spend New Year with them before heading up to our new home and life up on the East Coast of Australia. I didn’t know it then but this was going to be the start of an experience that was more awesome than even I could have imagined! And I haven’t finished it yet!
It’s not just bathrobes that are ripe for the picking, people take all sorts from their hotel rooms… You’ve got to wonder, how did they hide some of these?
After a survey of 500 hotels, 95 percent say they’ve had items stolen by guests, and around one in every ten traveller will take at least one thing that doesn’t belong to them.
A piano like this was taken from the reception of a hotel.
Here’s the weirdest:
A grand piano. Yes, a whole piano was carted down the street by three people dressed in overalls who casually strolled by reception.
A stuffed boar’s head. A hotel in Birmingham went without its billiard room’s main feature, until friends of the shamed guest actually bought it from the hotel as a wedding present.
A Vegas Hotel said entire carpets had been cut and take from one of its rooms.
The sofa and a mini-fridge were taken from a five star hotel in Dubai.
A five star hotel in Madrid went without a whole mattress after a stay by one sticky-fingered guest.
Sex Toys, a hotel in Bath which offers kinky accessories as part of its package, says they often go walkabouts after visits from amorous guests.
Televisions. They have a tough time in hotel rooms, what with getting thrashed by rockers, they’re also one of the most stolen items.
One unfortunate hotel owner had their pet dog stolen! Who would do that!?
Every accessory from an Istanbul hotel room was taken, apart from the bed, the desk and TV, basically everything that wasn’t nailed down.
Miscellaneous: according to reports that have surfaced over the years, there are lots of other, hard-to-categories bits taken from rooms, including a medieval sword and a 4ft wooden bear. Sounds a bit Anchorman, doesn’t it?
It’s our second favourite bit of the X Factor, after the first auditions of course, when all the contestants are brought to the judge’s house for that final round of tears, tantrums and triumph. In a last minute phone call from boss man Simon, the judges were told which groups they were mentoring. Gary Barlow is in charge of the Over 28s, Louis Walsh has the Groups, Nicole Sherzinger has the Boys and Tulisa the Girls. The big news came that after the departure of Rough Copy, Louis has seven acts in the Judges’ House, while all the others have six. We can sense some tense times ahead. Last weekend was the Judges’ houses round, where Nicole, Gary, Tulisa and Louis whisked away their contestants for some top secret, last minute tuning up. Nicole was in Dubai, Tulisa was in the Caribbean on St Lucia, Louis was in Vegas while Gary was in the English countryside.
So where to go to holiday like the X-Factor? Read on to find out…
From the tiniest detail, holidays in Dubai are pretty mind blowing; even its fountains are impressive. Drenched in sunshine, your jaw will drop like the X Factor Boys at the ornate hotels, indoor ski resorts, white knuckle rollercoasters, exotic pools and unbelievable food. The biggest draw is likely to be the World’s Tallest Building, the Burj Khalifa, which you simply have to check out. Reaching 2km into the sky, it can be seen from miles away, and has everything you could possible want on a holiday. It’s even got an Armani Hotel! If you’re trying to figure out where to stay, The Four Points by Sheraton, Downtown Dubai and the Melia Dubai are well worth a look.
Sunshine, perfect beaches and sparkling blue waters, it’s the simple things that impress in honeymoon favourite St Lucia. The tiny island is a favourite with celebs, so it’s no surprise really that the X Factor Girls will get a taste of the good life with Tulisa. There’s plenty to do, like rainforest hikes, or climbing the Gros Piton (it’s a bit of a walk, but well worth it) and snorkelling. However, our favourite thing is to feel the powder soft white sand between our toes, maybe take a quick dip in the warm Caribbean Sea, before retiring to a hammock for the afternoon. The Anse Chastanet, Soufriere and The Bay Gardens Hotel in Gros Islet are two of our top hotel choices.
