6 ★ FTWeekend 31 January/1 February 2015

Travel

POSTCARD

FROM . . .

ICELAND

C an there be a more perfectantidote to city life than aquick escape to an islandretreat? Singapore, the thirdmost-densely populated

country in the world, has its own islandgetawayinSentosabutthat isconnectedto the “mainland” by a bridge. For amore palpable escape, Singaporeansand visitors take a 45-minute ferry rideto Bintan, an Indonesian isle to thesoutheast. The journey from city chaosto coddling calm is supremely painless,with the city’s skyscrapers shrinking toa miniature outline as the catamaranskirts past legions of tankers andcontainerships.

Foranyone inneedofrapidrelaxationafter a business trip to the city orbetween long-haul flights, it is a boon. Inless time than it takes to digest a paperfrom cover to cover, the boat docks onBintan’ssleepynorthwestcoast.

A broad chunk of the north of theisland is taken up with tropical beachresorts, homes, golf courses and shopsbut the Sanchaya, launched last month,is the first luxury resort to open on theisland for a decade. The property isowned by Natalya Pavchinskaya, a Rus-sian businesswoman with a backgroundinarthistorywhomoved toSingapore in2006 and used to visit Bintan at week-ends. In 2011, she heard of a nine-hec-tare parcel for sale in Lagoi Bay and fellfor the plot, located in the middle of agently curving crescent with a clutch ofuninhabited islands just offshore. Workbegan soon after but the planned com-pletion date of September 2013 wasrepeatedlypushedback.

Thehotelexperience startsat Bintan’sBandar Bentan Telani ferry terminal,where guests are welcomed into a spare,white-on-white lounge with a chilled,scented towel while immigration for-malities are handled by hotel staff —Sanchaya is the only property to have itsown lounge. From here, the 10-minutedrive to the resort takes in toweringpalmsandhillscoveredindipterocarps.

Sanchaya, Sanskrit for “collection”,claims the cultures of Southeast Asia asinspiration but its look equally cele-brates British colonialist architecture.The first glimpse of the property, builton an old coconut plantation, is theGreat House, its black-and-white exte-rior mimicking the houses where gov-ernment officials and British army offic-ers lived in Singapore. Home to ninesuites, the dining room, bar, library,wine room and meeting space, it deliv-ers a suitably dramatic first impressionout front, with a landscaped courtyardanchored by a tiered fountain. At theback is the classic beach-idyll view witha reflecting pool that seemingly blendsinto a 50m saltwater infinity pool andthen the emerald-cyan sea. The villas,21 of them, form a loose semi-circlearound the Great House, each display-ing influences from various SoutheastAsian nations, including Thai-stylepitched roofs with six layers of cedarshingles and masculine dark teak interi-ors,Khmerglazedpottery jars,Burmesecolonial window frames, and Laotiantempleornaments.

Rooms come in colours atypical for abeach resort, elegant white and steel-

grey, and supply the usual drool-worthyaccoutrements: Egyptian cotton sheets,Lefroy Brooks claw-foot tubs, Bang &Olufsen televisions and sound systems,Chinoiserie-style cabinets, polishedchrome floor lamps. And while thesetouches might sound like excess, therooms never seem fussy or overlydesigned, more like the well-curatedcountry home of a tasteful, flagrantlyrichrelativewho’dspentsomefineyearsin the colonies. Suites have roomy ter-races that are especially inviting duringthose quick, raging tropical downpours,when the sea and sky merge in the dis-tance. “Companions” trained by theBritish Butler Institute — yes, such athingexists—attendall rooms.

Hotel insider | Doing

business or changing planes

in Singapore? A new resort

offers a tropical island escape

just outside the city.

By Sanjay Surana

The common areas continue the colo-nial theme. The bar recreates a late-1800s explorers’ club, with vintageprints, antique telescopes and com-passes,areassuringlywornGray-Nicollscricket bat, and custom furniture. TheDining Room, where patrons are cooledby ceiling fans with palm-leaf-shapedblades, has French doors, gauze linencurtains, brass teapots in display cabi-nets, boxed frames of star anise, bam-boo and rattan chairs. Food spans conti-nents, from contemporary European(watermelon soup with truffle oil) to atongue-tingling, tonsil-tickling South-eastAsian mee mamak goreng (friednoo-dles with chicken, prawn, egg, and sliv-ersof fieryredchillies).

From Rome: PonzaTiny Ponza is the island the Romansdon’t want the rest of us to knowabout. In summer you can hardlymove for designer-clad Italiansschmoozing in the pavement cafés,tanning themselves on the pebblycoves and snorkelling in the clearMediterranean waters. But outside ofAugust it’s the perfect antidote totraffic-choked Rome. Hire a Vespa andgo in search of an empty cove or takea boat trip to the gorgeous,uninhabited isle of Palmarola, with itsunderwater grottoes and rock pillars.Where to stay: Ponza has no five-starresorts but the Chiaia di Luna is oneof the better options, with bright andbreezy bedrooms, an outdoor pooland beautiful hillside position(doubles from €100,hotelchiaiadiluna.com)How to get there: The Vetor hydrofoil(vetor.it) takes just over an hour fromAnzio, which is a half-hour train ridefrom Rome.

