Linda Barnard

Award-winning travel, food and film writer; National Newspaper Awards recipient

Travel Media Association of Canada

Society of American Travel Writers

International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association

Toronto Film Critics Association

Best Side Magazine •

On an island off an island at the Fogo Island Inn

The best amenity at the Fogo Island Inn, the striking, X-shaped hotel on stilts, is the people of Fogo.
Their stories, heritage and labour are tied to everything at the award-winning inn, designed by Newfoundland-born, Norway-based architect Todd Saunders to echo a traditional outport fishing station.
The address is in the community of Joe Batt’s Arm, population 778, but the inn says its location is “on an island, off an island, at one of the four corners of the Earth.”
Food, Wine & Travel Magazine •

In the Great Bear Rainforest, a Wild Visit That’s Gentle on the Land

Snout cresting the water, the sea wolf passed about 20 feet from our 10-passenger boat, swimming strongly for shore from a rock islet in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest.

We had been up before dawn on Maple Leaf Adventures‘ 138-foot expedition catamaran Cascadia, hoping to spot an elusive sea wolf, a rare species whose main diet is seafood. Remarkably, it swims to get it.


We’d had reason to be optimistic. There had been two brief sea wolf sightings the day before while Cascadia’s 18...
Vacay Network •

A Vienna Classic Waltzes Into the Final Frontier

Vienna is righting an interstellar wrong as part of the year-long 200th birthday celebrations for Waltz King Johann Strauss II.
The composer of “The Blue Danube” waltz, Strauss gave the world a hummable tune that still sets people swaying. From Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey”, to Homer Simpson munching chips in weightless space, “The Blue Danube” is welded into popular culture.
In a place where music reigns, it’s undeniably the theme song of Vienna. It’s even played to...
Vacay.ca •

Devour! Fest Helps Jasper Get Back Into a Starring Role

Chef Neal Brown pulls a glistening hunk of seared meat from the flames in the short film “Heat & Meat”. He holds it in his hands and bites into it like an apple. The juices run. Within minutes, 130 guests at the sixth Devour! The Canadian Rockies Food Film Fest in the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge are having the same delicious experience.
Unlike the on-screen chef, we used knives and forks for Edmonton chef Blair Lebsack’s thick, grilled pork chop. Lebsack, co-owner and chef of RGE RD, was assigned...
YAM MAGAZINE •

Shaft Cocktail: Uncovering Canada’s Coffee-Infused Icon

When you order a cocktail, you’re probably not checking its birth certificate. But bloodlines matter when it comes to the Shaft.

Victoria and Calgary have been duking it out for more than 25 years over which city launched the legendary quick-sipping coffee drink with a boozy kick.

With cocktail history, there’s a good chance chroniclers have hazy recollections. Dates, names and places can get murky.

Getting to the heart of the Shaft story took time...
The Globe and Mail •

Vienna strikes a high note with Johann Strauss birthday celebrations

Vienna is hosting a year-long 200th birthday party for Johann Strauss II, celebrating the composer who gave the Austrian capital its unofficial theme song with The Blue Danube Waltz.

Vienna’s Waltz King has also been dubbed the world’s first pop star. Strauss was a master self-promoter, whose huge catalogue of lively music created fans across the globe.

From its starring role in the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey to the final moments of the year when...
Travelier •

Pop Rock and Pinot Noir: A Transplanted Canadian in Japan

“I think I’ll be living here for the rest of my life,” says Blaise Plant. He’s not talking about his hometown of Ottawa. He’s referring to his adopted home near Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi in Japan’s northern Tohoku region. Plant is part of a growing winemaking industry in this part of the country, proud to be the first officially licensed Canadian farmer in Japan.

This is not his only job: Plant is also a founding member of J-pop/rock band Monkey Majik with his older brother Maynard.
The Globe and Mail •

Screening Britain: Where to visit film and TV sets of your favourite shows

Forget tea with the King. Most visitors to Great Britain say they’re more interested in visiting Harry Potter, Bridget Jones or Bridgerton’s gossip sheet writer, Lady Whistledown.

According to VisitBritain, 90 per cent of potential U.K. visitors said they want to explore places where their favourite movie and TV scenes were set or filmed.

