march-2012

THE BUZZ | TRAVEL NEWS
What’s going on?
HAVE A SPLURGE
8-15 MARCH
BASELWORLD
BASEL
Hold on to your tiaras, there are
some seriously bling items on show
at this mega watch-and-jewellery
show. More than 1,800 luxury
brands will be exhibiting their new
designs, so if you’re in the market
for diamonds for your fi ngers or an
elegant timepiece for your wrist,
look no further.
baselworld.com
16-25 MARCH
TEFAF Maastrict
DUSSELDORF
Self-styled as the “World’s Leading
Art and Antiques Fair”, this expo is
certainly impressive. Head to the
purpose-built exhibition space in
Maastricht, just over an hour from
Dusseldorf airport, for 7,000 years’
worth of carefully vetted fi ne art: just
don’t expect too many bargains.
tefaf.com
25 MARCH
Naviglio Grande
Antiques Market
MILAN
This market stretches along
for almost 2km on both sides
of Milan’s oldest canal, Naviglio
Grande. Stock up on everything from
collectable furniture to worthless but
charming bric-a-brac. The market is
held on the last Sunday of the month,
9am to 6pm. navigliogrande.mi.it
18 | TRAVELLER
Shrubs and grasses have
been planted in the roof
of this museum to
minimise the visual
impact on the landscape
Fort Provoking
LYON For many of us, what scant
knowledge we have of the Gauls – the
Celtic people who ruled France in the fi rst
years AD – we’ve gleaned from Albert
Uderzo’s Astérix cartoons. But now,
thanks to a new drum-like structure that
has sprung up in rural Burgundy, all this
may be set to change.
The MuséoParc Alésia, about 2½
hours’ drive north of Lyon, which will open
on 26 March, commemorates a great
battle fought here between the victorious
Romans and vanquished Gauls.
Inspired by pictures of Roman
fortifi cations, and designed by the team
behind the Acropolis Museum, the
timber-clad building marks the exact
spot where Julius Caesar’s invading
Roman army camped in 52BC before
their triumph. Its interactive displays
will give this 2,000-year-old tale a new
lease of life, and promise to be at least as
exciting as the exploits of Astérix and his
buddies. alesia.com
Finding your way in...
THE PARIS OF BEL AMI
Post-Twilight, Robert Pattinson is back in cinemas this month as a 19th-century
seducer in Bel Ami. But did you know you can visit the real-life settings for the story?
FOLIES BERGÈRE
In the fi lm, newspaperman
Charles Forestier takes
Pattinson’s character to this
icon of excess. The famously
dissolute nightclub is now
toned down, but still hosts
musical theatre for quite a
crowd. foliesbergere.com
RUE PIERRE FONTAINE
First home to Forestier, and
later Bel Ami himself, door 17
on this 9th arrondissement
street fi gures highly in the
book as the location for
assignations and betrayals.
It’s now home to handmade
shoeshop Clairvoy,
L’ÉGLISE DE LA
MADELEINE
One of Europe’s most unusual
churches, this historic hotspot
provides the setting for Bel
Ami’s dramatic denouement
but it’s worth a visit for its
dramatic architecture alone.
eglise-lamadeleine.com