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tv   The Travel Show  BBC News  March 19, 2023 1:30am-2:01am GMT

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this is bbc news: headlines — donald trump claims he will be arrested on tuesday and has called on supporters to protest. it is not clear what charges, if any, protest. it is not clear what charges, ifany, he protest. it is not clear what charges, if any, he is facing. his lawyers as the former president's claim is based on media reports. on the ninth anniversary of russia's illegal annexation of crimea president putin travelled to the peninsular to reassert russia's territorial claims. this was mr burton's those visit to the area since ordering a full—scale invasion of ukraine 13 months ago. he visited a summer camp and cultural project. a deal brokered by the un and turkey along the export
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of ukrainian grain from the black sea has been renewed hours after it was due to expire. it says the agreement will continue performance while moscow says it agreed to just 60 days. now i'm bbc news — the travel show. this week on the travel show... ..mont saint—michel marks its millennium. that view is pretty amazing. there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. the parps and toots that make this port one of a kind. horns blaring one, two, three, four, five. and saving these bundles of fluff from extinction. twittering and squawking yeah, he's thinking about it. all right. we'll give him some time. there he comes.
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i'm beginning this week in northern france on a journey that two and a half million people take each year. you're kind of getting an idea of how popular this place must be because it's off season, it's super cold, but this bus is packed. you can see it. i've just got a glimpse of the abbey. it does look pretty special. this is mont saint—michel, one of france's most visited sites. it's an island off the coast of brittany in normandy, connected to the mainland by a half a mile—long bridge that opened back in 2014. and this year, the island
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celebrates a very special anniversary. it is the 1,000 anniversary of the construction of the church. how on earth did they construct something like this 1,000 years ago? mm—hm. yeah. this is the best of medieval engineering. and it started off as a sanctuary dedicated to saint michel — saint michael — in the year 708. then it took off. you know, the pilgrims started to come. they had to come across the bay, so walk through the sands, and then it developed in the 11th century with the construction of the church. the abbey sits at the top of the cliff, surrounded by the village below. even nowadays, there are quicksands out there. there are a lot of strong currents. so it must have been a really important site for people to want to make that kind ofjourney to see this place. yeah. it was the journey of a lifetime. it's just quite funny to come in here and the contrast
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with the medieval look and then you've got shops. people are often surprised, but, don't forget, there were pilgrims coming her. yeah. and they needed to be housed for one or two nights. so there's been inns and souvenir shops, even, for hundreds of years. yeah. of course, they were a religious kind of souvenirs — medals, you know, rosaries, these kinds of things. so what's it like taking tourists around here, then? well, it depends on the time of the of the year, really. it can be a very nice, peaceful time, you know? but i tend to like less and less working here in the middle of summer. because? why's that? because there's too many people. but it's beautiful, of course. a new governing body recently took over the running of mont saint—michel with plans to improve the tourist experience. viking helmets, crossbows, the eiffel tower. you see? they're encouraging people to visit off season
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and steering them away from the souvenir stores towards more of the surrounding area. but accessibility is still a bit of a problem. it's so steep and so slippery that even this electric attachment is struggling to get up there. so my strategy is to get as much speed as possible up that hill, and as soon as i start slowing down a bit, i'll be like, "solwenn, save me!" on yva? she replies in french excusez—moi. attention. attention! coming through. solwenn! oui. we got it. come on! she pants the islands governing body told us that making any changes to this protected historic site is difficult.
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but they they're hoping to find a solution within the next few years. only around 30 people live here on mont saint—michel. bonjour! bonjour, ade. ca va? ines and jean are two of them. their home has been injean�*s family since before the 17th century and is full of trinkets and antiques. tell me about this. in french: this is your house? oui. and what is it like to live in this place day to day?
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up in the abbey, the bell is rung for evening prayer. the abbey is home to a small number of monks and nuns. members of the monastic fraternities ofjerusalem. some of them spend their mornings down in the village tending to their guesthouse or working part—timejobs to help cover the order�*s expenses. yes. it's really a unique place. and, you know, also, we are here to say that this place has been made first for god and for worship. would you just like it just to be purely holy? no, that's... you know, that's the way it is. you cannot change the reality.
