:00:00. > :00:08.Now on BBC News, it's time for the Travel Show.
:00:09. > :00:17.This week I will travel millions of years back in time underground in
:00:18. > :00:24.Oman. Starting to work up a bit of a sweat here. We are hitting the water
:00:25. > :00:26.in New York city. Plus we are booking a table at the world's
:00:27. > :01:06.oldest restaurant. First up, this week we are in New
:01:07. > :01:11.York. It is a frenzy of people and traffic and everything here from the
:01:12. > :01:15.skyscrapers to the food is gigantic. But what most people don't know is
:01:16. > :01:20.that if you are lucky you might also be able to spot some of the biggest
:01:21. > :01:30.creatures on earth. Joe Worley has taken to the waters there to find
:01:31. > :01:34.out more. This is Rockaway Bay, it is a 40 minute cab ride from Times
:01:35. > :01:43.Square and one of the jumping off points for reaching the waters of
:01:44. > :01:48.the New York Bite. Speeding through the day gives you a great view of
:01:49. > :01:58.the city's skyline. But I'm interested in what's under the water
:01:59. > :02:03.- whales. In the past five years, there has been a surge in the number
:02:04. > :02:07.seen near the city. It is thought they have come here because the
:02:08. > :02:12.water quality has improved, which means there is more bait. But
:02:13. > :02:18.catching a glimpse of one can be tricky. Seven different species have
:02:19. > :02:23.been spotted in these waters around New York, including the enormous
:02:24. > :02:31.blue whale. They say that today we are most likely to see a humpback
:02:32. > :02:36.whale. Fingers crossed. This is the exact spot where we left the whale
:02:37. > :02:43.yesterday... Arty is part of a network of whale trackers. Manhattan
:02:44. > :02:48.has how many millions of people and I talk to people all the time, they
:02:49. > :02:51.don't even know that there are humpback whales, like, literally 16
:02:52. > :03:00.miles from the Empire State Building. Artie has taken some truly
:03:01. > :03:08.amazing photos that show just how close the Wales come to the city. --
:03:09. > :03:17.whales. But his main focus is to get a clear shot off the bottom of the
:03:18. > :03:21.tale, called a. -- called a fluke. That fluke is a fingerprint and not
:03:22. > :03:28.one of them are the same. So there are some are black, white, speckled,
:03:29. > :03:33.we have a New York City catalogue of whales and I think this morning we
:03:34. > :03:39.are up to 51. My mission today is to try and get some shots to add to the
:03:40. > :03:44.catalogue. And what is your top tips for taking a photo of a whale?
:03:45. > :03:49.You've got to be ready, you just have to be ready, you have to have a
:03:50. > :03:54.camera up, have the settings right, have everything perfect, so you are
:03:55. > :03:59.like this the whole day. Oh, I really want to see one. You're going
:04:00. > :04:03.to see whales, it is going to be great. I am excited for you. We are
:04:04. > :04:09.scouring the horizon for a puff of water called a whale blow. It is a
:04:10. > :04:13.rough, windy day, so it is hard to tell whether what I am seeing is a
:04:14. > :04:24.whale or just the break of a wave. But then... People are pointing that
:04:25. > :04:32.way? Yeah. Wow! There is a lot of excitement on the boat because
:04:33. > :04:47.someone has spotted a whale. Come on. There is the dorsel. There it
:04:48. > :04:52.is. Run over there. Catching a glimpse of eight whale is so
:04:53. > :05:00.exciting. You were ready with that one. There are two! Did you see that
:05:01. > :05:07.one? But we still haven't managed to get that all-important fluke shot.
:05:08. > :05:13.Now, that is the blow. Hold on for a while. Come on, baby. So, now you
:05:14. > :05:21.see he is going to show his fluke. Oh, no. Didn't show it. Catch that
:05:22. > :05:32.tail. I love it. We don't see this stuff, we don't see this. This is
:05:33. > :05:36.great. LAUGHTER whoo! This really is incredible, but it is so tricky to
:05:37. > :05:42.get a shot of the whale. The tale comes up just for a few seconds and
:05:43. > :05:49.then a moment later they are like 200 metres away. Whoo-hoo! You are
:05:50. > :05:59.good. She is ready. There is the blow. Here is the fluke. That is
:06:00. > :06:06.nice. Yeah, this is the shot. That is what you want. And that is the
:06:07. > :06:12.money shot. That is the shot right there. That says who this whale is.