“Globally, we are all devoted to a particular show,” says Lewis Swan, a longtime James Bond fan who started Brit Movie Tours in 2009. He credits social media...
Life’s Incredible Journey •

New luxury hotel Naturally Pacific Resort Campbell River

Naturally Pacific Resort, a 100-room boutique property located next to the Campbell River Golf Club, could be the “little shining star” that puts Campbell River on the map as a Vancouver Island tourist destination, says general manager Justin Stevens.

The resort opened May 11, in time for the summer travel season.

While outdoor activities have brought visitors to the area for decades, the small Vancouver Island city isn’t the first place that comes to mind for a luxury resort.

“Neither was T
Food, Wine & Travel •

Walking in Bob Dylan’s Shoes in New York City

For more than 40 years, Greenwich Village record shop owner John Pita has had a window on Bob Dylan history.


He owns The Record Runner store, which faces the single block of Jones Street where Dylan was photographed walking arm-in-arm with his girlfriend and muse Suze Rotolo on a snowy February day in 1963. The photo became the cover of Dylan’s second album, The Freewheelin‘ Bob Dylan, and a pop culture calling card for one of New York’s most historic and fascinating urban neighborhoods.


S...
Vacay.ca •

Healing Caves and Elevated Cuisine Add Lustre to Kingfisher Pacific Resort

Wellness becomes a multi-sensory experience at the new $3.5 million Healing Caves at the oceanfront Kingfisher Pacific Resort & Spa in the Comox Valley of eastern Vancouver Island.
The global feel-good virtual trip begins in the blazing heat of 82 Celsius degrees (180 Fahrenheit) designed to emulate a red rock desert, moves to a steamy El Salvador rainforest, and is followed by the minus-10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) chill of British Columbia’s Coast Mountains. And that’s just the first half.
With...
YAM MAGAZINE •

Where the Sea Wolves Play

Our boats drifted silently in the early-morning gloom of the Great Bear Rainforest. We squinted and raised binoculars and cameras, trying to make out the shapes on the beach.

Was that a sea wolf lying on the white sand? Two sea wolves? Oh boy — pups!

We were up before dawn to board a pair of 10-passenger tenders from Maple Leaf Adventure’s 138-foot expedition catamaran Cascadia. We hoped to spot the sea wolf, a rare marine species unique to the Great Bear Rainforest and certa...
InsideHook •

Spanish Road to Hog Heaven: Superstar Pigs and the World’s Best Ham

If you’ve never heard of Extremadura, Spain, you’re not alone. But this home of what connoisseurs call the best cured ham in the world (sorry Parma) is a food-lover’s delight and more. There’s a timeless quality to this uncrowded region of tree-dotted pastures; protected areas for hiking, cycling and birdwatching; Roman ruins; peaceful walled cities and hilltop medieval castles.

And of course, there’s the Jamón
Post Media/National Post •

Step into 'A Complete Unknown' on this tour of New York City

For more than 40 years, Greenwich Village record shop owner John Pita has had a window on Bob Dylan history.

His store, the Record Runner, faces block-long Jones Street, where Dylan and his girlfriend and muse Suze Rotolo were photographed on a snowy February day in 1963.

The photo became the cover of Dylan’s second album, The Freewheelin‘ Bob Dylan and a pop culture calling card for one of New York’s most historic and fascinating urban neighbourhoods.

Article content

With James Mangold’s bi...
YAM MAGAZINE •

Sweet Sensation: Victoria's viral chocolate bar

Move over, Dubai. Safaa Naeman thinks Victoria deserves its own homegrown take on the viral pistachio chocolate bar. The owner of Syriana Restaurant and Catering started making and selling the lusciously crunchy-gooey bars encased in rich white, milk or dark chocolate shells.

“I decided just to do it because we use kataifi all the time in our place. And I know the recipe for it. So absolutely I can do it,” says Naeman, whose Esquimalt c...
Toronto Star •

John Grisham on Framed, his new book about the wrongfully convicted

Bestselling novelist and former lawyer John Grisham made his name writing tense courtroom thrillers, where the drama turns on legal intrigue and protagonists determined to get to the truth. These themes run through his new non-fiction book, “Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions.”

