this is bbc news. the headlines — world powers have condemned the self—styled referendums being held in parts of ukraine on whether to join russia, while human rights groups say more than 700 people have been arrested in russian cities, as protests continue against president putin's plan to draft additional forces to fight in ukraine. storm fiona has ripped through canada's eastern seaboard, after making landfall in nova scotia. torrential rain and winds of up to 160 kph caused exstensive flooding and mudslides. numerous coastal homes have been swept into the sea or submerged underwater. violent anti—government protests have continued in iran. police have arrested more than 700 people and at least 35 people have been killed. the protests were triggered by the death in custody of a young woman who'd been detained for breaching rules on dress code.

now on bbc news, this week's travel show comes from tarifa, this week on the travel show, i'm in tarifa, in spain, where it's definitely the windier the better as i check out the big air kitesurfing competition. oh my god, that was so good! i loved it. we are getting artsy in southern turkey for the mardin biennial. and tick, tick, boom — we go behind the scenes at boomtown during the countdown to the opening of this year's festival in the heart of the english countryside.

hello, and welcome to the travel show, coming to you this week from beautiful tarifa, in southern spain. perched on the southernmost tip of continental europe, just 1a kilometres from north africa, tarifa is the gateway between these two continents. its position leaves the small spanish town open to a blasting from the winds that shape its rugged coastline. in this part of the world, there are two prevailing winds. one is the mellow, consistent poniente wind and the other one is this bad boy, the levante, which storms in from the east and batters this coastline, and when it does, all the best kitesurfers from around the world want to be right here.

and yet while a windy beach break might not seem like your idea of a dream trip, it is for a mass influx of kitesurfers that sees the population of this once sleepy town over triple in size during the windy summer months. and this year will be bigger than ever as the world's leading kitesurfers compete to fly the highest in the world's ever big air competition, hosted right here in tarifa. the winds here can reach up to 60 knots, with the athletes expertly manipulating it to fly over 30 metres high. i have headed over to the leaderboard to see how the competition is shaping up. so the best of the best kitesurfers in the world are competing here today? 60 competitors but they are divided in five divisions. we have 2a men and 12 women. it is an elimination system, so they are riding in groups of two or three riders at the same time and then the winner advances

to the next round. we will see in the end of the day who is going to ride for the final and take the crown. there is a reason why the wind is so consistently good here in tarifa. judging commentator lewis explains why. here is so special because it's so close to the north of africa, what happens with the geology of the land is these mountains push up, and you've got this strong wind that it comes in, you've got to think of an hourglass where the sand rushes through the middle, that's what happens here in both directions either from the atlantic or the mediterranean, that is why so uniquely it's always windy and so strong. i think we are going to see something very special, later. now that the winds are getting stronger and the competition is really heating up, i want to know how the athletes are doing. lorenzo, congratulations! thanks a lot. looked incredible out there, what is it like out there? the wind is pumping, it's like 30 knots and we are

flying really high. it's just an unreal feeling. when i'm doing my best tricks, ijust feel like superman on the water. it's like i've got a superpower. it's great energy on the beach, the wind is super strong - and that is exactly what we are looking for so hopefully - i continue to make it- and ride in the final soon. congratulations and good luck for the next stage. and yet the mediaeval town of tarifa and its surrounding beaches were not always home to this global influx of tourism. tarifa is a really bustling town, and that certainly wasn't always the case. in fact very few tourists came here because why would you want to sit on the beach with such a wind blowing all the time? but then in the 1980s, the world came to love tarifa's wind and everything changed. tell me about the first

time you came to tarifa. i came through this entrance with my car full of boards and then we got stuck in one of these small street. in yourcar? stuck in a tiny street? it is absolutely tiny! i have come to the old town to meet michel who, in 1982, left his hometown and chased the wind to wind up in tarifa, opening the town's first ever kitesurfing school. why were you coming to tarifa? i came just searching the wind. it was a paradise for windsurfing. wind every day, long beach, sandy beach, nobody. it is perfect for us. in fact, before kitesurfing came to tarifa, there was an exodus of locals leaving the town to find work. now, tarifenos can stay in their hometown thanks to the employment opportunities which this sport has brought with it. so at the end we are the ones that push this town up. you did a good job. yeah, we did a good job. sometimes you think it's better not to do it because then we'd

have a perfect spot for us. now it's full of people. you gave the game away, now everyone knows! always when you think that one it's too late. now i've seen the pros in action, i kind of think i should give it a go. can't be too hard, can it? it's going to be disastrous. i've met with tanja, owner of one of the 40, yes, that is 40, kitesurfing schools that line this coast. it is time to experience what this legendary wind feels like for myself. it's great! oh, oh! once we are in the water you will see that it will feel quite natural. i wouldn't bet on it, tanja. screams. how was it for you?

