South African Airways (SAA) is tightening security on its airplanes after two flight crews (1, 2) were recently found to be smuggling drugs on flights to London. The new security measures include the physical searching of all crew baggage. Also, the Airports Company SA (ASCA) is considering adding additional sniffer dog patrols, and new scanners and detection technology to the airports it operates.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Greece: 2 Prisoners Escape in Helicopter for Second Time
A massive manhunt is underway in Greece after two men escaped from the high-security Korydallos Prison on Sunday in a helicopter. Greece's Kathimerini describes the escapees, Vassilis Palaiocostas and Alket Rizai, as "the country's most notorious criminal...and his Albanian accomplice". To make the story of this daring helicopter escape even more unbelievable is that the same two men escaped in 2006 from the same prison in nearly the exact same manner.
By:
Progress
On 02:41
TSA Investigations, Confiscations and Closures
For the week of February 9-16 the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reports 15 passengers were arrested after investigations of suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents; 21 firearms were found at checkpoints; 1 artfully concealed prohibited item was found and there were 14 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach.
By:
Progress
On 02:39
India: Threat Puts Airport on Alert
Kochi Airport in India is on high alert after an anonymous phone call to Saudi Airways alleged bombs had been placed at the airport and they could go off at anytime. Security has been beefed-up at passenger and vehicle checkpoints while an airport official said he believed the call was a hoax but they were not going to take any chances.
By:
Progress
On 02:38
Japan: Dozens of Passengers Injured by Airplane Turbulence
Forty-three passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight from Manila to Tokyo were injured Friday (2/20) when about 30 minutes before landing the plane suffered what's been described as "severe turbulence" and a "sudden decent". The 747-400 was carrying 408 passengers and a flight crew of 14. A spokesperson for the airline has been quoted saying the "Fasten Seatbelt" sign was on at the time of the incident.
By:
Progress
On 02:29
Monday, 23 February 2009
Greetings from Venizelos airport, Athens
Interim greetings from the transit area of Venizelos airport in Athens, where I encountered some positive developments that I would like to share with you.
Mindful of the best in class global Airport review that we covered as a Perpetual Traveller feature article last week, it comes to me as a pleasant surprise to see some welcome pro-traveller changes at the airport that serves Athens, which was built at the beginning of the new millennium.
At last free WiFi has been organized to compliment the free Internet stand alone computer podiums. This makes Athens (ATH) one of the few significant and proactive airports in the whole of Europe that provides comprehensive free Internet access. May the rest of Europe follow this lead?
Moreover, a large area of e-checkin desks has been provided for in the departures hall, which permits any passenger to check-in online with a host of participating airlines that permit and enable an online check-in service. The same facility allows online reservations and bookings through the Internet connections also. This is a leap forward in passenger facilities and a convenient common marketing tool for cooperating airlines.
I think it is also appropriate to compliment the Athens Venizelos airport on their passenger friendly information services. First and fore-most, despite being a modern airport the lovable rotating flaps of the mega display boards (like a train station) grace the departures area and provide a nostalgic element for passengers blended with the new design. This is complimented by numerous clear to view trendy flat screens dotted all over the airport. The Information Desk has brightened up too with an interesting Power Message "Don't Guess - Be our Guest!”. This service seemed to be better manned than before and some service training must have taken place. There are also numerous information boards with leaflets providing for free maps of Athens city and the airport itself, promotions of the Shopping Price Guarantee and encouragement to give your view.
There is a lot to like about Athens Airport these days which includes...
• Quality train connection to the city.
• The level of cleanliness.
• Free Airport Archaeological museum.
• An environmental information centre.
• 24 hour Pharmacy.
• A quality Hair Salon / Beauty Centre.
• Enhanced variety of Shopping.
• A quality Business centre.
• Local Shops and brands blended with international Duty Free.
• Improved Restaurant facilities.
• Plenty of places to take an excellent coffee.