Entertainment capital of the world in Las Vegas, otherwise known as Sin City is an inspired choice for the Judge’s House. It’s seen *the* big names in the world of music play, from Frank Sinatra to Tom Jones, Elton to Celine, so why not Vegas? While the groups are busy fine tuning their performances, we’re daydreaming about having a go at some of the casinos, watching the fountain show at the Bellagio, visiting the massive shark tank at the Golden Nugget and maybe taking a trip to one of the little chapels, well, you never know do you? Stay at the budget friendly, Americas Best Value Inn Hotel, East of the Strip or go wild at the 5 star Trump International Hotel, West of the Strip.
Lord of the Manor in the English countryside: We don’t need much of an excuse to indulge in a long weekend, and nothing impresses us more than lording it over the countryside at our own fancy manor house. Ok, it might not be ours, but we can dream right… just like the X Factor Overs. Gary was definitely on to something, with that gorgeous rolling countryside, a quick stroll in the great outdoors, before retiring by the fireside with a glass of port. When in Rome and all that. We like the luxury Ellenborough Park in the Cotsworlds or the country hotel, the Three Horseshoes Inn.
At Purple Travel, we’ve noticed a trend emerging around the world and it’s about as random as you can imagine. Without further ado, enjoy the new foodie museums.
For those who turn your nose up at the high-brow artefacts on display the Louvre, the Vatican or the Hermitage, these museums may be just the thing for you. Enter the food museum, an unexpected answer the prayers of women all over, who want nothing more than to enjoy their food without gaining weight.
The story begins in Italy; located just outside of Bologna, a €1.5m ice-cream museum details the rise of gelato. Taking visitors on a tour from gelato’s initial incarnation as a chilled delicacy for Roman emperors, to the sweet treat we know today that’s seen on every corner of Italy, this free museum is located at the headquarters of Carpigiani, a gelato machine maker founded in Bologna in 1946.
Across the pond, in the neighbourhood of Fishtown (!) in Philadelphia, America’s first pizza museum has just opened its doors. A veritable shrine to the popular fast food, ‘Pizza Brain’ is part museum, part restaurant. “We thought it was a funny idea, and we started doing some research,”owner Brian Dwyer believed, “And when we discovered that nowhere on earth was there a physical place, a monument built to pizza, we said, “This is going to be huge.””
While you may have already sectioned Dywer under the Mental Health Act, strangely enough, there are a number of like-minded individuals who have opened similar museums around the world in recent years, ranging in focus from currywurst to Jell-O, from a museum of burnt food to one about vinegar. There’s the International Banana Club and Museum in California, which claims to be the world’s first and largest museum dedicated entirely to the banana, and is home to some 17,000 banana items (and also Ken, the “Top Banana” and Glenn, the “Banana Man”). If bananas aren’t your thing and you’re not so keen on fruit-suited men either, head to the Spam Museum in Minnesota. This 16,500-square-foot museum is dedicated entirely to canned-meat enthusiasts. If you’re curious as to why SPAM (which turns 71 years old this year) deserves its own museum, let us refer you to the website: “SPAM is the cradle of civilization. It is the ultimate culinary perfection. Within these walls, all of life’s questions will be deliciously answered.”
Riiiiiiiiiight.
And if you thought that was weird, check out this of food (word of warning: do not peruse on an empty stomach).
Make the most of your holiday with our Marrakech Travel Guide. Everything you should see, do, experience and stay in one handy place! Enjoy the Purple Travel Marrakech Travel Guide.
It might seem like an exotic, bustling place to go and, well, it is! But Marrakech is a lot more than that. The Moroccan city makes an amazing autumn holiday and here’s why: it’s got fantastic weather, great atmosphere and lots of budget friendly options and it’s just over three hours away. You’ll feel like you’re worlds apart after just a couple of hours.
The iconic city of Marrakech dates back to the 11th century. It probably looks a bit familiar since it’s been used as a backdrop for tonnes of movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and even an episode of the Apprentice, while it’s become intertwined with The Rolling Stones who fell in love with the ‘anything goes’ atmosphere in the 60s.
For those who turn your nose up at the high-brow artefacts on display the Louvre, the Vatican or the Hermitage, these museums may be just the thing for you. Enter the food museum, an unexpected answer the prayers of women all over, who want nothing more than to enjoy their food without gaining weight.