:00:00. > :00:00.The Breakfast team will be here later. But now the Travel Show.
:00:07. > :00:09.It was once a hugely popular destination, but today has fallen on
:00:10. > :00:10.hard times. Can new plans bring prosperity and tourists back to New
:00:11. > :00:40.York's Catskill Mountains? Coming up this week: We are in
:00:41. > :00:52.upstate New York looking into one region's dazzling past and hopeful
:00:53. > :00:56.future. Hard work! Whew! But it's worth it. In Cityzen, we are at one
:00:57. > :00:59.of London's most colourful and fragrant markets. There is no nicer
:01:00. > :01:02.place to be on Sunday morning than Columbia Road, in Bethnal Green.
:01:03. > :01:08.Tommy finds a device to get his one`man party started in Global
:01:09. > :01:15.Gadgets. Yeah! And we are in Finland to celebrate the 100th anniversary
:01:16. > :01:21.of the lady behind these creatures. Us Finns are really proud to be the
:01:22. > :01:24.homeland of Moomins. Hello. Welcome to The Travel Show, coming this week
:01:25. > :01:32.from the Catskills, around two hours' drive off New York City.
:01:33. > :01:36.Running over 6,000 square miles in the southeastern corner of New York
:01:37. > :01:39.State is the Catskill Mountains. It is an area of spectacular natural
:01:40. > :02:00.beauty, with rolling hills, and river valleys, and sleepy rural
:02:01. > :02:03.towns. It's pretty quiet today, but back in the '50s and '60s, this
:02:04. > :02:07.region was crammed with visitors and was, believe it or not, the top
:02:08. > :02:16.tourist destination in all of the United States. Back then, the
:02:17. > :02:19.Catskills was the holiday spot for New Yorkers to escape the city heat
:02:20. > :02:31.each summer, particularly the Jewish community. TRADITIONAL MUSIC. Over
:02:32. > :02:34.500 grand hotels amused their guests with a full roster of Jewish
:02:35. > :02:38.comedians, from Jerry Lewis and Mel Brooks to Joan Rivers and Woody
:02:39. > :02:49.Allen. The southern counties of the Catskills became fondly known as the
:02:50. > :02:52.Borscht Belt. It was about coming up and being entertained from the
:02:53. > :02:55.minute you woke up in the morning to the minute you went to bed. There
:02:56. > :03:00.would be hundreds of thousands of guests on any given weekend,
:03:01. > :03:03.millions throughout the summer. As one old`timer told me, if you didn't
:03:04. > :03:08.live through it, no`one could describe it for you, because you
:03:09. > :03:15.wouldn't believe it. For the local businesses, this meant a gold mine
:03:16. > :03:18.of holiday trade. The streets of the communities for the most part were
:03:19. > :03:22.busy until the wee hours of the morning, so businesses stayed open
:03:23. > :03:27.until midnight or beyond. It was not unusual for eating places to be open
:03:28. > :03:36.24 hours a day. Gas stations would be open 24 hours a day. When the
:03:37. > :03:42.golden age came to an end, it happened abruptly. HARMONICA MUSIC.
:03:43. > :03:46.In a few short years beginning in the late 1960s, the Catskills fell
:03:47. > :03:51.out of fashion, and New Yorkers began to holiday elsewhere. In the
:03:52. > :03:56.decades following, hotels and businesses closed in their hundreds.
:03:57. > :03:59.And the place has become a kind of graveyard for the formerly grand
:04:00. > :04:02.resorts like this one, forgotten for decades and abandoned to the
:04:03. > :04:11.elements, now being slowly reclaimed by nature. This change in fortunes
:04:12. > :04:13.has had a disastrous effect on the local economies, with places like
:04:14. > :04:20.Sullivan and Ulster counties now struggling with below`average
:04:21. > :04:25.incomes, and high unemployment. But help could be at hand in the shape
:04:26. > :04:27.of a new plan to bring gaming to the region. Casino operators are
:04:28. > :04:31.currently applying for a limited number of licences in upstate New
:04:32. > :04:37.York, including in the Catskills and Hudson Valley region. One of the
:04:38. > :04:41.applications is for the Nevele, a classic Borscht Belt hotel. If
:04:42. > :04:43.approved, the redevelopment would see the derelict site completely
:04:44. > :04:53.revived, bringing a proposed 2,000 permanent jobs to the region. This
:04:54. > :04:57.area in its heyday was the place. There would be a line of cars ten
:04:58. > :05:01.miles long waiting to come to the Nevele for the summer vacation. So
:05:02. > :05:05.our hope is to put those cars back on the road, get people to come up
:05:06. > :05:08.here, and put jobs back on the map here. For some, however, these
:05:09. > :05:10.casinos are not a panacea for the region's economic problems, and
:05:11. > :05:21.could have a negative effect on local communities. Traditionally,
:05:22. > :05:25.casinos bring in elements of vice. You have increasing prostitution,
:05:26. > :05:28.drugs, crime. All those things need to be mitigated when you are