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when we come here in mont saint—michel, we know that there is going to be a lot of noise during the services, that some groups are going to walk during the mass or whatever, but we are here for them also. back outside, i've taken to my crutches. these are the last steps, ade. are you sure? yes. they are the last steps. is the champagne up here for me? and now we have to go down?! and now we have to go down. ha! oh, my days. that view is pretty amazing. and look at this. wow. look at the... there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. oh, yeah. that's the best time of the day. when i come to this place, in particular, the north tower, as we call it, for me, it sums it all up. i often compare the mont saint—michel as being the jewel
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and the bay, the box. so that's the jewel in the box. you've got it all. nice. and that image has been there for 1,000 years. yeah. and if you're thinking of coming to france this year, here's some things to look out for. the loire valley is among the best places to see classic france — vineyards, medieval towns and more than 300 chateau. the city of blois is the best jumping off point for the wider region and is itself home to two of the most popular castles, including the chateau de chambord, a 16th century masterpiece that many think leonardo da vinci had a hand in designing.
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in the summer months, you can head for nantes in brittany, which every year, hosts a huge citywide art trail. it's 30 stages, taking the big attractions at the jules verne—inspired machines de l'ile theme park. you have to pay to ride the great elephant — or sea world carousel. but many other sites on the route are free. the beach town of boulogne is home to europe's biggest aquarium. and it's vast. there are about 1,600 species at nausicaa and the main tank's so big it takes about six weeks to fill. there are rotating exhibitions. right now, augmented reality allows you to experience what life is like for creatures in the open seas. still to come on today's show — the canadian port that likes to blow its own horn.
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horns honking and the big bear hugs that could help save a famous marsupial from extinction. that's quite the noise! well, that noise is — you're close enough. so stick with us for that. i'm in mont saint—michel, in northern france, where an unlikely dish has become something of a tourist attraction. i'm getting into the beat here! the mere de poulard omelette has been served here since the 19th century, when the owners were in need of a quick and easy recipe to serve to the island's many visitors. since then, it's become a strange staple of the french election cycle. if a presidential candidate visits mont saint—michel and doesn't eat the omelette, superstition says they're doomed to failure.
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and some people might say that you have to be pretty important just to afford it because prices start at 32 euro just for an omelette! you do get entertained, though. whisk taps beat the moment of truth. time to see if this lives up to all the hype. i like it. really light and fluffy. i'm feeling presidential already. to canada next, and a gem from our archives. on the country's east coast lies the seaport town of stjohn�*s, capital of the province of newfoundland and labrador. its little harbour may look like many others around the world, but listen a bit harder and you'll soon spot what sets it apart.
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honking it's a symphony in the harbour. that means we're not playing violins. we're not playing bases or banjos or guitars. # yo—yo—yo—yo—yo! # meep, meep, meep, meep! # we're playing wind instruments and the ships' whistles. # meep! meep, meep, meep! # meep, meep, meep! or something like this, you know? i go from ship to ship and ask the officers if we could use their horn for the day or for that particular time. and most of them are happy to participate because it's something different from the mundane tootling the horns. bells ring this is a time score. and the way this works — the coastguard will give the countdown over channel 11. that's the ship—to—shore radio here. and there's two people. you have a time—taker who reads out the time, the seconds, loud, and the other person follows the score.