Grisham, former Democratic member of the House of Representatives for Mississippi, wrote “Framed” with Jim McCloskey, founder of Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey-based non-profit that works to exonerate wrongly convicted prisoners serving life sentences or facing the death penalty.
Best Side Magazine •

Germany's Erzgebirge: Where Christmas Comes to Life

From the Middle Ages, people living in the low ranges of Germany’s Ore Mountains — called the Erzgebirge in German — went deep underground to mine silver. By the 16th century, the precious metal had run out and they needed a new way to feed their families. With forests full of free materials around then, miners swapped pickaxes for chisels to make toys, candleholders and figures in a Christmas craft tradition that still delights kids and collectors today.
Vancouver Sun •

Why a visit to magical Maui is healing in more ways than one

Legend says that the demigod Maui lassoed the sun at the summit of Haleakala — the dormant volcano whose name means “house of the sun” in Hawaiian — to slow its descent and make the days on the island of Maui last longer.

Another way to make a day in Hawaii last longer is by catching the spectacle of sunset 3,050 metres (10,000 feet) up at Haleakala National Park.

“We’ll be above the clouds,” guide Lance Phelps of Unique Maui Tours promised. “You’ll feel like you’re flying.”

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Life's Incredible Adventure •

Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino: Rustic elegance on nature’s edge

I stretched out at Tofino’s Wickaninnish Inn for the final minutes of a small-group yoga class. Yoga teacher Mallory Stuckel settled lightweight, heated blankets across our bodies, then opened the glass doors of the second-floor yoga studio to the deep, rumbling sound of the surf. Refreshing, cedar-scented air came into the room.

In that moment another Tofino memory was created in a place as treasured for the natural beauty of its magnificent Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere setting as its remo
Vacay Network •

Soak Away Your Troubles in Legendary Czech Spa Town

The sip-and-stroll parade starts well before breakfast in the centre of Karlovy Vary, the Czech Republic’s famed spa town.
Since Celts discovered soaking in the hot pools and eddies of Tepla River eased their aching bodies more than 2,000 years ago, people have luxuriated in the mineral-rich water from underground springs more than a mile below the earth.
Today, Karlovy Vary is on the UNESCO list of the Great Spa Towns of Europe. Unlike most mineral springs resorts where guests stick to soaking,...
Edible Vancouver Island - •

Food Truck Life: Driven to Succeed

What could be more chef-driven than a food truck? Whether parked in a permanent spot or rolling up to weddings and festivals, some of the Victoria area’s best food is served through a window.
“We can be elevated food, and it is not just greasy, deep-fried things,” says Vy Nguyen, co-owner of Hide N Seek food truck in East Sooke. “We work just as hard as brick-and-mortar restaurants.”
Like many traditional restaurants, Hide N Seek has an executive chef, Motoharu Nozawa, formerly of the awar...
Best Side Magazine •

In a Wild Embrace

In the pristine and remote Great Bear Rainforest on British Columbia’s north coast, you can hear the exhalations of humpback whales in the morning and be lulled to sleep by waterfalls tumbling down mountain faces at night.
There are no through roads and no cruise ships in this protected area roughly the size of the Republic of Ireland. Small vessels are the only way to explore the rainforest, islands, mountain-lined fjords and rivers of this area 650 kilometres north of Vancouver.
Vacay.ca •

Where’s the Beef? How to Eat Vegetarian in Calgary

Can a vegetarian get satisfaction in Cowtown?
The home of the Canadian Centre for Beef Excellence, Calgary is synonymous with great steaks. Top restaurants like Major Tom crow about their “beef programs.” A slab of something beefy (or bison) seems like a must have.
While I love a well-charred, medium-rare ribeye, I am eating far less meat these days. Creeping cholesterol levels prompted the switch to a Mediterranean diet a year ago. Fish is my main source of animal protein and about 70% of my me...
Life’s Incredible Journey •

Ljubljana Slovenia - fairy tale magic of dragons and castles

Here be dragons. With centuries of folklore about mythical, fire-breathing creatures, snow-capped mountains and more than 500 castles, it’s no wonder the landlocked European country of Slovenia is often described in fairy-tale terms.You may not know much about Slovenia, the relatively newly independent nation which broke from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. About the size of New Jersey, Slovenia and photogenic capital Ljubljana (pronounced loo-blyah-nuh) are hidden gems for travellers looking for...
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