oh my god, that was so good! i loved it. you did really well. i loved it, itjust felt like being a kid again. i couldn't come to tarifa without trying its most famous sport. but i think for now i will leave it to the professionals. now, if that has inspired you to go to a destination with plenty of sun, sea and kitesurfing, then these are the spots you should be thinking of visiting on your next trip. if you are new to the sport, one of the best locations to learn kitesurfing is dakhla in morocco. this flatwater lagoon

surrounded by moroccan desert makes an ideal training ground, with consistent winds virtually all year round, and plenty of reasonably priced accommodation for the budding kitesurfer, then this is the perfect place to earn your stripes. feeling like you've got to grips with kitesurfing and looking to build your confidence? then cumbuco in brazil could be for you. if you are looking for a fun and social experience, with smaller waves, then this is the setting to really hone those skills. and cabarete was once a fishing and farming hamlet on the north coast of the dominican republic but today it is considered by many to have one of the best kitesurfing scenes around, with so many of the sport's top contenders flocking to the beach, a phrase has been coined by the locals, "confetti skies", to describe the spectacle of so many people enjoying the best wind and waves the island has to offer. still to come on the travel

show, it's boom time for boomtown. we go behind the scenes at the festival. we did really well out of scrap yards and car boot sales, as you can imagine! and we hit the streets of mardin for the city's fifth biennial. it's in the middle of nowhere, but look! it's packed. so don't go away. welcome back to the programme. i am still in the tarifa area, and at baelo claudia, the roman ruins, and i am going to meet someone who is going to give me a really tasty insight into the ancient life of this area. manuel, hello. hello. so tell me, what do we have here? garum paste was the main

export of baelo claudia, one of spain's best preserved archaeological sites, revered over 2m000 years for this fermented fish revered over 2,000 years for this fermented fish conserve, which both preserved and flavoured the food of the time. so if you were an ancient roman person you would have been very happy to find this on your table? and now the best chefs of the area are bringing back this ancient treat for modern day audiences. it's just a very savoury —

a deep, savoury flavour. i can see why the romans would have enjoyed to have this on their food, especially if it were boiled. just how important is this resurrection? how does it feel to you to be rediscovering these ancient tastes ? strategically placed

in south—eastern turkey, high above the routes connecting turkey to syria and iraq, is the ancient city of mardin. due to its position, this place has lived under many different rules, from the babylonians to the persians, but we are here to check out how the mardin biennial looks to encapsulate these influences into new exciting works of art. here is a little bit of interesting info. the festival isn't centred in one place, rather it's spread about various culturally important sites around the town so visitors are expected and encouraged to go and visit all of mardin. tonight, where we are going for the grand opening, is the german headquarters, which was used by the germans during world war i as part of their alliance with the ottoman empire. and so off to the opening night we go! part of the appeal of mardin

is its hilltop location, meaning its buildings are built in a tiered system more commonly seen in the theatre or sports stadium. it may look pretty but you better pack your walking shoes. after upping my step count, i arrived at the intended destination. and it's packed! i didn't think it would be, because it took ages to get here, it is in the middle of nowhere, but look! i'm not the world's number one expert on the arts, but i am willing to have my mind opened. there are so many nooks and crannies full of art, you really have to go searching. anything in here? no! chuckles. a no for once. that's karl marx. what does this mean? look — come and look. that is karl marx, isn't it? ah, see, i did get it right — it is karl marx.

