tv The Travel Show BBC News November 18, 2018 1:30pm-2:01pm GMT
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be less cold by the wednesday will be less cold by the end of the week. after the sunshine of the day, temperatures will be away quite quickly after dark. increasing cloud from the east during the night. it will be clearest for longest in northern parts of scotland in particular where there will be a touch of frost. a cloudy start for most of us in the morning compared to recent days. not just cloud in the morning compared to recent days. notjust cloud but showers in eastern scotland and down to eastern england during the day. there will be some spots in east anglia and the south—east. west is best for sunny spells tomorrow. north east scotland bearing quite well but nowhere as nice as it has been in the sunshine recently. a strong easterly wind and some showers, wintery over higher ground as well, with limited sunny spells and north west scotland still faring quite well. look at the strength of the easterly wind. gusting up to a0 mph now in western
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parts, meaning wind—chill comes into play. temperatures have come down quite a bit from where they are at the moment but factoring in the winds, with that feels like factor, it is closer to freezing in places, so it is closer to freezing in places, $03 it is closer to freezing in places, so a definite chill on the way this week. temperatures will recover a little by the end of the week. that is what we are expecting this week: colder and much colder for a is what we are expecting this week: colder and much colderfor a time. the cold enhanced by the strong easterly winds and wetter weather around. more so by the time we get to wednesday. some rain but also sleet and snow over the higher ground. asi sleet and snow over the higher ground. as i mentioned, less cold by the end of the week. 0ur our latest headlines... theresa may he's fighting back, saying that ousting power would not make the brexit negotiations any easier, and warning that the coming week will be crucial. these next seven days are
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going to be critical. the ad about the future of this country, people's jobs, livelihoods, the future for their children and grandchildren. the chairman of the 1922 committee, graham brady, indicates to the bbc that the threshold of a8 letters has not been reached. the rules are fairly clear, that ft threshold were reached, i would have to consult with a party... immediately, graham? i think the whole thing is with the intention age should be expeditious. president trump visits northern california following the most devastating bile fires in the history of the state. and one step closer to the accelerated degrees, as the government confirms plans to allow universities to offer two—year courses. those are oui’
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courses. those are our latest headlines. now, it is time for the travel show. this week on the travel show, i'm in lebanon, finding out why beirut is hoping to regain its reputation as the entertainment capital of the middle east. we have amazing people who are doing work that is internationally recognised. also coming up, i'll be discovering how an ordinary man became the king of his own castle. did he build it himself? himself, stone by stone. it took him 73 years. plus, lucy hits the british countryside to check out the latest hiking gadgets. gopro, take a photo. with its mix of minarets and church
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spires, lebanon's capital beirut is a clash of culture and religion between the mediterranean and the middle east. and i have come at a special time for the city. this year marks 75 years since this nation finally gained its independence — the birth of modern lebanon. for four centuries, it was the ottomans who ruled here, right up until the end of world war i, when control was handed to the french. it wasn't until 19a3
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that the struggle for self—rule finally paid off. now this statue here in martyr‘s square was put here to commemorate all of those who died resisting ottoman rule in the name of lebanese independence. today, the statue is pocked with bullet holes, scarred by the civil war that tore this city apart in the 1970s and ‘80s and made beirut a byword for sectarianism and conflict. a significant proportion of this city's historic buildings have been torn down. and on the ones that are still standing, the damage caused by the war is clearly visible. but it wasn't always this way. in the 1960s, beirut was the height of glamour, dubbed ‘the paris of the middle
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east'. and few spots epitomise this ideal better than one of the city's 5—star destinations. this commemorative book was produced a few years ago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the hotel, and when you look through it, it really gives you an idea of the calibre of celebrity that have stayed here. i mean, they've got marlon brando, there's bridget bardot, even the great muhammed ali. i was coming to the phoenicia since the beginning. we used to do fashion shows here, and this is a very special hotel. mona ross is an international model who was based