:05:29. > :05:35.bringing them into a rural community, especially like our
:05:36. > :05:37.communities here in the Catskills. Instead of multiple casinos, Ramsay
:05:38. > :05:42.believes a better way to bring prosperity back to the region is
:05:43. > :05:44.with low`impact sustainable tourism. He is currently putting the
:05:45. > :05:52.finishing touches on the Catskill Brewery, a craft beer outfit in the
:05:53. > :06:03.town of Livingston Manor. Let's make some beer. # Watching the bubbles in
:06:04. > :06:12.my beer. # Hard work! Whew! But it's worth it! BOTH: Cheers! So is this
:06:13. > :06:16.kind of operation enough to revive tourism in the Catskills, do you
:06:17. > :06:28.think? No, not one enterprise, not one craft brewery, but it is a whole
:06:29. > :06:30.movement. With New York City so close, we have a craft brewery,
:06:31. > :06:41.organic farms, grass`fed beef, tourism with fishing. Together, it's
:06:42. > :06:44.a solution. This small`scale tourism industry might provide a sustainable
:06:45. > :06:48.future, but for now, all eyes are on the casino tender process, bringing
:06:49. > :07:04.what many hope will be a return to some semblance of the glory days of
:07:05. > :07:07.the Catskills all those years ago. If you are thinking of taking a trip
:07:08. > :07:10.to the Catskills, here is some information you might find useful.
:07:11. > :07:13.With festivals in summer, clear autumn air and skiing in winter,
:07:14. > :07:22.this region has activities on offer at all times of the year. Just watch
:07:23. > :07:25.out for mud season from mid`March to mid`May, when the melting snow and
:07:26. > :07:28.rainfall can make hiking difficult. Driving is definitely the best way
:07:29. > :07:31.to get around the Catskills, but distances between the towns are
:07:32. > :07:36.deceptively long, so make sure you allow enough time. The Catskills are
:07:37. > :07:39.remote and cellphone reception is, in many areas, non`existent, so make
:07:40. > :07:42.sure to make any important calls before you leave your hotel, and be
:07:43. > :07:57.prepared to take a holiday from the digital world.
:07:58. > :08:01.prepared to take a holiday from the Next up, a horticulturalist's
:08:02. > :08:04.delight. The latest in our series where we meet some of the people who
:08:05. > :08:19.make as cities tick finds us behind the scenes at the Columbia Road
:08:20. > :08:22.Flower Market in London's east end. There is no nicer place to be on a
:08:23. > :08:44.Sunday morning than Columbia Road in Bethnal Green. I got here an hour
:08:45. > :08:48.ago to start setting up. Hopefully people will go home with a few quid
:08:49. > :08:51.in the old tank. Columbia Road Market is a very unique market in
:08:52. > :08:55.London. Basically, it is a garden centre in a street in the heart of
:08:56. > :08:57.London. Looking at all of these different plants, they all have
:08:58. > :09:04.their own niche. This one here is all instant gardens. He maintains
:09:05. > :09:07.you don't sunbathe. Stuart is one of the new breed, one of the young
:09:08. > :09:10.boys. The likes of him will keep it running when people like me are
:09:11. > :09:13.gone, the next generation. The guys that sell these plants are real
:09:14. > :09:17.experts. You can ask them anything, and they know all the answers. I
:09:18. > :09:20.have seen the changes over the years. I have seen it go from
:09:21. > :09:25.primarily local people that we serve to transforming to people from all
:09:26. > :09:31.over London and beyond. People come by who are Spanish, French. I met a
:09:32. > :09:35.guy from Italy a few years ago. He heard my accent, knew I was a
:09:36. > :09:42.Londoner. I told him what I did, and he started talking about Columbia
:09:43. > :09:47.Road. ?10, please. Sorry. She's rubbing up against me now. # Like a
:09:48. > :09:51.flower bending in the breeze, sway with me... # I'm happily married,
:09:52. > :09:57.I've got to tell you. Banter with customers is not something you plan,
:09:58. > :10:06.it happens. Is that your husband? That's your partner. Sorry, mate.
:10:07. > :10:11.You've got the red devil violet. Gorgeous. The work is getting up in
:10:12. > :10:14.the morning, going home in the evening. The bit in between is a
:10:15. > :10:18.pleasure, serving people. I wish I was 20 years younger ` more time to
:10:19. > :10:22.enjoy it. Excuse me. Sorry, darling. Morning! How are you, darling? You
:10:23. > :10:29.all right? I couldn't really imagine not coming here. Even if I was able
:10:30. > :10:34.to ever afford to retire, I would still come here on a Sunday. How can
:10:35. > :10:38.I explain it? It's under my skin. It's part of me. I would like to
:10:39. > :10:44.think until the day I die, I will still have a licence as a Columbia
:10:45. > :11:02.flower trader. Cheers, guys. Thank you. Bye, Mary. Bye, young man.