:06:13. > :06:22.It is its identity, it is like a fingerprint. Photos like this help
:06:23. > :06:27.researchers understand the whale's location, but it is a tiny part of
:06:28. > :06:35.the picture, as most of the action happens under the picture. This is
:06:36. > :06:40.cool. -- under the water. But now new technology is being trialled by
:06:41. > :06:45.scientists at the wildlife conservation society and the Woods
:06:46. > :06:50.hole oceanographic institution. They have installed powerful underwater
:06:51. > :06:55.microphones to load a buoy 22 miles south of the coast of New York to
:06:56. > :07:02.try and find out which whales are in the area. Beautiful. This is a fin
:07:03. > :07:12.whale, second largest animal on the planet. Doctor Rosenblum shows me
:07:13. > :07:18.what they are looking for. How? So, the sound hits the buoy and feed it
:07:19. > :07:23.back like a sheet of music? Yeah, it is sent up over the hoses over a
:07:24. > :07:26.satellite link to a server where it makes, the computer-generated
:07:27. > :07:31.software, will make the detection of, ah, I see that the pattern,
:07:32. > :07:36.which is like the notes, you know, the sheet music, and say, that is a
:07:37. > :07:40.fin whale, then it is checked by an analyst and posted on the website.
:07:41. > :07:44.You can actually get to the latest data, there is a map of where the
:07:45. > :07:50.buoy is located. There are really a lot of hits, aren't there, you can
:07:51. > :07:54.see them frequently. Yeah, what you can do, you can go and see any one
:07:55. > :07:59.day and you can see just yesterday, you can see almost throughout the
:08:00. > :08:05.entire day from 3am in the morning until almost 8pm at night there were
:08:06. > :08:10.fin whales vocalising. They were making that bloop, bloop sound.
:08:11. > :08:14.Yeah. Whale vocalisations have been recorded almost every day since June
:08:15. > :08:17.and it is hoped the information can be used to protect these huge
:08:18. > :08:26.mammals from colliding with boats. New York has some of the world's
:08:27. > :08:30.busiest shipping lanes. Increasingly, whales are using this
:08:31. > :08:34.habitat and we know that whales show signs of being hit by ships, there
:08:35. > :08:38.are scars that they have and in the last few years the number of whales
:08:39. > :08:41.that have been hit by ships, and that have been floating dead in New
:08:42. > :08:45.York waters, where they were hit we are not sure, but it is a concern
:08:46. > :08:51.and there are technologies like the buoy that we can use to help
:08:52. > :09:02.minimise the risk of whales getting hit by ships. And tourists can get
:09:03. > :09:08.involved with conservation too. Submitting photos they have taken to
:09:09. > :09:12.whale watching network. We have had a lot of people that have gone whale
:09:13. > :09:16.watching all over the world and has seen more whales here in New York
:09:17. > :09:23.than they have seen on places like Alaska and the Mediterranean. He is
:09:24. > :09:27.going. Almost a fluke. New York right now is the new Cape Cod whale
:09:28. > :09:32.watching. In the 70s and eighties, whales were in Kate, there were none
:09:33. > :09:39.here, now there are as many here as in Cape Cod. That is the footprint.
:09:40. > :09:44.If you'd like to try and spot a whale near the city, trips run from
:09:45. > :09:53.May to November. Inbound Manhattan... And you can keep up
:09:54. > :10:03.with the whales on real-time on the Woods hole oceanographic institution
:10:04. > :10:09.website. Up next - we've got more from our
:10:10. > :10:17.global gourmet series. This week we're in Madrid at what is thought
:10:18. > :10:24.to be the world's Alder stressed on. -- oldest restaurant. I am Antonia
:10:25. > :10:30.Gonzalez and this is Botin, the oldest restaurant, 13 eight, in the
:10:31. > :10:41.world. This is a little part of history, the history of the old
:10:42. > :10:46.Madrid -- 1408. The first room, I mean, it is downstairs, 16 century
:10:47. > :11:02.dining room, the only room left that was here at least in 1580. Ernest
:11:03. > :11:08.Hemingway, he was a very regular customer here and included Botin in
:11:09. > :11:12.the last action of one of his books. If you read it, the last accent of
:11:13. > :11:33.the book plays upstairs in one of our dining rooms. He used to try to
:11:34. > :11:37.cook his own dishes, especially paella, and my grandfather told him
:11:38. > :11:42.to keep on writing, and he would keep on cooking. We try to keep up
:11:43. > :11:49.the ambience of the original restaurant. We focus on the food, of
:11:50. > :11:51.course. Our food is not sophisticated, it is traditional
:11:52. > :11:58.Spanish flavours, traditional Spanish cooking. Great, you know,
:11:59. > :12:03.cooking, but basically we are focused on roast in the original
:12:04. > :12:08.other than from 1785, we have the roast suckling pig and the roast
:12:09. > :12:19.baby lamb as the main. It is very simple. It is with a little white
:12:20. > :12:25.wine, a short of rosemary, onion, garlic, and that is all - very
:12:26. > :12:38.simple. Two and a half hours and you get it. When you belong to a family
:12:39. > :12:42.business related with a restaurant, you finally have a sentimental
:12:43. > :12:51.relation with it. It is like a human being. This is a little part of the
:12:52. > :12:56.history of Madrid. You collect moments of your life in these walls
:12:57. > :13:04.and in these corners... And everything that happens here is an
:13:05. > :13:06.effect. You succeed, you are very happy. If you fail, it is a
:13:07. > :13:20.disaster. Still to come on the Travel Show: I
:13:21. > :13:26.am heading deep underground in Oman, in search of a rare fish that lives
:13:27. > :13:37.in total darkness. It is like a proper training workout. The Travel
:13:38. > :13:45.Show. Your essential guide wherever you are heading.