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in beirut before the war. wow! mona ross! take a seat! now she is a permanent resident of the hotel. i mean, it's part of my life. i consider i'm part of the columns of the phoenicia. maybe i am! you are part of the furniture, yeah? part of the furniture! yeah, you're part of the fabric of the whole hotel! when the war came, the hotel became a battleground, a key strategic point because of its size and downtown location. i was passing by next to the phoenicia when it was destroyed and saw a little plant, hibiscus plant, with little red flowers on it and i was so touched by this and i couldn't believe my eyes — why this plant is alive in front of this hotel who was dead? today, a generation of young
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lebanese are determined to shake the dust and debris from the city's reputation. this is nice. where have you brought me to, lisa? so, we're in an area called mar mikhayel. when you come during the day, you can actually discover a lot of art galleries, concept stores. but then, at night time, it completely changes. so you can see there are a number of bars and restaurants, so it is quite buzzing. my sort of place! i think a lot of people, when they think about lebanon or beirut, their perception is a country that is war—torn and is full of violence. the war is part of lebanon's history but it doesn't define the country. we have this amazing art scene, we have a lot of designers and artists and film producers, um, architects, amazing people who are doing work that is actually internationally recognised
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and i think that is the best way for people to really understand what this country is like. lisa takes me to central station, which was recently named among the world's 50 best bars, to try lebanon's national drink, arak. cheers, enjoy. thank you. oh, that's strong! it's got a real aniseed taste. you couldn't drink it too quickly. you have to take your time. so is this the drink that young lebanese people are drinking? actually, this is a drink you normally enjoy with family over a long lunch. a lot of the bars, especially central station, they are creating these very innovative cocktails that celebrate the flavours of lebanon in a very interesting way. so here is modernes falafel.
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0oh! it's a deconstructed falafel sandwich with vodka as the base, using the falafel spices... this is so nuts! yeah. i mean, falafel cocktail? yeah. oh, that is good! you know what? that's like a drink that also feels like dinner. yeah, i like this better than the arak. and it's the night life that's really putting beirut back on the map. the music hall is one of the capital's most famous venues, hosting a cabaret packed with an eclectic mix of musicalforms. i said "i'm going to get a place
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where you have extremes, there could be classical music and then something that is totally punk or very kitsch." i always like to mix things to be very eclectic. i tried to work on cultural entertainment — usually those two words do not meet. because entertainment is night life and alcohol, and culture is museums and theatres. with its bill celebrating both the city's pre—war golden age and contemporary music trends, the music hall offers a vision of beirut comfortable with its past
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and living in the moment. and if you are thinking of heading to lebanon, here are the travel show‘s top tips for things to know before you go. lebanon is an all—year—round destination with relatively mild winters and warm summers. but if you want to stay clear of the crowd, it is best to avoid august, when things get busy. while most of the country is probably safe to explore, while most of the country is perfectly safe to explore, there are some areas that have travel advisories against them, like the border with syria, so it is always test to check with your own government's online advice first if you are planning a road trip.
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for some of the best views of the country, check out one of lebanon's most popular attractions, the teleferique aerial cableway, just north of beirut. the gondolas will take you 650 metres up and you will get breathtaking views of the bay ofjounieh and the surrounding city, all topped off by the statue of our lady of lebanon and the stunning basilica. and if you are more into snow than sea and sun, then don't forget that lebanon is home to the middle east's biggest ski resort. you will find almost 50 miles of piste, up to around 8,000 feet, on the slopes of mount lebanon. the town of mzaar is the main resort, where you'll also find a buzzing apres ski scene once you've hung up your skis for the day. still to come on this week's travel show: say cheese! lucy is testing out some of the latest gadgets on her hike around the english countryside.
