It’s not really the sort of hotel where you see much of the other guests
Posted in General on 13. Oct, 2010
It’s not really the sort of hotel where you see much of the other guests. We saw one very glamorous young couple coming back from a shopping expedition laden with designer carrier bags, while at breakfast our fellow guests seemed to be a mixture of businessmen and (upmarket) tourists. Staying at The Benjamin is more like having your own apartment than being in a hotel. The staff are unfailingly friendly and the concierge desk will recommend places to eat, phone restaurants to reserve a table, check travel arrangements and probably book tickets for a show.Local interest?This is New York City! You don’t need me to tell you.Access for allThe hotel is fully accessible for pushchairs, wheelchairs and guests with limited mobility and there is a lift to all floors. The Benjamin does not allow pets, but children are particularly well catered for, with cots, high-chairs, toddlers’ bathrobes, baby shampoo and even duckie soaps available.What’s the damage?Suites cost from around $420 (£280) a night on a room-only basis, but there are often seasonal offers, so my advice would be to check availability and rates on the website. For example, a current offer includes a suite, brunch for two at Terrance Brennans Seafood & Chop House, and 20 per cent off any spa treatment at the Woodstock Spa. Available until 27 April at a double occupancy rate of $239 per room, per night, for a one-bedroom suite.AddressThe Benjamin Hotel, 125 East 50th Street, New York, NY 10022 (001 212-715-2500; )..
It had been top of my list for as long as I could remember, an enigmatic isle, hovering off the coast of southwestern Africa. The fascination began when, as a child, I’d opened an atlas and sat staring at the elongated blob that appeared to be cut adrift from Africa. What was it doing there?
It had been top of my list for as long as I could remember, an enigmatic isle, hovering off the coast of southwestern Africa. What was it doing there?
Finally, after years of building an otherworldly image in my mind, I’m on a plane bound for Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital (nothing is Madagascan here, just Malagasy). Like nearly everywhere in Madagascar, Antananarivo is a mouthful. The locals, as if sensing the need of visitors, have shortened it to Tana.Noisy and colourful are the first impressions as my minibus winds its way into town from Tana’s international airport. The dusty streets are crammed with zebus (Indonesian oxen), pousse-pousse (brightly painted hand-drawn rickshaws) and the omnipresent aroma of baking bread.
The French were colonial masters here from 1896 until 1960 and left behind a Gallic love of croissants and baguettes, still catered for by dozens of boulangeries.It is when I finally sit down to a lunch of piquantly marinated zebu steak on the terrace of my hotel, Le Royal Palissandre, that Tana begins to take on a magical quality. Situated at just over 4,000ft on a high central plateau, the terrace air is cool, dry and sweet. With a gentle sun casting a soft light over the cobbled streets and red tiled rooftops below, I’m soothed and entranced.But not for long. Just below the hotel, down some steep flagstone steps (Tana is set on a dozen hills) the Analakely market is in full flow. Enticed by the scent of fragrant spices and raucous chatter, I wander down the hill.I stroll between stalls, struggling to take in the riot of colours and appetising odours.
Mountains of sumptuous papayas, limes and pineapples vie with heaps of mammoth cucumbers, marrows and carrots. Pungent dried fish and shrimp sit next to neatly tied, still wriggling crabs. Every few feet, whole lizards are being grilled on open charcoal beds, wisps of heavy smoke lingering amid the stalls.Then comes the vanilla (Madagascar produces the best in the world): hundreds of bundles of long, chocolatey pods. Suddenly, the meaty fumes give way to a pleasing sweetness and I’m drawn to the aroma, like a hungry child at tea-time.The stall-holders are extremely affable and we manage to communicate via hand signals and pidgin- French. Also notable is the ethnic diversity of the people who live here. While the western coast of Madagascar is just a short 250-mile hop from the African coast, many Madagascans would look more at home in South East Asia, 4,000 miles to the east.Madagascar’s first inhabitants were Malays and Indonesians.