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CONCIERGE
Start walking
The best hiking routes
in the United States PAGE 3
S AT U R D AY , A U G U S T 2 , 2 0 1 4
SECTION T
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EDITOR: DOMINI CLARK
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EUROPE
Action on the
Western Front,
then and now
................................................................
TED DENTAY
................................................................
T
he First World War centenary
is already boosting tourism to
European battlefields. But trying
to trace each offensive of even the
Western Front is a daunting task.
Where to start? Why not the
beginning?
................................................................
JONCHERY, FRANCE
................................................................
Then: Aug. 2, 1914
It was here, on an idyllic morning,
that the first two official deaths of
the war were registered. Lieutenant Albert Mayer, a German
cavalry trooper, and Corporal
Jules-André Peugeot, a French
soldier, were killed the day after a
small patrol of German cavalry
shot up a French customs post.
France formally declared war
against Germany on Aug. 3.
Now: At the small memorial in
this town of 1,021, nestled in the
verdant wine country of Alsace,
the episode is largely forgotten.
What draws most people to the
area of Haute-Marne – where Jonchery is located – are fine white
wines and to-die-for patisseries.
Close to the western bank of the
Rhine, about half an hour east by
car along curvy two-lane roads,
the area is known as the world’s
foremost producer of cabbage.
Grey-green serried ranks of them
march down to the river, contributing their one-of-kind fragrance to the air.
................................................................
LIÈGE, BELGIUM
................................................................
THE ESCAPE
A VIEW TO A CHILL
Peru’s less-explored north coast offers steady sun,
expansive beaches and frothy pisco sours. And that’s plenty
VIIA BEAUMANIS
MANCORA, PERU
................................................................
‘I
sn’t that Mario Testino?”
My New York girlfriend tilts
her head toward a smartly
dressed gentleman sitting in the
front row of our two-hour flight
from Lima to Tumbes, an old
port town on Peru’s North Coast.
The fashion photographer is the
country’s most celebrated ex-pat
and we’d spent the previous
afternoon wandering his gallery
– an elegantly restored heritage
villa in Barranco, Lima’s colonial
quarter turned artsy-bohemian
district.
I squint; it isn’t Testino.
Though it easily could have
been, given where we’re headed:
a stretch of Pacific coast near the
Ecuadorian border that’s home
to the surf town of Mancora and,
just beyond that, Las Pocitas, a
more exclusive enclave peppered
with stylish places to stay.
Always balmy, with miles of
beige sand and warm, rolling Pacific waves, it’s a welcome getaway for Limenos keen to escape
the chronically overcast capital
(Spanish conquistadores having
oddly erected Lima on an
expanse of shoreline that sees
the sun just 100 days a year).
We land and head south, two
hours by car along a two-lane
slice of the Pan-American Highway, cutting through acres of
farmland lush with avocado,
corn and asparagus, and a succession of ramshackle towns.
Mutts and children gambol
among roadside shacks hawking
fresh produce, cheap pisco and
live chickens. Farther south, the
countryside turns arid, a cactusspiked desertscape edged by the
foothills of the Andes, where
protected dry forest teeming
with deer, mountain lions, condor and monkeys attracts adventurous travellers keen on
exploring one of the planet’s
most diverse ecosystems.
But having just done Machu
Picchu and spent a week exploring the Amazon, what the two of
us want now is a chic hotel on a
deserted beach that serves fresh
ceviche and stiff, frothy pisco
sours, the national cocktail of
grape brandy, egg white, cane
sugar and lime juice.
Peru, Page 2
................................................................
The waters of Mancora are known for year-round surfing.
ROBERT HARDING WORLD IMAGERY/ALAMY
Then: Aug. 4, 1914
Liège was once considered impregnable because of its fortresses. Though Belgium had been
declared “neutral” by an 1839
treaty, that neutrality got short
shrift when Germany’s Schlieffen
Plan was launched. The German
solution to overcoming the concrete fortifications was simple:
build bigger guns. They developed siege cannons that were so
gigantic they had to be broken
into three sections for transport,
each of which had to be hauled by
teams of up to 34 horses after
being offloaded from purposebuilt railway cars. Each “Big Bertha” shell weighed about a tonne,
and the muzzle blast from the
cannon alone would break windows for blocks around.