:11:03. > :11:06.Now, it's time for the Travel update. In the US, access to
:11:07. > :11:10.California's Yosemite National Park was restricted this week as
:11:11. > :11:12.wildfires swept across the forest. Residents were evacuated as
:11:13. > :11:18.firefighters battled to contain the blaze, cutting down trees in an
:11:19. > :11:21.attempt to stop the fire spreading. The French capital, Paris, has long
:11:22. > :11:32.been popular with tourists, but one area has now been overwhelmed by a
:11:33. > :11:35.new kind of visitor. The garden next to the world`famous Louvre museum
:11:36. > :11:38.has been taken over by an influx of rats who are attracted to the area
:11:39. > :11:49.because of its proximity to the river and the opportunity to munch
:11:50. > :11:52.on leftovers from tourists' picnics. They are not really clean animals, I
:11:53. > :11:56.think, so there is a lot of dirt if they are here. The museum has called
:11:57. > :11:58.in pest control to deal with the problem.
:11:59. > :12:01.Silence is set to come to the Spanish city of Seville after the
:12:02. > :12:07.council passed regulations to limit noise levels. The city is known for
:12:08. > :12:09.its festivals, flamenco and bull`fighting but some locals have
:12:10. > :12:13.long complained that noisy activities disrupt their daily
:12:14. > :12:17.lives. The banned activities include outdoor domino games and singing in
:12:18. > :12:23.the street, although it is not clear how strictly the measures will be
:12:24. > :12:27.enforced. And the World Cup has left a
:12:28. > :12:29.permanent mark in Rio on this wall, where football fan and painter
:12:30. > :12:31.Marcos Alexandre Jambeiro has created a giant painting showing the
:12:32. > :12:42.greatest moments of the 2014 tournament. Visitors to Copacabana
:12:43. > :12:45.Beach will be able to see the mural, which tells the story of the
:12:46. > :13:02.competition through portraits of players and pictures of key moments.
:13:03. > :13:09.Coming up on The Travel Show: One`man music machine. Yeah! Tom
:13:10. > :13:16.puts the latest travel devices to the test in Global Gadgets. And we
:13:17. > :13:17.enter the enchanting world of the Moomins, as centenary celebrations
:13:18. > :13:42.take place in Finland. First up, one for all of you party
:13:43. > :13:45.people out there. Check this out. It is a portable speaker, and no, I
:13:46. > :13:52.have not just broken a pair of headphones. This is how it comes. It
:13:53. > :13:55.is called the Monocle. You connect the speaker to your phone or MP3
:13:56. > :14:03.player and there is an in`line microphone so you can make calls.
:14:04. > :14:07.You hold it to your ear to listen privately or twist the back and it
:14:08. > :14:10.will blast out your music. The button on the side will start and
:14:11. > :14:16.stop your tracks. That is the same button used to accept a phone call.
:14:17. > :14:23.RINGTONE. Hello. No way. Tell them all that. WOMAN: We're all coming to
:14:24. > :14:26.yours for a party! Whoo`hoo! For a small speaker, the sound is good,
:14:27. > :14:34.but when you turn it up really loud, they do tend to distort. I need that
:14:35. > :14:40.big sound. I've got people coming over. So I've linked up a few of
:14:41. > :14:44.these, which you can do really easily. Before you know it, you can
:14:45. > :14:50.create your very own... ROCK MUSIC. ..one`man music machine. Yeah! Yeah!
:14:51. > :14:58.This is what is going down. Right here. Oh, yeah! Oh, man. How
:14:59. > :15:02.annoying is that? You have a great book with you when you are on your
:15:03. > :15:06.travels, but your reader runs out of battery. Now what am I going to do?