• A host of VIP Lounges, some with bed facilities (catering for Priority Pass too).
• Free Airport quality travel Magazine called 2board.
So keep up the good work Athens Venizelos and try to stop the strikes this year and have a word with the remaining unfriendly security staff.
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
Mindful of the best in class global Airport review that we covered as a Perpetual Traveller feature article last week, it comes to me as a pleasant surprise to see some welcome pro-traveller changes at the airport that serves Athens, which was built at the beginning of the new millennium.
At last free WiFi has been organized to compliment the free Internet stand alone computer podiums. This makes Athens (ATH) one of the few significant and proactive airports in the whole of Europe that provides comprehensive free Internet access. May the rest of Europe follow this lead?
Moreover, a large area of e-checkin desks has been provided for in the departures hall, which permits any passenger to check-in online with a host of participating airlines that permit and enable an online check-in service. The same facility allows online reservations and bookings through the Internet connections also. This is a leap forward in passenger facilities and a convenient common marketing tool for cooperating airlines.
I think it is also appropriate to compliment the Athens Venizelos airport on their passenger friendly information services. First and fore-most, despite being a modern airport the lovable rotating flaps of the mega display boards (like a train station) grace the departures area and provide a nostalgic element for passengers blended with the new design. This is complimented by numerous clear to view trendy flat screens dotted all over the airport. The Information Desk has brightened up too with an interesting Power Message "Don't Guess - Be our Guest!”. This service seemed to be better manned than before and some service training must have taken place. There are also numerous information boards with leaflets providing for free maps of Athens city and the airport itself, promotions of the Shopping Price Guarantee and encouragement to give your view.
There is a lot to like about Athens Airport these days which includes...
• Quality train connection to the city.
• The level of cleanliness.
• Free Airport Archaeological museum.
• An environmental information centre.
• 24 hour Pharmacy.
• A quality Hair Salon / Beauty Centre.
• Enhanced variety of Shopping.
• A quality Business centre.
• Local Shops and brands blended with international Duty Free.
• Improved Restaurant facilities.
• Plenty of places to take an excellent coffee.
• A host of VIP Lounges, some with bed facilities (catering for Priority Pass too).
• Free Airport quality travel Magazine called 2board.
So keep up the good work Athens Venizelos and try to stop the strikes this year and have a word with the remaining unfriendly security staff.
Grant Holmes
Editor
Perpetual Traveller
By:
Progress
On 06:41
Friday, 20 February 2009
Genoa: port on the Mediterranean
We discover the artistic beauties of this ancient maritime republic. Twisty little streets wend their way from via Garibaldi to the old harbour, site of Europe’s second biggest aquarium
Genoa is rich in personalities who forged the Italian culture of the last century. The city is fertile ground for comics, inspired by the innate Genoese sense of humour, and singer-songwriters, influenced by the heartbreaking sea views of the city and its surroundings. As young Genoese writer Marzio Angiolani (b. 1974) wrote in his book Genova. Canzoni in salita (“Genoa: Songs in Ascent”): “Song is the best expression of the soul of Genoa. The city is closer to Greece and Morocco than it is to Lombardy, has more in common with the ports of Sicily and Spain than with the mountains of Piedmont, and is redolent of the sounds and smells of everywhere from Turkey to the Pillars of Hercules or even farther, to where Portugal looks out to the Atlantic and the new world.”
The Foce quarter of Genoa is the birthplace of some of Italy’s most legendary figures in music and song: Gino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, and Bruno Lauzi—names that in Italy carry similar weight to George Harrison, Neil Young or Mick Jagger—and Paolo Villaggio, one of Italy’s best-loved actors and famous for his depiction of Ugo Fantozzi in a series of films about a luckless accountant working for an industrial behemoth. Villaggio is a close friend of poet and singer Fabrizio De André, sometimes referred to as “Italy’s Leonard Cohen” and also from Genoa.