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i am very keen on experimental and weird music. and so, when asked to compose a piece of music for five to ten freighters, i easily jumped at the chance. i had no idea what it was going to sound like. basically, we're given a graphic score where we can kind of basically like, fill in dots, so to speak, that indicate when somebody is supposed to honk their horn. 41, 42, 43... quite often, you can hear a harmony which is actually not intended butjust happens to come out like this sometimes. it's absolutely beautiful. one, two, three, four... horn blares ..five, six, seven. horns honk
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honking continues sheila was doing the horn today. i herfirst time. and she started out, "ok, i got to get this right, - "i got to do this right." and after a while, - she got into it and got into the ad—lib, improvised spirit of the thing. - and you could almost see her... her body language was going to the music. - and i thought, "ok, this is fantastic." i 59, 60! yes! laughter good job. whoa! i didn't get quite the melodic structure i was hoping to get. but it was a beautiful... beautiful to hear anyway. weu. it-s— interesting, i guess. it puts a little bit- of a twist in your lunch hour, for sure. so, other than that, - i think it's pretty interesting and comical, i guess. i don't know what else more to make of it, really. - he laughs
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horns honk people think we're crazy. of course we're crazy! well, actually, no, that's what art is all about. if beethoven had been in stjohn�*s or if he'd been here today, he probably... certainly would've written our symphony. right, we're off to australia next, and to a sanctuary that might well end up saving a whole species from extinction, and not just any species. we're talking tasmanian devils, a creature made famous by popular culture but which faces a really bleak future if we're not careful. jacqui wakefield, miss figg and wedge in barrington tops national park.
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a few hours north of sydney. jacoui: this is a whole other world from the arid plains many people think of as rural australia. barrington tops national park, about five hours' drive north of sydney, is all about greenery, lush rainforests and wildlife everywhere. the bush here is full of animals like koalas, wallabies and kangaroos. but there's one animal that's been newly introduced, and it could help save the species from extinction. devil growls it's hoped these hills will provide a safe haven for the tasmanian devil, whose populations are being ravaged over on their home island, tasmania. 90% have been wiped out by a highly infectious disease that causes facial tumours and eventually death. but this sanctuary is at the centre of efforts to save it. hey, guys, thanks for coming out. welcome to aussie ark.
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now, we have a couple of special little animals for you guys to have a look at today. we've got sandra dee here, and we also have pickles. so far, aussie ark has had seven breeding seasons with a total of around 300 baby devils, orjoeys. i think shejust likes moving around. she'sjust investigating. so, devils have a very, very good sense of smell. so you can see her nostrils going. she's sniffing around because we all smell all new. it's all new people, all new smells. look at all her whiskers! they admit here that inviting visitors in was something of an afterthought. but kel reckons it's now an important part of the conservation effort. to have a sweet deviljoey that you can cuddle and interact with absolutely changes people's perception. because they're sweet and they have personalities and they're inquisitive, and that's really important. no—one is going to want to protect and look after something that they're scared of or don't understand or see asjust
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really aggressive. and why save the tassie devil? so, australia actually has the highest rate of extinction of mammals compared to the rest of the world. one of the more recent animals to go extinct was the tasmanian tiger, leaving the tassie devil the biggest marsupial predator in australia. the joeys aren't set loose into the wild of the sanctuary until they've done some growing. each animal considered for release is selected for its genes. they're making sure the population's genetically diverse enough to be self—sustaining. and before this one, called wedge, goes, there's a thorough health check. people would expect this devil now to bejumping out and grabbing onto your throat. yeah. look at it. we just get a little grumble. devil growls she laughs that's quite the noise. well, that noise is "you're close enough".