:13:46. > :13:56.Hello. I am Michelle, your global guide, with top tips on the world's
:13:57. > :14:06.best events in the coming months. Starting in Scotland, it is the Up
:14:07. > :14:10.Helly Aa Festival, which celebrates the Viking heritage of the Shetland
:14:11. > :14:16.Islands, a fiery festival which began more than 100 years ago,
:14:17. > :14:20.celebrating the influence of the region. Up to the Alps. In
:14:21. > :14:27.Switzerland on 31 January, dozens of hot-air balloons will take to the
:14:28. > :14:31.skies for the festival International De Ballons. There will be sky
:14:32. > :14:36.chariots and cloud hoppers, single seater balloons to you and me, as
:14:37. > :14:38.well as airships, wing suit displays and remote-control hotair
:14:39. > :14:45.ballooning, all with a backdrop of the snowy Swiss Alps. The festival
:14:46. > :14:50.ends on 29 January. Cross in the American Rockies, the snow will be
:14:51. > :14:53.centre stage at the International Snow sculpture championships in
:14:54. > :14:59.Bracken Ridge, Colorado. From January 24-28 it is sculpting week
:15:00. > :15:02.followed immediately by viewing week. Snow artists from around the
:15:03. > :15:09.world come here to compete, each team taking on 12 24 ton locks of
:15:10. > :15:16.snow and carving and chiselling by hand some of the most extraordinary
:15:17. > :15:19.works of art. No power Tools are used, there are also no internal
:15:20. > :15:23.support structures. Tools of the trade range from vegetable peelers
:15:24. > :15:29.to chickenwire to small stores. Watch the snow take place -- small
:15:30. > :15:33.saws. It will be a very different kind of art at the Perth
:15:34. > :15:37.International arts Festival, which plays out for nearly a month,
:15:38. > :15:42.starting ten February. 1000 contemporary artists will be in
:15:43. > :15:46.action in theatre, music, film and literature, performing at venues and
:15:47. > :15:56.outdoor spaces across the western Australian capital. On an island in
:15:57. > :16:03.South Korea, the Jeongwol fire festival takes place from March 225,
:16:04. > :16:13.celebrating the first full moon of the lunar calendar. In the Italian
:16:14. > :16:18.Dolomites it is much -- Marcialonga. The race covers 70 kilometres of
:16:19. > :16:26.track. Thousands of prose and amateurs compete, flanked by the
:16:27. > :16:32.towering peaks of arguably the most beautiful mountains in the world.
:16:33. > :16:36.Finally, melt into the week-long lantern festival in Taiwan, which
:16:37. > :16:40.begins 11 February on the back of Chinese New Year celebrations. There
:16:41. > :16:45.will be the sound of firecrackers, parades of oversized turtle effigies
:16:46. > :16:52.out in the archipelago. The release of sky lanterns and fairytale
:16:53. > :16:56.displays in this town. That is my global guide this month. Let me know
:16:57. > :17:01.what is happening in the place where you live or where you love. We are
:17:02. > :17:10.on e-mail and across social media. Until next time, happy travelling.