From London: Osea IslandDriving across the old Romancauseway on to Osea feels like leaving

the 21st century behind. There are noshops, bars, restaurants or surfacedroads on this estuary island in Essex— just a handful of weather-boardedcottages, an Edwardian manor housewith tennis court and pool, anovergrown orchard and four miles ofunspoilt beaches. There’s nothinglow-key about the guest list, though.The island, which is owned by recordproducer Nigel Frieda, is home to tworecording studios and is a popularfilming location. So don’t be surprisedif you bump into the odd celeb.Where to stay: The Sweetshop is acharming cottage for two (from £325for two nights, oseaisland.co.uk).

How to get there: Trains fromLondon Liverpool Street to Withamstation take less than 50 minutes,then it is a 15-minute taxi ride to theisland (crossing at low-tide).

From New York: Long IslandWhen New Yorkers get a craving forsand dunes and salty air, Long Islandis their first port of call. Stretching190km east from New York harbourinto the Atlantic Ocean, the island hasa resort for everyone, from the chi-chiHamptons to the surfers’ hangout ofMontauk. In recent years several ofthe island’s old-school motels havebeen given a new lease of life as hiphotels and beach clubs, attracting alivelier crowd.Where to stay: The Maidstone hasbrought a touch of Scandi-chic to EastHampton with cosy, colourful rooms,bikes for hire and yoga in the garden(doubles from $545, themaidstone.com).How to get there: The Long IslandRail Road departs from Penn Stationin Manhattan (mta.info/lirr). Onsummer weekends, its high-speedCannonball service reachesWesthampton Beach in 94 minutes.

From Hong Kong: Lantau IslandLantau is twice the size of Hong KongIsland but has only a fraction of thepopulation, with miles of walking trailswinding between monasteries,beaches and fishing villages. It’s noforgotten outpost: you’ll also findHong Kong Disneyland, the BigBuddha of Po Lin Monastery and theNgong Ping 360 cable car.Where to stay: The slick new AubergeDiscovery Bay opened last yearon a prime waterside site, with 325rooms and an impressive spa (doublesfrom HK$961 (£81), aubergediscoverybay.com).

How to get there: Regular catamaran(30 mins) and traditional ferryservices (50mins) run between HongKong Island and Lantau.

From Vancouver: the SouthernGulf IslandsThe Southern Gulf Islands, off thecoast of British Columbia, are aplayground for outdoor-lovingCanadians, who come here to hike andcamp in the pristine forests andkayak, scuba dive and sail in thesheltered waters. There are more than200 isles to choose from but SaltSpring Island is one of the mostaccessible and rewarding for visitors,with artisan shops, galleries, farmers’markets and wineries.Where to stay: Hastings House is anelegant country house hotel withspacious suites, a spa and manicuredlawns overlooking the harbour(doubles from C$395,hastingshouse.com).How to get there: Saltspring Air runsdaily seaplanes from Vancouver witha flight time of around 35 minutes(saltspringair.com).

Joanne O’Connor

From downtown to seashore: more island retreats within easy reach

i / DETAILS

Caroline Eden was a guest of Visit Iceland(visiticeland.com). Double rooms at FosshótelAustfirðir (fosshotel.is) cost from £120 per night.Return flights with WOW Air (wowair.co.uk) fromLondon to Reykjavik cost from £98; Air Iceland(airiceland.is) flies between Reykjavik andEgilsstadir in eastern Iceland from £104 return.For further information about the region,visit east.is

T he village ofFáskrúðsfjörður is remote,even by Icelandicstandards. Shouldering thefrigid north Atlantic in the

far east of the country, it is 650km onthe winding coastal road fromReykjavik, Iceland’s only major city.This is a quiet farming and fishingcommunity, though the area is bestknown among Icelanders for theEistnaflug — a heavy metal festivalnearby, whose name literally translatesas “the flying testicles”.

A new arrival, however, is putting thevillage on the tourist map, by drawingon Fáskrúðsfjörður’s unlikely Frenchconnection. The Fosshótel Austfirðir isnot so much a hotel as a museum withrooms, showcasing a bygone era whenfishermen from France set up a secondhome here.

To explain more, local volunteerguide Hafþor Eide leads me into thehotel’s freshly painted reception. Wall-mounted photographs show thebuilding, completed in 1904, was oncea hospital where French nuns nursedscurvy-ridden fishermen who hadarrived here despite thick fog, driftingicebergs and frequent shipwrecks. Ittakes a leap of imagination to connectthis history with the setting we’re in, aminimalist 26-room Scandinavian-

A new arrival is putting

the remote village on

the tourist map, by

drawing on its unlikely

French connection

style hotel with a French restaurantand views over the fjord.