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she laughs that's enough, folks. come on, mate. ok. he's in. watch your legs. please grab it and twist. can you give a reading, please? of course. 11.15. woo! is that a big boy? that's about as big as you would expect a male to get. yeah. wow, what a boy! out he comes. ok, and he's heavy for kel. all right. so come in... even while he's wiggling. just down low here. watch for him to swing, ok? sure. tim gives him the once—over while i administer the anti—tick medication. that's it. just going to swing. ok, i'm already having a look over and around. so fingers and toes — all good this side. he's a big boy, so he's been dominating the yard where he is. yeah. and we've got a tiny little discharge in the eyes. only got about a kilometre. nah! no, much shorter. she laughs oh, thank you very much. ok, so we're going to drive into the middle of a fenced sanctuary, which essentially for these devils now
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is being released to the wild. people, particularly those that don't live in australia, can't understand the concept of our invasive species and predators. like, we've had introduced to australia fox, cat and buffalo and pig, and rats and mice. we didn't have any of these things. so what we have to do is create islands of habitat that are invasive pest free — invasive species free. this is us. we're taking two devils out with us. miss figg, a female, and wedge, the big strapping male at the health check. they'll have an area of about 4.5 square kilometres to call their home. effectively for them, that feels like living in the wild. we've got a great vista. they'll take off, probably follow the road. long—term... yeah. ..what�*s the hope? the long—term hope is that devils in tasmania survive in the wild, and that they
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function in their ecological role. and secondarily, that we have devils back in eastern australia, on mainland. so he'lljust kind of think about it for now? well, sometimes they're not even facing the right way. he is. yeah, he's thinking about it. all right, we'll give him some time. here he comes. come on, mate. oh! see how quiet he is? yeah! look, really shy, really timid. hello. ah—ah! good boy! how goods that? he's kind of having a bit of a think. yeah, amazing! it's great, right? for now, let's just hope these two are warm tonight and that this one has joeys in three months and the male has represented his genetics. so, you know... ? and that's the nature of conservation. it's really complex. yeah. but we can at leastjust have some simple fun knowing that, after a decade, we've got to a point that we can let some devils go into this island of habitat. amazing.
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jacqui wakefield, miss figg, and wedge in barrington national park. right, that is it for this week. coming up next time... carmen is in the philippines, diving into life and seeing for herself the recovery one year after super typhoon haiyan debt swept through the tropical paradise , a debt. were you here during the typhoon? i was here during odette. probably the worst experience of my life. and don't forget you can catch up with all our adventures on social media. but for now, i'm off to get warm, because it's freezing! bye— bye.
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hello. the weather on sunday is looking pretty good for most of us.
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a lot of dry weather in the forecast, sunny spells right from the word go, but it's not going to stay completely dry. later on sunday, we are expecting some rain in the north—west of the uk and it will be brought by this weather system you can see on the satellite picture. ahead of it, there's a big gap in the clouds, there's a ridge of high pressure, hence, things will be dry early on sunday morning, all but the extreme south—east and east anglia. there might be some showers earlier on, but on the whole it is a dry start to the day for many of us. not particularly cold, between three and seven degrees, maybe a touch of frost in some rural areas further north. so here's the forecast for the morning. you can see lots of bright, if not sunny weather, but this weather front is fast approaching. let's have a closer look. england and wales in the south looking sunny around 3pm, temperatures will be about 13 degrees, the winds are light — very pleasant out there. skies turning a little more hazy the further north—west and north you go. in fact, already at this stage, rainjust about nudging into the western isles of scotland and it's raining in northern ireland,
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so by no means is it a dry day. we are expecting that rain to reach the north—west through the middle part of the afternoon and then eventually reaching the western fringes of wales, lancashire, the lake district, south—western parts of scotland and, come the evening, raining in the lowlands of scotland, too. now, the forecast for monday shows another weather system moving across the uk. in fact, there's a succession of weather fronts waiting in the atlantic — it is is going to be an unsettled week. here's the forecast for monday. that rain spreading across north—western parts of the country. notice it's not raining everywhere. it will be often cloudy, though, right across the uk and rain is possible almost at any time, anyway. temperatures very mild, up to 15 degrees in some spots. you can see these weather fronts gathering out towards the west on monday evening as well. and then tuesday onwards, these weather systems are racing across the atlantic, a large area of low pressure, it'll be breezy at times, but it's never going to get particularly cold. in fact, it's going to stay on the mild side. here's the outlook, then, for the week ahead. you can see a lot of rain icons there, so distinctly wet week in the forecast, but it'll stay
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mild, double figures across the board, even the mid—teens. bye— bye.
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this is bbc news. i'm anjana gadgil. donald trump says he suspects there are plans to arrest him on tuesday. he's called on his supporters to protest. he has claimed to see leaks from the manhattan district attorney's office which is yet to comment. he is accused of paying cash money to alleged mistress. we have this update from washington. we've had some indications,
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some pretty clear indications, for some time, that the district

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