Beyond the Tour de France: How Girona became a cyclist’s paradise Life&Style Girona quietly welcomes the world’s best cyclists – and the Tour de France. Damien Gabet rides through Spain’s bucolic countryside D’you remember the Festina scandal in 1998? The whole cycling team was caught bang to rights for doping. And because parts of it fell under French criminal law, les flics got involved and the soigneur [...]
I saved hundreds watching a tribute band over the real thing Life&Style Tired of spending hundreds on stadium gigs, Damien Gabet set off on a long, dark journey to Cheltenham to watch a System Of A Down tribute band. It might have been better than the real thing We can all recall a piece of music that, on first listening, irreversibly rewired our minds. I can vividly [...]
Italy holidays: the Lake Garda hotel you must book this spring Life&Style Damien Gabet finds silence and serenity at Italy’s Lake Garda by checking into the new-ish Cape of Senses hotel I don’t like city breaks. The transactional slapdash, the exhaustion dressed as fun, the quiet feeling that you’re incrementally ruining locals’ lives. And how on earth are you supposed to enjoy a long weekend in a [...]
‘Hey you guys!’ A Goonies 40th anniversary pilgrimage to filming locations in Oregon November 18, 2025 The Goonies turns 40 this year. And so does lifelong fan Damien Gabet. To celebrate their birthdays, he visits the film locations in Oregon The first time I travelled to the States in 2009 I was so excited I thought I might die. I wanted to see where Disney and donuts came from so badly [...]
What a science tour of Wales taught me about time, the earth – and my nan July 21, 2025 The history of time, and a touching family connection, brought Damien Gabet closer than ever to rural Wales During the war my grandmother, Gwyneth, would walk from her parents’ farm in the South Swansea Valley to a neo-gothic mansion called Craig-y-Nos. Once home to the fabled opera singer Adelina Patti, it had since become a [...]
The British Pullman is hosting cabaret nights on its 1920s train July 23, 2024 Why do we all go giddy for the British Pullman? On paper, it’s just an old train, serving posh nosh, rolling on the same steel that ashen bankers do their daily schlep. And yet when Belmond’s Pullman is uttered something funny happens: pupils flare, envy foams. Atavistic instincts signal to the listener that being aboard [...]
‘I went to Los Angeles dive bars to relive my teenage rock ‘n’ roll dream’ December 7, 2023 Los Angeles has some of the most famous rock 'n' roll dive bars in America. Damien Gabet went on a pilgrimage to the West Coast to relive his teenage dream
Can The Maldives cure me? I went to find out February 20, 2023 “The first dedicated wellness retreat in the Maldives,” they said. “Nonsense,” I said. Every Maldivian island and their dog has “well-something” splashed across their website. Once you’re done petting dolphins, what else is there to do but be tended to by therapists promising repair, realignment, reconnection, restoration and revitalisation? “I’m not having it,” I thought. [...]
An adventure through glorious, neglected Cuba March 22, 2022 Despite only a brief appearance, the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland was a significant character. Between puffs he took the time to answer questions and offer advice to someone quite confused by her environs. In Havana, Cuba, I’ve met a man of a similar disposition. Amid chat, plumes of cigar smoke that were custard [...]