Genoa’s history begins 2600 years ago when, according to legend, the city was founded by the two-faced god Janus, guardian of gates and doors. Genoa has always been a “door” between civilisations, a cultural meeting point between the Mediterranean and Europe. But the city really started to make its mark in around the year 1000, when it became a republic and conquered military and mercantile control of much of the Mediterranean. The apex of its power came with Admiral Andrea Doria, who made the title of “Republic of Genoa” official and thanks to whom Genoa became home to rich merchants, expert navigators, and financiers of the powerful Spanish empire of Charles V.
You can relive the splendours of Genoa’s past by walking down the central via Garibaldi, which at various times in history has been called Strada Maggiore, Strada Nuova, and via Aurea. Here in just 250 metres there are 14 buildings of exceptional beauty, built between 1550 and 1716: this is the treasure chest of the Ligurian capital, which at night shines like a sunlit diamond. These buildings are some of the 42 Palazzi dei Rolli (literally, “Houses of the Rolls”) which were collectively declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006. They were private residences which the Genoese nobility were required to make available to the Republic to accommodate visiting kings, princes or high prelates. They were, in other words, the forerunners of today’s 5-star hotels. Fine examples include Palazzo Tursi, today the municipal seat, and Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco (their names translate to Red and White Palace, respectively), today the Museums of Strada Nuova. The painter Pieter Paul Rubens visited Genoa many times in the early 17th century and he wrote a book about these buildings in which he described their architectural styles. This book would later inspire the wealthy classes of Antwerp, Rubens’s city of origin. Some of his paintings are preserved in the Church of Jesus in Piazza Matteotti.
Staying on via Garibaldi, at no. 14 there is Palazzo Podestà , with its facade so richly decorated with gargoyles and garlands and, at no. 3, the similarly beautiful Palazzo Lercari Parodi, today an auction house. Via Garibaldi leads on to piazza Fontane Marose, with its neoclassical Palazzo Pallavicino and the splendid Palazzo Spinola which alternates white marble with black slate, a local stone much used in Liguria. Turning onto the elegant via XXV Aprile brings us to piazza De Ferrari, Genoa’s main square, which is overlooked by the Palazzo Ducale, historic seat of the Doges of the Republic and today the venue for exhibitions and cultural events. This palace has a medieval heart, which today can only be seen in the stone Grimaldina tower. The central body of the palace with its two colonnades was built between the 16th century and the early 17th century, and was later reconstructed in the 18th century following an extensive fire.
In 1992 the area of the old harbour, which in the past was merely an area for loading and unloading goods, was “given back” to the Genoese via a monumental redevelopment project designed by one of the most famous architects in the world (and, coincidentally, Genoese), Renzo Piano. Here also is the city’s aquarium, which contains one of the biggest collections of biodiversity and ecosystems in Europe, with seals, sharks, dolphins, penguins, piranhas, rays and many, many other species. The interiors were designed by US architect Peter Chermayeff and the intended effect is to make the visitor feel as if they were underwater.
When you’re ready to take a break, in the steep, narrow alleys called caruggi you can always find a good focacceria where you can try Genoa’s most famous speciality (classic focaccia and also farinata, made with chickpea flour). If you’re only interested in the sea, the best way to enjoy it is to walk the shore path (Corso Italia) until you get to the sea village of Boccadasse, a jewel of a place where you can still see traditional Ligurian pastel-coloured painted houses.
BOX: Shopping in the alleys
Genoa’s old town centre features tall and very closely-packed houses, creating narrow alleyways which are known locally as caruggi. Here you can still find little shops and artisan workshops which give the centre of Genoa that atmosphere of an old and convivial town. Wandering around these old streets is therefore a must, in Sottoripa or in via dei Macelli for example, where you’ll find places selling tripe, poultry and cod, or in via San Luca e Luccoli, where you can buy clothes and household goods. And there are designer shops too, mainly in via Roma.