but when i got talking to some of the artists, i started to understand what they were exhibiting and what it meant for the region but also, beyond that. right. what is this? what can you tell me about this exhibit? so basically, this piece is called 0smoscape: echoes of the 0smotic landscape. so, over the past years, i've been collecting data related to water and i've built a composition, a graphic notation score — a musical score. so i'm playing the sound and the sound correlates to the data that's being collated. and i'm manipulating it as well. a lot of the power companies are facing water crisis and they're not able to cool their systems down, so it's causing, you know, electrical disruptions. i've been specifically looking at creation mythologies so ceramic is, you know, clay — like wet clay that is cooked and is transformed into a completely different matter. so there's a change — like a kind of alchemy where the matter is transformed into something else.

so that is kind of my metaphor for myself as well. let's change into something else. now is the time. how important is it you have a festival of art and culture in mardin? i think it's very organic that's happening here because here, likely, you sit down and you go into a store, you sit down and you have tea with somebody. all of a sudden, you're learning all of these, like, other stories and, you know, gossips and other information that you wouldn't have any access to whatsoever, but it's an oral tradition. the works on display here are varied but they all tie in to the festival's main theme. a big part of the thematic is to do with globalisation as a gesture for border crossing and a gesture that was quite universal and was an appeal to reach out to the other across barriers of all kinds — cultural, political, linguistic.

the south—eastern region in turkey is like a mix between the kurdish people and other groups as well. i mean, the geography is sort of like already a cultural melting pot. itjust makes sense. it's like asking for it in some ways, and ready to be the receptacle for that kind of occurrence. because itjust perfectly reflects the globalisation that you're looking for to, you know, thematically put out there? precisely. yeah. the biennial is a great experience but this city's rich culture is here to see all year round. from its people to its unique architecture scattered across the slopes of this ancient city, mardin itself is truly a work of art. this summertime saw many of europe's top festivals make their comebacks after two years of covid restrictions. we headed to the english

countryside to find out how to turn a farmer's field into a temporary town full of music and theatre. you've got the kind of core team. you've then got the district kind of co—ordinated team, which is outdoor set theming. then that goes down into the street venues and smaller crews, so each one of these street venues will have its own individual crew. so they add their own bit of love and kind of detail and energy to their own little space. we've been, like, working since last week, so we've kind have been working and now it's suddenly "do this! "do that! "do this! "do that!" it's all hands on deck! this platform that has been based out. that's is the platform that we're working with, is it? so, these guys have done — they have probably been

here for about two weeks, i'd say, and they've just — i mean, they'd have planned it for probably a couple of weeks in scrapyards and yeah, we do really well our of scrapyards and car boot sales, as you can imagine! the space we finished today probably is going to have to be a voluntary day tomorrow because i don't think it's all going to be finished by tonight. there's probably about 8,000 people on—site, i think. we start with the creative brainstorming of how the festival is going to look like in september and then, we do creative brainstorming right the way through up to december and thenjanuary, we go into kind of delivery and preplanning, preproduction and then, it takes us an eight months of the preproduction to get us to opening. now, it's all about delivery. now we're on the ground, just making sure that all that planning that we've done lands as it was —

how it was planned to do so, and making sure we deliver the best show of the year. there's always last—minute hiccups. we've obviously got artists dropping out of the last minute, staff dropping out at the last minute, various things, travel problems, visa problems, all those sorts of things, so while it is locked, there's — it's continually changing and evolving. a lot of people want to play here because of — well, we're a bit different with all the theatrics going on, so we have a good reputation for what we deliver and how spectacular it can be. a lot of production levels are hugely impressive, so people want to play here. as we come into the final show week of the build, we have a 24—hour shift, so we have a daytime crew and a night—time crew, so we just keep it flowing through. festivals generally gets a lot of bad press about line—ups not being gender balanced or diverse enough, so it makes you more and more aware of it. it's the fashion to be as bold as to try for to aim 50—50, but we've been trying to gender balance the line—up for — well, since i've been here.