:15:07. > :15:09.I know some people will say, "Hey, Tommy, what you should have done is
:15:10. > :15:13.carry around a big old battery pack. That would have saved you." Who does
:15:14. > :15:16.that, unless you are in the middle of a jungle? This, however, is a bit
:15:17. > :15:18.more practical. The Fuel microcharger is the world's
:15:19. > :15:21.smallest, and it connects to your device via mini USB. It is
:15:22. > :15:26.rechargeable and designed to attach to your key ring. It will connect to
:15:27. > :15:30.Android phones but you will need an adaptor to use it with an iPhone. So
:15:31. > :15:33.this is designed just to give you an extra boost of energy. It is not
:15:34. > :15:37.meant to fully recharge your devices. You could get 20`30 minutes
:15:38. > :15:40.of talk time, enough power to access your maps again if you are lost, or
:15:41. > :15:44.charge up your reader and find out what happens at the end of your
:15:45. > :15:48.book. I can't believe it. Here we go. Ah, they all live happily ever
:15:49. > :15:52.after. Do you ever spend all of your time
:15:53. > :15:55.on your holidays taking pictures, making videos on your phone, on your
:15:56. > :15:58.cameras, and camcorders, and never really taking a moment just to soak
:15:59. > :16:06.it all up? Well, perhaps this is the solution. The Autographer has an
:16:07. > :16:12.in`built sensor that monitors changes in your surroundings to work
:16:13. > :16:17.out when to take a photo. It is automatic, so you just select the
:16:18. > :16:20.frequency of the shots. You can review the images by connecting it
:16:21. > :16:28.to your computer or syncing up with the app via Bluetooth. No. No. I'm
:16:29. > :16:31.just going through all these pictures that I've taken throughout
:16:32. > :16:36.today. Most of them are out of focus. A lot of them are rubbish.
:16:37. > :16:44.But let's face it, some of the best pictures are spontaneous. This will
:16:45. > :16:48.capture those. I think I'd better go back to my room, lie down and start
:16:49. > :16:56.to delete some of these. What do you think this is? A big old pair of
:16:57. > :16:59.socks? No. A wash bag? No, it's not. This is my travel pillow. Although
:17:00. > :17:03.it doesn't look very comfortable right now, that's because I haven't
:17:04. > :17:06.brought it to life. Check this out. The uPillow has a layer of memory
:17:07. > :17:12.foam and a side valve that allows it to automatically inflate. So it
:17:13. > :17:15.takes up less space than the pillows that you get that are already
:17:16. > :17:18.stuffed, but it won't flatten down quite as much as the fully
:17:19. > :17:22.inflatable ones. However, this saves you all that huffing and puffing. If
:17:23. > :17:33.you don't mind, I will put this to the test.
:17:34. > :17:40.SNORES. You guys still there?
:17:41. > :17:46.Now, don't get too comfy or you will miss these little creatures. They're
:17:47. > :17:51.the Moomins and this year marks 100 years since the birth of their
:17:52. > :17:54.creator, Tove Jansson. The Travel Show went to her home country of
:17:55. > :18:04.Finland to find out what inspired their magical world. Moomins are
:18:05. > :18:13.characters of this famous Finnish author called Tove Jansson. She
:18:14. > :18:17.created this lovely Moomin family. It is a family of three. It is
:18:18. > :18:24.Moominpappa, Moominmamma, and their son, Moomintroll, who is kind of the
:18:25. > :18:26.main character. Of course they have a lot of friends. They have Little
:18:27. > :19:08.My, Snork Maiden and her brother, Snork. I think
:19:09. > :19:16.proud to be the homeland of Moomins. Tove Jansson was many things. She
:19:17. > :19:19.was a painter, a cartoonist, she was a writer, set designer, playwright,
:19:20. > :19:26.and of course, she created Moomins, or she started to write about
:19:27. > :19:29.Moomins during the war. She said that the war was such a desperate
:19:30. > :19:37.time that she needed something else to think about, and then she started
:19:38. > :19:44.to create the stories with Moomins. She was born here in Helsinki. Her
:19:45. > :19:48.family lived in this house behind us when she was born in 1914. I think
:19:49. > :19:57.many of the Moomin characters are based on her own family. I think
:19:58. > :20:03.this area inspired her in many ways. The houses that you see here are
:20:04. > :20:07.so`called art nouveau houses. They were built at the beginning of the
:20:08. > :20:10.20th century. When you look at the windows and the doors and the roofs,
:20:11. > :20:22.you can see many similarities to Moomin houses. And then of course
:20:23. > :20:23.there is the sea. Not far away from here, and that was an important
:20:24. > :21:38.element in her life. That is it for the Travel Show this
:21:39. > :21:41.week. Next week: Panama is finally being
:21:42. > :21:47.recognised as a travel destination in its own right. Rajan travels
:21:48. > :21:51.across the country from the Atlantic coast to the big city, the only
:21:52. > :21:54.city, the capital, where Miami meets Havana and the world's most famous
:21:55. > :22:01.short cut, the canal, celebrates its centenary.
:22:02. > :22:10.Isn't this amazing? The iconic Panama Canal, and I am cycling along
:22:11. > :22:14.it. Fantastic! So do join us then, if you can, and
:22:15. > :22:18.in the meantime, don't forget you can keep up with us while we are out
:22:19. > :22:21.on the road in real`time by signing up to our social media feeds,
:22:22. > :22:26.details for which are appearing on the screen now. From me and the rest
:22:27. > :23:06.of the Travel Show team here in the Catskills, it is goodbye.
:23:07. > :23:12.Hello. It is going to be a soggy Saturday for many of us.