USEFUL INFORMATION
What to do: Stroke a ray in the petting pool at the aquarium, kiss someone you love by the sea in Boccadasse, take the lift to the last floor of the Palazzo Rosso and enjoy the view from the roof, take a walk out to the Lanterna, the symbol of Genoa
What to eat: Focaccia bread (an original Genoese speciality), a slice of Pasqualina quiche, farinata (focaccia made with chickpea flour), trenette pasta al pesto, pansotti (ravioli) with walnut sauce, pandolce, a local sweet bread made at Christmas
Did you know?: Beside the aquarium you can visit the galleon used by Roman Polanski to shoot the film Pirates, and the Biosphere, which perfectly reproduces the ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest
Traditions: At the Museo Diocesano you can see the Teli della Passione, a series of paintings about the Passion of Christ executed on a curiously denim-like cloth known as blu di Genova, a highly resistant fabric used to make sails
Getting around:
- Several times daily ferries leave Genoa for Camogli, San Fruttuoso and Portofino, three sea towns which top each other for beauty
- Just a few kilometres east of Genoa is the town of Recco, worth a visit just to eat the famous local focaccia, made with cheese between two layers of dough
- Go surfing at Bogliasco on the Levant Riviera, or leave the village behind for an hour’s walk through the orchards and olive groves to Pieve Alta
Genoa is rich in personalities who forged the Italian culture of the last century. The city is fertile ground for comics, inspired by the innate Genoese sense of humour, and singer-songwriters, influenced by the heartbreaking sea views of the city and its surroundings. As young Genoese writer Marzio Angiolani (b. 1974) wrote in his book Genova. Canzoni in salita (“Genoa: Songs in Ascent”): “Song is the best expression of the soul of Genoa. The city is closer to Greece and Morocco than it is to Lombardy, has more in common with the ports of Sicily and Spain than with the mountains of Piedmont, and is redolent of the sounds and smells of everywhere from Turkey to the Pillars of Hercules or even farther, to where Portugal looks out to the Atlantic and the new world.”
The Foce quarter of Genoa is the birthplace of some of Italy’s most legendary figures in music and song: Gino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, and Bruno Lauzi—names that in Italy carry similar weight to George Harrison, Neil Young or Mick Jagger—and Paolo Villaggio, one of Italy’s best-loved actors and famous for his depiction of Ugo Fantozzi in a series of films about a luckless accountant working for an industrial behemoth. Villaggio is a close friend of poet and singer Fabrizio De André, sometimes referred to as “Italy’s Leonard Cohen” and also from Genoa.
Genoa’s history begins 2600 years ago when, according to legend, the city was founded by the two-faced god Janus, guardian of gates and doors. Genoa has always been a “door” between civilisations, a cultural meeting point between the Mediterranean and Europe. But the city really started to make its mark in around the year 1000, when it became a republic and conquered military and mercantile control of much of the Mediterranean. The apex of its power came with Admiral Andrea Doria, who made the title of “Republic of Genoa” official and thanks to whom Genoa became home to rich merchants, expert navigators, and financiers of the powerful Spanish empire of Charles V.
You can relive the splendours of Genoa’s past by walking down the central via Garibaldi, which at various times in history has been called Strada Maggiore, Strada Nuova, and via Aurea. Here in just 250 metres there are 14 buildings of exceptional beauty, built between 1550 and 1716: this is the treasure chest of the Ligurian capital, which at night shines like a sunlit diamond. These buildings are some of the 42 Palazzi dei Rolli (literally, “Houses of the Rolls”) which were collectively declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006. They were private residences which the Genoese nobility were required to make available to the Republic to accommodate visiting kings, princes or high prelates. They were, in other words, the forerunners of today’s 5-star hotels. Fine examples include Palazzo Tursi, today the municipal seat, and Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco (their names translate to Red and White Palace, respectively), today the Museums of Strada Nuova. The painter Pieter Paul Rubens visited Genoa many times in the early 17th century and he wrote a book about these buildings in which he described their architectural styles. This book would later inspire the wealthy classes of Antwerp, Rubens’s city of origin. Some of his paintings are preserved in the Church of Jesus in Piazza Matteotti.