it has always been something that we've been striving for, but it's not about gender, either — it's about diversifying the line up to all people. you know, we want everyone to not only feel welcome, we want to go out of our way to try and bring them in. harriet from southampton, everybody! _ cheering most of them have been waiting three years to come. they've had their tickets for three years. the gates will open, they'll run in, they'll be setting up their campsites, be meeting their neighbours. it is really exciting. but before that, we have to get the site completely signed off. thank you! welcome! 0urjob is to make sure they're well behaved, of course, make sure everyone�*s happy, well hydrated — especially in this sort of weather. yeah, make sure everything's 0k, man. it's great seeing all the public come in — that moment when they come in. cheering and whistling and when they come into the city and get lost and get

so interactive with the world, like that's — you can't replace that. come back! yoga instructor! i have learned a lot in the last 15 years being here. i think that's the beauty, because we've grown. we grew at such an amazing speed. there was so much learning every year. what's important to me is to go out and feel that vibe out there. old town derry. i want to see how it feels for the audience and how they're reacting. right now, it's all ramping up and everyone's getting settled in and everyone just starts exploring and chatting to characters, going through doors. all of those really unique, one—off experiences you get at boomtown that people remember, they start happening i'iow.

but that's all we have time for on this week's show. i'm off to watch a bit more kite surfing. but before i go, here's what's coming up next week. we have something very special for you. we'll bejoining a group of adventurers heading off on a journey of a lifetime to one of the most fascinating but inaccessible places in the world — the wreck of the titanic. we are literally 300 metres from the titanic and, you know, i was thinking, "we're not going to make it". so dojoin us then, if you can. and if you can't wait, in the meantime, check us out on social media, where you'll find a whole range of amazing travel content from the bbc. until next time, from me, christa larwood and the rest of the travel show team here in tarifa, it's goodbye.

windy weather on the way, particularly at the start and end of next week. we started the weekend with a northerly breeze that brought sunshine and showers, most showers to england and wales. there will be fewer showers on sunday. instead we look to the north with this weather front moving down with some stronger winds as well. ahead of that for england and wales after sunday morning we will see more cloud in the afternoon but it should be dry. wanted to showers possible for scotland and northern ireland. ahead of that rain in northern scotland in the afternoon. the wind is picking up, critically windy in scotland in the north—west, likely have gale slater, very

similar to those numbers of saturday. 15—17 degrees. the rain in northern scotland is on the weather front but it won't last long. it will sweep the rain southwards across the whole of the country, pushed on by a strengthening northerly wind. that is going to bring down the colder air all the way from iceland, so a chill to the day i think on monday. 0vernight rain clears a south coast and the channel. sunshine and showers, the bulk across northern and eastern scotland driven down the north sea coast of england as well. gales are likely across northern scotland. they may even be decent snow over the tops of the mountains with temperatures in northern scotland in single figures. best numbers, 15 or 16 and the far south but it will feel colder for all the buzz in the wind. it stays windy as we head into tuesday, the low pressure at this stage heading over towards norway. another

weather system pushing and from the atlantic. be a cold start to tuesday particularly down the eastern side of the uk, temperatures only a few degrees above freezing in some places. still quite windy but a change in the direction pushes the showers away from the coast but they will continue in northern scotland, and the global bring back she ran into northern ireland, wales and the south—west of england. some sunshine in between. a chilly day, temperatures between 13 and 14 on tuesday. the weather front coming in from the atlantic is a slider, just sliding down towards the south—west and heading its way down into france so it should be out of the way by wednesday. noticeably lighter winds on wednesday, and many places will be dry, some sunshine, a few showers mainly around the edges if you like and those temperatures still below for the time of year 12—14 degrees, still chilly but we don't have the strong wind. heading into thursday, we are going to find an area of low pressure just

sort of setting there are towards the north sea keeping more of a northerly breeze gone but not particularly a strong wind. we could see some showers or especially across eastern scotland, eastern england, east anglia particular. add to the west could may well be dry. those temperatures picking up a little bit, 14, 15 those temperatures picking up a little bit, 1a, 15 degrees. later in the week, the jet stream and upper winds are quite like but as we head to the end of the week there is a much stronger jetstream propagating all the way across the atlantic and that is going to changeable weather pattern for the end of the week and into next weekend. stronger jets steer areas of low pressure, these can be quite deep so windy weather on friday and into saturday. another area of low pressure pushing and on that stronger jetstream for the second half of the weekend, so turning more unsettled.

welcome to bbc news. welcome to bbc news.

i'm gareth barlow. i'm gareth barlow. our top stories: knocking. "referendums" onjoining russia. storm fiona strikes canada's atlantic coastline. flooding and mudslides. in iran, increasingly violent anti—government protests have continued for an eighth day.