Being one of the most revered and reclusive artists in Britsh pop history, R&B and soul singer Sade could happily spend the rest of her life hidden away in her country house in Gloucestershire. Matthias Scherer explains why you’d be a fool to miss her gig in Antwerp on 1 May.

Helen Folasade Adu OBE – or Sade to her legions of fans – is a hugely successful singer and songwriter and has sold more than 50 million records during a 25-year career. Her breakthrough came with ther debut album Lovers Rock, released in 1984, which won the Brit Award for Best British Album the following year. It contains the hit single “Smooth Operator”, which she co-wrote.

Apart from her often emotional, deeply personal songs about the struggles – but also the ecstasy – of love, Sade is famous for her JD Salinger-like avoidance of the spotlight. Before her last album Soldier of Love came out last year, her previous record had been released a decade earlier.

In her early days of fame, paparazzi scaled trees in front of her house to get a shot of her, and, after an interview with a tabloid newspaper, she vowed never to give interviews again (she has since spoken to the press on very few occasions). This fierce protection of her private life might have its roots in her slightly chaotic upbringing – she was born in Nigeria, but moved to England as a four-month-old toddler after her parents’ marriage fell apart.

She then moved around, from Colchester to East Anglia and to London, where she set about starting her career in music. After her song “Smooth Operator” created a big buzz in the music industry, she signed to Epic Records – a label she’s still working with.

Despite her reluctance to play the industry game, she loves playing live. “Whatever anybody might say about me, when I feel the warmth we get back from the audiences , I think it’s worth all the bulls***”, she told The Times last year. After touring only once in 14 years, she now brings her intense stage show to Europe.

This promises to be a very special tour indeed and you should move fast to get tickets. We propose her gig on 1 May at the renowned Sportpaleis in Antwerp, which is easily accessible from P&O’s port in Rotterdam. Tickets are going fast, so you’d be advise to act quickly if you don’t want to miss this fantastic opportunity. Tickets can be bought here or here.

P&O Ferries wants to help you get on your way to this show – the show is on a Sunday, you can take the 9pm ferry to Rotterdam the day before. From Rotterdam, it’s only a 45-minute drive to Antwerp.

Tags: Uncategorized by Matthias Scherer
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A high-speed ferry collided with a smaller fishing boat beetween Jersey and France this morning, leaving one fisherman seriously injured.

The Condor Vitesse was travelling between St Malo, France, and St Helier, Jersey, when it struck the boat around 8am today. According to eyewitnesses, there was heavy fog, with visibility down to 30 metres. A doctor aboard the Condor Vitesse gave emergency treatment to the injured man.

The injured fisherman is believed to be a 42-year-old man, and is said to be in a “serious” condition. He has been taken to hospital. According to the Guernsey Press, the ferry was travelling at around 37 knots (ca. 43mph), and the fishing boat sank after the collision.

A rescue helicopter was sent to the scene of the accident, but had to abort its attempts at rescue due to the poor weather conditions.

A spokesperson for the Jersey Police said: “The incident occurred northwest of Chausey (French waters) and is being dealt with by the French authorities at this time.

“It is believed that all persons have been accounted for from both boats and that three persons from the French fishing vessel were recovered from the water although the extent of any injuries to those casualties is still being established. There are no reported casualties from the Condor Vitesse.”

A statement released by Condor ferries said: “Condor Vitesse is currently involved in a search and rescue operation in the vicinity of the Minquiers following a possible collision with a fishing vessel.

“Further updates will be issued as more information becomes available. The ship was en route between St Malo and St Helier Jersey on Monday 28th March 2011.”

Tags: Britain, France, Uncategorized by Matthias Scherer
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We get stuck into a meaty issue (sorry) as Tomas Mowlam explains the culinary wonder of jamón ibérico. Italy has prosciutto, Croatia has Pršut, Spain even has another famous ham – jamón Serrano – so what’s all the fuss? Well jamón ibérico is just a different league of pig based goodness.

The first difference is that Jamón Serrano comes from the white pig, but Jamón ibérico is made from the black pig, cerdo negro, nicknamed pata negra for their thin black legs.

The second major difference is the care and strict regulation with which every stage of the production of the ham is governed.

Piglets are weaned, then fattened on cereals and acorns, and then allowed to roam through la dehesa; groves of holm oaks known as encina in Spain. Chowing down on sweet acorns (bellota) and rooting about on the dusty ground of la dehesa is key to the ham.

The diet of bellota during la montanera, the period from October to January when the acorns fall to the ground gives ham its nutty/olive taste. The pigs have to weigh 160kg or more, and are limited to two pigs per hectare so the little porkers get their fill of bellota.

If they’re judged to have passed the strict regulations they are graded. The top grade is Jamón ibérico de bellota, which means it’s a pure bred pig, fed solely on bellota during the montanera and aged at least three years. It’s pricey too.

It mainly comes from the areas of Salamanca, Extremadura and Andalucia. The hams from Guilejo in Salamanca, and Huelva in particularly the town of Jabugo, are some of the most famous.

The Spanish protection of this makes French defence of Champagne look timid and the rules governing production are so strict that the end result should be excellent whichever mark you buy.