Now: Liege is touted as the home
of the Belgian waffle (gauffre) –
and while the matter is up for
debate, they remain a staple for
the hungry tourist looking to fuel
walks up the steep hills that
straddle the Meuse River. Topped
with your choice of a stunning variety of artery-clogging creams
and sweet fruit compotes, this is
the place to go to ruin your diet.
And we haven’t even mentioned
the classic Belgian snack of frites
– topped with everything from
mayonnaise to chopped onions –
and a Stella. Raise a glass to the
friends we never made.
................................................................
MULHOUSE, FRANCE
................................................................
Then: Aug. 7 to Aug. 10, 1914
Eventually, the Mulhouse area
became an ancillary focus of the
Schlieffen Plan. Alsace, which has
felt distinct and separate from either Germany or France since the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870,
became part of the horrific Battle
of the Frontiers, which took place
in many locales around Mulhouse, including Belfort and Épinal. By September, 1914, casualties
totalled 430,000 on both sides.
Centenary, Page 5
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The decor of Ki Chic hotel in Mancora is a design lesson in elegant bohemian. VIIA BEAUMANIS FOR THE GLOBE AND MAIL
FROM PAGE 1
Peru: Visit in fall to spot humpback whales
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
9
Pulling into Mancora, we find
a bar-and-restaurant-lined
main drag running parallel to a
bar-and-restaurant-lined beach
one block over. A funky, sunbleached town of 10,000 that
swells during the December
through March high season, its
streets are scattered with inexpensive lodging, candy-coloured
moto-taxis and shops flogging
surfboards, handmade candy, crochet tunics and fruit.
We wander down to the shore,
grab a table on the second-floor
veranda of a rustic wooden shack,
order cold cervezas and peruse
the menu. Equipped with heaping
plates of plump, citrus-cured
dorado, we linger long enough to
exploit happy hour: Peruvian barmen shaking two-for-one pisco
sours, seemingly nationwide, between 5 and 7 each evening.
Horses trot by on the beach
below – bikini-clad foreign girls in
the saddle – as teenage boys skim
the Pacific crests; locals lounging
shore-side to cheer them on. The
uncrowded coast is known for its
point breaks, year-round surfing
and shark-free waters; the big
waves are found just south in Los
Organos, or farther on in Lobitos.
(Arrive early fall and you’ll catch
the humpback whales that gather
here to breed.)
After waving down the check
(just $20 thanks to Peru’s nearly
3-to-1 exchange rate), we head for
the tonier Las Pocitas, a 10-minute drive from town. We navigate
the bumpy, sand road that runs
the backside of beach properties
and arrive at Ki Chic, where a
thick wooden door opens onto a
leafy, flowering courtyard, gorgeously lit at twilight, lanterns swaying in the trees.
Launched this January by Christina (Kiki) Gallo, a globetrotting
Peruvian artist who transformed
her private residence into a small
hotel, Ki Chic is a design lesson in
elegant bohemia, filled with
eclectic furnishings, art and objets.
“That’s from Zimbabwe,” says
Helen, following my eye to a large
sconce crafted out of white feathers and black twigs, “but most of
the pieces are South American.”
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by and introduces himself. He’s so
handsome that I nearly drop my
fork. When he pulls out a chair to
join me, I barely register what he’s
saying – except that I’m invited to
a dinner at his place that evening.
We arrive at Fiol’s villa above
the hotel at sundown to find him
grilling lomo steak and tossing
fresh salad greens grown in his
greenhouse. A dozen friends and
cousins are getting giggly on his
signature powerhouse pisco
sours: “4 to 1” he explains, handing me a glass. In other words,
almost entirely alcohol. (Most
locals go with a 2 to 3 ratio.)
Rounding out his skills as a fabulous host, Fiol also turns out to
be a great DJ. By midnight, we’ve
all kicked off our shoes and are
dancing around his pool.