:17:11. > :17:15.And to end this week, I am going back 2 million years in time here in
:17:16. > :17:21.Oman. I am visiting the country's famous caves which have recently
:17:22. > :17:33.reopened to tourists. I am taking a two-hour drive from the capital,
:17:34. > :17:37.Muscat, to Oman most famous Mt. There are five kilometre long series
:17:38. > :17:43.of caverns and passages, formed over 1 million years before the first
:17:44. > :17:46.humans appeared on Earth. Once you arrive at the foot of the mountain,
:17:47. > :17:52.you take a short tram ride through the blistering mid- day heat and
:17:53. > :18:00.into the mouth of the cave system. So this stunning entrance is the
:18:01. > :18:05.opening to the Al Hoota Cave. It is 22 3 million years old. It is just
:18:06. > :18:10.so beautiful, and I am in search of the famous blind pink fish, which
:18:11. > :18:14.you can only find here. The fish have survived undisturbed here
:18:15. > :18:18.beneath the earth in total darkness, until one day about 100 years ago,
:18:19. > :18:27.when the caves were discovered, totally by accident. Discovered by a
:18:28. > :18:35.shepherd, when his goat fell down from the vent came down here. At
:18:36. > :18:39.that time he comes here, and discovers in the cave. That is an
:18:40. > :18:46.incredible story. His goat fell through this hole, and he suddenly
:18:47. > :18:50.discovered these caves. Once inside, you can explore the caves by using
:18:51. > :18:55.the specially constructive walkways, and take your journey back in time.
:18:56. > :19:01.Starting to work up a bit of a sweat here. Despite Oman being arrowed
:19:02. > :19:05.most of the year, the country is pockmarked with riverbeds, which can
:19:06. > :19:11.flood very quickly when it rains, and flash flooding back in 2014 cent
:19:12. > :19:15.water gushing into the caves, submerging most of them and closing
:19:16. > :19:21.the complex down to the rest. Just over two years on, and the water has
:19:22. > :19:26.been pumped out, returning the caves to their former glory. I could stare
:19:27. > :19:30.at these rocks for ages, and sometimes it feels like your mind is
:19:31. > :19:34.playing tricks on you. Down there I saw what looked like a man's face
:19:35. > :19:37.that had been carved out of the rocks. And you have got a lot of
:19:38. > :19:41.this opening is man-made, created, but some of this is natural. Like
:19:42. > :19:47.that looks like a lion's head. I swear it looks like a lion's head.
:19:48. > :19:55.You can see its main, a bit of its mouth over there. It is bizarre. --
:19:56. > :19:58.mane. As you venture deeper and deeper into the caves, the walkways
:19:59. > :20:03.get longer and the stairs gets deeper. Look at that. But after
:20:04. > :20:07.coming all this way, I am determined to see as much as I can, especially
:20:08. > :20:12.those pink blind fish that untold can only be found here. This is like
:20:13. > :20:19.being back at my mum and dad's old council flat. You've got to be
:20:20. > :20:24.pretty able to get around this cave. And there it is. Sadly, though, it
:20:25. > :20:34.doesn't look like I'm really cut out to be a caveman. It's like a proper
:20:35. > :20:38.training workout. Look over there. It's just stairs, flights and
:20:39. > :20:45.flights of stairs. I think my cave dwelling is over now. This is enough
:20:46. > :20:49.for me. Such a shame, because this cave is starting to get so
:20:50. > :20:54.beautiful. When I caught my breath, the crew ventured further into the
:20:55. > :21:06.cave. And at last, they discovered what we had all hoped to see. The
:21:07. > :21:10.rare pink blind fish. Coloured translucent pink, it is mind blowing
:21:11. > :21:15.to think that they have been here for millions and millions of years,
:21:16. > :21:24.undiscovered until the day that goat accidentally stumbled upon this
:21:25. > :21:29.massive cave system. At the moment, you can only explore about 10% of
:21:30. > :21:33.the Al Hoota Caves. But it is hoped in the future more of its
:21:34. > :21:43.underground secrets will be revealed to the public. I love those caves.
:21:44. > :21:50.They were absolutely awesome. Well, sadly that is it for this week. But
:21:51. > :21:55.coming up next week: Henry is also heading underground, this time in
:21:56. > :22:01.Capita Achaea, in southern Turkey, where a city thousands of years old
:22:02. > :22:07.is being unearthed. Wow. Look at that. Don't forget, you can follow
:22:08. > :22:11.us on social media, and all the details are on the bottom of your
:22:12. > :22:21.screen is right now. But for now, from me, Ade Adepitan, and all the
:22:22. > :22:23.Travel Show team here in Oman, it is goodbye.