After the pigs go the great slaughterhouse in the sky they’re cured and dried, a process which can take up to four years for the very best hams. And my god is it worth the wait; the jamon is sliced wafer thin and it melts in a salty, ruby-red flavour burst.

P&O Ferries is running the Portsmouth – Bilbao service until the end of the summer, so hop on board while you’ve got the chance.

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It’s associated with worthy but dull European institutions like the European Parliament but Strasbourg is a fascinating historic city, writes Tomas Mowlam.

There’s been a town here since the Romans were trying to pacify the truculent German tribes. From the early medieval period it became a major centre of the Holy Roman Empire, and it’s weathered the religious upheaval of the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years War, fire and plague, the French Revolution and Allied bombing during WWII.

This makes it all the more amazing that the beautiful historic inner city known Grande Île (literally the Grand Island) has survived. In 1988 UNESCO classified the island as a World Heritage Site, and it’s still linked by the medieval stone bridges across the river to the rest of the city. Many of the traditional black timber framed and white walled German buildings have also survived the ravages of time, giving the town a historic feel.

These marvels however are all dwarfed by the huge sandstone gothic Cathedral of Our Lady. It stands 142 metres tall, towering over the skyline, and it took from 1176 to 1439 to build during the glory years of Gothic cathedral construction in Europe.

For a city of its size, Strasbourg has great selection of museums ranging from the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, with a huge number of Gustave Dore’s works, to the Archaeological Museum which displays thousands of finds from the original Roman settlements here.

But it’s not all museums and old architecture; the University of Strasbourg is the largest in France, and a sizeable student population, both French and international, keeps the town feeling young and vibrant with plenty of concerts and good nightlife.

Strasbourg: a surprising city, and well worth the drive.

Let P&O get you there; a crossing from Dover to Calais in a car with up to nine people starts from just £30.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Look out over Rotterdam and the river, feel the salt air coming from the North Sea, and watch countless cargo ships motor by and you might just get an idea how vital the sea is to this Dutch city. And one of the best ways to get a feel for the role the sea has played in Rotterdam’s history is to visit the Maritime Museum, says Tomas Mowlam

Right on the river at Leuvehaven 1, Waterstad, the museum covers the entire port’s history.

Rotterdam first flourished as a vital Spanish port, then in the Spanish Netherlands, during the religious wars of the 16th Century.

After the long war against Spain for independence, the new Netherlands transformed itself into a rich and powerful merchant nation. The Dutch navy ranged through the East Indies, exploring strange new lands and making a fortune in the process.

Rotterdam remained a vital port, but was savagely bombed by the Luftwaffe during WWII as a warning to resisters. Today it is the busiest container port in Europe and the world’s seventh largest port.

There is plenty for the kids to enjoy, learn and play with including the museum ship, the Buffel, a Dutch Naval Frigate from 1868.

New exhibitions running include Animals on board. A look at how animals have crossed oceans, hitching a lift on boats. The family exhibition gives you a chance to “hoist a cow onto the quay, help look after the animals, play the droppings game and shell out for a dodo drumstick at meal time in the galley.”

MainPort Live brings the grandeur of the old back to the centre of the city. As the port has grown it has moved farther and farther from the heart of the city, MainPort Live brings the hustle and bustle back to the many stately ships moored in the river in the centre of town.

Glamour on the Waves exhibition looks at the classier side of life on the ocean wave, with six luxury boat interiors from the past century of luxury boat building.

Open 10am -5pm Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-5pm Sunday.

Image Credit: JeHu68

Tags: Netherlands, P&O Ferries, Uncategorized by Gabriel Grant
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As the weather starts to get really cold, embrace the festive chill with a visit to Bruges and the Ijs Sculpturen Festival writes Tomas Mowlam.

The festival brings amazing ice and snow sculptures each year to the centre of town, and this year’s theme is the film Ice Age 3.

Follow the adventures of Sid the Sloth, mammoths Manny and Ellie, sabre-tooth tiger Diego, and Buck the swashbuckling one-eyed weasel and all the other cheeky critters, through a magical world of ice, snow and light, that kids will love.

The sculptures are rendered in blocks of snow and ice inside a massive tent chilled to -6°C.

The artists come from China, Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Ukraine, The Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

They use chainsaws, drills, hammers and chisels to cut, shape, carve and polish over 300 tonnes of ice and 400 tonnes of snow into the entire world of Ice Age. Blocks of ice can even be ‘welded’ by using an iron to melt the surfaces together.

The level of detail that goes into organising the festival is amazing, for example the forklift trucks used to move the blocks run on gas, so that no soot from exhausts can discolour the ice.

The ice used to be shipped in from Swedish Lapland, but the artists now work on ice made in West Flanders, in Belgium, in special water tanks that mean no air bubbles can form so each ice block is solid and crystal clear.

The blocks of snow, in fact finely ground ice, are packed down inside wooden moulds for three days, before being worked on.

Based in central Bruges at Buiten Boninvest, it’s just five minutes from the famous Christmas market and ice rink.

It is €13 for adults, €11 for concessions, €9 for kids and under fours get in free.

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Image Credit: icesclupture.be

Tags: Belgium, P&O Ferries, Uncategorized by tmowlam
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