Winter wonderlands - Part II

By PETER SINCLAIR

The ancient Romans were real operators. They grabbed all the best bits of Europe and turned them into an empire; the Mediterranean became a Roman lake.

No doubt, like the Sleuth last week, they went off to holiday in Achaea (Greece), Narbonensis (the south of France) or Lusitania (Spain). They also had the option of sailing across to their sun-drenched provinces of Cyrenaica (Libya), Numidia (Tunisia) and Mauretania (Morocco).

Kiwis seldom seem to take advantage of the cheapness and universality of today's jet travel to explore these ancient destinations. Closeness and affordability, plus a dash of the exotic you won't find in, say, Dieppe, make them first choice for many budget-conscious Brits.

The Canaries are where Europe meets Africa - seven Spanish volcanic islands off the western Sahara about the latitude of Hawaii. These are the islands of eternal spring, legendary among travellers in the ancient world.

Herodotus called them the "Garden of the Hesperides," Homer the "Elysian Fields," Pliny the "Fortunate Isles," on which grew a dragon-guarded tree with golden apples. Failing to locate it - Hercules was the only man who ever managed to pick one - medieval sailors instead harvested the orchids for dye.

Accommodation is cheap and varied, from a studio apartment at 150 pounds a week in the Port Royal area of Tenerife to a handsome hacienda hard by La Quinta golf course for 300 pounds a week.

To convert these amounts into New Zealand dollars will be good practice for you at Oanda.com.

About 1000km away on the mainland lies Morocco, land of Casablanca, Tangier, Marrakech - all the sinks of ancient wickedness which even now retain a shady sort of allure, an edge of peril ...

Another search of Holiday Rentals turned up a mini-palace of positively sinful luxury in a leafy lane in the Old Town at Marrakech, right next to the dust and sweat and strangeness of the winding soukhs, or markets. Okay, it's 500 euros ($NZ966) a week, but that's seven bedrooms, courtyards, domes, a huge roof-garden complete with pavilion and the ancient Palais Moulay Idris next door. Humphrey Bogart never had it so good.

In neighbouring Tunisia, I liked a superb 500 pounds a week villa on the holiday isle of Kerkennah. No mention of TV, they offer board games instead - I wonder if it's an Allah thing?

As for Libya ... I've always wanted to visit Leptis Magna, the most perfectly preserved Roman city in the world. It got covered in sand for about 1000 years. Thanks to TravelOnline I could easily get there at $1619 a person. My personal pick.

The Arabs seem to specialise in affordable luxury. I found a Cairo penthouse for under 500 pounds, including a driver and belly-dancing lessons and an Arabian Nights fantasy at Hurghada on the Red Sea.

"Plenty of sun," it says, "that's for sure." Thank God for the air-conditioning, I say. A diving tour of the Red Sea may also appeal to those readers who've never watched a Cousteau documentary.

And there's elegant accommodation on offer in Beirut, too, once known as the Paris of the Middle East, but honestly, I don't recommend it. Their servers are very slow, for a start, and you never know when there's going to be another stimulating outburst of hostilities.

I don't know about you, but I hate mortar-fire at breakfast.

Related sites:

Romans

Canaries

Tenerife

La Quinta golf course

Oanda

Holiday Rentals

Kerkennah

Leptis Magna

TravelOnline

Cairo penthouse

Hurghada on the Red Sea

Red Sea diving

Beirut

E-mail: petersinclair@email.com