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and i will be finding out about one man's mission to create his own fortress. so stick with us for that. today i am in the beautiful north downs in surrey for the day to escape the hustle and bustle of london and test out a bunch of gadgets during my hike around the countryside. first up it is this — the gotenna mesh device. it pairs to an app on your phone using bluetooth, then uses walkie—talkie radio frequencies to send text communications when you are out of phone signal. i have one device for me, and one device for my colleague tom here, who is going to help me test them out. we're both on a mission to find a good spot. mobile reception is pretty patchy but to make sure it definitely works, we've put our phones into aeroplane mode.
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time to go. let me know if you find a good spot for lunch! in open areas, the devices can work up to four miles apart, and up to half a mile in denser locations. the battery life is about 2a hours. but it's not cheap. a pair will cost £199. tom has just sent me a message in the app, it looks like we have the perfect spot for lunch, which is perfect because i am pretty hungry. it is worth noting you cannot make phone calls with this device, but you can share and access gps location data alongside a map. so i know exactly where to go to meet tom. now i know what i am going i have more time to test out my other gadgets, and ijust happen to have the latest gopro action cam. i am quite excited to try this out, mainly because its killer feature is image stabilisation which will give me super smooth video. like with previous versions it also has voice control, but does it work? gopro, take a photo! it is counting me in.
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i am filming myjourney to tom sped up by x15. this gopro costs £379 or you can get one with slimmed down features for half the price. gopro, stop recording. the gopro hero 7 black is expensive but this is more than just an incremental update. for your money you are getting ak video, the ability to live stream to youtube or facebook, you can shoot super stabilised timelapse videos and chuck in the ability to automatically adjust the settings based on your surrounding, and you are looking at gopro‘s best action cam yet. for something a little more retro, i have the latest snap—to—print cameras, the kodak minishot and polaroid 0nestep plus, which is what i'll start with. tom i know you hate this, but you are the subject of my photo, so say cheese. this camera prices at £1a9.99, it has standard lens and a portrait lens, plus there is a partner app available.
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admittedly photo quality was not as impressive as we were hoping, but after a few attempts we discovered you need to place the photos face down in order for them to develop, for around 5—10 minutes. but even after doing so the photo quality still wasn't that good. for a polaroid, that's a bit disappointing. we did test the camera indoors and the photos came out much better. i also like how it captures moments in the iconic polaroid square frame. now it is time to test out the kodak. selfie? let's do it. despite what the name implies, is not that mini, but needs to accommodate the cartridges which contain the paper. from £69.99 from kodak, it is one of the cheapest instant cameras on the market. it also has a 1.7 inch viewfinder so you can check your picture before you print a credit card size photo. it is certainly not quiet, it is lightweight and a bit kiddy—esque, but that's indicative of how easy it is to use. the screen is nice, i like that you can see what you are doing,
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it walks you through the printing process, and your photo is out in less than a minute. certainly quicker than the polaroid. photo quality... not the greatest, but it definitely fares better with close—ups. overall both cameras are better with close—ups, with the kodak much better for the outdoors. to close this week, i am at beiteddine palace, one of lebanon's historic castles. many of these fortresses are left over from the crusades. but beiteddine was built later, at the end of the 1700s, in tribute to the country's ruler, emir bashirshihab ii. it is only an hour out of beirut, but nestled in the mountains it is a world away from the city's hustle and bustle. legend has it that once this unique
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palace was completed, the emir ordered for the architect to have his hands chopped off to prevent him from building anything as beautiful ever again. the building was restored in the 1950s. ziad's father was part of the restoration team. good to meet you. welcome! my father was here, he was 20 years old. so he worked here when he was very young? very young. this is moussa al maamari. when moussa was working on the palace, he discovered a plot of [and just a few kilometres away, and had an idea. a few years later, in 1962, he laid the foundations of his very own landmark, moussa castle.