On our last night, My friend and
I wind up back in Mancora, dining
at La Sirena d’Juan. With its refined dishes and wine list (owner
Juan Seminario studied at Lima’s
Le Cordon Bleu), this is the finest
restaurant in town, and a stylish
treat among the main drag’s eateries where typical Peruvian fare
is washed down with beer. Here,
tables are crowded with platters
of raw yellowfin tuna, knots of
tender purple octopus and bottles
of Argentine sauvignon blanc.
Leaning in the doorway, two
pretty local girls type into their
iPhones by a large table in the
front room that’s been commandeered by a Peruvian family. But
the chatty Saturday night crowd
is noticeably scattered with foreigners – a trio of brawny California surfer dudes map out their
road trip to Cusco at the next
table as the handsome British gay
couple across from us laughs
through a third round of drinks.
My girlfriend lifts a forkful of
tiradito, ceviche in a chili-garlicginger sauce, and says, “Looks
like Peru’s little North Coast
secret is out. Expect to see all this
on Hotel Insider by next year.”
Deserted beaches, fresh seafood,
chic hotels, killer surfing and an
advantageous exchange rate. … I
doubt it will take even that long.
................................................................
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The transplanted twentysomething Montreal beauty instructs
twice daily classes in an airy yoga
studio tucked into the property’s
forest of neem trees.
Out in the garden, she leads me
to a cabana where a chandelier
hangs above a slip-covered sofa, a
pair of Peruvian poufs and an antique cabinet filled with teapots.
Around the corner is a workshop
where they “make little projects”;
pressing leaves between panes of
glass for light fixtures or wrapping fan blades in jute .
“We make our own jam, too,”
Helen says as the barman whips
up vegan pisco sours for a pair of
topless women lolling by the
pool. “Fig is my favourite. … Oh,
and try this,” she says, reaching
behind the counter and handing
me a spray bottle. “Homemade
mosquito spray!” I take a whiff; it
smells like Christmas.
“Cloves and turmeric,” Helen
informs me with a radiant smile.
Our days become a cycle of
ocean dips, morning yoga, sunning ourselves poolside and
working our way through the pescatarian menu. It’s two days
before we bother to see what else
is going in the area, finally wandering up the beach for lunch at
nearby Arennas, a small resort
relaunched in December, 2013,
after an elegant multimillion-dollar facelift. Couples and families
come and go from its palm-shaded tables as our long, lazy lunch
morphs into sunset cocktails, the
horizon deepening from soft pink
to blazing orange.
A few days on and we’ve
checked into Villas del Mar, a little hotel perched on a hillside just
up the coast where the reception
desk is a nook off the pool bar
and it’s not five minutes before
someone hands us chilled flutes
of champagne. In the shaded dining lounge, a groovy playlist
hums in the background while I
parry, in menu sign language,
with a waiter whose English is as
good as my Spanish (not very). A
little pointing lands me a plate of
ceviche and I’m happily tucking
into yet another plate of raw fish
when owner Eduardo Fiol stops
WHERE TO STAY
..........................................................
Ki Chic: The six rooms and
suites of this Las Pocitas property (three bungalows will be
added by winter) are sheltered
by mature gardens, edged with
a sleek seaside pool and
drenched in feminine energy.
Across the back road, they harvest produce and organic eggs.
With just a few months under
their belt, service can be a little
lax (you may have to remind a
waiter that you ordered fruit
with your coconut granola),
but with an atmosphere this
sublime it seems petty to quibble while they iron out the
kinks. From $190; kichic.com
Arennas: This is Las Pocitas’s
sleek luxury stay, with 30
beachfront suites fanning out
on either side of a glam, multilevel lounge, dining and pool
terrace. It’s a tasteful expanse
of tan and black accented with
artful accessories. Rooms from
$300; arennasmancora.com
Hotel DCO: Las Pocitas’s first
design hotel remains a highseason hub. This eight-room
hotel’s lounge-y scene is un-
derscored by a no-kids policy
and all-white interiors.
Bleached wood, dashes of turquoise and a long, lit-fromwithin bar complete the South
Beach pastiche. From $170;
hoteldco.com
Villas Del Mar: Casually stylish, its five, whitewashed
rooms – with grey wood floors
and bamboo ceilings – are
fronted by thatched verandas,
tasseled hammocks and
sweeping views over the crashing Pacific below. From $201;
mancoravillasdelmar.com
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