Staying on via Garibaldi, at no. 14 there is Palazzo Podestà , with its facade so richly decorated with gargoyles and garlands and, at no. 3, the similarly beautiful Palazzo Lercari Parodi, today an auction house. Via Garibaldi leads on to piazza Fontane Marose, with its neoclassical Palazzo Pallavicino and the splendid Palazzo Spinola which alternates white marble with black slate, a local stone much used in Liguria. Turning onto the elegant via XXV Aprile brings us to piazza De Ferrari, Genoa’s main square, which is overlooked by the Palazzo Ducale, historic seat of the Doges of the Republic and today the venue for exhibitions and cultural events. This palace has a medieval heart, which today can only be seen in the stone Grimaldina tower. The central body of the palace with its two colonnades was built between the 16th century and the early 17th century, and was later reconstructed in the 18th century following an extensive fire.
In 1992 the area of the old harbour, which in the past was merely an area for loading and unloading goods, was “given back” to the Genoese via a monumental redevelopment project designed by one of the most famous architects in the world (and, coincidentally, Genoese), Renzo Piano. Here also is the city’s aquarium, which contains one of the biggest collections of biodiversity and ecosystems in Europe, with seals, sharks, dolphins, penguins, piranhas, rays and many, many other species. The interiors were designed by US architect Peter Chermayeff and the intended effect is to make the visitor feel as if they were underwater.
When you’re ready to take a break, in the steep, narrow alleys called caruggi you can always find a good focacceria where you can try Genoa’s most famous speciality (classic focaccia and also farinata, made with chickpea flour). If you’re only interested in the sea, the best way to enjoy it is to walk the shore path (Corso Italia) until you get to the sea village of Boccadasse, a jewel of a place where you can still see traditional Ligurian pastel-coloured painted houses.
BOX: Shopping in the alleys
Genoa’s old town centre features tall and very closely-packed houses, creating narrow alleyways which are known locally as caruggi. Here you can still find little shops and artisan workshops which give the centre of Genoa that atmosphere of an old and convivial town. Wandering around these old streets is therefore a must, in Sottoripa or in via dei Macelli for example, where you’ll find places selling tripe, poultry and cod, or in via San Luca e Luccoli, where you can buy clothes and household goods. And there are designer shops too, mainly in via Roma.
USEFUL INFORMATION
What to do: Stroke a ray in the petting pool at the aquarium, kiss someone you love by the sea in Boccadasse, take the lift to the last floor of the Palazzo Rosso and enjoy the view from the roof, take a walk out to the Lanterna, the symbol of Genoa
What to eat: Focaccia bread (an original Genoese speciality), a slice of Pasqualina quiche, farinata (focaccia made with chickpea flour), trenette pasta al pesto, pansotti (ravioli) with walnut sauce, pandolce, a local sweet bread made at Christmas
Did you know?: Beside the aquarium you can visit the galleon used by Roman Polanski to shoot the film Pirates, and the Biosphere, which perfectly reproduces the ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest
Traditions: At the Museo Diocesano you can see the Teli della Passione, a series of paintings about the Passion of Christ executed on a curiously denim-like cloth known as blu di Genova, a highly resistant fabric used to make sails
Getting around:
- Several times daily ferries leave Genoa for Camogli, San Fruttuoso and Portofino, three sea towns which top each other for beauty
- Just a few kilometres east of Genoa is the town of Recco, worth a visit just to eat the famous local focaccia, made with cheese between two layers of dough
- Go surfing at Bogliasco on the Levant Riviera, or leave the village behind for an hour’s walk through the orchards and olive groves to Pieve Alta
By:
Progress
On 02:59
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