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this is incredible. how long did it take your father to build it? it took him 73 years of work to fulfil his dream. imagine! 73 yea rs ? 73 years. and did he build it himself? himself, stone by stone. as you can see every stone has a different design. moussa drew the plans, laid the bricks and perfected the carvings of his very own 3500 square metre castle. he wrote here, "i entered as still young, and get out as an old man." to tell us that he spent all his life in doing this. inside, the surprises keep coming. over 30 rooms, there are more
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than 150 life—size stone and plaster figures, posed in dioramas depicting life in historic rural lebanon. look at that, this is amazing. this is a village scene from moussa's early life. and he made it all by his own hand. the statues, everything. ziad takes me downstairs to see where it all began, moussa's classroom. when he was a child he was caught sketching the plans for his dream castle. his teacher responded by beating him and tearing apart the drawing. my father stood up and collected the pieces of the drawing and he told them, "you are going to see this real one day." let me show you the drawing. look at this! the original tears...
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that's right. it looks exactly like it. you see, it's similar. very similar. this is a work of art! yeah. your father sounds like the sort of person that i like, because when somebody tells him he can't do something, it makes him even more determined. determined, yes, this is the story of my father. moussa was set on avenging this childhood humiliation. he built a small door at the castle's entrance so his teacher would have to bow to him when he finally visited. and if you need any more proof of moussa's resolve, inside is a display of his own personal armoury. a massive collection of weapons. something tells me that moussa was a man not to be messed with. i've never seen so many guns in my life! since it opened to the public
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it is hard to believe that one man built all of this by himself. but i am afraid to say that is your lot from us this week on the travel show. catch us next week when. .. christa is behind the wheel in paris as one of france's most iconic cars celebrates 70 years on the road. so make sure you join us for that if you can, and don't forget you can keep up with us in real—time by following us on social media. but now from me, ade adepitan and all the travel show team here in beautiful lebanon, bye! if you have been outside today, despite the sunshine, you might think it feels chilly. but much colder air to come through this week, so enjoy the sunshine in what is at slate relative the melody of this afternoon. cloud around parts
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of eastern scotland, and eastern side of the pennines, fairweather cloud into the far south—west of england, but these are the exceptions for most. it is dry and sunny, and temperatures are in the mid—teens. in fact, sunny, and temperatures are in the mid—teens. infact, it sunny, and temperatures are in the mid—teens. in fact, it is really meld in iceland, ireland 16 celsius this afternoon. just 5 degrees in germany. this error will be heading towards us. colder on wednesday, a little less called by the end of the week. as things progress to tonight, initially temperatures dropping away under clear skies. not a suspect area of skies towards the east. that will falter and tonight. northern ireland and scotland was likely to see frost in places. along with the cloud that is coming and there will be some mac showers around, maybe quite a few running into parts of south—east england tomorrow
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afternoon. the west is the best place to see sunny spells, although more cloud than today. north—west scotla nd more cloud than today. north—west scotland seeing decent sunshine. notice that the temperatures have come down, and it will be down more by tuesday, expressly with the stronger easterly wind. a greater chance of seeing showers on tuesday, pushing further west on the stronger wind. it went to flavour to these as well but the higher grounds. the chance of sleet and snow. especially down the eastern side of the uk. wind chill comes into play as we go through tuesday and wednesday. these are tasty‘s temperatures. they have already come down a bit. compared to what we have had, it is a big change. this is how the beak is shaping up. it is going to be much colderfor a time shaping up. it is going to be much colder for a time and shaping up. it is going to be much colderfor a time and grandmet big, especially that stronger, easterly wind. medically, a greater chance of
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seeing somewhere to weather, with a bit of sleet and snow in the higher ground. it will be less called by the end of the beak. that is how it is shaping up. this is bbc news. i'm carole walker. the headlines at 2pm: theresa may fights back saying replacing her as conservative leader wouldn't make the brexit negotiations any easier, and warning of a crucial week ahead. and these next seven days are going to be critical. they are about the future of this country. it's about people's jobs. it's about their livelihoods. it's about the future for their children and grandchildren. the chairman of the 1922 committee, graham brady, indicates to the bbc that the threshold of a8 letters for a no confidence vote in the prime minister has not yet been reached. the rules are very clear that if the
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