Entering the first room of thebasement museum, we meet a clusterof startlingly realistic silicone figures.The fishermen are reclining on life-sized wooden bunks and dressed inthick Icelandic socks, their faces lit bydusty lanterns. Sounds of creakingwood and crashing waves fill the room.“If our visitors feel seasick, then wehave done our job,” Eide says.

“The gloves they wear were knittedby local women in exchange forbiscuits and red wine,” says Eide.“They put two thumbs on each glove,as the men wore them out so fast.”

The second room explains how, in1616, French boat owner Jean de Clercsent seven boats to Iceland for whaling.Later, Breton fishermen —immortalised in Pierre Loti’s 1886novel, Pêcheur d’Islande — made thebrutal three-week long journey backand forth, between February andSeptember, until the start of the secondworld war. Setting forth from Brittany,the ships skirted the west coast ofIreland before striking out for Iceland.Despite being battered by storms, eachman would catch about 3,000 cod.

“La Paimpolaise”, a maudlin balladwritten by Théodore Botrel in 1895,plays out from the final room, drawingus in. It is a sad, homesick refraindedicated to the French fishing villageof Paimpol in Brittany, also featured inLoti’s book. Projecting on to the wall, agrainy black-and-white film plays,showing mustachioed faces, swingingcognac bottles and crashing waves. It isa powerful, moving arrangement.

Emerging from the museum, I take ashort walk around the village withBerglind Osk Agnarsdottir, aprofessional storyteller and guide fromMeet the Locals (meetthelocals.is), anew grassroots tourism initiative.

At a nearby stream, she points outgiant engraved pebbles that list thenames of French fishing boats lost at

sea: “Abeille, 1867” and “Hygie, 1910”,read two. “These are just the names weknow of — about 400 ships wentdown,” Agnarsdottir says, as the clearwater sloshes over the letters.

Many more French memories andmyths abound around the fjord today.“People still joke about how, if theirgrandparents misbehaved as children,they were warned they’d be handedover to the Frenchmen who’d use theirfair hair as fishing bait,” she adds.

The village, covered with blueberrybushes and blustery cotton flowers, iseerily quiet. To our left, a sign points inthe direction of Gravelines,Fáskrúðsfjörður’s sister town inFrance. Beyond, a French flag flutters,below it, white crosses mark where 49fishermen lie, the only bodies to comeashore out of the 5,000 lost at sea.

In the evening, Hafþor Eide, the localguide, joins me for dinner at the hotel’srestaurant, L’Abri. As plates of cod,fondant potatoes and glasses of Frenchwine arrive, Eide tells me he never tiresof the village’s French connection.

“This history rewards us,” he says.“It is strange to think that some peoplewanted to burn this old hospital down.When they see it today though, theyswallow their words.”

Caroline Eden

Snapshots of local culture makecameos — at breakfast the Jamu Gen-dong, or herbal drinks lady, hawks abasket filled with recuperative concoc-tions, like an earthy turmeric and tama-rind shot beneficial for the immune sys-tem. Elsewhere, and depending on thehour, guests find themselves sippingcold-pressed fruit juices, coffee from theIndonesian islands of Java and Lombok,fragrant teas from Nepal, and cocktailsmade as they should be — on the spotafter a little back-and-forth with thecheery barman, not thoughtlesslypluckedfromamultipagemenu.

There’s a pretty Lilliputian spa withdedicated freestanding pavilions forThai massages and a fledgling garden ofherbs and flowers. The rota of beachresort activities departs from the norm:croquet with tea or Pimm’s, archerywith a traditional bow, pétanque with

Ponza, near Rome — Getty Images

Osea, 70 minutes from London

50km

MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE

I NDONES IA

The Sanchaya

Tanjung Pinang

BintanBatam

Bandar BentanTelani ferryterminal

pastis.Thestaff—someraw,clearlynewto the hotel industry’s dynamics andrhythms, others with global experience—areayoung,sweet,upbeatbunch.

Yet despite the obvious comfort,expense, and warmth of the property,the most memorable moments arethose cloaked in quiet. Enjoying the lin-ear, sculptural beauty of the palm treesthat line the beachfront; lying on thepool loungers, listening only to the windrustling through palm fronds; walking to Pulau Batu (rocky island), a hillock ofan isle surrounded by boulders that’saccessible on foot at low tide. Climbingto the top, past the charred remnants ofa campfire, you’ll feel like you’re on adesert island. And isn’t that the greatestescapeofall?

From top: view from the rear of the Great House at theSanchaya; a bedroom in one of the villas

An hour from the city

Matthew Cook

i / DETAILS

Sanjay Surana was a guest of the Sanchaya(thesanchaya.com); suites cost from $520 andone-bedroom villas from $593, including tax andtransfers from the ferry terminal. For details offerries from Sinagpore to Bintan, see brf.com.sg

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